There’s good news and bad news … and they’re actually one in the same. Everyone has the exact same hours in the day. How you spend them is largely up to you, and that includes time you make for maintaining your blog.
Whether you plan to monetize your blog, simply want to share your passion, or aspire to be the next blog guru, the number of quality posts you compose and upload, and the time you spend developing a community, is the foundation. How can you make more time?
Just like companies choose to outsource customer service support, you might want to consider outsourcing as well. Welcome ghost bloggers, invite readers to participate (CakeWrecks is a great example of this), or promote a more conversational approach rather than stand on a soapbox.
To be honest, this kind of approach is often more popular with readers anyway. Below are a few more ideas for optimizing your blog time.
Treat it like a job
You wouldn’t arrive at the office for a regular job 30 minutes late, and the same commitment need to be devoted to your blog. Carve out a schedule for writing articles, posting them, and replying to comments.
Time also needs to be allotted to looking for link sharing and/or blog promotion. If necessary, map out a schedule so you don’t end up missing these responsibilities. They should have equal importance with work, gym, and family time.
Everyone has some buffer time, but you may realize that blogging cuts into your personal Facebook time or zoning out to Wife Swap. Ask yourself if blogging is more important to you than some other “tasks” on your daily list.
If the answer is no, then right now might not be the best time for you to start a blog. It’s not for everyone.
Be aware of downward spirals
Once you’ve missed one scheduled day of blogging, what’s the big deal if you miss another? This is an easy pattern to get caught up in and one of the biggest reasons most blogs fail.
They get neglected, then abandoned, and finally regarded as a pesky nuisance. And that probably wasn’t what you had in mind when you designed that WordPress site.
Blogging is both a skill and an art, and only the best survive. It’s still trending, so of course you’re tempted to jump on the bandwagon.
However, the best bloggers start with a great idea, plenty of passion, and substantive skills with either writing, making videos, or both. If you’ve already got the basics to be a great blogger, then make the time to give it your all.
