You need to write a Blogging Action Plan
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As the last part of my series about blogging productivity I want to bring together what I’ve already talked about in the previous posts:
3 ways to improve your blog writing
Do you batch process your blogging
It’s all well and good knowing these techniques for my blogging, but as I have said before I need to be able to bring them together with some overall plan so that I can make the most of them.
I first caught onto this idea when I was reading a post at Skelliewag.org called the pocket sized guide to blogging . I think it’s a fantastic post and it made me think that it would also be a good idea to actually write down a blogging action plan of what I wanted to do.
And that’s what I’ve done. I’ve taken what I learned recently and written it down in an action plan that I can refer to. Listing the important key factors that I use in my blogging:
- plan for writing posts/ideas
- tasks to batch process
- where I plan to do my marketing and how
- how I want to monetize the blog
- future plans for the blog
Basically a plan that I can look at to keep me on track on a day to day basis, but also to help me move in the right direction for the future and where I want to take my blogs. It’s helpful for those days when my memory can wander and also good as inspiration if I’m having a bad day.
Whether you call it a blogging guide, a master plan, a blueprint or an action plan would you find it useful to write one?
I have.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:action plan, blog writing, blogging blueprint, blogging guide, blogging masterplan, productivityDo You Batch Processing your Blogging?
What is batch processing?
It’s basically grouping similar tasks together to be done at the same time, therefore saving time by not flitting back and forth jumping from one task to another during the day. So I now put tasks like posting, marketing, admin and social media into groups to do together, instead of off the cuff.
Using this method I can become more productive. By organising my tasks into a more constructive and logical order, which will create a more focused day without being distracted as something comes up, like an email.
How did I hear about batch processing
I heard about batch processing from a Problogger post that Darren wrote about how he uses it. I realised that it’s a way of working that I have been unconsciously trying to implement for a while without realising it. But with little success because I was not implementing it properly.
So his post hit a real cord with me and seemed such an obvious thing to do. I think the problem is that it is so easy to become distracted from what I am doing, because their are so many different tasks to perform with blogging. That I can end up running around in circles and not really getting very far. I’m starting to think that I am a person that needs (or wants) to structure their day and their blogging. I think this comes from having an awful memory!
Anyway it’s working very well for me, at the moment I am batch processing some posts (pretty obvious) to appear later in the week for both of my blogs. I think it becomes even more important to batch process tasks if you have more than one blog like me.
I love it when I find another way to improve my blogging and time management even if it is obvious, it can take someone else to point it out before I can see it for myself. It makes me feel that my blogging is moving on when I find these little nuggets and implement them, and it seems like I have found quite a few recently so that makes me happy - and busy…
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:batch processing, ProBlogger, productivity3 easy ways to improve your blog writing
I know when I started to blog I had little to no experience with writing. And I hoped that over time my writing would improve, as I gained experience and practice at writing to my blog. Well looking back to when I started I can see that has happened with my writing. I see it as an ongoing process or journey and I am always looking for new ways to help me move forward. Recently I have added 3 new methods to my writing to help improve it from a planning point of view. Here they are:
1. Setting a process for writing posts
I start with a good old pen and a piece of paper, which can seem a little strange as I work on a computer. But I find it’s easier to get the ideas down and move them around to plan the outline of the post on paper, rather than looking at an empty screen and trying to write from scratch. And I always have a pad and pen handy for writing down post ideas.
Then using these notes I write a rough copy straight into Wordpress to see how the ideas work together.
After I have done that I save it and leave it for a while, anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days. When I go back to it I have fresh eyes and that enables me to make the final amendments to the article in a fresh way. Instead of writing it all at once and publishing straight away, which can end up too rushed. This way I feel the finished product is better because I pick up on quite a few things I didn’t like, like mistakes or things that I have missed that will make the article better.
2. Planning a diary of posts ahead of time
I know while I have been blogging I can find difficultly sometimes knowing what to write about or what to write about first. I try to have some balance to it by deciding how many times a week to post and to have some sort of flow to the posts rather than being completely random. So I have started to plan ahead a diary of posts so I have focus and flow to the posts. Writing with a focus and also writing a group of posts together sparks more ideas, and lets me see the whole picture better before I start posting.
3. Setting weekly features to focus my writing
Creating weekly features also helps with the above points. It’s easy to end up staring at a blank piece of paper or screen sometimes. So having a weekly feature (or a couple) can help relieve the stress of ‘what am I going to be writing next’. Some months everything can flow nicely, and other times it can be harder.
If I have a topic that I want to talk a lot about then making it a weekly feature is sensible, so the information can be spread out and not become overwhelming. This has especially worked well on the case study blog.
But my main problem at the moment comes from the case study blog, there is so much information I could write about. I want to explain the process well, so deciding in what order I should write about things can be difficult. And I do have other things to say besides talking about the case study! So that’s where the features come in.
Conclusion
Working out a process for my writing from idea generation to posting it on the blog has been incredibly helpful to me. I want the posts to flow on the blog and not just come out of nowhere, and I can only do that If I plan.
Everyone will do this process differently and finding the best way for me has taken some time. But I’ve now found a better way of working, rather than just sitting down each day with Wordpress and writing off the cuff and publishing it straight away.
How do you write?
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:blogging writing, case study blog, Wordpress, writingHow to improve your blogging productivity
With blogging you can work whenever you want?
Well yes that is true, I have a family and I work my blogging around them so I know how much time I have to blog and when it is. But to make the best of the time that I have, I have to be organised and set a plan to work to. Otherwise as has happened a lot in the past the time that I did have set aside can dwindle away in no time. I need to have focus and something to work towards, just ‘it’s time to blog’ isn’t enough.
Over the past couple of weeks I have come across a lot of different ways to help me focus on what I need to achieve in what time I have available. In other words methods that will make me manage my time better and therefore make me more productive. And I have applied these to my blogging:
setting a process for writing posts
batch processing my tasks
setting weekly features to focus my writing
planning a diary of posts ahead of time
writing a blueprint or master plan for the blog to follow
There is too much information here to fit into one post so I am turning this into a series about how to improve your blogging productivity. This will give me the chance to cover these methods thoroughly.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:blogging productivity, time management4 Good Reasons for Spring cleaning your blog
I know it’s been a while and I keep putting it off, but it’s time to spring clean that blog. And that’s exactly what I have done for The Photographer Blog as part of the changes, in fact it’s the first thing I did.
And here are 4 very good reasons why it’s a good thing to do:
1. Fix or remove broken links
Over time it’s easy for links to become broken, I even found one of my RSS links had broke and that’s obviously not good. So I checked through all my links to see if they still worked and if I wanted to still use them. The last thing I want to do is get my readers interested in my blog, only to run into a dead end or something off topic.
2. Tidy up sidebar
The same is true for the sidebar, again it’s easy for it to get cluttered with different elements that I am testing. So I did a de-clutter of the sidebar and looked at what was most useful. I think this is definitely a less is more scenario, because I want the sidebar to be clean and easy to search through for important information, like my RSS subscribe.
3. Update Plugins
I’ve noticed for a while little update messages appearing on some of my plugins in plugin management, obviously periodically authors will update their plugins and it’s important to update them when they are released. I kept putting it off and my Google Sitemap stopped working properly because of it. This caused all kinds of problems until I realised it was the missing upgrade that had caused it. Also if I am going to be upgrading Wordpress (which I was) I will upgrade all plugins first in case of compatibility issues.
4.Update Wordpress
I have now upgraded to Wordpress 2.5.1. I did wait until the first update after the major upgrade had happened, before I upgraded just so the major bugs were fixed. But it is the biggest upgrade for a while and the whole look of the backend has changed. So I had to have a look around to get used to it and find everything again. I have to say I like the new look and I think it’s easier to navigate around.
Again the Wordpress Automatic Upgrade plugin saved the day and I upgraded quickly with no problems (thank goodness). One thing I have noticed and I don’t see how there is any connection, but since upgrading Wordpress the traffic stats for the case study blog have increased. I’d imagine it’s just a coincidence.
This was quite a personal view of how I have given my blog a spring clean and the advantages I have seen because of it. I hope sharing it has been helpful.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Plugins, RSS, Wordpress, wordpress automatic upgrade pluginMy 30 day challenge results
My 30 Day Challenge
When I first talked about setting myself a 30 day challenge I said that I would report back with the results. So here they are…
This is all part of my ongoing process of building and growing the case study blog. Which is becoming more and more interesting, and it is really helping me learn more about blogging. So the following statistics are for the case study blog which is The Photographer Blog.
The challenge was to do some form of marketing everyday during May to increase traffic and awareness of the blog, as well as posting. I stated I would use 3 different types of marketing techniques, forum marketing, comment marketing and guest posting, and to then compare them against April’s results to see how I did.
How did I do?
Well first of all I didn’t manage to guest post which was one of the 3 marketing techniques I had set, but I did manage the other two. And I started the month quite well doing something on forum and comment marketing each day, even if it was small. Here’s the figures for May along with the figures for April so you can compare:
April
Unique visitors 559
Number of visits 1358
Page views 3537
Daily visitor - highest 59
Daily visitor - average 45.27May
Unique visitors 648
Number of visits 1465
Page views 4255
Daily visitor - highest 65
Daily visitor - average 47.26
As you can see there has been at least 10% growth in all areas. I am very pleased with these results, especially when I compare them against the amount of marketing I ended up doing over the month.
What did I learn
It was a very interesting exercise because it didn’t go how I had planned, but that turned out not to be a bad thing!
While commenting one day I came across a new blog (to me) and more importantly a post about seeing your blogging as a business, and not just blogging. It is something that I had read about before and was contemplating, but hadn’t made the decision to act on it or not. But I must have read that post at the right time, because it really hit me as what I should be looking at doing with the case study blog and it gave me more direction.
So although the case study blog showed steady growth, my marketing efforts had been nowhere near where I thought they would be. But what I did come away with is a new way of thinking about and planning my blogging. Which I am working on at the moment and should have some results to show in the near future, and this is why my focus shifted from the marketing.
As for the 30 day challenge, it is something I will build into my daily activities on an ongoing basis.
I think with blogging you are constantly learning but I am definitely in the middle of an interesting part of my journey that I will continue to share.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:blogging as a business, marketing, statistics, the photographer blog, TrafficHow to Create a Disclosure Policy
Why do I need a disclosure policy?
Why do I need one, I just want to blog? The way the internet has grown over recent years, it is now becoming more and more important to state where the views on your blog come from, and if they are influenced in any way.
So by having a disclosure policy you are telling anyone who visits your site where you stand and how it affects them. You are being honest about any advertising, so they can make up their own minds on how they feel about clicking an ad that may generate revenue for you, or someone you promote.
These things can concern some visitors, and by having a disclosure policy you are being clear and honest about what the blog contains, so the decision is up to them. The internet is a huge place with varying degrees of information, by being up front about it you are showing your visitors what type of site your blog is, that it can be trusted for what the content contains and where it has come from. So in short it covers your own back on content and advertising, stopping any unnecessary problems or causing anyone distress.
When planning a blog or re-designing it like I am, it is important that you try to think of everything. It’s becoming more important to consider disclosure partly because it’s good to be honest with your readers and partly because a lot of pay per click companies like Google Adsense ask us to have one as part of their terms and conditions now.
How do you get one?
So where do you begin! I didn’t have a clue how to write a disclosure policy so I went looking for an example on another blog to get some ideas.
I found that it is very easy to create a disclosure policy, the example of one that I found had a link at the bottom of the policy to create your own, how handy!
It takes you to the Disclosure Policy site where you are taken through a list of questions about you and your site, at the end you are able to create the policy from your answers. It is then the basis for your policy and you can add things to it and edit it as you like.
I copied it and then placed it on a page in wordpress, I set it to unpublished as I didn’t want it with my other pages in the header. I did link to it in the footer of my blog. Where you can also find my sitemap and other administrative information, which is easy to find for anyone looking for it as it appears on every page of my blog.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:disclosure policy, disclosurepolicy.org
