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5 Ways to Get and Stay Organized as a Blogger and stay organized
Whether you are a new blogger or a seasoned veteran staying organized and on task can be a challenge.
Staying focused and productive can be especially challenging if you are a work from home blogger.
The distractions of daily life can pull at us and decrease our productivity.
Family and friends pulling at us from every angle can detract from our blogging to-do list.
As work at home bloggers we need to make the most of our time.
Time is truly money in the blogging world.
Thankfully plenty of bloggers have gone before us so we don’t have to reinvent the organizational wheel.
We need only to find the wheel that fits best for us.
If you’re just beginning to lay the foundations for your blogging journey then it may be worth reading this guide on how to start a blog step by step for beginners to get the ball rolling.
Once you’re up and running, the following 5 key steps can help you to stay organized and productive in your work-from-home space.
Set Office Hours
If blogging is truly your job, even if it is only part-time set office hours.
If you worked outside of the home you would have office hours, the same should remain true within your home.
Even something as simple as early morning, nap time, and evening hours will help establish a work routine and increase productivity.
If you are fortunate enough to be able to block out office hours during the typical workday then please do so.
You have to find what works for you and your family’s schedule.
The key to setting office hours though is sticking to them.
Avoid outside non-work related appointments during your set office hours.
Also steer clear of the temptation to meet friends when you are supposed to be working.
Dedicated Work Space
With set office hours comes a dedicated work space.
Productivity and organizational abilities increase exponentially when you have a specific place for all of your work related paperwork and other necessities.
A desk or work area will allow you to avoid shuffling everything off of the kitchen table so your family can eat.
A work area also allows for a clearer separation between personal and work time.
When you are in your work zone it is time to work and focus.
When you leave your desk area you have clocked out and are now on personal time.
Making this distinction might sound trivial but it truly makes a huge difference in productivity and organization of your work related projects.
Online Filing Cabinets (Onenote, Evernote)
Blogging is largely an online industry. Bloggers write, research, create images, and network from their computers.
Keeping track of your blog post ideas, images, inspiration, networking contact information, and other digital files requires an online filing system.
Online filing cabinets such as Evernote and OneNote if you are a Microsoft fan work wonders for saving, organizing, and collecting everything you need to run your blogging business smoothly and efficiently.
The beauty of these online filing cabinets is that you can access your filing system from any electronic device.
Bookmarklets and the websites make working from a laptop or desktop easy while apps of the same name allow you to save additional notes, web links, and write blog posts from your smartphone or tablet.
With the help of these systems there is truly no where you can’t get work accomplished.
Blog Planner
So after you have set your office, created your work space, and started your online filing system the next step in becoming an organized blogger is to find and utilize the perfect blog planner for your personal style.
Personally, this is an area I struggled with for the longest time.
I am not a planner-type of person at all so I just assumed I didn’t need a paper planner for my blogging business.
As I sat staring at a blank blog post screen one afternoon, my thoughts a million ideas about the next post I needed to write.
And with no real focus on where I wanted to go with the article it hit me like a ton of bricks, I needed a blog planner.
What is a Good Blog Planner
A good blog planner includes all of the forms, trackers, and organizers that you need to get your writing organized.
Are you tracking your mileage, business expenses, contacts, link parties, meeting notes?
A good blog planner will get you so organized that you will be able to transition from writing to managing the business side of your blog seamlessly.
As I was not a planner type of person until I found myself overwhelmed with writing and managing the business.
I just couldn’t keep it all up in my mind any longer.
I needed to write it down so I could remember it later and focus on the task at hand.
After extensive searching and various recommendations by my blogging friends, I found the Blog Planning Templates on Pinterest .
Mind Maps
Mind maps are the fifth way to organize your blogging business.
Like spiderwebs, thought webs, or brainstorm exercises, mind maps are graphic organizers.
They help you organize you thoughts around a particular blog post.
Mind maps are also great if you are planning a blog series.
Or you want to write a variety of posts on a similar topic without repeating yourself.
Mind maps are also a great way to get around writer’s block.
Using a graphic organizer you can brain dump your ideas, thoughts, and inspiration to get your writing back on track.
They key to remember is that you need to be an organized blogger to be productive and successful.
Are you a professional blogger writing for income or want to turn your blog into an income earning platform?
Then finally getting organized and staying organized is critical to your long term success.
Related reading; 10 Questions When Starting a Blog, Before You Start a Blog For Your Business. and How to Find Trending Topics for your Blog.
So I need to start doing almost all of these. I kind-of have business hours–after the kids go to bed. But otherwise, it is whenever I grab a minute! Thanks for linking up to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Party! I’ve pinned your post to the Bloggers Brags Pinterest Board.
you are almost right… but for a beginner it is very difficult to be organized. Blogging needs lot of effort, dedication, workplace, passion. If he has all of these then he can succeed in blogging otherwise it is waste of time.