As bloggers, we all wish we were more productive I'm sure. I know many project managers who are very productive. So it got me thinking. Can bloggers become more productive by adopting some of the work habits of the best project managers? Let's take a look.
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Skills of a Project Manager that a Blogger Would Benefit From
The job of a project manager is very complex. It is not a role that you would immediately associate with managing a blog. But why not? Is running a blog not just like organising one long project?
And if so can productive bloggers think like project managers, and benefit from their skills and goals?
Organisational Ability
One of the first things that you probably consider when thinking about the roles of a project manager is how organised they need to be. A project must be meticulously planned, if deadlines are to be hit.
Ring any bells?
If you want to be a more productive blogger, you need to stop posting when you feel like it. Stop posting on a whim. And start planning. Sorry!
You need to treat your blog as a project, with objectives, timelines, tasks and deadlines. If you want to publish a post per week, pick a day and time. That should be your deadline.
Have Some Flexibility
We all have good weeks. Yes, we do! When you have a good week and you have some spare time, draft a blog post. Don't publish it just keep it as a draft.
We all have weeks with setbacks and disasters. If one of your goals is to publish a post each week, you may falter on the really bad weeks. But not if you have a spare post up your sleeve.
Create some spare posts that are not date or topic related. Don't have spare posts on romantic meals for valentines day for example. They won't gain much traction if you publish them in August!
Ability to See the Big Picture
Always keep your goals and plans in mind. Each time you have an idea for a post, ask yourself if it will help you towards your goals.
If you just decided that you want to talk about a topic that is totally unrelated to the rest of your posts, it may confuse your audience. And won't help you either.
If your goals are to:
- Gain 1000 visitors per month.
- Grow your list by 10% each month.
- Increase your Twitter following by 5% each month.
for example, then every time you publish a post you should ask yourself if it will help you to accomplish one of your goals. Will the post attract visitors, shares, comments, subscribers, followers, etc. If not, then why are you publishing it?
What is Your Current Situation?
Every decision you make around your blog, whether it is an individual blog post or a plan to achieve your goals, you should think about your current situation.
You need to consider where you are at the moment. If you are considering a goal of gaining 1000 subscribers, how many do you have at the minute? If it is 10 currently, then that is a big jump. Even if you have 500 subscribers, it is still quite a big jump. Especially if it has taken you 5 years.
When you start considering your current situation around your existing subscribers, it may take a bit of research. How did you get them? Was it all one post, all one topic, all one month, or spread around?
Think about where you are, and where you want to be. What can you do to change your current situation to your goal. What can you replicate. What worked before.
If you grew your list as you ran a great challenge, run another. If a post really resonated with people, can you expand on the topic. Or explain what has happened since you started doing X or Y.
If you want my free Productive Blogger Cheat Sheet to help you think like a project manager, enter your details below.
Great, helpful post. Shared it on my pinterest
https://www.pinterest.com/fotosbykarin
Have a nice day, Karin
Thank you so much Karin
I’ve used the “having a draft ready” tip before. It’s so, so helpful on the weeks when I’m either too busy or tired. Also, I used to think that having a blog was something I could update when I wanted to. And I mean sure I can do that, but if my goal is to have consistent or more engagement or if my goal is to grow my blog, I also agree that organization & deadlines are important.
The problem is when we have a bit of ‘spare’ time, we often don’t use it productively. It is great to get into the mindset of ‘oh I have some time I’ll draft a blog post’. It’s hard to think about the times you are struggling, when you’re not struggling! Organization is key which is why I am moving much more towards batch working for so many things.
DISCIPLINE is the key! Try setting a goal of writing a certain number of words EVERY DAY (maybe 100/day to start).
Bloggers can keep track of their post ideas on free software like Evernote (dotcom) which have a word count feature. And the daily word goal does not have to be on a single topic.
If you are ever totally stuck for content ideas, just visit a forum relevant to your blog’s focus and
study the most frequently asked questions.
START YOUR DAILY WRITING ROUTINE, TODAY!!
Yes Robert that is so true. Getting into a daily habit for anything is great. Blogging is no different. I use Evernote and it is great and really helpful.
Very informative. Anand Bose from Kerala
Thank you!
These are very helpful tips you’ve shared, Penny. Truly, it takes time and effort to become a successful blogger. But most importantly, it takes discipline and strategically planning.
You have to study your blog; you have to pay attention to your blog to know when your blog suddenly starts getting loads of followers, and you must know what caused that spike. Likewise, you have to do some studying when your blog’s stats to drop. Being a successful or productive blogger is not as easy as most people make it seem.
Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment. I think the discipline side is where many people falter. Especially if they are hobby bloggers. It is hard to feel committed when you just post when you please. As you so rightly say, if you pay attention to your readers it is a lot easier to plan and progress.