Story and Photo by Kim Herrington
As a professional blogger and link builder with Haden Interactive, I spend my days writing blog posts for clients and guest posts. I write well over 40 posts a week, between clients, my own blog, projects, and guest posts for an assortment of websites. From thought to finished product, it takes around 35 minutes for me to write a post, meaning there’s no time for writer’s block. There’s no time for struggling to find the resources I need or struggling to clarify my ideas.
When you write and manage this many posts, you need a good system to make sure you don’t miss deadlines and to make sure you’re creating a cohesive whole for your clients. Keeping everything in one easy-to-access place and maintaining strict time allowances for each post you write will keep you on track so you can enjoy your weekend, instead of being glued to your computer well after quitting time.
Keeping deadlines is a vital skill for professional writers and making sure you can manage your time to meet them is half the battle.
Paper Tools
While this might not work for you, a paper planner and steno pad are my two most valuable time management assets. I use a large planner with ample room for notes and a steno pad to manage my deadlines and to-do lists. This system has two fold benefits for me: visual cues and efficiency.
A paper planner enables me to look at all the schedules for all my blogs in one place, to plan ahead, and to maintain editorial calendars. A planner is also a great place to store lists I need constant access to as well as information about style guides and login information. If you’re a visual and tactile person like me, a physical planner might be a good solution and saves computer processing power for other things.
In the planner, I write down every post that’s due, check it off when it’s complete, and mark down personal appointments and meetings so I don’t miss those either while I’m striving not to miss deadlines.
Steno pads are great for storing ideas and to-do lists. I use a steno to make a weekly list of things to do and I know my workweek has ended when everything is crossed out. While having both my schedule in my planner and a steno book, I often have posts written in two places. While this does mean I spend marginally more time checking things off, it ensures that I don’t miss preparing any posts and that nothing’s missing the day it must post.
Digital Tools
Almost all of the things I write are in client WordPress websites, which can mean lots of time switching between different admin sites. The company I work for, Haden Interactive, uses ManageWP to manage all of our clients’ WordPress sites — from writing to updates to comment monitoring — all in one login. It’s a huge timesaver and only costs around a dollar per client per month, depending on your plan.
We also use the Edit Flow plugin inside all of our WordPress sites because it allows many people to manage a site’s content with different roles. As I’m the writer and am always followed by an editor, then possibly the client and a compliance officer on occasion, this tool allows us all to know what’s going on and manage an editorial calendar without having to send a ton of emails back and forth. Out of all of the plugins we use on a regular basis on our sites, this one is the most valuable for time management since emails can become so time consuming and break up productivity.
Overall Management Techniques for Any Writer
Determining how many hours per day or week you need to write and your average time to write a blog post is important to quoting and knowing how much work you can handle and subsequently charge for paid posts. I spend, on average, 35 minutes per post and I have a timer to alert me at thirty minutes so I know it’s time to polish and move on. Sometimes certain posts take longer, which means I have to shave off time from other posts to make up for a labor-intensive post. If I write one time-consuming post, I’ll follow up with an easy post and try to complete it before the next alert sounds. If I can fit both into the hour slot, then I’m on track.
All in all, it’s about planning and staying within time limits. Writer’s block isn’t an option for the professional writer and using these tools can help you stay on task, on time, and sane!
Kim Herrington is a professional blogger and link builder for Haden Interactive and lives in Arkansas. She writes on her personal blog, The Made Thing, about blogging and SEO, food, and life in Arkansas.
Great suggestions! I’d never thought of the 30 minute alerts, but it sounds like an excellent way to keep on track.