We all know that it is super important to spend time writing when you are a blogger. After all, everything we talk about (traffic, monetization, etc.) hinges on the fact that you actually have content on your blog that people will want to read, right?
But, what do you do when you don’t have time to write?
It is a common concern that I see with people. In fact, this seems like one of the biggest stumbling blocks to so many budding bloggers. They simply lack the time to do effective writing.
So, what do we do about this? Here are a few pieces of advice for you.
Remove Distractions (ala Twitter)
Twitter, email, Facebook…all these things are very important for any blogger. But, when it is time to write, you TURN IT OFF.
Close your email program. Close your Twitter client. If you have instant messaging running, turn it off. You might even turn the ringer off on your phone.
When it is time to write, you remove all potential sources of interruption. You remove all “Shiny objects” that might distract you onto something else. When you do this, you will find that you can get into the writer’s groove much easier and actually STAY there.
Write in Batches
My long-time readers know that I’ve recommended this tactic many times, and I’ll do it again now because it has worked so well for me.
Sit down and write all of the posts for your blog for the week in one sitting. Just hammer them out. Then, for the rest of the week, you just publish the posts from your blog’s queue or you future post them by using the scheduling feature of WordPress.
This has two big benefits:
- It leaves the rest of your week open to other things important for your online success, like thinking about your marketing, engaging social media, developing products, etc.
- You can get into that “writer’s groove” and take advantage of it by pumping out good stuff at once rather than having to redevelop your rhythm again and again because of routine interruptions.
Try it. It will work.
Develop a Schedule
A lot of my readers have full-time jobs and things other than their online ventures which take up time. If you don’t have a structured schedule for your blog, then it is really easy to make no progress at all because of the excuse of “no time”.
So develop a schedule and stick with it. Schedule a few hours (perhaps over the weekend) to hammer out all your content for the week. Place a limit on the amount of time per day you spend on social media sites. Actually schedule in time for marketing, blog commenting, traffic generation strategies, etc.
As an example, I usually write all of my posts for this blog on Mondays. It is in my schedule and on my weekly todo list for Mondays to write all posts for this blog. For the remainder of the week, I don’t have to do any blog post writing for this site. I have other things in my schedule.
Don’t Overthink!
All of this stuff that we have to do as bloggers can get pretty overwhelming if you’re constantly second-guessing yourself and having that little invisible man looking over our shoulders.
For example, have you ever spent too long on a blog post and never hit the Publish button? Have you ever written a report and never release it?
This business is dependent on ACTION. So, when you write that blog post, go in and tackle the idea that you have. Then publish or schedule it. Don’t get into an endless figure-figure on whether it is “good enough” to be published. Things will never happen when you do that.
There is no tougher critic of yourself than you. Your audience doesn’t know what you might have had in mind. Chances are, they’re going to be happy to hear from you, not sitting there critiquing your post to the Nth degree.
Have Some Input?
Do you have some tactics of your own that have worked that would help busy people become better bloggers? Please share in the comments below.
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