Tik – Tok | Time Management for Bloggers

By now we all know blogging is something that takes a lot of time and effort. Because most of you don’t blog for a living, and therefore are mainly occupied with other jobs or studies, I thought I’d share some tips on how you can easily organize the time you spend on blogging.

Clean up that mailbox!

The first step in keeping everything structured is keeping track of what comes into your mailbox on a daily basis. When I open my mailbox in the morning, I get instantly inundated with dozens of mails. When you don’t take care of them immediately, you might find yourself lost in no time. My advice is to scan the emails quickly and simply delete them right away when you’re first thought that comes up is ‘meh’. You won’t look at them again anyway and they’ll only take space in your mailbox. The ‘delete’ button is your friend here.

The ones you do find (at least a little bit ) interesting can be categorised into different folders so you can save them for later. For example; I classify my mails in the folders ‘press releases fashion’, ‘press releases beauty’, ‘invitations’, ‘requests’, etc… and I add a flag or star (depending on your mail) the most urgent/ important/ interesting ones. This way of operating will leave you with a nice structured mailbox and you won’t lose that much time when you have to handle the emails later on.

Information gathering & scheduling posts

Because there are more ways to gather information than just press releases, it’s also important to keep that information structured as well. Making lists can help you with that problem. Note down what you want to blog about and make a schedule draft on when you want to post it online.

Make sure you have enough time between the list and the scheduled day, so you can work on your post whenever you feel like it and not because you ‘have to’. In the meantime you have the time to look for more information on the subject, to broaden your knowledge and even maybe your point of view on the matter. You can feel inspired by all kinds of things; stuff you see on the streets, in magazines, in you daily life, on tv etc. You can easily add your sources to the list you’ve made to create a structured mindmap of info.

Oh-ooh writer’s block

Planning your posts will save you a lot of stress when you don’t have a lot of time to actually write one or when you’re suffering from writer’s block. Always keep a few posts up your sleeve for later on. These posts should not be current topics, but independent from time. You can write these beforehand and post them during periods you have very little time to blog. When you’re on a holiday or during the exams for instance. That way you can keep your blog up and running without having to spend a lot of time blogging during that brief period. In the meantime, a change of environment is a great way of overcoming writer’s block. Leave your desk and go on a stroll through the city, go shopping, go visit a friend, .. it’s those little things that can trigger your inspiration ‘switch’. And before you know it you’ll find yourself full of ideas.

Say cheese!

Having your pictures ready is another thing that will save you a lot of time. Whenever I get a package, I immediately take pictures of the product and swatches, edit them with photoshop and upload them on wordpress. I don’t know why, but I also find it easier to write about the product when I put the pics online first.

The same goes for outfitpics. There’s no shame in taking pics of various outfits during one day when you only have that day to take them or otherwhise you can’t find a photographer etc. As long as you actually wear those combinations in real life, I really don’t see the problem. After you’ve taken them, choose the best ones and upload them on your blog’s platform. When you want to make them smaller to save bandwith, jpeg resizer is a great program to create a copy of all the files you want in the size you want. Superfast and super efficient.

When to blog?

The time you spend on blogging is different for everyone. I’m an evening/night person, so that is also the time when writing works the best for me. I do however recommend to write your stuff at least 12h before you actually post it. It will keep you from last minute posting stress, grammar mistakes etc. You can always squeeze in a last-minute post, if it’s important news or something urgent you want to share with your readers.

On the matter of  blogging frequency I can only say you should blog regularly to keep a decent following. And by regularly I don’t necessarily mean every day. We all do have a life to get to and there’s lots of shiz that needs to be done. Doing household chores, spending quality time with the bf, having a girls night out, etc.. You should blog about your life instead of letting your blog control it.

Blogging still has to be fun, otherwhise you might find yourself ending up with the blogging blues in no time. Plus, your mood will be noticeable through your texts and your readers will notice when you’re not that enthousiastic. Blog about whatever YOU like and whenever YOU feel like it. That way, you’ll love writing and your readers will love your writings.  🙂

Do you have any tips on how to spend your time more efficiently? Or did you find these tips useful? Please let me know in the comments!

Pictures via tumblr.