Over on Twitter recently @jimlavin asked if I had any ‘ideas how someone with a normal day job can schedule time to blog on a regular basis?‘
Image by Helico
This is actually a great question and one that I’m sure many others will grapple with. While a handful of bloggers are able to blog full time the vast majority of bloggers can not and blog ‘on the side’ before, after (and I’m sure for some ‘during’) other work or life commitments.
This is how I started out. When I started blogging entrepreneurially I was working 3 part time jobs and studying part time (in addition to other ‘normal’ life stuff like being a husband. You can read more of how I progressed from a part time blogger to a full time blogger here.
Following are a few lessons that I learned through that process. It doesn’t just focus upon the topic of scheduling posts (although does give a few tips on that) – but rather probably gives more general advice for those juggling blogging and other priorities such as work, family and other commitments – particularly advice for those wanting to transition from part time to full time blogging.
Priorities
When I first started blogging it was simply a hobby and something I did out of interest. I had no intention of making money from it or growing it into a business. However when I began to realize that there was potential for this medium to earn an income I (or ‘we’ as I always involved my wife in the decisions) had to make a decision as to whether I was seriously going to pursue it or not.
If you want your blog to grow into a significant income stream or to achieve other serious goals then you do need to make a decision to invest time, energy and perhaps even a little money into it. Making this decision doesn’t guarantee success by itself but for me it was important.
In actual fact for me there were probably a series of 4-5 such decisions. Each time I let go of a part time job to put more time into blogging was a decision that we thought long and hard about and was effectively a stepping stone towards going full time.
Set Aside Regular Times
This might vary a little depending upon your situation and personality and style of blogging but I found that I worked best when I set aside regular times to blog and established a daily pattern of when and where I did it. For me the times that I blogged varied a little at different periods depending upon my other commitments but I distinctly remember a time where I was getting up an hour earlier than normal to do a solid hour of blogging before going to work. At other times I would set aside time in the evenings (the same time each night) or arranged to have access to a computer over a lunch break at work.
I found that if I didn’t set time aside to blog (and to effectively diarize it) that I simply didn’t do it (or struggled to). For me it was a little like exercise – if I don’t set aside the time it doesn’t happen.
Boundaries are Important
One of the things that I struggled with particularly in the first year or so of blogging was the setting of boundaries. Working a number of jobs, studying, family life and blogging all competed for my attention and at times blogging encroached upon some of these other aspects of my life when it should not have.
My last point of setting aside time to blog was helpful in this but so was giving those around me permission to tell me when I was getting obsessed with blogging.
Batch Blogging
One practical tip that I would give those juggling numerous hats is to learn about Batch Processing. I’ve written about how batch processing made me more productive but in short it is a technique where you set aside concentrated time to do one particular task rather than trying to achieve lots of things all at once.
For me there was a time where I would set aside every Monday morning simply to write posts for my blogs. I’d take my laptop to a local cafe, stay offline, switch off my phone and church out 5-6 posts in a morning. I’d then schedule these posts for the days ahead and let them publish automatically. I would still do other shorter/newsy type posts during the week – but the posts I wrote on Mondays were my longer, deeper more feature length content.
I found this approach to writing suited me and released me during the rest of the week to concentrate on my other jobs as well as other areas of my blogging.
Gradually Increase Time Invested into Blogging
If you read my story you’ll see that ‘going pro’ as a blogger was a fairly gradual process which effectively involved me decreasing the time I put into other work to increase the time I put into blogging.
While this is not the only way to do it (I know 1-2 bloggers who just decided to go full time and live off savings) it is the approach I recommend IF you have the goal of going full time (and I say IF because I know many bloggers don’t want to go full time). I recommend this approach mainly because building successful and profitable blogs takes time – deciding to quit your job and go full time as a blogger is a nice dream but in reality most blogs earning enough to support a full time blogger take years to build. Unless you’ve got a nice nest egg to live off in the mean time you’re cutting off the income stream that will sustain you while your blog grows.
Bring Those Around You On the Journey
IF your goal is to go full time (or even to earn a significant part time income from blogging) it is probably going to impact those around you. For me it was something that impacted ‘V’ (my wife) more than anyone else.
‘Honey, I’m going to be a full time blogger’ is a statement that you might want to think twice about saying over breakfast one morning (or at least wait until her mouth isn’t full).
‘V’ was incredibly supportive of my vision to grow blogging into an income stream but it was a process for her as much as it was for me. It meant that we were giving up other income in order for me to concentrate my time upon blogging for starters.
One of the sad things that I’ve seen happen a couple of times over the last few years is bloggers forging ahead with their vision to ‘go Pro’ without bringing along their partners. Blogging is great, but it’s not that great!
Daily Posting isn’t Essential
When you’re starting out the pressure to post every day on your blog is great. In talking to many new bloggers I find that many struggle with this expectation of daily content. Those who don’t achieve it often feel guilty or as though they’ve failed. Others keep the daily posting level up but as a result let the quality of their work slip.
Here’s the thing – daily posting is not essential to grow a successful blog.
For example – when I while Digital Photography School has two new posts go up each day these days – when I started I posted just 3 times a week to it. My goal was to write 3 high quality, helpful, unique, engaging feature length posts each week for the first month or so and then as the blog grew to increase that frequency. I worked toward producing 4 a week, then 5, then 6….. and beyond. It took me over a year to get it to daily posting even though I was working full time as a blogger.
Daily posting is great, but don’t stretch yourself too thin early on. 2 quality posts a week is better than 7 average ones.
Editorial Calendars
To help with the posting frequency it can be well worth thinking about developing an editorial calendar. For me at different times this meant setting time aside to set goals for the types of posts I wanted to write each week.
Some bloggers take this further and allocate a different type of post for each day of a week (ie Mondays might be the day for reviewing a product, Tuesdays might be a day to do a ‘how to’ post, Wednesdays might be a ‘reader discussion’ day…. etc).
I didn’t do this allocating of topics for days type editorial calendar (at least I never did it for long) but I found when I thought ahead about the content that I wanted to produce, identified topics ahead of time and even set myself deadlines for them that I was much more productive than if I just got up each morning and sat down to write with a blank mind.
Further Reading on Editorial Calendars – Editorial Calendars and Professional Blogging and 7 Ways to Keep Fresh Content Flowing on Your Blog.
I completely agree that setting a dedicated time to work on blogs in your schedule can help. Once you get into the flow of writing as well it will most likely take you less time to write quality work. (Again this is after being used to writing for awhile.)
This allows you to work ahead- jot down some future ideas, and eventually start storing articles in advance for either multiple posts a day or to have extra articles setup in case you are too busy one day or need to take a vacation.
Just the type of article I was waiting for months.This should help me a lot in building my Tech blog.
Blogging as any other profession is tough and income from your blog needs to get going before one can jump in as a full-time blogger.
Good advice as always. I’ve read about the batch blogging before and I can say that it really does work. Instead of trying to do everything at once and having no real direction, you know what you have to get done and when to do it! It’s a much more effective way to work.
– Dot Com Dud
Great post! I think it’s not only for part time bloggers, but also good for full time bloggers as well. My family is the most important thing in my life, spending most time taking care of them is a good way to relax, refuel your blogging energy.
Timely post! I spent about 30 hours this weekend working on my blog, 5:AM until Midnight on Saturday alone. Although it paid off in that I had record traffic, I’m now sporting a pretty good headache.
It was a beautiful weekend here and perhaps I should have taken the boat out.
At least I did manage to take the family to see Race To Witch Mountain.
This post is a huge help to us that are part time. I intent to use some of your advise. I already set aside time like working out so that my blogging happens everyday. I also have a new rule in our house which says “No computers on Sunday at all”. This rule has done more for us to do things together as a family then anything else.
Rules and ideas work well when thought out in practical ways. Thanks for the info.
I’m trying to maintain at least a post each day and like you said, I feel guilty when I can’t reach that goal. Spot on.
Depends on your blog’s niche, you may need to post daily or you may not (if you are giving up to date news, then you want to post something as soon as you know about it)
You are right on about set aside time to write. My personality (and family life) needs that time to be the same every day.
I also agree with you on planning posts ahead. Just taking some time to look at the week, or even month, before you can really help focus your posts. I have found Google Cal is a great tool for planning ahead. I have about 5 major topics on my personal blog. By creating a different calendar for each one and then overlapping them all I can see if I’m focusing too much on one topic and not enough on another.
thanks everyone for your comments on this one – looks like it describes the situation of many ProBlogger readers. Hang in there with it everyone and don’t beat yourself off if you’re not able to blog full time on a part time schedule!
I dig this post Darren.
I’ll ad my thoughts on the Batch Processing time, as I do a form of it to. I call it my daily Critical Writing Time. I learned this from a mentor of my Alex Mandossian, who also recommends Critical Thinking or Productivity time.
For my Critical Writing Time (CWT) I specifically set aside 50 minutes EVERY SINGLE DAY to write. No exceptions! I write every single day. I go to online-stopwatch.com, set the countdown timer for 50 minutes, and GO. When the buzzer starts, if I’m just finishing a thought, I go ahead and do that, but other than I do not start a new paragraph or go on. I keep my boundaries at that.
I find this to be EXTREMELY useful and I highly recommend others make use of CWT, or CPT, or CTT!
A new habit takes at LEAST 30 days to form (science proves it; there’s been studies and what happens in the brain to create the habit takes at least 30 days) — So to commit to doing this Critical Writing Time for a blogger every single day is CRUCIAL. Sure, don’t worry about POSTING every single day…when you first start writing you may not be able to create an entire blog post in 50 minutes. It might take 3x as long! But as you develop the habit you will improve your skills, and become better and better and the time it takes to write a post will be shorter and shorter.
READERS: Do yourself a favor and do what Darren calls Batch Processing time, or spread it out over everyday and have ‘critical writing time!’ Pick a time each day, set your stopwatch, and GO!
–Sean Patrick Simpson
VPSean on Twitter
Yet I become full time blogger,I know it is time to start investing my “energy on it.and Luckily I have a great job that let me to “learn how to Better blog and after visiting this blog, I know I have a friends who let there there live rule by the passion to become Better blogger,I follow them and I follow probogger to say my appreciation for supporting me how to “live surrender Full time with pain and pleasure to be come successful blogger worker
very real as I can truly compare some part of it with my life as well…interesting
Great post.I try to start a blog and here I find good advice.Will be hard for me because my english is no so good and I have a regular job.It’s a long way to do something good. But each day is a new day.
I’m a new blogger and i’m learning really a lot from your blogs. thanks you went full time. for now i am juggling all my priotities. sometimes i really get choked on what to blog and when to blog. but thanks for your advice. it’s more on the quality and not on quantity. more power!
Dear Darren,
i am writing this comment from my phone, you can see how much i follow ur blog.
Whenever i feel like giving up blogging, u throw in some really nice posts which gives me an inspiration to work harder.
Your posts make me realise that even i can blog,
I wish to write a post for this blog, bt before that, i want to make my blog a success, so that people who land on my page can see how much i have learned.
Right now i m slruggling to get admission in MBA, i m goin to apply ur stratigies to my blog.
Thank you for this post.
agree. time really important. Its not easy to follow our tight schedule for blogging or family.
Dear Darren,
i am writing this comment from my phone, you can see how much i follow ur blog.
Whenever i feel like giving up blogging, u throw in some really nice posts which gives me an inspiration to work harder.
Your posts make me realise that even i can blog,
I wish to write a post for this blog, bt before that, i want to make my blog a success, so that people who land on my page can see how much i have learned.
Right now i m slruggling to get admission in MBA, i m goin to apply ur stratigies to my blog.
Thank you for this post.
P.S. – Sorry, forgot to tell you great post!
The tip I would add is to use your downtime to greater advantage, I was having a fourty minute commute on public transport to my full time job. This was downtime in my mind, I swapped this to usefull blogging time writing and planning my posts on my bus ride to and from work.
Very helpful post for every part-time blogger. I normally get free on Saturday and try to write as much as possible on that day.
Darren, your batch processing post has really helped me a lot.
I have implemented an editorial calendar and have tried to implement batch processing since reading about it here on ProBlogger. As a mom blogger who is chiefly a “diarist” I really can’t do too much ahead b/c my content is pretty much spurred by my daily life. But it’s a great technique for my other writing gigs. And also for dividing up design work and blogging. I basically have to focus on one or the other, or I find I’m doing both badly. Your “batch processing” post really helped me manage my time more efficiently.
I like the idea of scheduling posts and not writing too many posts. I’ve been worried that I’m not posting enough, but I was also worried that the quality of my content would suffer as a result.
“Here’s the thing – daily posting is not essential to grow a successful blog.”
Thank you for that! So many “How to Blog” Blogs say you have to post daily, or multiple posts a day and while I try to write a post a day, sometimes life just gets in the way. I want the information in my posts to be accurate and helpful and engaging. Sometimes, when life is throwing me curveballs – one after another – that just isn’t possible.
It helps me to see YOU say it’s ok not to post daily. I will keep striving for that, but I’m gonna stop feeling like my blog is gonna die if I miss a couple days of posting! :~)
This is a very good post. I especially agree with getting your partner involved and not neglecting them.
I also have limited my self to blogging only on weekdays to be able to still spend time with family on weekends. Like you said blogging is great but not worth it to lose your family.
As a person trying to juggle three blogs, various other online projects, a day job and family life this post just feels so timely! At the moment I am just so lacking boundaries and I have come to the conclusion that I need a schedule that I have some chance of sticking to. I did some scheduled posts last week and that worked really well so I will try and do this regularly I think. Good to hear from you and people leaving comments that juggling time can be a challenge for other people too.
Part of my problem is that I spend too much time checking stats and trying to find a “magic” solution to increasing traffic.
Thanks for the wonderful tips and direction. I’m in an “actively searching for employment” stage of my life right now, which means I should have more time than if I worked 8-5. But I’m finding myself blogging and researching more than I should, feel guilty about it. Even just yesterday said I need to get a plan to get organized and not take good time away from needed things like my family. Your ideas and personal schedules such as getting up Monday morning and doing your work makes a lot of sense. Thanks again for the ideas!
Thanks for the tips. I am just starting out and find this information very useful. I currently work full-time and am attending school for a master’s degree. On top of both of those commitments, I have set a goal to start a business and begin blogging. So, to me scheduling time and keeping to a schedule is extremely important if I hope to succeed.
I started off as a freelance writer juggling with my day time job until finally I realised that I can no longer juggling between freelancing and my office job so I decided to quit my job and work as a writer.
I always look forward to your posts dropping into my mailbox. It’s my indulgence for the day to read your posts while I sip my tea or munch on a snack.
I have to tell you, though, since the posts are so interesting, I follow all the links and they lead to even more engaging reading material. By the time I’m done, I can easily spend an hour reading your blog. Could you please make your posts less interesting and with fewer links so I can juggle my time better? ;)
Obviously, I’m being facetious–keep ’em coming!
-MJ
My fiancé is very supportive of my blogging. When he knows I have things I need to get done, he makes sure I stay on track till I do them, but also drags me out of the office when I’ve gotten a bit too obsessive. I even think my blogging has rubbed off on him, as he wants to write a guest post on my site now. :)
~ Kristi
As a freelance copywriter and a mom of three, keeping up with my blog can be tough. I have the ideas, the energy and the desire to write, but I feel guilty about what’s being neglected. I also feel, at times, like I can’t justify the time and energy I put into my blog—it’s not my paid work, and I often end up writing after the kids are in bed, when I’d also like to be relaxing and spending time with my husband.
I think the key, as you point out, is to try to find techniques and methods that work for you, personally. Batch blogging, for instance, just doesn’t work for me. I get compelled to write about something on a certain day, and I’m only able to focus on that all-encompassing idea, in that moment.
But the editorial calendar idea is really helpful for me. I have three main categories, clearly set up on my Thesis-design blog, with the 9 most recent posts (3 in each category). This gives me some structure and balance, as I try to keep each of the categories equally updated. I’m also a big believer in not having to post every day. My posts tend to be on the long, involved side, so letting myself off the hook and only writing 3-4 posts a week is a huge relief.
Ok Darren,
I discovered ProBlogger early on when i started blogging. Over the last six months I’ve found your information to be helpful and inspirational.
By far, this is my most favorite post. The advice is real, level headed and point to do-able things.
Someday soon, it’s going to be a good time to put your story down in book format – unless you are already working on it. ;-)
Thanks, kind Sir.
George
I totally need to try batch writing for my blog and for my freelance job – I think that would really help me with both. Right now, I do a little bit of this, a little of that… and feel like I get nothing done. Thanks for the idea!
Funny, I was just thinking about this on my way home. You must be able to read minds! Great tips – I especially liked ‘allocate a different type of post for each day of a week (ie Mondays might be the day for reviewing a product, Tuesdays might be a day to do a ‘how to’ post, Wednesdays might be a ‘reader discussion’ day…. etc)’. I never thought about that and I think it’s quite helpful to have some sort of a guideline or else you’re just sitting there waiting for your ideas and thoughts to flow through (and we all know that’s never that easy). Thanks Darren and keep up the great work!
This is an ongoing issue with us bloggers, isn’t it? – Time.
Blogging is great. The one question I like to ask new bloggers is “what is this going to cost you?”
I’m usually looking for something like time away from the family, because it does.
Great article! I can tell you that juggling blogging with my other daily activities is always a heck of a task. I will have to try out some of the pointers you have in this article!
Thanks again Darren.
Darren,
Yay you for addressing such a difficult question that tons of bloggers struggle with. I juggle 4 businesses (each with its own blog), a family, and an obsession with riding and showing my horses. Blogging consistently is HARD and your tips are right on target. An editorial calendar helps keep my head clear about what I’m writing and why.
I think what’s even more important, though, is the struggle to find the core or kernel of my blogs. I have to ask myself, “What major problem am I trying to solve on this blog?” or “What questions am I trying to answer that a lot of people are struggling with?” Once I get this focus, the posts flow much easier.
Did you ever have trouble finding that core? Finding your voice? It’s an ongoing source of productive friction for me.
I’ve been blogging for nearly 4 months now and I already got 96 articles already that gives me nice traffic from search engines. Although it consumes a lot of my time, I see to it as an investment that will give a few passive income for me in the future.
Darren,
Thanks for the post. Right now, I am in college, getting more involved in social media, interning for http://www.under30ceo.com/, and blogging about once a week.
I just started blogging this year and plan to gradually increase how often I post. These tips are very helpful as a refresher when times and work seem to become hectic. Keep up the excellent work.
Now if only I could break the habit of checking my stats and adsense revenue and get down to doing some of the things in this list.
I’m a 15 year old school student from India. I’m in class 10 now, which is a very important year as I’m going to sit my boards by next March. So, 9 hours everyday is spent at school. And after all other things, I hardly have 3 hours of time to concentrate on blogging. Its pretty difficult to manage time between school and blogging. So, far I’ve been juggling it and paying more attention to my studies than blogging.
I really liked your post on Batch processing and managing tasks. I’m going to read it again and see if I can learn something useful. Thanks.
Excellent points! I especially appreciate the point that it’s not important to blog every day. I used to push myself to blog every single day, and sometimes the inspiration just wasn’t there. (But I would feel stressed if I didn’t hold to this standard–ironic for a stress management writer!) Now, every blog is a good one.
Thanks for another inspired post, and on a topic that applies to so many of us!
Elizabeth
I think that my wife is happy now that I have decided to go easy on the blogging thing and not keep pushing out more or more posts a day.
ha ha ha
Wow, nice! why i have not thought of that?! Hmmm… i think i should write something like that! Thank you!
Wonderful suggestions, your blog is always so helpful as was your book – in fact the blog is a great way to not have to dip back into the book continuously ;-).
It’s also really interesting how, although your posts are quite long, it’s very comfortable reading – not always true across blogosphere. You have a good writing style.
Recently I realized I had to do the editorial calendar thing and was shocked to discover how time-saving this is. I completely cut out the ‘what am I going to write today’ question because now I always already know. Kind of like brushing my teeth, you do it because you do it.
Karenne
A lot of great tips here. I think setting aside regular time makes a lot of sense. It makes sure you are getting the time in to blog, but also helps with it not interfering with other priorities you have.
Setting aside a time to blog at least 3-5 times a week is very important. It’s too easy to put it off completely and not post for a week or more. It’s also a great idea to write your posts ahead of time. If you’ve got the writing juices flowing why not prepare 5-6 posts ahead of time. Great tips in this article.
Cheers for the steer Daren. For the past few 3 months (thats how long i’ve been running this blog now)…ive been churning out posts on a daily basis hoping this would increase the popularity of the blog. Not so….it’s been building but really slowly.
I did fall into the trap of simply posting ‘a post’ rather than posting a quaility post. I’m definitely going to focus more on quality and if that means, less posts a week – so be it until I turn into a pro…and the traffic is simply breaking the floodgates!!!!!
Cheers!
Here are a few tips from my bucket of tactics balancing a full time job, a blog (dailyworth.com) and 2 very young children:
– Find “guest bloggers” to fill in holes. On days when I am too slammed to blog, I use Twitter to find like-minded bloggers and ask if I can post one of their posts on my blog. I then credit them and link back to their blog, which drives traffic to them, so they are totally excited. And it takes me 2 minutes.
– Use your PDA to write down notes while you’re on the road. My husband was in CVS buying stuff, and I was in the car writing my next post on my iPhone. I got a complete first draft done in 20 minutes.
– Keep it simple! Write blog posts of only 2 paragraphs. Treehugger.com is a wildly successful blog built on 1 paragraph blog posts (sold for $10 million to Discovery.)
This is an exellent post so awesome points here.
I’ve noticed if I try to create a post every day and publish it, it is sometimes too much for my audience, therefore, I’ll post every 2 days and when i am not publishing. I’ll promote my blog.
So Monday, Wendesday, Friday – Publish post
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday – promote posts.
Hello Daren,
It’s always so great pleasure read your article and learn new techniques. As always you are very straight forward and to the point which I like the most. I’m blogger but let’s call my blogging ” after hours”, which is not enough how I feel about . Hopefully within few months is going to expand to great and bigger project .
I really appreciate your article… Thank you