6 Tips for Smart Blogger to Save Time - Blogging Tip # 5

Of all the mistakes I made in these two years of blogging,

and I mean my-precious-time-regretfully-wasted kind of mistakes –

Here are some, which I hope, other beginners do not make.

And I am giving some tips that the bloggers can take.

Doesn't matter whether you blog on cosmetics, craft, cook, or bake.

'Coz really none of these tips are fake.

And if you are making these mistakes you gotta put a brake.

All I want is for you to be awake.

Because if nothing else, your valuable time is on stake.

So go on, read it, for your own sake.

And if the tips help you, feel free to send me a cake.

Pen and Paper

I don't understand why all the ideas come to me just when I'm about to fall asleep.  Does it happen to you?  Since over a decade I had always carried a pen and paper in my handbag whenever I went out, but now I also keep a pen and paper on my bedside table for all the ideas that pop up at odd hours and make note of it right away before I sleep.  It saves so much time trying to remember all of it the next day.  Plus, you get too busy the next day to think of them again.  Time saver # 1: make note of ideas as soon as they come to you, keep a pen and paper handy.

Statistics and Analytics

I used to go check my visitor stats about 50 times in a day to see what number of page views it reached that day.  I find it very silly to celebrate 100,000 hits, blah blah blah.  So if you know me and this blog, you would see I have never celebrated page views, hits, or blog birthday.  But checking stats constantly was the silliest thing I could do.  I was a beginner and naive, let's just blame it on that.  I do not waste that kind of time anymore.  Time saver # 2: stop checking stats constantly and use that saved time to edit pictures instead.

Comments and Compliments

First thing in the morning I used to love receiving and reading comments.  In fact, checking for comments on Blogger.com [Ctrl+T], Facebook.com [Ctrl+T], Gmail.com [Ctrl+T] used to be my drill almost every half an hour in the entire day.  The "i am drooling" and "looks amazing" kind of comments used to make me elated, until of course I started to realize the truth (why, haven't you read the truth about blog comments?).  Now, instead of regularly checking for new comments and emails, I do it only thrice a day.  It is more than enough.  Time saver # 3: schedule only certain times in the day to check and respond to comments – if necessary, and to questions – if any.  Use the saved time to create quality content instead.

Draft and Save

Writer’s block hits you exactly when you don’t want it to.  And then you go on delaying writing the posts because the right vocabulary, tone, story, or humor does not occur to you.  I don’t mean ‘you’ literally; I am talking about myself.  But if it is the same case with you, here are the solutions I have found.  I have created a file named FUTURE BLOG WRITE UPS with pages titled STORIES, QUOTES, POST IDEAS, etc.  Then, a) if there are anecdotes about my childhood, incidents from life, conversations with husband, or anything at all – I type them out in the file as soon as I remember something; b) if there are certain words, idioms, quotes and phrases I like and want to use some time in my posts – I write them down in the file when I come across anything good; c) if there are ideas and topics I have in mind to write new blog posts on – I transfer them from my mind to the file.  Not as 'drafts' on internet but in my computer so I can work offline any time.  Time saver # 4: write your write ups out, connect them to your posts later, then copy them to new posts wherever suitable even later, make sensible sentences and paragraphs out of them much later, and leave the editing and perfecting for much, MUCH later.

Learn and Document

Right from the start, had I used my time wisely to learn Picasa and Photoshop, to be familiar with Google Analytics details and various Adsense aspects, to figure out Blogger gadgets and widgets, to understand basic website designing and placements – I would have saved myself enough time to probably go enjoy the sunset.  And whatever I read up and gathered online from websites and videos – if I had only written them down in a place, I would have saved myself enough frustration than searching about it all over again.  If you are on the same boat - Time saver # 5: learn what you don’t know, document what you learn, so that you don’t forget or waste time googling up the same stuff yet again.

Plan and Schedule

Serious bloggers who have festival-ideas and event-related posts long before the date start planning out almost a month or two in advance.  I never got around doing so, because I never planned ahead of time.  If you see my blog archive, you won't spot any festival/event ideas BEFORE the actual one.  And some bloggers who go on vacations write out extra posts and schedule them to be published automatically while they are away.  I did not used to do that.  If you see my blog archive, when I went on vacation for 3 months, the Oct-Dec 2012 months were blank.  I learned Time saver # 6: plan your posts ahead of time, write extra posts on the day your are in a good mood to write, schedule your posts for automated publish at your suitable peak visit time of the day, so that you can use the saved time to relax and live life instead.

More Blogging Tips:                                                                                                

Blogging Tip # 7: Solutions for Search Queries
Blogging Tip # 6: Create photo index for blog posts

Blogging Tip # 4: Adding social media icons on blog

Blogging Tip # 3: How to set your RSS feed

Blogging Tip # 2: Creating Facebook page and NetworkedBlogs

Blogging Tip # 1: Adding contact form to your blog

                                                                                                                                         

Your challenge:

a) Any blogging/time-wasting mistakes you made?  What changes did you make?

b) Any other time-saving tips you can add from your experience?

If this post helped you and if you will apply this blogging tip in future on your blog - leave me a comment to tell me about it (it will make me feel proud to know this post was worth my time).  If you find this tip and this blog useful - share the link with people in your network to let them know too (it will make me happy!).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Connect with Spusht via: Facebook  |  Email  |  RSS  |  Twitter