Four Ways To Organise And Plan Your Blog
AD- This is a sponsored post, but all thoughts on how to organise and plan your blog are my own
For a lot of bloggers and content creators, we do it alongside another job. That might a full or part-time job, it could be running a business or being a parent. So for the most part how we organise and plan your blog is really important to ensure we keep on top of creating. I work full-time in a digital content creator role which I love, and I post on my blog about 3 times a week alongside social media. So there a lot of things to think about to ensure I don’t feel stressed or under pressure. Especially as I blog for myself and my own love and passion for writing.
Organise and plan your blog by creating a content plan and writing in advance
I could not keep on top of my blog if I didn’t have a content plan that I worked on 1-3 months in advance. For me, it looks like a simple calendar made in Google Sheets and I note down what I want to post when. Once I have my ideas I can then keep track of when I’ve written it or when it’s got images and been scheduled. By doing this I know in advance what I want to write about which helps to organise and plan your blog.
Once I have my content plan I find I batch write blog posts, mainly at the weekend, or on a weekday evening. I may sit down and write one and that’s my lot. But other times I’ll sit and write three blog posts in one go. Generally, I’ll have content written 3-4 weeks in advance. This is great as it means if I just want a weekend off writing, or I have plans I don’t feel guilty as I’m scheduled in advance.
Social media scheduling
While you’re scheduling your blog content it’s important to use social media marketing tools to schedule your social media as well. There are loads of different applications you can use but content cal lets you manage Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin in one place.
You can create your posts including the images and schedule them within the app. With Instagram, all you need is the app on the phone so you get a push notification to publish at the time selected. All other platforms will self-post for you. Previously I had been using two different tools to manage Twitter and Instagram but now I can keep everything in one place. Plus you can look at the content calendar of your social media to see what you have scheduled for each platform when. As you can see from the image below it’s so aesthetically pleasing seeing it all in one place. There’s a two-week free trial you can use to give it a go.
Organise and plan your blog by keeping track of your payments and taxes
If you’re making any money from your blog you need to register as self-employed and declare it. You may not need to pay tax on it if you’re under the threshold but it needs to be declared. To save you from the stress of working out what you’ve earnt and your expenses come the end of the tax year. It’s best to be prepared. I wrote a full post on how to make filing your taxes easier. But the most important thing is to keep track of your money.
Make a note of any money you make. My spreadsheet is super simple and covers the date an invoice was paid, how much I was paid what it was for, a link to the work, how it was paid (BACs/Paypal) and a contact. This way I have all of the information required in one place and I can easily see my earnings. I also then keep a track of anything I’ve bought/ paid for which would class as an expense. Things like hosting costs, domain names, virtual assistant hours etc. Having this together makes my life so much easier.
Stat checks
The final thing you can do to organise and plan your blog is to keep monthly stat checks. While it isn’t all about the numbers it’s good to look back. So you can see how you may have grown in a certain area. It might be people are looking at more pages each time they visit your site. Or you may have grown on a social media platform. If you saw a big spike in page views one month you can look into your posts and see if it was a particular one which did it.
I’ve been doing this for about three years and some months when I question why my blog doesn’t seem to be growing fast I look at these stats and think about how far I’ve come.
What do you do to plan and organise your blog?
Pin It
19 responses to “Four Ways To Organise And Plan Your Blog”
Leave a Reply
All About Me
Rhian Westbury
Travels and Destinations
Nothing currently planned
This a great post for new bloggers to keep on track of their blog and varous aspects to blogging. It is also good for those who have been blogging a while to refresh their memories.
Even though I don’t blog as a full time job, and I just blog for pleasure, I found this very relatable. Especially your first point when it comes to making a content plan, It can require thought but is very useful to do!!
I don’t blog as a full-time job either, it’s just a side hustle for me so I know how you feel x
I’m pretty diligent about recording blog stats, income and expenses in Excel. I am totally rubbish at having any sort of content plan. One day perhaps!
It is very useful post, specially for new bloggers. I think social media scheduling is very important for every blogger who tries to increase his/her blog traffic.
My blogging journey is like a light switch. There are times when I am so inspired to write, but then the passion wanes and I can go on for weeks without writing anything new. My issue is consistency and finding inspiration. Maybe creating a content plan would be a great idea.
I used to be a bit like that when I had no plan. I find having a plan and knowing a bit about what I want to write helps with the inspiration x
I really need to be more constant with my social media scheduling. I seem to go through phases of being organised and then it tails off
Great tips. I really need to orginise myself more.
I really should be more organised with my blog. It’s a bit random to be honest and should probably be planned out a bit better.
I have been meaning to do a stats check and social media scheduling, will be making sure I implement this starting tomorrow
This is a post I needed to read! I usually put pen to paper, put it down, lose it, find it, throw it away and start again. It’s a nightmare I need better organisation
I used to be so organised with my blog. I used to have all my posts and social written out a few weeks before they were published. But with the kids being at home, I have fallen behind. So trying now to catch up.
It must be so much tougher having the kids at home, I don’t know how you parents do it x
This is such a great post. I don’t blog full time but really would love to spare more time for it. Children keep me so busy.
Wow you seem very organised. I write a blog and I just wing it at the moment but I would love some sort of schedule and plan in place. i need to work on it.
This is such a helpful post, thanks for sharing! I really do need to get on top of being more organised with my blog so this has helped get me a bit more motivated to do so! Social media scheduling is something I need to do more regularly as when I do it really makes a big difference. One thing I do keep on top of is my finances though which is really easy now I have a spreadsheet.
Finances are so important when it comes to taxes as you want to make sure you’re declaring all of the right things and not paying more tax than you need to x
Wow you are super organised having a content plan that far in advance. I have a spreadsheet for incoming and outgoings and update it every few days. Easy to keep on top of my taxes then