If you’re a blogger, especially just starting out on this adventure, then you’ll undoubtedly come upon issues along the way. Some of them you can solve, others you cannot. During these times you will be losing your patience perhaps, and it can discourage you. Those who find tricks and hacks to increase their productivity and save time are the ones who tend to stick with this adventure even when the going gets tough.
Blogging is hard work. Recent statistics by Techjury show that on average, bloggers spend just over 4 hours every day on a post.
In this post we’ll cover 19 tips for saving time as a blogger. As you apply these techniques, you’ll not only save precious time but also gain a deeper understanding of the intricacies of blogging, empowering you to tackle more crucial tasks required for a successful blog.
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1. Start With the Most Challenging Task First to Avoid Procrastination
Eating your frog is one of the best things you can do for saving time. The reason is, when you work on the most difficult task, there is no room for procrastination. Unlike many bloggers who delay the most important work for the last, this can have a debilitating effect on your blogging efforts. Make sure that before you commit to undergoing a task, that you know its value and how it contributes to your blogging success. This can be a blog article or a photo or communicating with your staff. Whatever task is the most difficult, is the one that you should do first. Once it’s completed, you’ll feel relieved that you saw it through, and encourage that it does not have to be done again later on.
2. Delegate Tasks to Capable Individuals, and Don’t Hesitate to Invest in Quality Help
We all need help from time to time. As business men, we are urged to do the best that we can, yet we do not want to cut corners. Avoid committing to tasks that are beyond your capabilities, such as transcription, customer support and engagement, keyword research, and proofreading and editing. Hire someone who can do a much better job than you can. While it is true that savvy businessmen are always looking for ways to save on their expenses, when it comes to hiring good talent, you want the best, so don’t hesitate to pay a little more for something that is worth it, and that will pay dividends in the long run. Having extra eyes that can go over your work, or even completed themselves, is going to take your blogging to the next level, and as you hand over more and more work to others, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment, knowing that your team is always available for you whenever you need them.
3. Use Voice-to-text for Emails to Save Time
Writing and responding to emails can take up a large portion of our time as bloggers. In order to save a bit of time every day, you should both write and respond to any communication using voice. You simply tap on the microphone icon on your iPhone or iPad and start speaking. Realize that there are disadvantages to voice to text. For one, even the best software will make mistakes from time to time. On the other hand, if you do this often enough, then the software will recognize your voice enough to provide more accurate results. Speak clearly and slowly, and make sure that you go over whatever you have composed to check for any grammar, inconsistencies, or anything else that your copy less than effective. For some dictating into a recorder to compose emails will take practice, but in time you’ll become better, until such point that you won’t need to compose or respond to emails anymore by hand.
4. Plan Ahead to Stay Organized and Avoid Last-Minute Rushes
Procrastination is a vicious cycle, and the more time we spend putting off tasks, the harder they become. But as with most things in life, if we want to be more productive than average–and have zero regret–we need to start by preparing for our work in advance. If you’re anything like me, even when you’re tired, your mind is always working. You think of the things that need to get done and what levels of effort are involved in completing each one. This goes double for tomorrow. It’s important to have a plan so that your night can be as productive as possible while still giving yourself time to relax and recharge. Preparation is key whenever you want to save time. There are a few things you can do to save time for the next day. If you have something planned, don’t forget to plan ahead and stay organized. Set realistic expectations for yourself and be willing to change or cancel plans if necessary. Identify your priorities and create a morning routine. Set boundaries and limits, and create a tackle box. Planning is one of the best things you can do as a blogger to save time. The night before, plan out exactly what you’d like to delegate to your team of the work that you have to do, and write it down. Then, upon awakening, go over this list and make corrections if needed. Your list should contain not only the blog posts that have to be composed for that day or week, but also any photos that need to be added or reference points that you have to call from sources online or in books.
5. Prioritize Health – Good Sleep and Nutrition Are Essential for Focus
Without good health, it’s going to be difficult for you to concentrate, plan, and just be successful generally. A healthy mind and a body means being well rested and eating supportive, nutritious foods that will not only enhance your concentration, but allow you to come up with ideas and solve creative challenges more easily. If you have trouble sleeping, then you’ll want to first see what’s causing it. You can alleviate insomnia, but it does take some effort on your part. And whether you enjoy walking, jogging, swimming, or any other type of aerobic or even light exercise, pick something that you know you’ll commit to as often as possible. Be positive and try to stay away as much as possible from the junk food. Staying healthy also means getting enough rest, which not only helps you feel refreshed and invigorated during the day, but it can also help improve your mood and cognitive function. Sleep is a valuable commodity. Too often we skimp on it, thinking that “just one more hour” will do us no harm. In truth, sleep deprivation can have serious consequences not just for our mental and physical well-being, but our overall productivity as well. (If you have trouble with insomnia, read our helpful article: 10 Simple Yet Powerful Tricks to Cure Insomnia)
6. Create Shortcuts (Snippets) for Common Tasks to Save Time
Snippets can mean the difference between completing a task and having it drag on for weeks if not months. A snippet is simply a shortcut to a longer word or phrase. So, for instance, you’d be able to just type two letters and then a whole sentence will come up. This is useful for planning ahead. If you like to plan your articles ahead of time, then it would be useful to list the most common snippets on your smartphone. That way, whenever you need it, it’s at your command. The snippets could be anything from article passages that you include every time, such as photo credits (of course, being that each photo is different, you will to a slight adjustment to each credit, but not much). The thing with snippets is that you can constantly add to it, so that if a snippet that you think you’ll be using often comes up, make sure to set it up in your app. You’ll be amazed at how much time you can save by using snippets.
7. Hire Employees With Strong English Skills to Avoid Language Barriers
If you’re a novice blogger, you’re likely aware of the challenges that can arise when collaborating with individuals from abroad. To ensure the quality of your team members, thoroughly assess their language proficiency. But how can you do this effectively? Instead of solely relying on their self-assessment, consider having them undergo language skills testing. You can easily find language proficiency tests online, such as IQ tests tailored to assess language abilities. By having candidates complete these exams, you’ll obtain objective scores to help you make informed hiring decisions. It’s essential to be diligent in your hiring process, as exaggerations about language skills can be prevalent. Ensuring the honesty of potential employees is vital to building a reliable team, making the effort invested in finding the right candidate well worthwhile.
8. Use Pinterest Efficiently by Creating Boards and Bulk-moving Pins
Have you ever spent an enormous amount of time looking for Pinterest pins to post on a board? Well, you could save tons of time by first creating a board that is similarly named to the board that you wish to have pins added to. For instance, say you’re bored is about fishing, and you’d like to add more pins. The first thing you’ll do is create a board that contains the word fishing. It could be, for instance, Fishing Tips. After that, you will then be notified that you’re bored has been created. Your next step is to click on the ADD IDEAS icon, to which you will be presented with pins in that category. Now it’s just the matter of clicking on the pins that interest you. These pins of course will go into your new board. But the thing is, after you’ve been all depends you’d like to, you will then highlight all of these pins and then transfer them in bulk to your older folder. It’s as simple as that.
9. Outline Your Blog Posts to Streamline Content Creation
Outlining your blog post ahead of time will do wonders for you as a blogger. You’d be surprised at how many bloggers just do the work whenever it comes up rather than planning. This doesn’t do much justice for you. Instead, take a few moments or even a few hours if that’s necessary to set out a plan as to what type of material you’d like to create and how you’ll do it. For instance, you may wish to compose a blog post. For that you’ll need photos and do a bit of keyword research. Both can be done the night before you begin to compose the post. Of course, if you’ve got others assisting you, then you could give these tasks to them while you take care of other or important issues related to the blog post that you are preparing.
10. Learn WordPress to Manage Your Blog Effectively
In the beginning, it may be difficult for you to afford a web developer. That’s okay. We all have started somewhere, and as blogging gains in popularity, so do the numbers of aspirins who join in on the adventure, yet because there are issues that will come up inevitably with your WordPress, it’s good if you know how to take care of these problems. In time, you will become competent at WordPress, even to the point of being able to teach others what you’ve learned. The important thing is you don’t give up, and if they are concepts that are too difficult for you to understand when starting out, then research and learn these aspects, and always remember that what time you’ll get better.
11. Use Music if It Helps You Focus
In this quest for efficiency, it’s worth noting that music can be a powerful ally. In fact, in our article, “Ways Music Can Help You to Become More Productive,” you’ll find valuable insights on how the right tunes can help you stay focused and save time while you work on your blog. So, if you’re looking to optimize your blogging routine, consider exploring the harmonious connection between music and productivity in our dedicated guide.If you’re one of these individuals, feel free to play your favorite tunes while crafting your blog posts or working on WordPress. For these bloggers, music not only boosts their performance but also makes time appear to pass more quickly. The key is to discover what works best for you and either embrace or discard specific strategies accordingly.
12. Make Daily and Weekly Lists to Stay Organized
In addition to your daily preparation the night before, you should take it upon yourself to create a weekly list. This weekly list will detail all of the tasks that you need to complete for that week, and it differs from a daily list in that these issues are not as pressing for the moment. In your weekly list, you will prioritize which tasks are more important than others, and do those first. The benefits of having a weekly list extend beyond knowing which tasks are more important. It has the additional benefit of preventing you from forgetting and important task. Whenever you write something down, you give much more importance to it, and writing lists are no different. At the end of the week, go back to your list and see if there’s anything that you have yet to complete, or even something that you had crossed out but now consider best for you to now finish.
13. Consider Hiring a Web Developer for Technical Support
A good web developer is going to do a lot for you besides helping you in those instances when your site is down. He can also teach you a lot, because with every issue, there’s something that has to be done, and you could ask him what he’s done and learn from that. Eventually, you’ll be confident enough to work as a developer on your own projects, but if you’re just starting out as a blogger, this is something that you cannot go without. When we first started this lot, we were in a bit of financial difficulty and could not hire a developer. Note that developers don’t come cheap. And for good reason. These are folks who have gone to school or study informally to acquire the knowledge that you’ll eventually need when you hire them. In those days we were faced with lots of difficulties whenever the site would go down. We would try to look into the issue ourselves, only to cause more problems. So do not skim on hiring a web developer. His experience and knowledge will help propel your blog and brand to success even even if they have nothing to do with the actual writing of the post, the filming of the videos, and all the other aspects of blogging. They will work behind the scenes, and will be there for you when everything seems to be going wrong.
14. Identify and Eliminate Time-Wasting Activities
Are you guilty of indulging in a few time-wasters every day? Here are 5 of the most common ones:
- Checking Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Pinterest and other social media sites multiple times throughout the morning or evening.
- Scrolling through your email inbox constantly
- Watching TV programs that you have no intention of watching
- Continuously clicking on links in emails, messages, or articles
- Constantly talking on the phone or texting
One effective method for identifying what consumes the most of your time is to use a dedicated app. After recording the time invested in various activities, you can review your list and assess whether there are tasks that can be streamlined or even eliminated entirely to achieve greater time efficiency. If you identify that a specific task requires an excessive amount of time, it’s worth investigating strategies to reduce its duration.
15. Don’t Hesitate to Outsource Tasks to Ease Your Workload
Outsourcing can be a great way to take on smaller, more manageable tasks that you may not have time or expertise for. It can also give you access to a wider range of talent and resources, saving you both time and money in the long run. Many times we find ourselves overwhelmed with work and activities, and if you find that it’s a bit too much for you, then don’t hesitate to ask for help. Even the most prolific and hard-working folks need assistance from time to time. You could, for instance, hire someone on Fiverr to help you complete your reports, or ask a friend or family member to assist you with the promise that you’ll help them with whatever they need.
16. Reduce TV Watching to Free Up More Time
According to a study by the United States Department of Labor, the average American watches TV up to four hours a day! And let’s not forget the commercials. Ads in general are incredibly time-consuming and can often take up more than half of the show. If you’re able to cut down on your TV watching, it’ll likely save you a lot of time in other areas as well. Research by The Nurses’ Health Study, which followed 50,000 women over a period of 6 years found that those who spent two or more hours watching television daily had a 23 percent higher risk of becoming obese and a 14 percent higher risk of developing diabetes. As an adult, we know that too much TV can gravely impact our mental and physical health, but what about our developing brains? What TV watching really accomplishes for individuals, families and society is still up for debate. Millions of people across the globe are glued to their screens every day without any substantial results being yielded by it. Some experts say that this mode of interaction can actually be harmful because TV alters our cognitive processes, decreases our concentration span and wastes time.
17. Identify Your Most Productive Hours for Focused Work
There are many factors to consider when trying to maximize productivity, but a good starting point is figuring out when is the best time for you to work. This can be difficult because it depends on a variety of factors, including your mood and how busy you are. To make things even more complicated, different tasks require different levels of focus and concentration. We all have ideal times when we are at our outmost best. This could be for some the very first moments of the morning upon awakening, and for others it could be deep in the middle of the night. Whatever time you pick to perform a task, make sure that it is quiet and that there are no distractions that will prevent you from working effectively. It may take some time before you pick the optimal time for you to work, and if you need to experiment, do so, but know that once you have your optimal time for working, stick to it.
18. Avoid Multitasking; Concentrate on One Task at a Time
There are those who swear that working at more than one project at the same time is best. While it is true that there are a few rare folks who can perform better when undertaking multiple tasks simultaneously, for the majority of us, it is best to concentrate on one activity at a time. The reason is your mind is concentrated and invested in that one thing. If you try to put too much on your plate, then you risk not doing much at all, or whatever task you complete, will be done superficially. Research shows that multitasking causes people to waste more time than if they worked on one task at a time. When working on multiple tasks, people compulsively switch between different activities without completing any of them in full. This switching reduces efficiency and productivity because it takes longer to complete tasks than if they were done sequentially. Multitasking can also lead to errors by disrupting airflow and violating the organization of information in memory. The negative effects of multitasking are most apparent when individuals are working under pressure or have difficulty focusing. This is probably not your goal. If you want to be able to perform competently at whatever task you’re doing, you should work at one thing at a time.
19. Utilize Content Planning and Scheduling Tools
Invest in content planning and scheduling tools like content calendars, social media management platforms, or blogging plugins for your website. These tools can help you organize your content creation schedule, automate social media sharing, and ensure your blog posts are published consistently. Planning and scheduling your content in advance will free up more of your time for other essential tasks and reduce the stress of last-minute publishing. You’ll maintain a consistent online presence and engage with your audience without spending excessive time on manual posting and content management.
In Closing
Blogging is filled with many pleasures and rewards, yet it can be a challenge for some, especially if you’re just starting out. That’s why we’ve listed these 19 tips for bloggers to save time. Keep pushing at it, and keep learning, never giving up when things get tough, and they will. We hope you found our post useful, and wish you the best of luck in your blogging adventures.
