5 Free Productivity Hacks for Bloggers September 5, 2019
Whether blogging for passion, a side hustle, or a full-time gig, consistent blogging is a big-time commitment. Consistency requires a lot of planning and effective time management. Keep reading for five free productivity hacks for bloggers.
Why is Time Management Essential for Me?
As a blogger who works two jobs and is in graduate school, excellent time management is essential for me to maintain consistency with my blog. Also, staying organized keeps me sane. In fact, it prevents blog stress from bleeding into my personal and professional life.
Please keep reading for my five free productivity hacks for bloggers. These tips will help you improve your time management.
Five Free Productivity Hacks for Bloggers
All-in-all, staying organized is the key that drives all my top productivity hacks for bloggers. For anyone who isn’t naturally organized, these tips may help you.
1. Create an Edit Calendar
Whether you prefer a physical planner, an online system, or a simple Excel Spreadsheet, creating a monthly or seasonal edit calendar is a huge time management aid. In fact, edit calendars aid in planning content ahead of time. Moreover, calendars make it easy to follow a schedule for writing content and shooting photography.

My June Edit Calendar created with Excel
Added benefits to creating and following an Excel Edit calendar include the ability to visualize your content for the month. Moreover, edit calendars help space out content that may be similar. For example, my Excel edit calendar makes it easy to swap out content and color code certain themes as I deem necessary
2. Make the Most of Your Commute
As someone who used to spend a ton of time on public transportation commuting to-and-from work, I used this time to stay up to date with my friends’ posts. By using commute time to stay up-to-date with your friends’ posts, you’ll never fall behind. Moreover, you won’t need to play catch up!
Alternatively, you can use this commute time to write and edit posts. Editing photography or graphics for future posts is another way you can make the most of your commute.
3. Automate Where Possible
I’m a huge fan of saving time wherever possible. By automating tasks, I’m able to save a ton of time. For example, I use automation tools for Twitter Promotion (Buffer), Instagram Posting (Planoly), and for Blog Posting (WordPress Scheduler). Also, I even use an online spell checking tool called Grammarly to assist me with blog editing!
4. Try the Pomodoro Method
The Pomodoro Method is a time-management technique that I discovered in 2018. At its core, this method is supposed to help individuals prioritize their most important tasks of the day and to be more productive with less time.
The Pomodoro Method calls for 25-minute increments of work solely focused on completing one task with zero distractions (no phone calls, no texting, no eating, no bathroom breaks, etc.) until a timer goes off. However, if a Pomodoro is “broken” then the timer must be restarted. After each “Pomodoro” (work session), the worker has the option for a two-minute break or to start the next work session.
The Pomodoro Method sounds simple. However, it can be quite challenging for anyone who is glued to their phone. Also, it may be a struggle for anyone who works a job that requires constant email vigilance.
There are free Pomodoro-timer sites online, as well as physical planners that can be used to help plan a day’s work. My planner helps me to prioritize my tasks each day. Also, it helps me to get a better sense of how long any given task should take me.
5. Set Your Own Pace
What do I mean by this? There are no steadfast rules of how many pieces of content a blogger should be writing each month.
If writing two times a week seems daunting, try aiming for one post a week and sticking to it. After some time, if this cadence proves doable, try increasing your post frequency.
Don’t let anyone else dictate how to run your blog! Find a pace that works for you and stick to it. Also, don’t be afraid to take breaks whenever you need it – I took a month-long blogging break this year!
Final Thoughts on Productivity Hacks for Bloggers
There are countless productivity hacks for bloggers. For example, I enjoy writing posts and shooting photographs in bulk when I have free time on the weekends. I’m more productive when I can get in a groove. Others may be more productive with writing posts and shooting photographs daily.
Ultimately, when it comes to productivity hacks for bloggers there is no secret sauce or magic method that will work for everyone. We all have to find our own groove when it comes to time management for blogging. While the above methods worked for me, they may not be conducive to everyone’s schedule!
P.S. Don’t let anyone pressure you into believing that you have to spend tons of money on planning or automation tools for your blog. While tools can be effective, they are not necessary.
Let’s connect on social media: Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest | Bloglovin’ | Influenster
Looking for more tips on how to step up your blogging game? Check out Blogger Recognition Award: Why I Write & Tips for New Bloggers, Helpful Tools for Blog Planning & Scheduling, and 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Blogging.
What is your best productivity hack for blogging? Please let me know in the comments below.
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So smart and helpful, LP. I also love your advice to basically just do you with your blog.
I need to finally try Planoly!
The Preview App also works for IG planning too!
Thank you for sharing. Your tips are very helpful. I think I am going to take a stab at automation first.
It def makes a huge difference! 🙂
I’ve never heard of the Pomodoro Method before but I can see why that would be super helpful. Blocking out time is very effective and is something I should focus on more! Also, I deffo agree that everyone has their own groove when it comes to time-management as I personally find it difficult to write lots of blog posts in bulk and then do lots of photography in bulk. I like to complete one blog post entirely and then move onto the next one. I need to get ahead of the game again lol… Thanks for sharing, your blog is awesome and you’re always posting new content so you clearly have your shit sorted! x
lol thanks girl! I’d love to keep up with things daily, but it is so much harder for me to do this when school is in session. Bulk writing & photo shooting/editing really does help me, but I love that you work through one blog post fully before moving onto the next one!!
Wow I wish I was that organized lol
lol to be fair – it took me a lot of time to get to this point haha
Tru haha, I could still work on it tho
Damn I needed this!! I need to really get back into my blog and make the time and effort for writing posts!! Such good tips about automating things for Instagram and Twitter, in definitely going to check our your recommendations!! xx
I’ve loved seeing your posts popping up in my feed again!! 😀
Reblogged this on LIFE STORIES FROM LINCOLN.
These are such smart tips. My anxiety keeps me bouncing around and won’t let me away from my phone for too long, but that’s also because my day job requires me to be reachable at any time in case something happens with the horses. I totally admire how you’ve been able to implement these tips in your life!
I really have a hard time with working full time and blogging, but these tips can really help me out to fix this. I already try to schedule blog posts and social media promotion but it can definitely better. I just have to figure out what works for me but I’ll make sure to implement your tips!
Yess – it is all about what works for you!! Sometimes I still fall behind with things, but at a minimum, scheduling helps me to keep my blog post schedule consistent!
These tips are so helpful! I would be so lost if I wouldn’t schedule blog posts, lol. I also use hootsuite to schedule tweets and pins. IG I do manually. I really want to try out the Pomodoro method. It would help me get more done in less time! Thanks for sharing, LP.
Much love always,
GABBY | http://www.gabbyabigaill.com
ooo how do you like Hootsuite?? Do you use a paid version or free version??
I have been using the free version and it has helped me immensely to schedule pins and tweets.
Omg I had no clue they even had a free version!!! I need to check this out
YES. you can schedule up to 30 posts at once. I am working on creating a post explaining how I use hootsuite and other free resources.
OMG I CANNOT WAIT!!!
These are all really great tips I usually tend to do the bulk of my writing/photography over the weekend and schedule it for the week it really helps save time.
I agree – school can sometimes make it difficult to write on a daily basis, but writing and shooting photos in bulk helps me to stay a little bit ahead of my schedule!
For sure it definitely helps!
I love these productivity hacks! Scheduling is so important and that helps you be organized. I totally agree about automation. I try to do it whenever I can to save time. Oooh, I’ve tried the Pomodoro Method before. This is great when I need to do a lot of things in different sprints. Thanks for sharing these tricks!
Nancy ♥ exquisitely.me
I def wouldn’t be able to manage blogging with school and work without sticking to my schedule!!
I love thesse hacks!!! Scheduling is key!
Btw small blogger here anyone who follows I follow back!
Goodluck with your blog!! Regularly posting def helped me to grow my blog more consistently this past year!! 🙂
Thanks for sharing! I think I need to do a spreadsheet to plan ahead, thanks for inspiring me! x
I’m so glad that you found this helpful!! I’m a huge fan of spreadsheets or other planning tools to stay organized!
I’ve just started a habit tracker too… it’s helping me stay on track with things like taking my vitamins and meditating x
Thank you for the “final thoughts…” I struggle to be consistent and I am still looking for my magic mix… it gives me hope… loved the post…
I’m so glad that you found this helpful and I wish you the best for your blog. Building consistency can be a challenge, but what consistency means will vary from person to person.
Thanks for the tips!
Glad you found these helpful!