Showing posts with label Blog Posts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blog Posts. Show all posts

9 Time Management Tips for Bloggers, Creating and Writing Blog Post Edition

Blogging takes time, quite a bit of time. If you aren't managing your time correctly, you'll find you can easily waste a lot of it. There are several aspects of blogging and truthfully there are things you can do time management wise in each category. But for today, I'd like to tackle a specific category, time management for post writing.



 Keep a notepad or something handy to jot down ideas wherever you go:

Most of your best idea's for blog posts will likely come to you at random times. Which is why if you keep a notepad or something with you anytime an idea pops into your mind, you'll be able to put it down and think more on it when you have more time.  It will also help, so you don't forget that great idea.

If I don't have my book handy, I almost always have my cell phone, so I also have a folder on it where I text myself ideas.



Brainstorm before you sit to write: 

If you wait to brainstorm when you are sitting down to write your posts, you're already not doing so well in blogging time management. In fact, you are probably adding double the time to it.

If you keep an idea book, as your working throughout your days brainstorm on an idea or two ahead of time that you may want to write about later that day when you sit down to do so.
If you are worried about forgetting, make a quick note in your notebook to help you remember part of your brainstorm process.

I actually find the best time to plan my posts and what I'd eventually like to put together in them, are the times when I am doing other things like out on a run, driving or waiting in line at the grocery store and sometimes even when chatting with friends. The times where I can let my thoughts roam freely when they are not forced.



Writing your posts: 

I hear all the time people say they get writers block, or can't think of things to write about when they have time to write posts.  Well that's usually because they don't do the first two steps above. If you're constantly waiting to do the entire creative process when you sit down to write a post that may have only taken 30-60 minutes to write could easily take double or triple that.

Instead when you sit down to write, just write! Look in your notebook, and pick the idea that has been most recently on your mind and write straight non-stop typing.
I do a 20 minute non-stop writing process.  I've heard other bloggers do 30-45 minutes a day. Where you just sit down and write, let the fingers flow as you put down everything you previously brainstormed on a subject.



Daily writing:

While blogging is a lot of fun, it's also a lot of work. Which is why I highly recommend writing 4-5 days a week 20-30 minutes at each sitting.
These are times you can put together previous brainstorm ideas, and begin formulating them, saving them as drafts to finish or continue another time. This also helps you form better blogging/writing habits, putting yourself on a schedule.
It allows you to enjoy the first love of bloggers, which is to create/write!



Editing process:

9 times out of 10 I will sit down and freely write posts, and then go back and edit them a few days to a few weeks later.
This does a lot of things. Gives you time to walk away from your posts and look at them with a fresh set of eyes.
It becomes easier to delete things, that originally you may have thought were important to include, but after going back and looking at it, realize a lot of things are unnecessary. (This is especially helpful for those of us who tend to be long winded.)

This really doesn't have to take much time, the better you get at it, you will find you can easily go in and fully edit a post ready to publish in 10 minutes or less.



Picture editing:

Personally, I prefer to have at least one image for each post. But at times 3-6 depending on the type of post. Editing and creating images take time, sometimes as much time as it takes to write post.
I suggest doing image/picture editing/creating once a week.

Go back and pick 3-5 posts that are in the finishing stages or ready for the editing stage, and create images for them all at once.

I find that if it's all done on a specific day, it's easier to get it all done and surprisingly ends up working out faster than if I only edited pictures one at a time for each post.



 Don't be a blog snob:

If all your doing is promoting your own material all the time, then your not going to get as far as you would if you'd spend a few minutes each day helping promote others blogs as well.  Blogging is a lot of give and take. If you constantly only take, you're going to run out of room to grow. But if you're giving when you can, others will help you take your blog to the next level. Plus, that is the fun part about blogging!



Accept guest bloggers:

If your running out of time to blog, then why not accept guest bloggers.  As long as they have a writing style that you feel your viewers would like. Why not allow a few guest bloggers to help you out at different times of the year to give yourself a little break in the writing process.





A few mistakes that add unnecessary time:

1. Ignore the numbers, don't check your stats often. Once a month is more than enough. Blogging is different than a regular website. Your return for your hard work can take a month or show to actually start giving you accurate numbers.

2. If you don't have anything to say, then yes it's okay to not say it.  Don't post to post. Not only is it a waste of your time, but likely if you didn't have a plan, it's a waste of your viewers time.  Remember to respect your viewers, and they will respect you!

3. Say NO, if you are overwhelmed and a company or program you are affiliated with wants you to run a post for them. If you don't have time, just say no.  They aren't going to dump you, and they will respect that you don't have the time to put something quality together.


 Those are my tips.

 Granted if you are a "day in the life" blogger these likely may not help you much. Because generally if you are a day in the life blogger your writing and posting as your day goes.
However, if you are a content writer, scheduler, planner then some of these tips may help you.


I find when I do steps 1-2, when I sit down to write I've never had a time where the words didn't just flow. I never run out of content, in fact I have far more than I'll probably ever be able to use. Sometimes you may write something and end up saving it as a draft to use months down the road. Nothing wrong with that, in fact once you get into blogging and begin networking with others daily, you'll find steps 1-2 will save you hours of time each week!


Those are my time management tips for creating posts.  
What are yours?




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How To Bring an Old Post to New Life

I've never claimed to be an expert blogger, but what I am really great at is online advertising and marketing, thanks to spending many years in that field of work.
Although the two are different, they have very many similarities.

Thanks to having worked with news sources I also have a pretty good background in smart SEO practices for written materials.  Which also makes it quite helpful in blogging SEO.  These reason's are why I feel I am a pretty good source of information on this subject and have decided to tell you more about it today to help you while you are trying to grow your blogs.



Today, I am going to tell you the correct way to bring an old post back to life, or how to re-create an old post.  As well as make sure you understand the do's and don'ts of guest blogging.  In ways that will make sure you don't accidentally have your blog tagged by search engines in bad ways.

I'm going to do my very best to simplify this a little so that even the non-techies can understand it without hearing all the big SEO (Search Engine Optimization) terms and having no clue what I am talking about.
So if you are great with SEO, and you are wondering why the post sounds very basic, then that is why!


BRINGING OLD POSTS BACK TO LIFE
& RE-CREATING POSTS

Let's start with bringing an old post back to life, or re-creating a post from the past.  If you are anything like me, you probably do take a bit of time creating a post.  I estimate about an hour to write a post, and 20-30 minutes to create the images for the post.  Unless its a research post, which then of course takes quite a bit more time.

Occasionally, especially if you have been blogging for years, you may want to go through and pick some older posts that you really liked that you ran years ago and give them a makeover and re-run them.

Did you know there is a right and wrong way to do this?

WRONG WAY - Copy and pasting an old post into a new post, exact work for word.

Why is this wrong? The search engine crawlers they don't like to see the exact same content on more than one web page, they think of it as copied material and allegedly hurts your site to do so.  It's also called a big SEO no no Duplicate Content Penalty.
Google treats it as plagiarism, yes even if it is from your own site, and the biggest mistake any writer can make is copying someones work, and lets face it if you want your posts to come up in search engines Google is a big one you don't want to have them bury your site because it considers it plagiarism.

On a side note: If you like to run Adsense ads on your blog and learn a little side income.  If in time your site has been tagged as copied content, they can actually ban you from being able to run ads on your site.

How to fix it? You've probably gotten better in your writing anyway, so re-write it.  You can still imply the same meaning behind it, and yes you can copy some of it word for word.  But for the most part, re-invent it and make it better.  Possibly even add more content to it, new things you've learned about the subject along the way.

Another idea, why not take a past post and put an opposite spin on it.  Like if you wrote a post on How to Run Uphill, why not re-create it to How to Run Downhill and establish even more credit on your blog as a how to resource that covers the subject.




I have a smaller blog, will it really matter?  Depends on if you ever plan on growing your blog, or would like to run advertising on it.  Although this is a subject that is widley debated in the SEO field, I like to look at it like this.  If you can learn to do something correctly why not do it!  No matter your motives now for your blog, they may change later and if you practice good habits now, then if you change later you won't have to worry about things.


GUEST BLOGGING

It's true one of the best ways we as bloggers can get our name out there to a new audience is guest blogging on larger blogs than our own.  That is where we create a post for a website/blog that likely has links to our own.  It involves gaining a new audience and link sharing, the very things that help build blogs.

So often bloggers create an awesome post for another website or blog and they are so excited because they spent so much time on it, they want to share it on their own site as well.  So they copy and past the exact post they wrote, and put it up on their own site and think nothing else of it, because they wrote it.  This can be a huge mistake!

If you are a guest blogger on another website/blog never post the exact same post up on your own blog.  Two things can happen, both sites can be dinged by the web crawlers as using copied news sources.  Or if one site is much bigger than the other, the smaller can actually be dinged more for bad SEO practices.

Most news media/larger blogs should be telling you and having you agree you won't do this before you guest post.  In fact if you write for online newspapers, like I have in the past they will even make you sign an electronic waiver that you wont do this.
However, if you are guest posting on blogger sites, bloggers may not know to tell you this, or they may even suggest you post it up on your own after a few weeks.

IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO IF I WANT TO SHARE MY WORK ON MY OWN SITE?

YES!!!!  There is one thing you can do, to avoid getting in trouble with the search engine crawlers and it's so simple. At the beginning of your re-post, add this tag into your HTML field (replacing the website with the actual link to where your original article ran on the other site.)

<link rel=“canonical" href="www.theblogsitethatyouroriginalpostappeared.com"/>
(Canonical is a computer word that means, original version.)

That is it, and its so simple and if you do that you can re-post your guest post anywhere else you want, and no penalties will be given to you!

If you are asked to submit posts to other sites, or other sites ask you if they can share your work on their site.  It's still okay, go for it, get your name out there!
More than likely if they are a bigger website they are already doing this.  But it is completely within your right to let them know they need to attach the original version link to the post for correct SEO practices.

If you don't do this, basically when this happens, think of it as the little guy (smaller blog) is the one that will get dinged the most and the smaller one is likely going to be the one who gets the penalties. Or it will be the one who copied and put the content up 2nd.

Don't try to trick the system either.  When I say trick, I mean don't think changing a few words here and there or deleting one word here or there will be a quick fix.  Just add the simple HTML link and there are no worries you can re post as you want!

We may think of the internet as such a large and massive thing, that how could it possibly find my copied post mistake?  But if you are thinking that, you are wrong. Search engines are crawling the web and pulling new data all the time.  You are not immune just because you think you are small in the vast world that consists online.  Some of the larger blogs, have even been web crawled 10 times in just a few hours of their post going live.




So the keys to take from this are:

* Never copy and past entire posts, word for word to re-run them from your own blog.

 * Never share your own exact guest post on your blog without attaching an original copy link.

 * If you are going to bring a new post back to life, take the time to re-create it, meaning re-write it, give it new substance and meaning.


DON'T SWEAT IT

Even though this is a How To post, don't let anything I talked about above scare you if you have made mistakes in the past!
Just start correcting things going forward.  If you have the time, you can definitely go into past guest posts that you have re posted and take a few seconds and add that tag at the beginning.  But don't worry about rushing anything this minute/week/month.  Just relax and practice better habits going forward.

This is one of those subjects that many argue on, and wonder who and if anyone actually gets penalized and how they are actually penalized.  I have heard so many back and forth on it, I personally don't think the argument matters.

For myself, if I know something "might" not be right, I am not going to do it and I will do what I know "will" be okay.

Education even in the blogging world is key to not only building a better blog, but increasing your chances of growing your blog.


So tell me, was this something you already knew about?

 Do you find these types of subjects on my blog helpful?  This year during blog hops, and on the first Thursday of the month I have been hitting up Grow Your Blog topics, I'd love to know if this is something you'd like me to keep up, or not for the future!



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Grow Your Blog, Blog Hop

I'm hosting a Grow Your Blog, Blog Hop in February. I'd love it if you'd like to consider joining me and others in this great Networking opportunity!

 (1/21/15 UPDATE: I am going to cap this off at 40, participants.  We are almost there, so if your thinking of joining join us you will want to join soon.) 

You might be wondering, how does Runaway Bridal Planner know how to grow a blog, her blog isn't one of the biggest.

If you are thinking that, your right.  I don't have one of the biggest blogs out there, but in the past few years I have gone from a couple of page views a week to thousands.

To a larger blog, this might not sound impressive, but for a smaller blog I am pretty darn proud of how things are going.  It makes me feel like I have a decent idea on how to grow a blog.  What I am doing is working, it's not easy, its a lot of work (fun work), but it is working!
My goal for this hop, is to let you all in on what I have done.  How you can build your blog and grow your audience even if at one stepping stone at a time.

What have I learned this past year that has helped me do this?  A simple thing, the understanding and knowledge of Networking!
It's not always about the numbers, it's about the relationships you build.  You know the term, "It's all who you know."  Well in some ways that DOES ring true in blogging.
Good networking relationships in blogging can actually turn into finding more and more future relationships.  When your interacting with one blogger, and others see you time after time, it draws their interest and sometimes they come visit your blog just to see what your all about.
If your lucky, you might even end up finding a few new friendships out of it too!

To do this, you have to have a foundation to build on.  Most people start with a blog, and then venture into other area's of social media marketing.


Any size blog is welcome to join the hop!  However, bloggers who aren't receiving millions of pageviews each month will probably find this growth opportunity to be the most beneficial!


I'd love it if you'd like to join up and participate!  However, please make sure you read through this entire post (sorry it's long I know) and make sure you are okay and can agree and commit to the time in February to do this.
If you are not sure, don't sign up!
If you need to think about it, just bookmark it and come back later.  I am leaving the sign up, up for 3 weeks.


4 SIMPLE RULES TO JOIN

#1  Any type of blogger can participate, however, to keep it comfortable for everyone participating  your blog must be considered family friendly, no nude or erotica are allowed.  All blog participant submissions will be reviewed before your name is added to the official list.

 #2  It is a requirement that you participate in the comment exchange portion of the hop.  I know blogging takes time, and growing your blog takes even more time too. So when I set this up I didn't want it to feel overwhelming to anyone.  I also wanted to make it as easy as possible.  But it also wouldn't be fair if you signed up to participate, and others are commenting and sharing your blog and social media mentions if you aren't doing the same with their blogs.
I estimate that this will take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes additionally from your day. (*see below if you can't participate daily.)
You'll be on the honor code that you'll participate each week and help grow others blogs as they are doing for you!  However, if it becomes obvious that you are not participating.  I reserve the right to delete your blog from the group.  Also keep in mind others are likely to notice first that they are participating and you are not.  If your looking to develop new blogging relationships keep in mind that others will notice what you do and don't!

#3  You'll need to be okay with receiving a daily email from me in February.  You'll receive an initial email welcoming you to the blog hop.  An email the last week in January to let you know what date(s) your blog will be spotlighted in Feb (to give you time to prepare).  Then the daily emails will start Feb 1st-28th as we all begin Networking, it will be your list of to do's for that day.

#4  You must post on your blog at least ONCE a week each week in February.  You can also post daily! You are NOT required to post any more than normal, after all it's your blog it needs to ring true to how you want it to be, which is why there is no other requirements than to post at least once a week!

How it All Works

The object of joining this is to grow your blog and get it out there in front of different eyeballs in the form of Networking.
Getting your messages shared via different people, different ways at different times.  We all have different blogs and different followers, and we can all help share each others blog and messages to, so together we will help grow each others blogs, social media mentions and posts.


 We will focus on these Networking areas:
* 1 day (possibly 2) in Feb your post will be featured and commented and shared by all.
* Twitter Follows & Retweets
* Facebook Page Likes, Post Likes & Shares
* Pinterest, Board Following, Image Pinning
* Instagram Followes, Likes
* Thoughtful blog comments


What do you need to know now to join?

* Optional, pull your google analytics or whichever reporting system you use to track your blogs page views and other statistics.  Pull your average monthly numbers and set them aside.  After the hop is over, I want you to compare them to your February results from the hop so you can see the difference!  (Also may want to make note of your social media numbers to see the growth there too.)

*  You MUST commit to blogging at least once each week in February.  Blog as you normally do, although their will be a few weekly suggested theme post ideas, they will be entirely optional.  You blog how you want to blog!

* Optional, but highly recommended.  Include at least 1 pinable image in each post!  Even if you don't have or use Pinterest yourself, one thing that many bloggers do find is that Pinterest is their #1 source lead to their blog posts.  If you don't have a pinable image, then you can't have a presence on Pinterest and your losing out on new visitors to your blog.

* On January 26th you will be emailed a date for your blogs spotlighted post(s).  This will give you advanced time to create a great post for your spotlight day.  You can use it as a day to introduce yourself and your blog, or create a post on something you are passionate about.  You can do anything you'd like, its your blog its your time to shine.  I just want to give advance notice so you can prepare.
(A recommended 500 word minimum as well as at least 1 pinable image should be considered for this post! *See the Q&A below for more info on why for this part.)
Depending on how many we have sign up, their will be 1 or possibly 2 blogs spotlighted each day.
Why?  Well on this date, everyone in the blog hop will be visiting your blog and commenting on it.
(*Its okay if your busy and cannot visit a blog each day, you can play catch up during the week.  The main requirement is that by the end of the week (Midnight Saturday), you must have visited each and every blog that was spotlighted for that week.)
NOTE: I would like everyone to have 2 spotlight days, however that depends on how many we have sign up.  For sure for now plan on 1.  You'll know by the 26th if there are going to be 2.

* During the month of February you MUST be willing to leave a thoughtful comment on ALL the spotlighted blog posts (You will receive these via email weekly.)  You should also be leaving an easy way for other bloggers to find your blog when you comment.  If you don't, then you cannot complain that others are not returning a comment on your blog.  They can only comment if they can find you!  It's also highly recommended you turn OFF capitcha's or other things that can detour others from commenting.

*  During the ENTIRE month of February.  If someone comments on your blog, you MUST be willing to go back and visit their blog within 72 hours.  *Networking*  (Only if they leave a link to their blog, in your comments.  You will not be required to locate others who are not making themselves easy to find.  When you respond to their comment on your blog, just make sure you let them know you would have loved to visit their blog but they didn't leave a way for you to find them.
This rule also applies for comments that are received from others not participating in the hop.  They may have found you and taken notice from one of the comments you left on another blog.  This is all about Networking and Networking comes from many various forms.
You want to grow your blog, and this is one of those things that takes time, but can also be a lot of fun, for this hop it is required to comment and return the favor to all who visit you and take the time to share their thoughts on your post!!!

* Although you'll only be required to visit the spotlighted blogs and social pages on any given day. For Networking purposes, I highly recommend you spend as much time or even a little time if that is all you have, visiting other blogs on the list of interest to you, commenting on them.  Making new relationships.  I keep saying this, but it's all about Networking!!!!

* Only if you have these forms of social media.  Sometimes you will be sharing others posts via social media.  You'll want to make sure you use appropriate  #Hashtags.  #Hashtags are beneficial on Twitter, Pinterest & Instagram.  You can include them on Facebook, but unless they have changed things recently that I am unaware of, Facebook doesn't pick up hashtags like the others do.  If you are not familiar with these, you can learn them in a few minutes just start today.

*  Additionally, you will need to know how to re-tweet, favorite or like a post on Twitter.  Like or comment on an Instagram post.  Pin an image to a Pinterest board, pin an image to a group board.  Share, comment and like a Facebook post.  (You will only be responsible for doing this if you tell me you have and use these social media options.)

*  Optional, if you aren't on: Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook now would be a great time to sign up for accounts.  You can use the Blog Hop to help build your following base.  If you are thinking of signing up for some/all do it before you join this blog hop so your links can be included for others to use during the hop.

*  You will get an email within 48 hours of signing up for this hop.  At that time your name will be added to the official list of bloggers participating.
However, I understand if 5-15 minutes a day is too much to add to your schedule in February.  So if you can no longer participate or change your mind please email me anytime between now and January 24th and I will remove you with no questions asked.  PLEASE let me know no later than this, because I will be spending time working you into the hop schedule.  If you bail at a later date, it won't be fair to others!  In the form you fill out, that is when you'll let me know what dates in February you cannot be spotlighted.  I will do my best to work around schedules.

*  Have more questions, scroll down below to see the question and answer section for more information or contact me for the answer.
_____________________________________

See who has already signed up to participate in the 
Grow Your Blog, Blog Hop

(The list will will be updated as needed every 48 hours until Jan. 25th.)
If you don't see your name on the list and you sent me your application more than 48 hours ago.  Possibly your email/blog information was incorrect.  Email me and I will look into it.


NOTE:  Because this hop will take me a lot more time than normal to organize and put together.  I am only allowing bloggers to join up between now and January 24th.  Sorry, I will not allow any exceptions to this!  

WANT TO JOIN US?
Fill out your information in the form below to join up and participate:


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QUESTION and ANSWERS

Q- I don't have a lot of time, but I want to participate.
A- No worries, none of us have ton's of time.  I am keeping this as simple and easy as possible for everyone.  5-15 minutes should be all that is needed to do each day's requirements.

Q - What if I sign up, but I can't put effort into it every single day?
A - No problem!  It's set up to be easy, so you can do this as you have time.  You don't have to do it everyday if you don't have time. You can go in and do it on the days you do have time to focus on this.  You just have to have it all done by each Saturday.

Q- You mentioned although optional it is highly recommended that our sponsored day posts have at least 500 words and at least 1 pinnable image, why is this?
A- If you are familiar with SEO or even the term Going Viral then this is where this comes into play. In short Google searches sites/blogs and has specific algorithms to determine what posts are valid content, the ones they feel are better come up in google searches more.  Posts with very little content are the least likely to get picked up.  Although there is no rule of thumb on what is the perfect post length, some say it's somewhere around 1,500 words.
I picked 500, because that is what they consider the lower end of a good word count post, plus it sounds less overwhelming for most people.
Although it is rare, if a post goes viral several things happen.  If you notice posts that go viral when you view them, very rarely will you see short posts.  It would take too long to go into it.  But to better the chances since you'll be getting lots of page views, and pins and shares to these posts I thought I'd put it out there so if you are one of the rare lucky individuals, you're chances will be slightly higher!

Q- What if I don't have Facebook or Twitter and I only have a blog and Pinterest or some other combination?
A - No problem, the reason I had you fill out the Google Document is so I can circulate what you do have appropriately.  You will not be required to comment or share others social media channels if you don't have that particular form yourself!

Q- I only post on my blog once or twice a week is that okay, or do I need to do more?
A- You can post as much or as little as you want as long as you keep to the minimum of 1X a week.  Don't try to create posts, just for the sake of posting during the "Grow your Blog, Blog Hop".  Keep on doing what you have been doing, be real, post as you normally do.  Share content like you normally share it.  The point is to introduce your blog to everyone in it's "REAL" self.  You want people to keep on following you, so stay true to what makes your blog unique.  Don't start writing new content, on new topics or things you have no plans to blog about in the future, you won't want to confuse your potential new followers.

Q- You mentioned their will be possible blogging subjects sent out each week.
A - Yes, but they are completely optional.  One subject can bring several different variations ideas.  Since this is a "Grow Your Blog" focus, the subjects will be related to this.  You do NOT have to run any of those post topics, they are only suggestive.  However, since we all have different successes and we can all learn from each other, I am going to put the idea out there.  It's entirely up to you, if you tackle any of them!

Q- I haven't used social media in the past, if I sign up for it and it is brand new can I use it in the hop?
A- Of course, and what better way to get an immediate following!  I'd suggest joining the ones you want as soon as possible just so you are familiar with the functions and how to "like, share, comment" on things ahead of time so you feel like you know what you are doing come February 1st.

Q- I am signing up, is there anything I can do now to help me get ready for the hop?
A- Yes, As you know blogging takes time, especially writing quality posts.  Take this time in January to get a head a little, write a few posts and get them scheduled for February.  This way, you won't have to divide too much of your time between writing posts and networking with the other bloggers and assigned tasks.  This also a great time to start thinking about what you'd like your spotlighted post to be on.
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If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments to this post.  Because likely if you have a question someone else will too.  
I am sure this being my first hop of this kind, there are a few things I haven't covered that you will help me to do so.   
(No question is a dumb question, I promise:)
However, if you have a question and you are not wanting others to see that you asked, feel free to email me and ask me in private.  I will respond to all comment questions, and emails daily!
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