Become a More Productive Blogger in 15 Easy Steps

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Wondering how to be a more productive blogger? Blogging is an art. A game, if you will. Or a rollercoaster.  

In fact, there are many ways to describe a blogging journey. Whether you’re a travel blogger, mummy blogger or food blogger, everybody’s journey is different. Everyone will run into their own high points, low points, celebrations and setbacks.

However, when it comes to productivity, it can be easy to lose motivation or stare at a blank Google Doc and end up crossing very little off your to-do list!  

Ultimately, life can get in the way. One day you might wake up in a super productive mood and get loads of things done; the next you might struggle to write a single word. Don’t worry, I totally get it! And I’d be telling a big fat lie if I said I haven’t been there. We’re only human after all! 

how to be a more productive blogger

So, if you’ve been struggling to find the motivation to kick your blogging productivity into overdrive, then you’ll be pleased to know that just a few small changes can make all the difference. Here are 15 simple steps to becoming a more productive blogger! 

1. Pretend It’s a Day at The Office 

Resist the urge to lounge around in your pyjamas or work from your bed. Your brain naturally associates pyjamas and bed with relaxing, doing nothing, and sleeping. Therefore staying in that comfy, happy place when you have work to do is only going to stump your productivity from the start!

Instead, get up as if you were going to work. Shower, get dressed, brush your hair, clean your teeth and find a space to work where you won’t have too many distractions. If you have a home-office space, then brilliant. If not, I find sitting at the dining room table can create just as productive an atmosphere. 

2. Treat Your Blog Like A Business 

Now, this one entirely depends on where you see your blog in a few years. If you’re content with writing for pleasure and are blogging as a hobby, then this won’t be relevant. But. If you’re intending to monetize your blog and would love to one day make it your living, then you need to treat it like a business from the start.

I think you’ll struggle to find a single entrepreneur out there who hasn’t had to work their butt off to be where they are today. And, if you dream of making your blogging business work, then you have to get into that hard-working mindset from the very beginning.

So, understand that it will involve hard work; understand that you won’t skyrocket to internet fame overnight and know that it won’t always be easy. Not only will this help you be a more productive blogger, but it will fuel your motivation as well. 

3. Schedule, Schedule, Schedule! 

Scheduling your blog is seriously so important. And, I’m not just talking about blog posts here. You’ll also need to work out what days you should post blogs, how often when you’re going to send out social media content and when you’ll send out email newsletters. Then, the tricky part is actually sticking to it, which is why I always say to make a schedule.

When it comes to being a more productive blogger if you have no idea what you’re going to post and when, you’ll end up in a right mess, rushing to get things out last minute all the time. This will lead to you constantly feeling behind and eventually the stress will make you want to quit.

So, try and schedule everything. I recommend having at least a week’s worth of blog posts scheduled in advance in WordPress. You can schedule your social media posts with blogging resources like CoSchedule, Hootsuite or Buffer. Trust me when I say that having things scheduled will do the world of good to your productivity levels.  

4. Invest in a Comfortable Chair 

This might seem obvious, however, I used to work in an office that has incredibly uncomfortable chairs. They were fine at first but after a couple of hours of sitting in them, they seriously hurt my back. Then, because of that, I’d end up finding any excuse to get up, walkabout, make a coffee and get out of that chair.

So, if you want to be a more productive blogger, one of the best things you can do is invest in a comfortable chair with proper lumbar support that you’ll be able to sit in for hours at a time without getting uncomfortable. Even though it’ll cost more than a regular office chair, the effects will be instantaneous, so totally worth the money. 

5. Write in Blocks 

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? Have you ever had a great idea for a new post but you end up staring at the blank screen and no words pop into your head? Or have you ever had those posts where you can easily write half, but struggle to finish it? Once again, I totally get it. To combat this, I recommend writing your blog posts in blocks.

So, first find the perfect title (and keywords, of course!). Then, write your introductory paragraph and draft all of your headings and subheadings. Then, circle back and flesh out the rest of the content.

I always find that, once the subheadings are in place, the words flow a lot easier than if I simply try to write the whole post in one. 

6. Hide Your Phone 

It’s no secret that a mobile phone can be a serious distraction. If you’re trying to be a more productive blogger, one of the best things you can do during your workday, is simply to hide it.

I have a drawer in my work desk and, when I feel my phone is becoming too much of a distraction, I put my phone on silent, in the drawer and leave it there until I’ve finished. Honestly, this can work wonders for your productivity. Plus, you won’t get sucked down the latest rabbit hole of social media drama.

7. Write a Realistic To-Do List 

I absolutely love a good list and I more or less use them for everything. From the best places to travel this year, to the weekly shop, things are definitely better in a list form. One of the key parts of being a more productive blogger is how you stay organised. I personally think that having a to-do list is the easiest way to do that.

However, the key to writing an effective to-do list is to keep it realistic. There’s no point in writing down a whole bunch of tasks for a day that you have absolutely no hope of achieving. Once again, you’ll end up feeling constantly behind which will lead to de-motivation and lack of productivity.

However, on a similar scale, there’s no point in setting yourself too little to do. Then, you could end up procrastinating and doing much less than you technically could. 

There’s a fine line between pushing yourself and overworking yourself. So there are a few types of to-do lists that I recommend writing. Things you want to get done this month; things you want to get done this week and things to tackle today.

Once you have your to-do list for the month simply pull things off of there for your weekly list. Then, pull things off your weekly list to tackle each day. Just make sure to keep it within the realms of what you can actually accomplish within those time frames. 

8. Break Tasks Down by Day 

You might be wondering the best ways to break those things on your to-do list down by day. Well, this entirely depends on how best you work. If you’re the type of person who loves to focus on one thing per day, then I suggest separating the tasks into days.

For example, writing new content on Monday, editing those posts and scheduling them on Tuesday, working on your email list freebies on Wednesday, etc. The potential downside of this is that you may end up getting bored of the same task on repeat all day. Or you might not feel like writing on your scheduled writing day.

If this happens, there’s no shame in switching things up and swapping the days – it is your schedule after all!  

However, you might prefer a different working method altogether where you set yourself hourly or two-hourly blocks for certain tasks. For example, on Monday: write for two hours, design a freebie for two hours, edit photos for two hours then design and schedule pins for two hours.

Working this way will give you a variety of tasks spread over one day. However, the downside of this is that your brain will have to switch between different tasks so it might be harder to stay focused. Also, if you’re like me and hate leaving things unfinished, it might be tricky to stop working on one task once your two hours are up.

So, the trick is to find what works best for you. But whatever your style, breaking tasks down is definitely one of the best ways to become a more productive blogger.  

9. Close Your Emails 

A bit like social media, emails can end up sending you down a serious rabbit hole. You might wake up to hundreds of messages from readers, blog comments, requests and many more things that need your attention. Plus, new emails can keep pinging up all day and draw you away from the tasks at hand.

So, the easiest way to avoid this distraction is to dedicate a certain time to going through your emails and closing the tab during the rest of the day.

I also suggest making emails one of the final tasks you tackle before calling it quits for the day. Going through your emails can easily take a lot longer than you planned it to. So, check your emails daily, but at the end of the day once your to-do list is empty. And make sure the email tab is closed in the browser while you’re working.  

10. Create an Editorial Calendar 

This may seem a little bit like scheduling your content, but how are you going to know what to schedule, if it’s not planned? I always work off an editorial calendar that I plan at least 3 months in advance. That way, I always know what I need to be working on and I always have content ideas primed and ready.

For example, if I’m going to be writing Christmas content, I know I’ll need to have it ready much earlier than December to have any chance of it ranking on Google before the festive season begins. You can use blogger resources like Trello, Asana or just a good, old-fashioned Excel spreadsheet to keep track of your posts.

That way, you’ll know what’s going out and when; you’ll be able to keep track and you won’t fall behind. If you want to be a more productive blogger, it’s so important to plan what you’re working on, have an editorial calendar written and stick to it. 

11. Take a Break 

This may seem counterintuitive but taking a break is just as important as being disciplined to work. Think about the average day at work. Would you normally power through without going for a coffee, letting off a bit of steam or perhaps going for a short walk after lunch? Of course not, and the law actually requires you to take a break after so many hours of work. So, why should working on your own blog be any different?

If you’re thinking of your blog as a business, then you need to give yourself the benefits of a business working week as well as the structure. Just make sure those breaks don’t turn into complete procrastination! Healthy, regular breaks are essential to being a more productive blogger and you’ll end up coming back to things much more refreshed.  

12. Sometimes Change the Scenery 

Even though you might have a wonderful home office, sometimes, you just need to switch things up a bit. Working in the same spot can leave you craving a new environment. You can naturally end up feeling restless sitting in the same room day after day.

So, if you start to feel this way, then give yourself a change of scenery. Take your laptop downstairs and work in the dining room; head to the local coffee shop and work there (but remember to stay safe with a VPN if you’re on public WIFI); or even work in the garden for a spot of sunshine.

Either way, to make sure you stay productive, it’s sometimes very important to make sure things don’t become too routine.  

13. Have Some Me Time 

I know so many bloggers will be guilty of this because I was too at the start. Let’s think again about a regular office job. You’d work 9-5, then you’d go home, eat dinner and not think about work for the rest of the night.

Whereas, because you run your blog from home, it can be incredibly tempting to head back on your laptop after dinner and continue working until late in the night. From experience, this is a really bad idea. Ironically, I’m editing this post at 10:30pm, but honestly, it’s a bad idea!

All work and no play will end up leading to serious burn-out and you could actually lose all motivation to work on your blog altogether. It’s important to call it a day in the evening and take some time for yourself, whether that’s to spend time with your family, chill and watch TV or read a book.

If you want to be a more productive blogger, you need to remember to give yourself a little bit of me time and leave the laptop alone.

14. Set Goals 

Now, a little bit like lists, I love to set myself goals and I think it’s one of the best things you can do to be a more productive blogger. I always write down where I want to be at the end of the month, and then at the end of each week, I track that I’m making progress towards that goal.

I also set myself goals for the end of the year. Having something to work towards will always make you work harder, especially if it’s towards an end goal that would make you really happy. Obviously, make sure these goals are realistic or you’ll only end up disappointed. But setting targets can be one of the best things you can do for your personal motivation and for your blog. 

15. Believe in Yourself 

Believing in yourself is so important. It’s also something that a lot of people tend to forget. Remember that you will have setbacks and remember that you will have hurdles. Remember that blog traffic ebbs and flows all the time and it won’t always be at an all-time high.

Unexpected events can take a toll on your blog, whether that’s Google or social media updates, or things happening around the globe. But these things are completely outside of your control. It doesn’t mean that your content is suddenly less liked and it certainly doesn’t mean that all your hard work was for nothing.

If you want to be a more productive blogger then don’t study your traffic 24/7; don’t feel de-motivated if things dip temporarily and never lose hope that you will get to where you want to be. Blogging is and always will be a marathon, not a sprint and one of the most important things you can do as a blogger is believe in yourself. 

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