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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Everything Blogging: Get Organize

So today is our everything blogging kick off and I figured we need to put “First things First” ( I learned that in a 7 Habits of Highly Effective People seminar, yeah I am one of those kind of people).

We are all bloggers here so I don’t have to tell you about the importance of your content. I can show you how to get them but it is up to you to keep them there and coming back. (Insert some wise saying here) this one fits “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink”, okay great now I am sounding real smart it gets better.

Let’s get to business the business of organization that is. To be successful and still juggle work, school, family or any other obligation that you have you must get organized or you will get burned out or something else in your life will suffer, and I can tell you that you do not want that.

Here are some sure fire ways to get yourself organized and ready to blog it out:

1) Make a Schedule: If your blog is going to become your business you can’t just do it when you get around to it. You must sit aside a few hours a day dedicated to the following things:

  • Content- Dedicate the most time to this because this will keep your readers coming back. I do suggest writing articles for the week to free up your time for other tasks.
  • Promotion- They won’t come if you don’t tell them you are out there (very important for traffic).
  • Networking- This is different than promotion because you are going to be visiting and commenting on other blogs. This is not a time for hard core promotion but a time to build relationships this will generate significant traffic as they link to you.
  • Site Checks- People are not going to want to keep coming back to your site if it is filled with broken links and pages that aren’t loading correctly so take some time and go through your page and check to make sure everything is in working order.
  • Stat Checks- I know that most blogging site say don’t be a slave to your stats but if this is more than a hobby to you then you need to be very aware of your stats because these will help you learn what you are doing right and what you might need to change. You are going to want to check page views, bounce rate, referring sites ( you need to know what is working and what is not when it comes to your promotions and networking), location of visitors (this lets you know what where your readers are coming from so you can better tailor their experience)
  • Misc. Tasks- Here you will take care of anything not covered in the previous task such as creating business cards, flyers, updating your advertising kit, making a list of public relations firms to contact, wrapping a giveaway anything you need to do.

All of these things are very important. You should focus on one of these things a day. Don’t try attempting to do more than one of these things a day or you will become overwhelmed. I recommend spending the most time on content.

The time that you dedicate should be uninterrupted so make sure that the times you choose the children are either gone, napping or occupied. If you have a spouse explain to them the importance of you getting those few hours a day.

Here is an example of my schedule:

Monday-Friday

6am Wake up and get ready for work

8am-3:30pm Work and school work

4pm-5:30pm Nap for Mommy

5:30pm-8pm Daylan Time

8pm-when I get tired Depending on the day (content, promo, networking, stat checks, site checks, misc. task

Saturday-Sunday

7am-1pm Family Time

1pm-3pm Naptime for the Household

3pm-9pm Family Time

9pm-when I get tired Bloggy Business (see M-F 8pm task)

So I am sure you thinking that is a pretty full schedule. Keep in mind that is my schedule please tailor yours to best fit your obligations.

2) Get a Dry Erase Board: Many families already have these but get a big one dedicate to keep track of your bloggy business. Write out upcoming things your planning or need to take care of for your blog. This board will be much like a storyboard that movie producers use while making a film. Having this board somewhere visible will serve to remind you of what you need to do for your blog each day, week or month.

Here is what my board looks like:

3) Use a portable file organizer: You will want this so that you can keep business cards and flyers organized for promotional purposes. You will also want to keep a copy of your advertising/media kit with you just in case you need to pull it out ( I will discuss this in more detail when we move into promotions and networking. The moral of keeping your portable file organizer is this: always be prepared to get a new reader, advertiser, product review or giveaway sponsor. Never leave yourself open for a missed opportunity.

Here is my portable file organizer and the things inside of it:


Notice: (I have my fashionable portable file organizer well equipped with my planner, advertising kit, giveaway advertising kit, and that pen you see has my logo on it, I also have some little stickers because kids love them, I also have other information from companies that I am working with.)

Okay so now you are well organized and ready to move on into the next phase in this series. Check back next Sunday for a lesson on Promotions and Networking.

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6 comments:

djones said...

Hey Danielle. I like the way you have everthing organized. I do have a notebookthat I write things for my blogs in but the dry erase board is a great idea. I also wanted you to check out a new blog as I am looking for some feedback and suggestions on what wives want to see. Please check it out at:
http://housewifebeautiful.com

KC said...

Wow! This is so cool. I love it. I'm definitely motivated to start re-organizing everything.
I have a board, notebook and all. It's just that sometimes I tend to ignore them. Way to go! I'm glad I read this! I'm just beginning to be active on my blogging last month though I have started blogging early this year.

Charity said...

This post is definitely something I needed to read. I do not have any sort of organization to my day at all. I need to start organizing my time and making it work more efficiently so that my blogging is better and my blogs are noticed more. Thank you so much for this article and the tips!

Nile said...

I really do not put up a schedule since I know I will be blogging and social networking every day. As a web and graphic designer, the online world is my business, so I am on for at least 8 hours.

However, for some, it might be best to make some type of schedule. It is not uncommon for me to go ahead and type up a few posts at a time, and then schedule each to publish so I can get to doing more social networking or my work.

The usual scheduling I do is make sure I am tackling my web design clients each day. Rather than focus on 1 project, I do 3 or 4 so I can keep things interesting.

Stats, perhaps check 3 times a week. Once on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday to start plotting your post trend and catching when your commenters are out there to read your posts.

However, all of these are great suggestions and makes you far more organized than I am *envious* :D

Unknown said...

Hi, Danielle. The points you have here would really help me get more organised with my blogging. Thanks for the post.

- Wes -

Danielle said...

Wes I am glad that you found this to be helpful. There is more to come as far as blogging goes.

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