This is a guest contribution from Charles Crawford.
If your business is blogging, productivity is essential. The only way for you to get the results you want is to put out consistent high quality content. While this is often easy in the beginning when the blog is new and exciting, as time goes on this can become more difficult. There are some ways that you can improve your productivity to keep your blog current.
1. Work at the Right Times
A common misconception is that people work better first thing in the morning. The problem with this is people are all different. You may not be a morning person at all. This is why you need to find the time of day that you are most productive and work then, even if it is 3 AM.
2. Use Technology to Your Advantage
If you are like many writers, then inspiration will come at the most unexpected times. You may be sitting at a red light or even in the doctor’s office when a great idea for a blog will come to you. Rather than trying to remember it, which often is unsuccessful, use your smartphone to your advantage. Apps such as Evernote syncs with your computer and other devices. It will allow you to type note, snap pictures for inspiration or even record audio notes. This is a great way to organize yourself and ensure you never forget an idea again.
3. Create a Schedule
A common mistake many bloggers who work from home is not creating a schedule for themselves. When you know what you plan to work on within a time frame, you are more likely to get this done. Otherwise you may find yourself wanting to scroll through your social media feeds or even doing household tasks. Make sure you schedule everything you need to get done for the day, both for work and personal tasks to ensure you get everything done.
4. Change Things Up
For those who are not productive because they feel like the blog has gotten stale, find a way to change things up. Write a new style of blog. For instance if you have been reviewing products every week, try making a list style blog with great images that matches the theme of the site. Don’t be afraid to try something new as this is a great way to grow your writing skills and have more fun.
5. Have Fun
If you aren’t having fun with the blog, then it simply won’t work. Find ways to make the blog fun. This can be with giveaways, Q and A sessions or many other activities. Make a list of different things you would like to do with the blog and if you can’t think of any new ideas, visit other blogs to get inspiration and ideas.
6. Work on it Every Day
Even if you just spend five minutes writing or tweaking, you will find that this will make you more productive. In fact, you may also find that the five minutes turns into half an hour and you have the first draft of your next blog done or have taken care of the back end SEO work you have been putting off since you created the site.
7. Utilize Social Media
Social media is a great way to connect with your audience and find out what they are looking for. You will also find this helpful in keeping you motivated to put out the next blog, as you know there are people waiting. Your fans can be a great source of support and help when you are not feeling productive.
Charles Crawford is the co-founder of Crawford and O’Brien. Aside from doing dental SEO and helping dentists get new patients, Charles plays jazz piano in restaurants in Scottsdale, AZ on weekends.
Hi Charles,
#6 is the reason why I published my 3rd eBook in 3 months. Loving the tips!
I write a bit each day – or, 3000 to 6000 words – after reading John Grisham’s advice.
The guy who sold over 300 million copies said he wrote every single day for years, even when he was a busy lawyer. He’d get up at 5 AM, get to work, and he’d write, even if it was for 10 minutes before a crazy busy day.
That simple habit paved the way for his success because he formed a habit, or conditioned himself, to write daily. He became productive and prolific by writing daily and I’m following his habit lead, getting writing done each day no matter what.
As a pro blogger I have no excuse at all. Even though Fiji appears to distract me at every turn, I sit and write, because authors and bloggers should write daily to develop their craft.
I find it strange when bloggers have little time to write, or if they don’t write daily. Why blog? Give up the gig to do what you love, because if you value blogging and love blogging you’ll build 30 to 60 minutes of every day around writing for yourself, and your audience.
If you’ll just practice writing your blogging productivity will go through the roof because where your energy goes, grows.
Smart tips here Charles.
So happy to tweet this.
Thanks so much.
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
You mentioned you write 3,000 to 6,000 words a day. Do you type all of this manually on the keyboard? I admire your dedication to blogging. :-)
Great points Charles and couldn’t agree more! Working late at night or early in the morning is not a universal thing. Every person is different. Some people are owls and some are early birds. I am the best person to know what time I can work best. So when it comes to choosing the optimal working time, it is best to follow one’s own instinct :)
Working without a schedule – this one is a biggie. While working from home, it is easy to get caught up in loads of stuff. There is so much distraction around (read: responsibilities)! And the time gets filled up quite soon without having done anything useful for the business at the end of the day. Which is why it is highly crucial to have a schedule and also to have a list of things to do on that day (usually prepared on the day before).
Thanks SO much for the wonderful points :) Productivity is something we all need.
I can’t emphasize enough about using social media as a medium for free advertising and meaningful relationship building. Social media for business helps reduce the cost of PPC advertising: a paid medium most companies are still in the dark about using today.
If you do what you love and stay focused, you can achieve great results. Just don’t give up.
Not having a schedule is the biggest mistake I made for about more than a year. It is difficult to actually work on the blog without a proper schedule, especially when you have a full time job. But once you create a schedule, things become systematic.
Hi charles!
I would like to add 80-20 rule to this list. I have been using 80-20 rule and it turned out as an excellent time saver. It have helped me to manage time and being more productive.
Thanks
Whenever I read about the ineffectiveness of multi-tasking, I think how long it takes to break that addiction. I’ve discovered to pay attention to only one job at some point, but regularly allow myself to be diverted by the e-mail thing. You know how you’re dependent to Search engines Analytics? I’m like that with e-mail. Also loved your last post “5 Unique Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic”
Staying away from social networking sites as much as possible is equally important, something which we all fail doing. I wish I could just block Facebook so that I could concentrate and work with all my attention for my new business and Finance. I really need to be more productive.
Hi charles,
Very informative article. Its very easy to bring up your blog but when you make it up then its very difficult to maintain its position. The point which i like the most here is that you should have fun with your blog. If you don’t have any idea you can take it by other’s blogs. Try to make more and more ways to make the blog fun.
Thanks for sharing such an informative post.
Regards.
All of these are so important, and great points to make. But enjoying your work is one of the most vital aspects of blogging. Why start a blog that you don’t enjoy contributing to? And if your blog has become stale or a chore to update, why not come up with fun ways to change things up? Contests are a great way to get people involved. People love the chance to win something or have their work featured on your site, even if your site hasn’t gained much traction yet. Plus, it’s fun to have everyone submit content and ideas–a great way to get your community involved.
Hi Stacey,
Useful list !
Adding to the list, I believe that time management and an editorial calender is also essential to be more producitve.
Thank you.
I always find myself checking Facebook, and then watching TV, and becoming distracted… throughout the day. I guess I just need more discipline.
Hi Charles,
This is indeed a beautiful list you made here.People always love to visit productive bloggers blog,Work regularly with a planned schedule is really a great way to be productive.Your tips are noted down and will start following soon.
Regards
Debarpan
I have been unmotivated with my blog lately I am so falling behind! This list is really helping!
#1 – I must do it in the morning or my willpower isnt as strong.
#3 – get back into using my planner – knowing what I need to post etc.
#6 – I have created a daily to do list which should take about 30 mins – something I can do every day!
Hey Charles
The ideas you have mentioned to be more productive are certainly going to help me in my work.
Good job bro. Thanks for such a productive piece of work.
Here are few things I use to do to be more productive:
– Most of time people waste lots of time in finding a topic on which they want to write about. So its a good habit to keep a Google Docs where you can maintain all of your ideas for blogging.
– When I’m wiring, I use to stay away from all kind of distractions like social media sites. email accounts and Google Analytics real time data
– Once I’m done with few posts, I use to schedule all of them in one go.
Hey Charles,
Great post. One of the things I do is your tip #6. Though I do more than 5 minutes of tweaking and adjusting, I do write every single day and that makes it easier for me to write a blog post.
When I was learning copywriting, one of the techniques I was taught was to write out sales letters and copy swipe files by hand. Though it was tedious, it certainly was effective. Blogging, on the other hand, I have to use technology. I can’t, for the life of me, write a blog post pen and paper, so that’s a good tip there and it helps you be as productive as possible.
Great post here.
Thanx) Simple but yet importnant tips that every blogger should remember.
I totally need these tips since I started college again my blog has been neglected and having trouble being productive.Your idea to work on it every day and would be easier with the schedule you suggested so thank I am going to get right on that.
This post really inspired me as I was down with my confidence in writing. Thanks for the great help.
There’s great self motivation tactics with consequences that can be applied to increase productivity.
Thanks for such a great list.
I do believe that consistency is the key! :)
Best regards,
Fuji
Create a Schedule For our Work time and Using Social Media can increase Our productivity. All tips are inspire me to work more to archive my goles.:)