Time Management for Bloggers and Content Creators
If you're a blogger and content creator, you know that there are multiple deadlines to meet. You might be working on articles to post at regular intervals, that you want to include in your email newsletter, or live events like webinars where it's important to stick to a schedule. But with so much going on, it can be hard not only keeping up but also feeling productive. In this post we'll teach you different ways to manage your time when managing content for your blog or business.
It's hard to be productive when you don't have enough time. The good news is that if you work smart and plan ahead, you'll have more time to produce great content! So how can you stay in control of your blog and business when life is busy? Read on for some helpful tips!
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What is the relationship between Time Management and Content Marketing? The same way that publishing a blog post or an article should take as little time as possible, so should its execution. If you want to quickly publish great content (and get it read), then there are several learning paths to follow. The first one to introduce here is "Time Management. To make the most of your limited time, you'll have to learn to automate repetitive tasks. Schedule your email newsletter, automate the publication of regular content (e.g. weekly blog posts), and set up a rule to automatically tweet so you don't have to remember it. Use auto-responders and autoresponders for capturing new leads and also growing your mailing list through popups or welcome mats, which appear on your website while people browse it. Schedule all your social media management, from Facebook and Twitter to Pinterest or Instagram. Schedule that meeting with the client you want to work with. Feel out their requirements, and then arrange your schedule around them!
Your Content Marketing goals are all about building good content for your audience, so it's important that you keep a handle on your time; make sure you're on track to meet deadlines. That means knowing how long it takes you to produce content (and articles) as well as when they will be published. The main goal of this is quality – not quantity. This will take some planning, but it'll be worth it. Here's what to do:
Take a note of how long each piece of content takes to create. This includes all pre-production work (e.g. research and writing), as well as any time spent on the post-production (e.g. images, links). It might also include the time that goes into managing and publishing that content. For example, if you're using an autoresponder for a weekly article, you'll need to think about all the tasks involved (including sending the email and updating your social media accounts at the right time).
This only takes a few minutes to do, but it's important to note that your production times will vary depending on content type and topic. For example, it might take you three hours to create an email newsletter but just 15 minutes to write a new blog post. Also, if you're producing more content than usual, expect it to take longer.
If the time you spend on your blog is too much for your current schedule, find a way to be more productive. Subscribe to an app that tells you when to post, and write the content at night instead of during the day (according to your groove or work pattern). If that feels stressful, consider setting up a goal for yourself: finish an article in a certain amount of time each week. When you meet that target, reward yourself by going out with friends or doing something nice.
Once you're able to plan your time wisely – for both daily and longer-term goals – it's easy to stay productive. Try the following tips to keep yourself in control.
Set up a work-flow for your blog. Use tags for each article or piece of content to track it from start to finish so you can see when each one will be published (and when you'll have time to create it). This allows you to schedule and plan everything else in your life around your content creation schedule. How do I know this works? When I started tracking my blog posts, I found that I was able to create and publish 2-3 times more than before. I also had the time to take on more work.
What if you invest a lot of time into developing a product or service, and then it doesn't turn out as you planned? How do you deal with that? As entrepreneurs, we know that there are some things we simply can't plan for. When a setback like this occurs, learn from it and move on quickly. It's not the end of the world! If you're serious about meeting your goals and working smarter and faster, be prepared for this possibility by having a backup plan. Don't wait until an emergency comes up to figure out what to do – have at least two things in mind so you don't stress about how to fix your mistakes when they occur.
Now that you're familiar with the basics of Time Management and Content Marketing, what are your thoughts? Do you think they go hand in hand, or do they work independently? Remember to let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maulay/382341/
Content Marketing is a relatively new buzzword which works as a business strategy that promotes your products or services through content published across various media channels, including search engine optimization, e-mail marketing and social media. Content Creation involves developing some sort of written content to be used for promoting, educating or entertaining the targeted audience. Content Marketing is the process of promoting or marketing your products or services through various channels. Thus, content marketing is a strategy involved in communication and promotion of a product or service.
Content can be defined as ideas or information that create a shareable buzz for an audience. Content can be developed in various forms such as blog posts, articles, videos and presentations. The use of online social networking sites by organizations has made it easier for people to share their thoughts online. Organizations also use blogs on websites to communicate with their audience and customers.
The best ways to get your message out there are through social media profiles like LinkedIn Pulse, Facebook fanpages and Twitter and blogs like this one on YourNeoMallway blog .
Conclusion:
Content Production is necessary for every business. Some businesses come up with a good content but fail to make it reachable. Others don't have the huge budget to bring the quality of the content to desired level. So, for overall productivity, they need to invest in appropriate content production tools that offer excellent features and ease for a business. Mostly these products are considered as Content Management Platforms (CMPs) that also known as Content Management Systems (CMSs). Some CMSs are open-source but majority of them are proprietary and expensive. A good CMP will help you in improving your productivity whilst making it possible for your website or blog to be optimized, customized and automated.