20 Ways to be a Successful Blogger While Working Full-Time: Part 1 / by Erin Baynham

How to Blog and Work Full Time

How to Blog and Work Full Time

When you want to keep your blog fresh and always booming with new content, it can really, really be a stressful thing. In my I'm so overwhelmed that my blog is suffering post, I discussed this pretty candidly. In this four part series, I'm going to share tips to be a better blogger, even with a full time job.

Please note that this series was written in desperation for myself. I'll be referring to it constantly. I hope you will to.

Brain dump

Take some time and just write down everything that comes to mind about your blog. Post ideas, color scheme changes, template updates, what you like, what you don't like, where you want to be in a year, goals--you name it. Get it all out of your mind to you can have it for future use and expand on it. I use Google Docs as a tool for my blog. It syncs easily, I can use it on the phone or web. I keep it open in a separate tab all day, and add to it when an idea comes to mind.

Working lunch w/ laptop (phone/ notebook/ etc.)

My hair dresser made me think about this a lot more. Use this power hour (or half hour) to eat lunch while working on post drafts, editing videos or photos, answering emails, sending invoices, pitching, etc. That's one hour where you can get concentrated work accomplished, if you really focus on it.

Schedule days for tasks

Trying to do all the steps to creating a blog post at once can be daunting! But if you use an hour a day to do one type of task, you can be far more productive. For instance, take all of your photography on Saturdays. Take an hour on Tuesday morning/evening to start drafting all your posts for the next week, etc. Use Thursdays to schedule recycled posts (don't let them get lost!), and Fridays to schedule new posts. Develop a routine and knock out a major part of the process.

Email yourself

Okay, this might not make you the most productive blogger at work (or whereever you are). Sometimes when inspiration hits I need to get started on a blog post draft! I open Outlook while I'm at my desk and just type out all of my ideas for that post. In fact, that's how I created the outline for this post!

Utilize your mornings

Ah, this can be a hard one, but it's all about routine. It took me a few months to realize that waking up at 7am to leave at 8am isn't very productive. I started off waking up at 6:30, which was pretty tough, but I'm used to it now. Ultimately, I'd like to get up around 5 or 5:15. That way, you can dedicate a portion of your morning to productivity around the house, blogging, or any of the other things you're into.

Grab the printable with all 20 tips:

Check out part two, three and four of the post too! For more blog tips, check out Erin's Guide to Better Beauty Blogging.

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