Hello there, my beauties! I hope that you're all having a wonderful week. Today, we're going to talk about what's likely one of the least fun (but also one of the most important!) parts of being a blogger - planning, scheduling and organizing your posts. If, like myself, you are a busy person with a full-time job, you may find it a little difficult to always keep your blog organised and stick to a posting schedule. I still find it quite challenging at times, but there are a few practical tips and tricks that help me stay organised, especially during busy periods. Today, I'd like to share them with you - hope you find them useful!
Note down any post ideas as soon as they ariseGood post ideas can sometimes come to us at the most unexpected times. If you're at work, out shopping or waiting for a dentist appointment, and suddenly you're struck with an awesome post idea - make sure you write it down right away! I've let so many ideas slip away because I neglected to note them down (thinking that I'd remember them later on), and then I'd just end up forgetting about them. You can keep a little notebook on you for jotting down any blog-related ideas, or you can use a simple memo app on your phone (most phones have one built-in) - whichever is more convenient!
Keep a blog journalI think that it's a really good idea to keep a dedicated notebook/diary for all things blog-related. A lot of people like to use Google spreadsheets to keep track of their posting schedule, ideas and everything else to do with blogging. Whilst I believe that Google spreadsheets are very practical and easy to use, I prefer the old-school way of keeping an actual diary with handwritten notes. I have a dedicated weekly agenda notebook where I keep track of what I'm supposed to publish and when, organise my days for social media promotion and video editing, and note down any blog-related ideas.
An important thing to note here - organizing your blog doesn't have to be a chore! It's all about finding out what works for you. Personally, I'm absolutely in love with these cute little Molang diaries (included in photos), which is what I use to plan out my weekly blog tasks. They're absolutely adorable and very practical (not sponsored, by the way!), and they actually make me look forward to planning my blog activities! They include pages for your weekly and monthly schedule, general notes etc. They also come with lots of cute little Molang stickers, which make your planning all the more fun. You can get these on eBay for about £10 - just search for 'Molang diary' - there are tons of different designs to choose from! I'm not sure why I have three of them... I think I just couldn't decide on which one to get, so I bought all of them!
Monitor and plan around your trafficAs a growing blogger, it's hugely important that you always monitor your traffic and respond to any trends that arise. Google Analytics is a very powerful and in-depth tool, but if you're just starting out, you can use the basic traffic tools provided by Blogger and WordPress (look at the 'Stats' section in your Dashboard). Keep track of your statistics, and plan your content around them - for instance, if you tend to get the most pageviews on Saturday evenings, you may want to consider scheduling your posts for that time. You can also make note of what types of posts get the most views, and plan your content ideas based on that.
Keep all your photos and posts backed upYou can never be over-prepared for what might happen! It's very important to always take a backup of every post that you publish - you can just copy and paste it into a Word document, and save it onto your desktop (or, even better, a portable USB stick). It's also a good idea to keep a regular backup of all your blog photos, in case you want to re-use them in the future. I have a little folder on my laptop for all things blog-related, and although it's not as organised as it should be, it's still a good precaution in case things ever go wrong!
Manage your expectationsThis isn't really a practical tip, but a very important one nonetheless! Staying organised is useful, but don't be too hard on yourself if you can't always manage to stick to your blog plans/schedule. At the end of the day, blogging should be fun and there is no need to take it too seriously (unless it is your full-time job, of course). I see so many bloggers get really worked up whenever they're unable to stick to their posting schedule, constantly apologising for the lack of content, new posts, etc. Life sometimes gets in the way, and it's perfectly okay if you want to slow down or take a break! In fact, a little break every so often is a good thing - you can relax, take out some time for yourself and return to blogging with renewed energy.
The ultimate checklist!Last, but not least, I've prepared a little checklist that will hopefully help you out if you're looking for an easy way to organise your posts, and 'cover all bases'. This is just a little list of things that I go through each time before hitting 'Publish'. I hope that you find it useful!
How do you stay organised?
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