If you only had one hour a day to blog what would you spend it doing?
A reader recently sent me a question asking how I’d approach blogging if I only had one hour a day. I can’t find the email for the life of me (if it was you please email me and I’ll give you credit) but it went something like this (paraphrased from my recollection of the question):
“I have very limited access to the internet but would like to build a successful blog. Can it be done and if so what activities should I do if I can only get online for one hour a day?”
This is a question that I thought would be a good discussion starter.
As bloggers we have many choices to make when it comes to how to spend our time. There’s obviously a need to write content – but then there are many other activities that compete for our time:
- Social Media
- SEO
- Interacting with readers and moderating comments
- Blog Design
- Networking with other bloggers
- Promoting our content in other places (forums, offline etc
- Adding new features
The list could (and does) go on. I could (and sometimes do) spend anything up to 12 hours a day online blogging – so if confronted with the choice to do only 1 hour’s activities it’d be a difficult thing to work out what to cut.
So how would you fill 1 hour a day on your blogging (or how do you if this is all the time you have)? What’s most important and what activities do you ignore or put off?
I’m very far from an expert but if it was me, I’d spend the time commenting on related blogs and responding to comments on mine. Especially if it is a niche market – better to make strong contacts with regular readers than spreading the net very wide and getting ‘drive by’ clicks who come and go and don’t stay..
Hmmm, that’s a great question actually. I think if I only had one hour a day on it then I’d have to alternate activities on the different hour I had each day.
Day 1 for one hour Create content for a posts
Day 2 for one hour Social Bookmarking..linking etc.
Day 3 for one hour Remote blog work etc. etc.
Basically alternate all of the necessities day to day I suppose. At least it make sense to me…
Great question and post Darren. Always love reading…
Cheers
Davin
First if I had only one hour then I will go for “Interacting with readers and moderating comments”
Between an advice for that fellow…. Why don’t he try offline blogging using desktop blogging clients?
So that he can publish post in few minutes when get Internet access and then use rest of the time for other activities. :-)
Wow just one hour a day, I would feel so lost! But sometimes you have to work with what you’ve got. If I only had one hour to blog a day, I would spend half of it writing my blog post (or working on finishing a blog post), and the other half socializing with people in my niche. Leaving comments on other blogs and doing the social media thing.
I would spend it entirely to promote my blog. If he has limited access to the internet he could find topics and write about them offline (as long as he`s no tech blogger).
When accessing the web, i would post it and promote it as well a using the time to respond to questions / posts of others.
I think thats the way to go when your internet access is limited.
I hope it never comes to that! =)
Since my site is known for the Daily DIY, a daily feature that links to all the DIY projects on the internet on a given day, I would have to spend my time writing that. But there’s no way I’d get it done!
Well, obviously I’d be spending several hours offline producing great content and using a relatively limited amount of time online publishing it. I might also look for offline ways to do promotion – using the local news media, public lectures (if my expertise warranted it), flyers and business cards, talking to friends and coworkers, etc… I think I would also offload my technical tasks to someone else, even though it would cost me some money. That way I could focus the rest of my time on building relationships and researching other blogs in my niche — doing promotion through solid relationships, the foundation of any great blog.
Great question! Sometimes I think I’m actually more productive and effective when I have those kinds of limitations – I just haven’t been so great at self-imposing them. :)
Eric
write, read and comment
Well… “having limited internet access” and “having just 1 hour to blog a day” are two very different things.
If the guy has limited internet access, he can use the rest of his free time to write compelling content for his blog, and then spend the time he has online to post it and promote it with social media.
If he has just 1 hour to blog per day, then he’ll probably need to spend that hour actually creating the content.
Cheers!
Miguel Alvarez
http://MarketingFactor.com/
That’s a hard one! Well…. I would set a schedule so that I could do most of the tasks mentioned every 15 minutes.
My blog has to fit in around my full-time job, partner and 2 children. I mainly focus on writing articles where I can. On the train I write articles offline and post them to blogger later. The use of blogger was a deliberate choice that allowed me to get up and running faster, even though I could install wordpress – I have a virtual server already.
Were I the mystery question-asker I’d focus on writing some good content and building up a following. It’s taken me 8 months to start gaining some traction, because my blog is a niche blog.
I’m open to hiring a virtual assistant if I could find the right person at a mutually attractive price. That would be a huge help!
I have an hour and a half a day while both kids are in school. I spend most of that writing, because that’s what I love to do, and a blog is nothing without good content. I usually take weekends off of writing to catch up on blog reading/commenting, e-mail and improving site design.
At first I was horrified that no one was mentioning “creating content,” but Rahul’s absolutely correct: A step like that (the most important step of all) can be done offline.
As far as design goes, if you get it right the first time, it’s something you don’t have to focus on so much later on.
After that, my next priority would be interacting with readers. You can’t keep readers if you don’t make them feel welcome. And if they do feel welcome, they may bring in other readers for you!
a
I would spend the hour online on
+ reading and commenting other blogs
+ replying to other people’s comments
+ putting my post online
+ announcing it on twitter.
To answer the question I would start by thinking, if I only have 7 hours per week to blog what subject is going to work. Fast moving, highly competitive topics are really going to be hard to crack with such limited available time. I would also be thinking, what are the smart ways to collate content during the day – maybe microblogging short items and segments I could paste together, or using an mp3 recorder to capture ideas over lunch. I quite often write blog posts in my head while on the train and then transcribe when I get home. The blog will also need to be something ‘research light’ as I would easily spend an hour a day researching interesting domains.
Not sure if there are any agreed stats, but my gut feel is in a new blog venture I’m spending a ratio of something like 7:1 off-site on SEO / marketing. That would dip of course over time, but you need to consider start up as worst case.
Maybe the answer is to build a community of authors around the blog and spend the 1hr as the admin / main editor. I don’t see how you will get scalability unless there are more ‘hands’ at the pump.
That’s quite a tricky question…isn’t it? I would outsource all its functions you have quoted in your blog post and I would spend 1 hour per day organizing and controlling, how that work is going:)
I think for me it would depend on which hour of the day I had available to blog since my mental processes have their OWN time of the day. Early morning? MUST have plenty of coffee before functioning at full speed so no telling what blogging during that hour would roll out. ;-)
Assuming that I could spend that hour uninterrupted (rare), I would do the following in this order:
1. Write post(s)
2. Answer comments on my blog
3. Comment on other blogs and forums
4. Social media, such as Twitter, StumbleUpon etc
10 minutes:
The first ten minutes I would insert content. I may have the possibility to write the content offline so copy&paste would be faster.
20 minutes:
Interacting with the readers and reply to comments.
20 minutes:
Care about my social network profiles.
10 minutes:
The last ten minutes I would spend for things that doesn’t come every day like adding new features, change the design, SEO, …
I would spend half of the hour writing a blog post and the other half commenting on other blogs.
And I’d squeeze in five minutes somewhere for Twitter.
Rahul makes the best point here, do everything you can before you sign on for your one hour on the ‘net. Another thing you might be able to do is use your cell phone for some of your necessary contact, texting or even Twittering if possible. That said, you want to establish your presence somehow, so as Mike listed, get your posts up, answer comments briefly yet engagingly, then go to your most productive groups or forums and be active regularly there so people want to know what you’re blogging about. Social media is a huge time sink, important as it is, so until you have some content backing up your presence, don’t get too caught up in that. Good luck!
Suzanna Stinnett
http://www.greatadaptations.org
I would find time for writing content while i’m working or doing another things. And spend my hour for – adding content to a blog, answer comments on my blog, comment other blogs.
I wrote a post about this recently that broke the hour down minute by minute.
http://www.buzzmyblog.com/post/2008/06/An-Hour-To-Blog-What-Do-You-Do.aspx
I’m in somewhat the same place as Julian and Mary, and I’m in the process of re-launching a blog that pretty much went dark during my undergrad senior year (3 posts over the course of the school year). And I’m a working artist, so the vast majority of what amounts to “content creation” has nothing to do with the site itself, but happens offline, in the studio, and has to be documented and commented on.
I’m lucky in that I can do a lot of feed-reading and networking during the workday, which at least gives me a foundation to work from. If I have only five minutes at a time to work on my personal site, I clean out spam filters and respond to comments. If I have ten minutes, I maintain widget ephemera – upload new photos to Flickr, post to Twitter, add a few new links to del.icio.us. (Even if there are no new substantive posts, there should be SOMETHING new at least each day, preferably a couple of times a day.) If I have half an hour, I brainstorm new posts and site improvements, or pull something from my post ideas list and start to write. If I have an hour, I get a new post up. And if I have half a day, I actually work on major site revisions and/or write longer feature pieces.
My big push right now is to build a inventory of small, gifty pieces, start an Etsy store, and get the Etsy widget installed. That will bring a whole new level of ephemera maintenance to bear!
What a great topic! Because of university and working part time, I usually do only have one hour a day to dedicate to my blog! I pretty much dedicate each day a week to something different. I spend three days a week updating my blog and then days in between promoting, designing, and social networking. In my free time between classes and work (usually while I”m on the bus) I’ll jot down ideas for the blog and outline different articles.
If I wanted to spend only an hour:
1. Read Pro Blogger and comment
2. Tweet about how little time I have
3. Read comments, connect with those with blogs
4. Use 1 day a week to write 3 articles
5. Social media
I would not want the limit, so if I was there, I’d”
1. Start making money
2. Quit something else to have more time to blog
I use “money” as sort of the universal motivator. I’d image others have non-business aims or passions, which would be even stornger motivation to want to spend more than an hour.
Warren Whitlock
http://BookMarketingStrategy.com
Updating Blogs and sites as a priority and most of the time exploring Facebook and promoting twitter. And of course, a quick peek into links at Twitter – exploring and learning tech. An hour is too less!
– ilaxi
http://www.kidsfreesouls.com
I often time spend around 12 hours a day blogging too, or even more.
Due to my chaotic schedule though, sometimes I do only have about an hour to work on my blog. I don’t want to rush creating an entry, but if there’s something I’ve been thinking about enough recently that the words will flow from my fingertips without interruption, then I’ll write. I try to stay consistent with writing quality. Also, if I haven’t written anything for a while, then I may push to get something out.
Many times though, I’ll spend that time just reviewing what I have done and what needs to be done. That way I’ll be able to think about and explore those things in my mind for then ext time I have the time to work more. After all, creativity is the best part about blogging, isn’t it?
I almost never use that one hour time for coding (adding blog features), because depending on the size of the project, an hour is often just enough time to set up all the tools, and figure out what approach I’m going to take to code.
3 times per week, I would use that time to write and publish new content.
The rest of the week:
30 min/day: Interacting with my readers and responding to their emails and comments.
20 min/day: reading and commenting on other blogs.
10 min/day: participating in social media.
Having said that, I don’t think you can build a successful blog if you only have an hour per day, just like you can’t build any other successful business with just one hour per day.
Outsource the blog posts to others? focus on one blog and write offline, then upload once a day
If i had 1 an hour every day, then one day i would focus on writing posts, one day i will promote it, one day i will visit other blogs in order to interact with other bloggers.
This is such a great question because even those of us with unlimited net access but full-time jobs don’t have the 10-12 hours a day we wished we did to build a highly successful blog when we have to squeeze life and blog into the hours that are left during the week.
Content has to be first in your priority, that is, creating great stuff. For me, anyway, but that has a lot to do with my goals online (less about making money and more about becoming a thought leader). But as readers have pointed out, if internet access itself is the issue, that can be done “offline.”
But in my scenario, creating content has to be budgeted out of my entire time budget, so it has to be the top time allocation. That said, I’ve learned that even the best content doesn’t do you much good unless it’s reaching people, so a very close second would be a mashup of social netwg ,orkininteracting with readers and site promotion.
Where the rubber meets the road, though, this is hard to enact. Ive had to cut back dramatically on the number of posts I write so I still have time for the rest of these things.
Here’s what I think is a healthy and balanced blogging activity if I had only an hour everyday:
First 4 minutes:
Moderate and reply to comments in the blog
Next 6 minutes:
Plan your next post. Write an outline and note keywords that you want to optimize in. If possible, include other SEO related strategies you need to do for the post.
Next 32 minutes:
Write content. If time is up and you’re not finished, just continue and post it the next day or sacrifice the next task to finish it.
Last 18 minutes:
Choose any one of the following. You may alternate these activities for each day:
1. Promote blog content in social media, forums, etc.
2. Network with other bloggers, comment in their blogs.
3. Analyze traffic and optimize ads, blog layout & design.
My blogging activity is very similar to this one. If you’re wondering why my time allocation is like that, the answer is because it’s proportional to my actual blogging schedule. :)
This is such a timely post for me! I just posted something similar on my own blog because I’ve been feeling so overwhelmed lately. As a food blogger, it isn’t enough to just write great content. You also have to find/develop recipes, cook/bake the food, photograph it and then, finally write about it. After that, you need to spend time visiting/commenting on hundreds of other blogs and still find time for social networking! Then, maybe if you are lucky, you have time left over for family, friends, etc. Whew! I can’t imagine only spending 1 hour a day on blogging as 1 post takes me at least 5-6 hours to create from start to finish. I don’t know how some manage it all!
I presented this quandary to my readers out of desperation and got some great advice on how to strike a balance in one’s life. Maybe, I’ll pick up some good tips here too.
Believe me this is very hard to focus on one topic and if you have only one Hours you need to be some kind of YOGA expert, or very organized person.
GoodLuck One Hour Blogger!!
I would just read other blogs, write my content, answer emails and moderate comments.
@Julian Simpson: I have several virtual assistants and manage approx. 150 people in Manila “by day”. I also provide consulting services where I help match the needs of my clients with virtual assistants (or other outsourced teams). Email me if interested: justin [dot] levy [at] gmail [dot] com.
As far as the blog post, sometimes I only do have an hour to spend on my blog and right now I spend a lot of my time networking especially on Twitter. I am currently posting approximately every 2-3 days though I’d like to post more frequently. I try to get the minor cosmetic/content changes/additions as I get a few free moments but I think networking and working on new posts are the 2 most important things especially for a new(er) blog.
-Justin Levy
I’m in a similar situation and typically try to break it down by day.
Monday & Wednesday – Friday: Writing articles, answering emails, moderating comments.
Tuesday: I spend promoting the site. I find it’s the best day to approach people and promote the site. Monday’s are typically too busy for people and they’re bombarded with things… later in the week tends to get pushed off till the weekend. So Tuesday is the best fit.
Saturday & Sunday: Design, Development, and Improvements. There’s typically slower traffic, so it’s the best time to make modifications without worrying about alienating the viewers.
I would write on my own blog. Respond to comments. Pick two – five blogs to read and comment.
Then pray for more time.
Only one hour per day?
Well, I’d spend that time creating some EXTREMELY CONTROVERSIAL content, and then make lots of anonymous phone calls to scandal hungry tabloid garbage journalists about it. Hopefully I’d create a stir and get lots curious and angry visitors to my blog. Once the backlinks were there I’d start writing some real content and redeem myself in the eyes of the world and show people what a good guy I had become, and then everyone would love me for the positive changes I’d made and visit my site all the time and link to it for others to see.
Then I’d rinse and repeat and get rich and (in)famous.
Best blogging tip ever? Probably.
(Seriously, though, with only one hour per day I’d spend the first day’s hour doing some real time management work and sort out ways to find more time to blog. An hour doesn’t go as far as it used to, you know.)
I would spend 15 min. commenting on the blogs I read daily.
I would spend 45 min. getting inspiration on writing a blog post that could spread my mantra of peace, and improve peoples lives. Of course, if that happens to attract clients who are like minded, that is a bonus to me.
I’m not a professional blogger, so if you want to see what a “one hour daily” blog looks like, feel free to visit…
And to return the question, what would I do if I could blog all day long ? Then I’ll probably try to do my best to follow the tips found here.
Well if you only have 1 hour a day to spend on blog then just write good article because you will not have any more time for anything else. Blogging is time consuming as anything else, and if you want to make any money blogging then 1 hour is nothing.
I don’t think that one hour a day would be enough to build a s truly uccessful blog. Having said that, nothing should come before the writing. Once that’s done, connecting with like minded sites would be the first thing on my list.
That’s easy. I’d spend it writing…with only 1 hour, you’d probably have just enough time to write a 400-500 post with a bit of research, and maybe upload some media. If you do 1 hour every day, you’ll have plenty of content, which is more than half the battle.
I’d probably only post 2-3 times a week, so I could spend the other online time networking. Of course, you could also write the posts offline too. Concentrating on the most effective ways to market your blog would be best too – probably commenting and answering emails.
I would organize it like this:
1. Start the blog
Spend 1 hour per day getting your blog up and running. Get the design you want (just get a template for now). Focus on getting good SEO plugins so you won’t have to work on it.
This may take a while, but I recommend getting these things down solid before even worrying about content. If you get these down, you won’t have to worry about half of Darren’s list above. At least not on a daily basis.
2. Organize your week
A lot of this depends on weekends. If you can get an extra hour or so on weekends, you can change this slightly to put some things on weekends.
Monday
This is the day you probably want to focus on commenting on other sites and networking. I know on Mondays, I always spend the first hour of my day just kind of getting caught up on things. This includes getting caught up on Facebook, MySpace, reading the newest articles, work stuff, etc. This is the day you will get the most publicity.
Tues-Sat
Write. Just focus and write. You will want to write 7 days worth of posts in these 5 days. Make sure you publish articles in the future so it appears to your readers that you are posting every day. You can do it if you really focus. If you are having trouble doing 7 days worth of work in 5, I recommend getting Timothy Ferriss’ book The 4 Hour Workweek. It will help you.
Sun
Rest. Don’t worry so much about the blog. You need a day of rest otherwise you will begin to hate it.
If you can squeeze a few more hours into Saturday, then use it to do an extra post or two and doing SEO or promoting.
When it comes down to it, though, you need to focus on writing good content. If you write good content, the readers will come. It will take a little longer than if you promoted your site everyday, but they will still come. And more importantly, they will stay.
CJ
wisemoneymatters.com
If I were just starting my blog, I would spend a month on just content. Then go to 1 or two posts a week and focus on social media, commenting on other blogs and interacting with my commentors. Definitely do the bulk of the creative work off computer.
Just get content on it, then continue to post what the internet needs, new stuff! If you discovered something new and interesting, write about it.