Here’s a question for a little discussion over the weekend:
“What Do You Spend Most Time Doing on Your Blog?”
Running a blog calls for all kinds of skills and activities. Writing content is probably the most obvious of these – but as I talk to different bloggers I often find that they each have their own activity that they tend to be drawn to spend more time than others. In addition to writing content – these activities might include:
- Blog Design
- Search Engine Optimization
- Guest Posting on Other Blogs
- Editing Guest Posts on Your Own Blogs
- Moderating Comments and Interacting with Readers
- Networking and Promotion to Other Bloggers
- Social Media Marketing
- Monetization
- Reading Other Blogs in your Niche
- Reading about Blogging
- Watching Statistics/Metrics
I’m sure there are more – but that list should get you started.
What do you find yourself focusing upon in your blogging at the moment? I find that I go through stages where different activities get more focus than others. For me at the moment I’ve just moved out of a phase of redesigning one of my blogs and am focusing more upon generating content (writing it myself but also editing posts of others).
Interested to hear what you’ve been focusing upon.
I currently am just looking at blog design, I am in the process of learning on how to build a wp theme start from scratch, so I look around the design to see what fits me best. I do a bit of S.E.O, just to get the name out, done a few social media networking but not really concerned with that at this moment. But most of all, I been reading other blogs && trying to interact as much as I can.
Interestingly, I spend most of my time blogging away from my computer – in the kitchen.
In general it takes much longer to cook and take photos than it does to actually post any given recipe.
It’s amazing all the different hats bloggers wear.
Most of my time is spent trying to build traffic, yep I build cardboard cut outs of people, then get them to click on my blog and look as though they really enjoy it.
I try to focus on everything listed above (except SEO. my blog partner does that). But I usually find myself working the most on blog design and writing new posts.
I spend a bunch of time playing with Drupal and hardly any time writing.
Oh hey there, Alex!
Well I’m the partner that he was talking about ~ and I pretty much manage the SEO on our blog.
However, lately I’ve found myself writing content more than anything else – whether it be for our blog our guest post or even a few articles that have been outsourced to me.
However, looking at the bigger picture – I would say I do most of the SEO, on and off page the most.
I spent most of time on getting material and ideas for my blog topic. Besides that, blog design and traffic efforts also take decent amount of time.
Unfortunately, I also waste a lot of time checking traffic stats. I know that’s stupid. I am wondering when I will stop doing that.
Wow, I spend so much time on my blog these days it’s hard to say there is one thing. Right now I am designing a new site, so that easily gets 50% of my time. I am also reading a tremendous amount, both in my niche and about blogging and monetization. I also spend a lot of time on social media, trying to stay up on my niche and related niches. In fact, I should get back to work….
I spend the majority of my time reading other blogs(in all niches) and writing/editting content.
-Nate
Reading other blogs in my niche/doing research on my niche, hands down! Since mine is a blog on a personal subject – intercultural relationships – there’s a lot of personal stories to hear, both from my readers and others that I’ve recently discovered on the web. And I’ve recently been working to deepen my idea bank – which means lots of research to see what’s being said, and what’s not being said.
Since my blog is fairly new I am mainly spending my time coming up with quality posts and researching/leaving comments on other blogs in my niche.
My blogging journey is relatively new. Spend most of my time writing and researching. Which I really enjoy.
Second is reading blogs in my niche.
My blog is new. I really didn’t know what it took to create a good blog. From getting up ads, learning basic html, researching content, and marketing, it can be pretty tough. I see it as running a business because there’s so many differents parts to it, and in order for it to be successful, each part must work together. Now I am thinking about putting video content on the site, so that’s even more work.
Even thought it’s difficult, I absolutely love it. I put so much effort into it, and I know it will pay off one day.
Troy
http://www.dabbygag.com
The writing part takes up SOOOO much time. But besides that, I would say that answering emails from readers is the thing that takes up the second biggest chunk of my time. I’m trying to figure out a way to get paid to answer my emails (giving advice, making recommendations, etc) without coming across as a jerk. Like a membership program or something, maybe? Any ideas?
Yesterday I spent an hour choosing twenty of my favourite posts to appear on my side bar. Hopefully this will encourage browsers to linger and see that I’ve got some pretty good content.
I seem to be struggling just to keep up with content right now on my blogs. Usually I spend about half the time on writing and half on responding to comments and commenting/networking. I spend hardly any time on blog design etc. Probably not enough in actual fact. Blogging is like housekeeping I think – there is always something you “could” be doing. It’s never “done”.
Cleanup.
I’ve had this site since 1997 and while most of it is CMS driven so that I can change thousands of pages quickly and easily, some old pages are not. I spend a lot of time finding those and bringing them into my CMS.
I spend far too much time tracking stats. I’m obsessed with it lately. I’ll check google analytics every 5 minutes. Woohoo, 2 more visitors!
It’s such a waste of my valuable time. Seriously, I need help.
I spend most of my time on research trying to decide on all of the variables in blogging.I am overwhelmed at the moment but I think just getting content on the page and spreading the word around is the best thing to do right now.I love it all,but it takes more time than I thought.
Great discussion topic. I was just writing today about how watching your stats too much can be a bad thing. If they are up – you can get lazy. If they are down – you can get unmotivated. And yet, I still look at mine too much. Maybe once a week would be good?
Time Spent in Order of Most to Least:
– Writing Content
– Reading Other Blogs
– Commenting on Other Blogs
– Engaging with people on Twitter (@WillLowrey)
I don’t spend too much time on my site design and I do not monetize my blog (yet – just launched it)
The thing that really gets me, and takes the most amount of time, is finding a suitable photo for each blog. Even if I have an image in mind (and I don’t always know what I want until I see it) finding one that I can use legitimately is a nightmare. Often I end up taking my own – or asking my husband to take one for me. I think the one of his gappy gum was the most grotesque in a blog titled “Why I’m Tearing My Hair Out About The Gap In Your Teeth”.
I spent 60% of my blog-related-time reading other blogs and other sources for my input, 30% of my time writing and 10% of my time correcting and proofreading my articles (even older ones). And only maybe 1% of my time commenting on my own blog, although I have quite a lot of comments.
So maybe I should engage a little more in the discussions I started on my own blog.
I find that I spend more time interacting with my readers than I do actually writing a post. Even though I get a lot of enjoyment from the post itself, its the fact that the post strikes enough of a cord with the readers that they take the time to leave a comment that really makes it worthwhile. To show my appreciation I will in turn interact with them and I always take the time to visit their blog to see if I can find a post where I can leave a meaningful comment.
Nice post and timely because I have spent about 3 hours on my blog tonight and I’ve done zip. I added a widget and amended an existing post yet my plan was to write 2 400 word posts! Proves that a plan is essential when you sit down in front of that glowing little object…
I have found that most of my time has been spent creating new blog posts. Perhaps that is because I have yet to become savvy in the marketing department. I anticipate the marketing side of this project will grow over time but for right now that is just not the case. I need to learn more about the available marketing models that have proven effective in the past.
My blog is brand new, and I am just learning about all these things, mainly from your site! I spend most of my time writing, but I want to learn about SEO. Not because I plan to make any money, because I don’t. But because it is everywhere I look and I want to know what people are talking about!
I agree w/ Darren that writing takes up a lot of time. I’ve always been sort of anal about writing, it may just be a character flaw. But from all the things you mention, the most time spent (on things other than writing) would have to be reading other people’s blogs.
Apparently, I am spending most of my time commenting on other blogs rather than working on my own blog! But I think my blog is in good shape right now!
I spend most of my time writing content, answering emails, replying to comments, social media marketing, and working on design. As you said above, I too go in and out of phases.
@ Dabbygag – If you have a new blog you can’t go past visiting a lot of other blogs leaving meaningful comments. Not only can this drive a bit of traffic to your blog, but you may even find those bloggers who reciprocate their quality comments by visiting you blog and leaving a comment in return.
I spend most of my time going through content and gauging what people are interested in reading. Know your audience, keep the flash to a minimum, keep it current, make it fun, have empathy, find a good pace, network, keep up with technology, comment, be responsive, be respectful, be a mentor. HAVE FUN!
@usmc81
I have multiple blogs in various stages of development. As a result, I’m finding that each one requires an entirely different task-list from day to day.
The oldest one has developed some technical glitches on the back end and has a lot of outdated content that I’m trying to update. It’s an information resource, so maintenance and editing take up a lot more time than generating content.
The newest blog is aiming at becoming an authority site in a health niche. Most off my time there is spent writing the content that will become the meat of the site.
The others all lie somewhere in between. One needs a redesign, another is just for fun, so it only needs what I feel like giving it.
One thing I need spend more time on for all of them is commenting on other blogs (here I am) and building relationships. I’ve focused so much on “building the thing” that I almost forgot who I was building it for.
I probably spend the most of my time writing and editing my content. After that, it’s probably reading other blogs, writing comments, sending follow-up emails to people who comment on my own blog, etc.
Definitely blog design, SEO, and reading & posting. I spend huge amounts of time on those three.
Hello,
I started blogging about 3 months back and my blog is still at the startup phase.
In addition to writing content, I have spent last 3 months primarily on – blog design and SEO. Also, I am trying to promote my blog through social networks.
But in the next 9 months I am planning to focus on – writing quality content, engaging more readers and following/commenting on blogs in my niche. Also, I would like to make my blog topic more specific (right now it is very wide) and generate a niche for itself…
First comes content. I focus most of my time on content. Content is the key. Lots of people say that my blog is a lot of reading, and I take that as a compliment. I’m always adding writing as well as photographs.
Second comes comments and reader interaction. I like to interact with my readers (answer questions, comments, and email), as well as visit their blogs and comment there as well. I use CommentLuv to encourage others to comment and allow them to “plug” their posts.
Third is upgrades to plugins and work on the layout (theme, etc.). But like I said before, content development will always be top priority!
it’s funny you should talk about this subject because i was just thinking that I spend a majority of my time with blog design and was also thinking that I really enjoy that aspect of blogging, maybe I am in the wrong part of blogging?
Content. Content. Content!
Most of my time goes in reading, researching, generating ideas, developing an outline for the posts, and of course writing.
I also seem to be spending a lot of time looking for appropriate pictures to go along with my posts.
I also invest a lot of time on promoting my blog posts on Twitter and building relationships.
I do a fair amount of posting comments on blogs I like, although that does not take too much time.
My blog is still quite young – just about 4 months old. So my two top priorities are content and promotion.
I would say 60% design and 40% content creation. I should probably spend more time developing more involved content and marketing more. I’m trying to focus my content more and do more promotion lately. I definitely spend most of my time on design tweaks and making it as usable as possible.
I watch statistics a lot, but that’s partly because I’m trying to see whether what I’m doing has any effect.
I’m trying to comment on a wider variety of blogs, just to see what happens. I’m always looking for newer people to pitch the blog to, and that’s what I find hardest, getting new sources of visitors.
iam always fine tuning my blog for SEO.Iam always building links nowadays.Its a very tiresome job unless you buy them which G doesnt like so much .
I tend to spend way too much time designing, redesigning, then totally revamping my blogs and websites. You’d think I was a web designer, but I’m not . . . although maybe I should be!
Since I’ve only been blogging for a month, I spent a lot of my time reading sites like this. Very thankful for these resources.
I’m new to blogging so I spend the most amount of time reading other blogs or articles in my niche (obviously, also a few about blogging).
It really took so much time. I decided to sell my blog. Anybody interested can contact me. Thks
Site design seemed to take forever, and now I feel like I don’t have much to do. In reality I have a ton to do, including more content and marketing. I know the content is the most important, but I have this nagging desire to do as much marketing as possible. I want people to see my creation, even if it isn’t the prettiest design ever!
1. Reading (70%), 2. Writing (20%), 3. Socialising (10%) – That’s what I’d call “blogging”. ;)
At the moment rebuilding my blog, one you blog is up and running keep going , stopping and starting is does not make blog happy.
past month I have blogged daily sometimes more- guest posted. so my main focus has been on content and having an editorial calendar so I know what i am going to write
I then spend time, responding to comments on my blog, commenting and stumbling blogs in my niche and occasionally find time to read blogs like problogger.
My design needs work as blog has a few issues that need ironing out, as i get more income directly from the blog I will get a VA to look after that
I spend much time for developing my blogs and practice my english skill trough blogging. I feel my blog’s not good enough. Though i find many lessons from proglogger. thanks..
I deal everyday with different blogs of mine, managing my own community, writing posts and comments.. and give some time to read other blogs and tips, designing and developing website for y clients … and.. and so many other stuff daily!
but the most thing I like to do now.. is blogging