When I decided to pursue blogging, my goal was to simply share my story. 

Little did I know that blogging will be this addicting. Currently, I’ve been blogging for over six years already and have been through the ups and downs of it. A great deal of this passion project I choose to pursue is creating content. Thus, productivity plays a big factor in keeping this blog alive. 

Today I’d like to share with you daily productivity tips for bloggers. 

Productivity for bloggers is an ongoing process. There will be a lot of distraction along the way that you should be prepared to combat. If you haven’t started creating a blog yet then I had a full post on How to Start a Blog.  Just click the link and the step by step tutorial

Here are some of the best productivity tips that I have used and worked tremendously in my daily life as  a blogger.

Brain Dump

I have talked so much about brain dump a lot over the years and I can’t emphasize enough how a simple activity like brain dump helped me stay productive. 

A brain dump refreshes your mind. When you are constantly bombarded by ideas from content ideas, social media posts to client collaborations, a brain dump is such a helpful tool that can free you from the stress. It even opens up for more ideas! Plus, tasks seem easier to get done when written.

Read next - How to Get Motivated when you Feel Lazy and Tired

To Do List

Closely related to brain dump is the to do list. 

Brain Dump is more of a freestyle writing of whatever it is that’s been bothering you. It can be personal errands, admin works or even the birthday of a friend you had to remember.

A to do list on the other hand is more specific. The bigger projects you have as a blogger can be filtered down via a good to-do list.

Your brain dump may look like this:

• Blog Post A

• Send Newsletter to followers

• Update Instagram Calendar

A to do list on the other hand goes deep down. It breaks down vague tasks as above to a more doable bite-size to do’s. Example:

• Blog Post A

• Create outline

• Create thumbnail 

• Edit post

• Proofread

• Publish

• Send Newsletter to followers

• Draft newsletter

• Insert related links

• Review letter

• Send

• Update Instagram Calendar

• Review analytics for the past 30 days

• Create a list of top posts

• Brainstorm photo ideas

• Populate calendar

The key for an effective to do list is to make sure you are prioritizing what needs to be prioritized. Give more time to those tasks that will make your blog better. Common daily tasks of a blogger includes writing content, generating images, editing, publishing posts and marketing on social media. 

Time Batching

Time Batching is one productivity tool that will change your life as a blogger. I can’t tell you how much time batching saves me from all the hustle and bustle that comes from maintaining two blogs while working full time. I really apply this to every aspect of my life.

Time batching is when you do the same task all at one time.

How does time batching work?

You simply group similar activities together and do them all at the same time.

I use time batching the most on social media. I set aside a day where I create all the needed posts for the whole month and schedule them. This way, I know I have my social media already done for the whole month. It saves me soooo much time along the way. 

You can also apply this when it comes to blog posts. 

A typical blogger will try to write and publish a blog post once a week. In time, batching what you will do is write four posts at once and publish them across different weeks in a month. This way you don’t have to do the same task again and again. 

Read next - 7 Simple Activities for a Better Work Day During Quarantine

Prime Times

Prime Times refer to a given time frame in the day when you are at your peak or at the highest energy level. 

To know your prime time take a look at how you commonly spend a day. When do you feel the most energetic, productive and efficient and that everything just gets done?

My prime time has changed in recent years. I used to be a hardcore night owl where my brain just goes beast mode from 6PM to 11PM. Then I became a morning person, where I usually get the most tasks accomplished between 8AM to 11AM. 

Now that I’ve been working from home, I think I adapted both prime time hours. I get most of my work stuff finished before lunch and after my shift I get to do all my blog tasks instead.

Why knowing your prime time is a great productivity tip for bloggers?

Because you get to schedule your tasks better. For example, knowing that you are at your peak in between 6PM to 11PM, you get to do your most important tasks within this time frame. This includes creating content, doing workbooks, or client requests. 

In the morning you can do the not so time consuming tasks like responding to email, engaging on social media, or scheduling your posts in advance. 

Working on your prime hours will also help you not feel too burdened as a blogger. 

Most Important Tasks first

You may have read of the acronym MIT in a number of productivity posts across the web. MIT actually stands for Most Important Task. 

A Most Important Task (MIT) is a task that will create the most significant result for you. If there is a task you can do during the day that will give you the most satisfaction, what would that be?

This MIT can either be a task that’s already on its deadline, a task you’ve been putting off to someday-maybe for the longest time or a task related to your goal. 

Everyday we are encouraged to choose a top three MIT that we will solemnly wear to get done. The rest of the tasks on your to do list will become secondary to MIT. These three tasks are what you have to schedule during your prime hours. 

For the blog my top three MITs are writing content, doing social media and finding new content ideas. I try to schedule my day wherein I do these tasks regularly and with my utmost ability.

Read next - How to Create a Work From Home Routine

Themed Days

One recent productivity tip I started to adapt is creating themes for my day. For someone like me who juggles a lot of passion projects, this has been a very helpful technique. It gives me so much power to get productive. 

So how does themed days work?

In a nutshell, you will just set a theme for or type of work on a given day. For example, Monday you do Podcasts, Tuesday you do Instagram and Facebook, Wednesday you do Pinterest, etc. You need to do all the necessary work that needs to get done on that particular themed day. 

Theming your days will add so much structure to your week. You won’t spend too much time anymore finding out which task to do next. You will no longer wake up asking yourself, “What should I work on today?” You know exactly what tasks you should be working on.

Overall

A blogger’s day-to-day time management can be very tricky. There will be a day when your hours are too short and you feel like you needed more time to process everything. And I hope the above productivity tips help.