You’re a busy entrepreneur and you don’t have time to blog or maybe don’t know how to make time for blogging. Blogging, when done right, is a fairly major undertaking. Plus, it doesn’t yield immediate results. It’s a long-game marketing strategy. That can be difficult to swallow when the instant gratification of social media looks much more appetizing.

But blogging, or creating written content, is still a relevant and critical component of internet marketing. It drives leads through your sales funnel, builds authority in your niche and informs and educates your audience.

Though we know the value of blogging, we still tell ourselves we don’t have time for it. It’s not a quick and easy task that we can knock off our to-do lists. It requires focus and planning. Something we don’t have time for.

Why We Don’t Make Time for Blogging

There are two main reasons why we don’t prioritize blogging or make time for it:

  1. No Guaranteed Payback: Many of even the savviest business people in their field don’t understand exactly how blogging pays off. They don’t perceive it as having a guaranteed return. To blog the right way takes time and money.
  2. No System: If it can’t seamlessly integrate into your week or month, it won’t get done. New or revived undertakings get put on the back burner. Blogging needs its own dedicated time slot and plan, not to mention strategy.

Why Blogging Is Valuable

If you don’t think there’s any value in blogging, then you’re not going to feel motivated to do it. If you don’t feel motivated to do it, you’re certainly not going to put in on your calendar as a priority.

In case you’re not yet convinced, here are a few reasons why blogging matters:

The bottom line is, each blog post is an asset that’s out there working for you. If it’s done well, then it’s ranking well, being shared and closing deals.

Once you’ve decided that blogging is worth your while, the next step is to prioritize it.

Tips for Making Time for Blogging

Shifting priorities isn’t easy. It requires you to examine your current use of time and come up with creative ways to maximize productivity. Isn’t that the dream we’re all chasing after all?

As mentioned, one of the reasons companies don’t prioritize their blog is because it isn’t systemized. A system will help make sure you produce blog posts on a consistent basis in the most efficient way possible.

Here are some tips on how to make time for blogging

1. Make a Plan

Start with a plan that clearly outlines your blogging goals and expectations. Do you want to start with one blog per week? Two per month? Get clear on these goals first. You can always scale or shrink later.

It’s also a good idea to plan the expected outcomes of your blogging efforts. Are you blogging to build authority? To provide information about your services? To have content to share on social media? Remember that your blogging goals are unique and might not be the same as another company’s goals.

2. Make a Schedule

It’s important to schedule your blogging time. A schedule in this sense doesn’t mean your publishing dates. It means the days and times when you’re strategizing, writing, editing, formatting and optimizing. These are all tasks that go into producing a high-quality piece of content.

Which days are dedicated to writing the blog posts? Are you going to write several in one day or write them one at a time on a regular basis? Your schedule can evolve as you become more comfortable with your blog format.

3. Stay Organized

Tools are your friends. Use them. I’ve always used Excel or Google Sheets to keep track of my blogging efforts. These spreadsheets are like a blog calendar but have other pertinent information as well. In my blog spreadsheets, I keep track of things like:

  • Blog topics and ideas
  • Status (published, unpublished, assigned, scheduled etc.)
  • Content categories (so I know my content is diverse enough)
  • Publishing dates
  • Keywords
  • Assigned writer (if you have more than one writer)
  • Traffic and share stats per post (so you know which topics are working)

Start a dedicated blog folder for all things blog-related: topics, sources, images and stats. This is where you toss in your blog topic ideas as they come to you. Did you have a discussion this week with someone that inspired you? Oftentimes, this where the best blog posts come from. Don’t lose these aha moments!

4. Use a Template

This isn’t an original idea. This one came from Michael Hyatt. He uses a template to create his blog posts. The idea with a template is that you don’t have to sit and think about how to structure a post. You already know all the elements required.

Here’s Michael’s video explaining the template he uses. Don’t feel you have to use this template exactly. Build one that works for you. But don’t become so rigid about your template that you lose creativity and diversity in your posts. Use it as a guideline to help you get started or whenever you’re stuck.

5. Repurpose Content

This is a game-changer. Repurposing content will make your life easier and your content strategy more effective. Using your web traffic and social media stats, you can see which pieces of content have been most viewed and shared. Take a few of your top performing pieces and literally repurpose them.

Here are a few ways to repurpose old blog posts into new blog posts:

  • Write a part two (and three, four or five if possible)
  • Build a new post around one point or tip from another post
  • Create a “tips” post by collecting ideas from a few different posts
  • Build a showcase piece that highlights your top five older posts

Invest in Blogging

Keep in mind that a blog is an ever-evolving marketing strategy. You have the freedom and flexibility to shape it over time. By putting systems in place that make it easier for you to blog, you can start to feel like it’s a worthwhile marketing effort.

The more you prioritize blogging, the more likely you are to see it as an investment you’re committed to. That’s where Healthy Content can help. Our team of expert health and wellness writers can produce and publish blog posts on an ongoing basis so you can free up valuable time. Learn more about our blog writing services and start your project today. We look forward to working with amazing health and wellness brands like yours to educate your audience and encourage them on their wellness journey.