Building Your Blog 101 - Planning Your Blog

I'm assuming you're here because you need some help planning out your new blog, or perhaps looking for a new way to get more organized with a well established blog.  A lot of this has to do with time management, which you can view a post on HERE.  In this particular post though we're going to steer clear of time management and focus more on three things:

1) Planning a posting schedule

2) Planning content

3) Planning goals for the blog and meeting them

1) Planning a posting schedule

I came across an interesting article the other day on The Dainty Squid.  This blogger came up with an ingenious way to organize and keep track of when she'll be posting certain articles.  Check out the article:  The Dainty Squid: Blog Planning.

Posting regularly is important for a successful blog.  Sometimes I'll post two or three articles a day if the mood really strikes me, and other times just one.  For me being flexible is important, and the author of The Dainty Squid has worked flexibility into her blog planning.  I do aim to post a certain number of articles a week/month however, so for me that's about as far as my scheduling goes.  I do keep track of what I will be writing next however, so that I always have a direction to go when I have some time to sit down and write.  I hate wasting time when I sit down to work on my blogs.

2) Planning Content

I'm sure you've already read our post about how Content is King, but if you haven't, head over to see the vast list of how you can generate ideas for new content on your blog.

One thing you can do in planning out content for a month, or even a year, is to brainstorm about topics you can turn into a series of articles.  This is like blogging in different themes.  Lets say you have a dog blog.  For the month of June you might plan on doing a special series of dog training posts.  Then in July you might do a series about different brands of dog foods and their pros and cons.  Of course you can still blog on other topics during this time, but making a series of posts out of a theme is a great way to come up with lots of great content.  You can also get your readers amped up about the upcoming series of posts you'll be writing, and how important it will be for them to subscribe so that they can know when the next article has come out.

3) Planning blog goals for the blog and meeting them

There's an article by Fuel Your Blogging HERE that I really want you to see for planning out a year of blogging.  It primarily has to deal with setting goals and expanding your horizons as a blogger.  It is well worth the few minutes it will take to read it.

Aside from just reading the article above, I want to take a moment to talk to you about goal setting, because I find that a lot of people don't know how to make a proper goal, and end up setting themselves up for failure.  When setting goals you should set smart goals, or: 

S - Specific

M - Measurable

A - Attainable

R - Relevant

T - Time-bound

This means that instead of just saying, "I'm going to grow my blog," you will have to be specific and say, "I'm going to go from 10 subscribers to 30 subscribers this year."   By doing this you've gone from a vague non-specific goal, to something specific, something you can measure (how many new subscribers), something that's not way out there and unreasonable (it's attainable), it's relevant to what your blog needs, and it's got a deadline (this year).

• Setting a specific goal lets you know what the bottom line you're working towards is.  
• Making it measurable allows you to track how you're doing in working towards this goal.  
• By setting a reasonable goal and making it attainable, it means you're not setting unreasonable expectations of yourself or your blog, and you're not setting yourself up for failure. 
• Getting new subscribers is something relevant to your blog, as opposed to setting a goal saying that you're going to buy a new cat this year (which has nothing to do with your blog).
• Setting time-limits gives you a deadline, and will help you to track your progress.  Ultimately, if you meet your goal by this deadline, you know you have succeeded.  If you have not met the goal by the deadline, then you've failed, but you can still work towards the goal at a later date.

Once you have a smart goal, you can start laying the foundations of a plan to accomplish this goal.  It's much easier to focus on something specific and how to acheive it such as "increase subscribers" rather than just, "grow my blog."  For instance, you might increase subscribers by asking them at the end of each post to subscribe, or by adding more subscribtion buttons in more visible and prominent places on the blog, or even by running a contest and giving away a product to one of your subscribers.  If you didn't have a specific goal, you wouldn't be able to work towards it.

When planning your blog, do you use any of these strategies?  What are some other ways you plan out your blog?

Don't forget to comment below, and subscribe for more great articles and tips about building a successful blog!

Read More

Time Management 421 - Dominate Your Time

When building and running a blog it can be easy to feel as if your time is dominating you.  Suddenly you may find that every second of your free time has been taken up by thoughts of the blog, working on the blog, or trying to get traffic to the blog.  What about your family?  What about your down time?

This lesson is all about you, and teaching you 5 great ways to dominate your time, instead of letting it dominate you.

1) The first and best way I've found to dominate my time is to set a schedule and stick to it from day to day.  I generally like to set a time limit for working on my blog each day, whether it's 2 hours, or 4, or even more.  I try to work it around my family's schedule so that I'm working when my husband is at work, or my daughter is asleep or otherwise occupied.  This leaves the rest of the day open, and my valuable family time free for me to do what I love most: be with my family.

2) Write or print your schedule out.  Make a document and list every hour of the 24 hour day.  Start by listing the times you'd like to be sleeping.  Then add in other important things you do throughout the day that are set in stone, such as appointments, taking the kids to school, going to work (in person), etc.  Be sure to include driving times, chore times, meal times, and personal time needed for personal hygiene.

Now take a look at the time you have left.  Write in the times you'd like to be working on the blog, and your down time, and family time (or other types of free time activities you enjoy doing).

A schedule you make might look like this:

12 am Sleeping

1 am Sleeping

2 am Sleeping

3 am Sleeping

4 am Sleeping

5 am Sleeping

6 am Breakfast.  Shower.  Get kids ready for school.

7 am Drop kids off at school.  Go grocery shopping.

8 am Work on blog

9 am Work on blog

10 am Work on blog

11 am Down time

12 pm Lunch

etc....

Remember, you can always edit it after a few days if it's not working out quite like you'd envisioned.

3) Be flexible.  Perhaps something happens during the time you've designated to work on your blog... maybe little Johnny or Susie May has gotten sick or is throwing a tantrum and needs some attention.  The best advice I can give in these situations is to forgo the stressing out that comes from the pressure of trying to stick with a schedule, and just go with the flow.  Odds are you will find some time later to finish up what you were doing when little Johnny takes an unexpected nap, or you can stay up a half hour later at night and finish it up.

4) Plan ahead of time.  This one is a biggie in a number of ways.  Things come up in life that might set your schedule a kilter, such as needing to make a doctor's appointment or going on vacation.  By taking a few minutes to work these things into your schedule ahead of time you can plan out what you need to do with your blog to work around these things.  For example with the doctor's appointment, you may need to move your blog time to later in the day, or plan ahead and write two blog posts the day before and set the second one to post automatically.  The same goes for going on vacation.  You can write some blog posts ahead of time and schedule them to post to the blog while you're off enjoying a few days at the beach.  Planning ahead of time will save you some stress later on.

Another point to planning ahead is planning out some topics you'll write about in advance.  This will save you from sitting down for your hour or two of blog time and just sitting there trying to think of topics.  You can be thinking of topics for your blog while you're waiting for an appointment to start or cooking a meal etc.

5) Be sure to schedule some relax time.  A stressed blogger is one headed for disaster.  I think we can safely say this is true of all people, bloggers or not.  Scheduling your blog time in five hour blocks with no break is a good way to burn out fast.  Be sure to give yourself some relax time in between blogging and other daily stressors so that you can unwind and go back to your tasks feeling refreshed and ready to go.

There are many ways to manage your time effectively, but these are five that I've found help me in my daily routine.

Do you have suggestions on how to dominate your time?  Let us know in a comment below!

Read More