Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

How to Manage Your Blogging Tasks

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There is a productivity principle that what gets scheduled gets done. This concept has definitely been central in my both my personal and work life, and is even more important when the two connect. Meal times during work days, for example, are a non-negotiable break from the computer.

Aside from Google Calendar, my other essential scheduling tool is Wunderlist, a beautifully-designed task management application that seamlessly syncs across multiple devices. It’s completely free to use, or you can upgrade if you want additional features.

NOTE: Since I wrote this original post in 2014 for SteamFeed (now closed), Wunderlist was acquired by Microsoft, who are turning it into a new app called To-Do. The jury is still out on whether my favourite features will survive the transition. I have Todoist on the back burner, which I’ve heard is very similar to Wunderlist. It’s also comforting that I can easily import my data when/if the time comes.

Everything I discuss in today’s post is possible with the free version of Wunderlist, and the general ideas should also apply to whatever task management system you may already be using. We’ll cover:

  • Why scheduling is important for business blogging
  • The benefits of Wunderlist as a blog scheduling tool
  • How I use Wunderlist in my business blogging workflow
  • Three steps for scheduling your business blogging tasks

Why scheduling is important for business blogging

Though anyone can publish their thoughts online in an instant, effective blogging is not that simple. Before you even start writing a blog post, you need a marketing strategy, blogging plan, time for brainstorming, a place to capture random blog post ideas, and an outline you can build from later.

After drafting, shaping, editing and decorating, your post is ready to publish. Then there is the social media promotion!

You may have a set day you like to publish on your own site, or you have a specific submission date for your clinic site or a guest post. Either way, you need to make sure all those steps are completed in enough time to meet your goal.

The last thing you want is to be rushing through the blogging process so you’re tempted to skip an important step like proofreading, adding links, or creating a compelling image. Scheduling your blogging time makes sure nothing gets missed.

The benefits of Wunderlist as a scheduling tool

You already know that I think Wunderlist is beautiful, and that’s important to me. If I don’t enjoy the experience of using an app, I won’t use it consistently. If I do enjoy it, that tool quickly becomes entrenched in my day-to-day routines.

Case in point: I started out using Wunderlist for business tasks, but now I also have a “Health and Household” list for assorted personal tasks, shopping lists for the stores I frequent, and even packing lists for trips!

Because it syncs so efficiently across all my devices, Wunderlist makes an excellent idea catcher for Content Mastery Guide and the other sites where I blog. Wherever I am, I can add a new title or additional ideas to something I’ve already planned.

I also appreciate how in Wunderlist I can sort and display my lists in different ways. For blogging, I display tasks in order of the due date. That way I can quickly get a snapshot of what I need to be working on next for each blog or client.

Wunderlist also has smart lists like Today and Week, which display all tasks with due dates on those particular days. These help me stay realistic about what I can and will get done.

I use the Today list every morning day to plan my time for the day, and on the weekends I use the Week list to plot out my tasks and adjust any due dates based on my available time each day.

How I use Wunderlist in my blogging workflow

In addition to laying out the specific ways I use Wunderlist, I’ve included broader steps you can use in any scheduling system.

Step 1: Batch your blogging tasks into scheduled blocks that make sense for you, and name those blocks.

These are the blocks my team and I use for the clients who outsource their blogging to us:

  1. Initial draft (includes research, writing, editing, choosing photos, and social media promotion text) – complete once delivered to client
  2. Revisions (includes editing and proofreading) – complete once delivered to assistant
  3. Production (includes publishing to site with photo, SEO optimization, and scheduling social media updates) – completed by assistant

In Wunderlist, I have a separate list for every blog or client. In the appropriate list, I create a list item with the name of the blog post, and then add the name of the block, e.g., How to Manage Your Blogging Tasks – initial draft.

Step 2: Estimate the time you will need for each of those blocks.

This may be difficult at first. Overestimate your time at the beginning, until you get a clearer sense of your own blogging workflow.

I often use the Pomodoro Technique of working in concentrated 25-minute blocks, so sometimes I’ll add a hashtag to my Wunderlist item such as #2POM. That represents one hour, with a five-minute break in the middle.

Sometimes I’ll also note whether this is ideally a morning task versus an afternoon task (#AM or #PM), though I can usually determine that in a split second when reviewing my lists and planning my work day.

Step 3: Work backwards to schedule those blocks in enough time to meet your submission date.

If you know you want to publish or submit on a Tuesday, and you’ve determined you’ll need three blocks of one hour each, you might start the whole process on the preceding Wednesday or Thursday.

Your due dates for each blogging block will depend on what else is going on in your week, and when you typically like to do your blogging.

If you’re lucky enough to have help with your blogging, you need to work those people into your schedule as well. If your editor or assistant typically needs a turnaround time of two business days, that means your final day to submit to that person must be two days ahead of your actual due date.

In Wunderlist, once I’ve completed one phase of the blogging process, I revise the list item with the next block name and estimated time, and forward the task’s due date to the next date. For example, How to Manage Your Blogging Tasks – initial draft #2POM, becomes How to Manage Your Blogging Tasks – revisions #1POM.

Wunderlist does offer the option of creating sub-tasks, so why do I type these details manually into the task title? For a couple of reasons:

  1. Sometimes I like to print out all tasks due on a particular day (the “Today” smart list). Sub-tasks take up more space on the page, often requiring a second page.
  2. If the block name is part of the task name, I can see it at a glance when viewing a list or smart list. To see sub-tasks I’d have to click through to open up a particular task.

Whether you use Wunderlist or another task management system, if you want to keep blogging consistently and see results from your efforts, you must schedule time for your blogging tasks.

Note: An earlier version of this post appeared on the SteamFeed blog, which is now closed.

Three Ways to Generate New Blog Post Ideas

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© peshkova – Fotolia.com

Have you finished your blogging plan, chosen the perfect category topics, but you still don’t know what to blog about? This happens, and doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong track. What’s more likely is that you just need some ways to access the blogging ideas that are all around you.

Here is a three-step process that will help:

1. Receive – with blogging antennae

With your blogging antennae on (thanks to online visibility expert Denise Wakeman for coining this term), you’ll be more likely to recognize the blog-worthy moments in your day. Maybe a client asks a question that you’ve already answered several times this month, or someone in line at the grocery store asks how you plan to use one of the healthy ingredients in your shopping cart.

The key to keeping your blogging antennae in good working order is to have a keen focus on the most pressing problems and concerns of your ideal clients. This reader-focused approach helps you spot new solutions for them, and fresh ways of sharing your core pieces of wisdom and advice.

2. Record – with idea catchers

When these ideas spark, it’s so important to jot them down so you don’t forget them. Capturing these snippets in a central place also means they’ll be right at your fingertips the next time you sit down to outline or write your next post.

Which tools make the best idea catchers?/ Whichever ones you’ll actually use! Personally, I look for apps that sync across different devices, such as Wunderlist, Trello or Evernote. But no matter how many people tell you a tool is great, it has to feel right for you. I love Wunderlist, but Evernote has never clicked for me. Go with what works.

Always have a low-tech option at your fingertips as well, such as a simple notepad and pen, along with a process of regularly entering those into your digital file.

3. Refine – with questions

As you’re populating your editorial calendar and planning your next few blog posts, open up your idea catcher and review everything you’ve added. Here’s where focus and discernment come into the process. Always take a moment to filter your ideas through the unique lens of your blog’s main purpose. Who does it serve, and what have you committed to deliver to that audience?

Will this idea fulfill that purpose? Or is it something better suited to your personal journal or another setting? Does the idea firmly fit one of your blog’s established categories, or are you introducing a topic you probably won’t want to write about again?

When you apply these three steps, you’ll have a constantly flowing stream of new ideas to work with, so you can turn the best ones into valuable content for your audience of clients, prospective clients, and referral sources.

Want an easy way to create your own idea catcher? Join my next blog writing class, which includes templates for blog posts, editorial calendars, idea catchers, social media promotional text, and more!

Two Blogging Power Tools for Wellness Professionals

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© vivelafrance – Depositphotos.com

Many wellness professionals know the benefits of blogging, yet their haphazard approach isn’t getting positive results. Some get overwhelmed by a floodgate of ideas but don’t have a structure for getting them finished and published. Others experience “blogger’s block” when they sit in front of a blank screen.

This post offers two blogging power tools that will help you:

  • Continually create content that connects with your ideal clients
  • Better manage your time
  • Deliver a steady flow of content to stay visible online
  • Produce an interesting and varied balance of content types and topics
  • Manage multiple contributors and time lines

An editorial calendar is the big picture of your blog

To be strategic about blogging you need to step back and take a broader view of your overall business and marketing goals. Then you can plug in the details of how blogging will help achieve these things.

This strategic process will yield a set of categories – central themes that intersect your expertise with your clients’ concerns. This list is key for staying on track with your blogging and putting your readers’ needs first.

An editorial calendar is a centralized document accessible to all your blog’s contributors (team members, guest experts, etc.), where you compile a list of planned blog posts for the next month, quarter, six months, year, etc.

Ideally, whichever tool you use or create will give you an instant glimpse of:

  • The blog post title and planned publication date
  • The status of each post (i.e., which posts are in the idea phase, in production, in revision, approved, and published and ready for promotion)
  • Who is responsible for the next action
  • The category and/or type of post (to create balance and variety, and ensure each category is being populated with new content)

If your primary goal is to keep yourself and others on task and be sure posts go out as planned, the free project management software Trello might be a good choice for your editorial calendar. You can create one list for each phase (idea, in production, etc.), and then easily drag and drop a blog post to a new column when its status changes.

Note: While you can use Trello’s color-coded label system for categories, keep in mind that you’ll be limited to only six labels. Because my blog and most of my clients’ blogs have more than six categories, I tend to use a customized Google spreadsheet for collaborating with clients about topic ideas for each category. Then I manage the production calendar in my own Wunderlist system.

With an editorial calendar as a blogging power tool, you’ll be able to plan posts around holiday themes, clinic schedules, and marketing events, and be thinking about and working on your posts long before they’re scheduled to publish.

Catch your blogging ideas wherever they spark

With your blogging calendar, you’ve created a set of content “buckets” – categories that are aligned with your prospective customers’ needs and interests. With those buckets in the back of your mind, I guarantee you will start to see and hear blog post ideas all around you.

When that happens, you need a place to capture your thoughts so you can either add these notes to existing posts on the calendar, or create new post ideas for later. The bonus is that when you sit down to work on a blog post, you’re not starting from a completely blank page.

The best idea catchers are the ones you’ll actually use. Experiment with applications that sync across different devices, such as Wunderlist, Trello or Evernote. See which one feels most comfortable – and even fun! Always have a low-tech option at your fingertips as well, such as a simple notepad and pen.

By creating a structure for your blog with an editorial calendar and category buckets, you keep on track with a consistent schedule and spark your creativity for new ideas. With your mind continually working in the background on filling in that structure, an idea catcher will ensure you never lose a single idea – OR have to start with a blank page.

Start today by creating a simple calendar of posts for the next three months (there’s one included in my free blogging plan workbook). Then be sure to put an idea catcher in place because your creativity will be sparking!

Note: An earlier version of this post appeared on the SteamFeed blog, which is now closed.

Find Motivation to Keep Blogging

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Blogging is not a quick-fix marketing strategy; it can take months or even years to see a financial return on your investment.

I’m sorry if this is bad news, but it’s important to be realistic from the start, or when you feel like quitting.

Though there is no one right answer for how often to blog, consistency is a key to blogging success. That’s why the best blogging schedule is the one you can stick with.

If you’ve been on a blogging schedule but you’ve fallen off, or you’re having trouble picking up any initial momentum, try these three steps:

Step One: Integrate

If your blogging plan is out of alignment in any of these key elements, blogging will always be an uphill battle for you.

  1. Personal – Are any of your blogging topics or individual posts contrary to your personal beliefs, or beliefs that were instilled in your younger years? Inner conflict may be sabotaging your blogging productivity.
  2. Internal – Does blogging fit into what you want to do in your business and what you want to be known for as an expert? Do you feel passionate about your blogging?
  3. External – Do your blog post topics address the issues your ideal clients are grappling with? Are you writing for your reader or satisfying your own curiosities?

Step Two: Evaluate

It’s important to regularly step back and have a look at your blogging results. Consider these three areas:

  1. Responses – Look beyond your blog’s comment section because some people prefer to comment via social media, or not at all. But they may respond in other ways, such as the “Like” button – an instant endorsement to their network that your content is worth a second look. People may also respond privately by email (especially if you send them your newest posts), or when you see them at an event.
  2. Reshares – If you’re writing valuable content that’s relevant to your target audience, they’ll want to pass it on to their friends and followers. Everybody wins – they gain esteem with their audience for finding your hidden gem, your new readers gain the benefits of your wisdom, and you start new relationships with people you may be able to help.
  3. Results – Blogging is not a quick-fix marketing strategy; it can take months or even years to see a financial return on your investment. I’ve had clients who read my newsletter for more than a year before hiring me. Find ways to measure other important results such as brand awareness and brand loyalty.

Step Three: Celebrate

All work and no play makes for a quick path to burnout. Celebrate all the milestones on the road to building your wellness business by blogging.

  1. Blog posts churned (out) – How do you build a library of 600+ posts like I’ve done here at Content Mastery Guide? One post at a time! So while you keep one eye on your blogging plan and what posts are ahead, keep the other on what you’ve already accomplished.
  2. Lessons learned – Like any other skill, content mastery comes with practice. And while none of us likes to make mistakes, it’s still one of the best ways to learn. The bigger (or more public) the mistake, the quicker you integrate it into your process so you don’t repeat it the next time. So celebrate the biggest mistakes because those are the ones that are pushing you to be a better blogger.
  3. Money earned – Even if you can’t tie it back to a specific blog post, when you sign up a new client or sell a program, celebrate that you’re advancing your business. Sometimes the simple act of following through on your commitment to blog regularly is just the sign the universe needs to send good things your way. Plus blogging gives you confidence in your own expertise – confidence that is very attractive to prospective clients.

Once you’ve tallied your wins in one, two or all three of these categories (you’ll always have lessons!!), pause, take a deep breath, give thanks, and congratulate yourself. Then go one step further and plan a fun reward.

Long-term blogging success requires time and effort, but it will be a lot easier if you take these steps to spark your motivation and keep it lit.

P.S. Want more ideas about how to write high-quality content that has more impact, attracts more ideal clients, and makes you more money? Register for my FREE webinar, Write Less, Earn More With Blog Posts That Are Easy to Write and Irresistible to the Perfect Clients For Your Health and Wellness Business.

From Cobwebs and Crickets to Content and Crowds

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© losw100 - Fotolia.com
© losw100 – Fotolia.com

Now that the winter is getting closer, I’m noticing a few more spiders seeking shelter in my house. We’ve had a long-standing agreement – if they stay out of my way I’ll stay out of theirs.

One thing I do take care of are the intricate webs they leave behind in the corners. As beautiful as they are, they make my house feel tidy and uncared for.

The website equivalent to cobwebs in the corner is a blog that hasn’t been updated. When your website looks uncared for, the risk is that potential clients may think they might not be cared for either.

Aside from the unprofessional impression it makes on website visitors, a ghost town blog can affect your own confidence in your website, your business, and yourself.

You may stop wanting to send people to your website because you’re embarrassed by it; you may question whether you have any value to offer; and you may feel guilt or shame that you set a blogging goal and didn’t achieve it.

I’ve noticed that when it comes to fitness, the less I do, the less I want to do. While most days I look forward to going to the gym, if I miss even one workout, my motivation starts to wane.

Similarly, when your website is full of cobwebs because you haven’t blogged in awhile, you can quickly lose momentum and fall out of any blogging routine you may have started.

From cobwebs to content

On the flip-side, when you blog consistently at a level you can manage – start with once a month and go from there – your website, your business and you all reap the benefits.

  • Your website is updated more frequently (search engines love that!) and visitors stay longer.
  • Prospective clients get both an instant snapshot and an in-depth tour of your areas of expertise. This provides a better sense of who you are as a practitioner and a person, helping them build more trust in you. As well, colleagues and fans have a direct way to refer people to you for specific solutions.
  • When you follow through on your blogging commitment, you experience a heightened self-confidence in your own strengths and expertise. You get to develop and refine your ideas, then try them out and get feedback from your audience. Plus you gain material for other resources like presentations and books.

Spiders aren’t the only critters that can damage your blog. When your blog posts elicit no responses or feedback, your blog and social media pages become so quiet you can hear crickets chirp.

The problem with crickets is that you’re left with self-doubt about your content (am I writing about the right topics?), your business (does anyone want what I have to offer?), and yourself (do I even know what I’m talking about?).

As you keep writing (IF you keep writing), you may be going further down the wrong path of content that isn’t connecting with its intended audience. For the people who do find your content, they may be less inclined to take an action (like, share, comment) if they don’t see any other activity.

From crickets to crowds

When you consistently and repeatedly promote your new posts (and your archived posts, too) on social media, you build a community of people who appreciate your ideas and will share them with others. This includes both prospective clients and those who refer them to you.

This “social proof” encourages more people to read and share your work, giving you a wider audience and an invaluable feedback loop that can refine your future writing. This will keep your content on the right track and aligned with the needs of your target audience of prospective clients.

Exposure to a larger community can also attract invitations for content collaboration, speaking opportunities, and media exposure.

Here are the five key ingredients for promoting your blog posts on social media:

  1. An enticing message – why should they click?
  2. Separate messages for each social media platform – the right length and the right approach
  3. Permalink – send them to one particular post, not just your blog or website
  4. Related hashtags – join a wider conversation
  5. Usernames for tagging – make powerful connections and show your appreciation

It’s not the end of the world to hit a blogging slump (it happens to the best of us!). You can always dust off the cobwebs and start again. Just don’t forget to make some noise when you do!

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