Do you spend too much time working on your blog? 

Has it been months since you updated your blog because you were just too busy? 

Have you avoided starting a blog because you can’t figure out how to squeeze it into your already busy schedule? 

You’re definitely not alone. 

When I asked the Blogging Organizers group, “What is your biggest blogging challenge?” by far the most common answer was “making time to blog.” 

The good news is that blogging doesn’t have to consume your life. With a little planning and a few simple systems, you can create valuable content without spending hours staring at a blank screen. Here’s the approach I’ve used while publishing at least one post a week for nearly 20 years.  

Writing a blog post involves several different tasks, but you don’t have to do them all in one sitting. In fact, if you’re struggling to find time to blog, I recommend that you don’t. 

Let’s break those tasks down into five phases: Planning, Writing, Illustrating, Publishing, and Promoting.

One of the best time-saving strategies is to batch similar tasks. Instead of completing every step for one blog post before starting the next, try batching similar tasks. Brainstorm several topics in one sitting, write outlines for multiple posts another day, then edit or create graphics in batches. You’ll spend less time switching between different types of work and more time making real progress.

Planning

One of the biggest time-wasters is sitting down to write without a blogging plan. Spending a few minutes planning ahead can save you hours later.  

Set a Goal

For your blog to bring the results you need, before you even decide what to write about, you need to know why you’re writing it. Which of your business objectives will it relate to: more email subscribers, industry recognition, new clients, or something else altogether? 

When you know what you want a post to accomplish, it’s much easier to decide what belongs in it—and what doesn’t.  

Start an Ideas List

You can waste hours considering different ideas and finally starting to write about a particular topic, only to realize you need to do more research or you’re just not excited about it. Fortunately, you can prevent this from happening with a little planning. 

The following brainstorming methods will help you to generate hundreds of blogging ideas. 

• Answer questions clients often ask 
• Draw inspiration from books, movies, or current events 
• Look at what people are discussing on social media 
• Repurpose existing content 
• Ask ChatGPT or another AI assistant for ideas. Here’s a suggested prompt:
  
  I am a professional organizer specializing in custom closet design. I need topic ideas for my blog that will showcase my expertise and make clients want to hire me. 

As you’re brainstorming, capture as many blogging ideas as possible. Keep a list of possible topics in a notebook or your favorite notes app. Choose something you can easily update when new ideas come to you.  

Create a Schedule

Next, plan what you will blog about in the coming weeks. You may find it helpful to select a theme to focus on for a few weeks so you’re not just churning out random content. Doing this also creates a kind of flow from one post to the next, increasing reader engagement. 

There are a lot of different tools you can use to keep track of your blogging schedule. The one you choose is a matter of personal preference, but here are a few options. 

I currently use a paper planner which is dedicated to blogging and social media, but use whatever system you’ll actually keep updated – a digital calendar, a Google Sheet, or even a wall calendar.  

Knowing what you’re going to blog about before your writing session will give you a huge jump-start. 

Writing

Many bloggers are paralyzed by perfectionism. Spelling, grammar, and clarity are important, but don’t let them interfere with your writing process. When you’re working on your first draft, just let the ideas flow. It’s okay to use point forms, abbreviations, or even doodles at this point. 

If you get stuck, set it aside and come back later. When you come back to it, you may feel more inspired, or you may decide it wasn’t a such a great idea after all. That’s okay, but don’t discard what you’ve done. You may be able to use it for another post in the future. 

Set a timer for 30–60 minutes and focus only on writing. If you’re new to time blocking, set shorter intervals (such as 15 minutes) so you can decide whether to continue or switch to another task.  

Only when your ideas are fully fleshed out should you go back and edit for spelling, grammar, and clarity. It’s even better to let someone else look it over, either another person or an AI assistant, because it’s easy to overlook your own mistakes. 

You may find it helpful to paste your draft into ChatGPT and ask for suggestions. Just remember, these are only suggestions. If you don’t agree with something, or it doesn’t feel authentic, go with your gut. 

Illustrating

These days visuals are an important component of blogging. But instead of spending hours looking for just the right stock photo for your post, consider other options: 

• your own photos (make sure they’re in focus and not over- or underexposed)
• Canva or Snappa
• AI-generated images (when appropriate) 

If you prefer using stock photos, choose a service with good search tools, like Depositphotos. Spending a dollar or two on the right image is better than endlessly searching free photo sites. 

Publishing

Many bloggers love to write, but struggle with the technology involved with getting their posts onto their blogs.  

If this sounds like you, consider formatting, image optimization, and publishing to a virtual assistant or website professional so you can focus on creating great content.  

Promoting

Your work isn’t done once your post is published! All that hard work you’ve done planning and writing will go to waste if nobody reads it. Many successful bloggers spend more time promoting their posts than writing them! 

Fortunately, there are lots of ways to promote your blog posts, and many of them don’t take all that much time. Here are just a few possibilities: 

• Use Jetpack or Zapier to automatically share your new posts on your social media profiles
• Use Buffer to schedule additional social media posts 
• Use Hiplay or Recurpost to automatically repost the content you select 
• Use Mailchimp to automatically send your new posts to your email subscribers 
• Join a blogging community where members are committed to sharing each others’ posts – there’s power in numbers! 

And don’t make the mistake of only promoting your latest post – most of your posts will still have value long after they’ve been published. 

Saving time doesn’t mean cutting corners. It means creating a blogging process you can stick with consistently. 

You don’t have to implement every strategy at once. Pick one or two that fit your workflow and build from there.  

Which of these strategies already works well for you? Is there another time-saving blogging tip you’d add? Share your thoughts in the comments.  

Photo © IgorTishenko /Depositphotos