Blogging tips to stay succesful when you’re short on time

We’ve all been there when life swoops in and you don’t have time to work on the blogging like you want to. We all know that the best way to keep your blog popping is with great posts that people want to read and to keep the SEO high so people see your great work. But…sometimes our busy lives kinda get in the way. That’s ok, you can keep your blog hopping while you take a breather, check out these great tips! 

Planning ahead

Have a timeless blog post ready to go.

The best idea is to have one post on draft of a timeless nature (no holidays or seasons) that you have ready to publish, but keep as a draft, “just in case”. If you’re sick or overwhelmed one week and just have to hit “publish”, your week just got so much better. Even better if you have social media ready to go with it. I always TRY to have a post ready or almost ready and at least one Pin ready to publish. Just having the post ready is great, but if you can publish it one day and then have social media ready to go for the next day, too. Whew, it feels great!

 

Make sure all your blogging links back to yourself.

OK, I was a little slow to the bandwagon on this one. I don’t know why. But make sure you have links in your post referring back to at least 3-5 previous posts. You may include these links in your post itself. For example, you may be talking about this fantastic Mother’s Day Tea, and then refer back to a prior post about amazing self-care gift baskets, or you may be talking about goal setting and refer back to how you prepared for your first marathon (This my next marathon!). It’s great when these fit right in the flow of your text (and open in a new tab so your reader can read BOTH full posts). However it’s great to include  “you may also be interested in more” type of links at the end, too. This is like free advertising, but it’s amazing directed to your perfect audience!

 

Find a blogging scheduler that you like.

There are tons of scheduling apps, and you need to find what works for you. This is admittedly where I am very hit or miss, right now. I use both Buffer and Tailwinds to schedule posts/pins ahead. Tailwinds is for Pinterest and more or less keeps re-pinning posts for me, keeping it fresh. Buffer is what I use to schedule new content to Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I don’t often use this for new posts, although I should, but for quick social media posts to keep our name current. For example, one of the things we sell are reusable tote bags made from empty bird seed bags. So I scheduled a post with a photo of our bags on National Bird Watching Day. My favorite holiday is St Patrick’s Day, so it only makes sense that I’ll post a “Happy St Patrick’s Day” post on March 17th. 

 

When you have nothing ready to post

 

We’ve all been there when you know you need to create a post, but you’re just not ready to publish anything right now. It’s ok. Keep your blogging being viewed by pinning some images a links from your blog. Go ahead and do your last post, but jump back a month or six months and pin some. At the same time, go ahead and promote these same posts on your other social media. Yes, some people will have already seen it, but you might be amazed at how many haven’t seen it before, or for whom it is now the right time to read this particular post. 

 

Use your fellow bloggers.

There are so many #writerslift and #blogsharing posts on Twitter. You can easily take 15 minutes and link your blog to these posts with requests for shares or comments, or whatever. In exchange you respond in kind to a few of the other authors. First, you’ll network and meet some great people and other cool blogs. Second, Twitter now has a whole collection of your link, and the more people who re-share and like, the more Twitter will show it. Third, your blog is getting the views etc that search engines want to see.

 

Another way to use your fellow bloggers for SEO.

This idea may seem a little scammy to some, but use your own judgement. Often when someone likes or loves another blogger’s post, the writer will then reciprocate (comments work the same way). You may find some amazing posts this way, but it’s often done just to make you both seem better to search engines. Obviously you won’t “like” a post that you don’t actually like, nor would you write a positive comment you don’t mean. 

Another tactic that falls under this same idea is reminiscent of “like for likes” on Instagram. Many bloggers will go through their daily feed (I use WordPress so it is in my “Reader”) and like every blog post they see without necessarily reading them all. This can help the SEO of the bloggers, but does nothing for their views or comments. To someone who already has 483 likes on a post, it probably doesn’t matter much, but to the writer who has 4 likes, it’s pretty cool. 

Taking this idea further, there are some bloggers who then “like back” by liking about 3-5 posts. If each blogger does this each time they receive a like. The numbers can explode and SEO is happy happy, letting these posts be seen by more people in search engines. 

So, is it fair to “like” a post without fully reading it? This is a grey area that you must decide your blogging ethics. I admit, there have been many articles that I have just skimmed and liked. Maybe I was only sort of interested or maybe I was short on time, but I thought the article had great points or was well written. The author deserves my little “like” bump. If I don’t like the article, or I can’t read it, I’m probably not going to like it. Nor, am I just going to spam a bunch of likes to that author. I want all my readers to enjoy my blogging, but I’m ok if some of my fellow bloggers share my work without actually liking it – variety is what makes us interesting!

 

Use those blogging Share buttons!

Again, help a fellow writer out and share their work. Go ahead and leave a comment on their Twitter or Facebook or whatever, “Loved this! Shared it to my Homesteading Board!” Now you just gave double the love, boosting their link on the social media with your comment, and sharing their post via your social media. Not everyone will reciprocate but many will. If you join groups that do this regularly, you will get recognized as a regular, and you will have a network of reciprocity. 

The easiest way to keep your blog hopping is to consistently write and share great content. Ideally you can do that AND market effectively. But when you can’t try some of these easy tips to help keep you afloat!

 

You might find this article helpful  4 Tips for Staying Organized.

 

What is your go to way to maintain engagement?

What is your best blogging tip?