How to Blog Effectively With a Great Routine

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This is a guest post by Jimmy Tong. Should you wish to write for this blog, check out the guest post guidelines.

Lye’s note: Awesome post by Jimmy, my fellow countryman. It’s pretty long 1946 words in total but it will definitely help you to increase your blogging productivity after you finish reading this post. This post is of no use to you if you just read and do nothing. Be sure to create a blogging routine for yourself and don’t forget to visit Jimmy’s blog for more personal development tips. Take it away, Jimmy.

Yesterday was my 83^rd day blogging at Life Architects. Since learning about how to blog effectively, I have since reached a few key milestones. Here is a brief summary of the important things I have achieved in less than 3 months:

1. My post article on 25^th October has garnered 45 comments, and that it is still increasing.
2. I have completed three blog article series, with one being 25 posts long on Success in Life.
3. My first free e-book was also published and offered on my site.
4. My Alexa ranking has reached 350k plus from God knows where.
5. I have completed my first in depth interviews with 10 bloggers.
6. I have got blog heavy weights like Jk Allen, Rob White, Janet Callayway, Steve Scott and Adrienne Smith frequenting my site.
7. I have done about 5 guest posts so far.

Knowing all these make me extremely happy. I have really come of age learning to how to blog effectively.

One of the key success of learning how to blog effectively to me was establishing a great routine blogging at my site. For every aspiring blogger like me, seeing improvements gradually on my blog is crucial in sustaining our motivation. Far too many bloggers drop off at the 3 month mark of blogging. I am acutely aware that I am reaching that critical stage of blogging. As of now, all I can say is that I am still enjoying what I am doing.

My results from learning how to blog are little compared to many better bloggers out there. I do not claim to be a highly successful blogger yet. Unlike Lye from this site for example. He has already been blogging for about one and half years. His blog is certainly effective in capturing his audience’s attention. But I do feel good achieving what I have achieved so far in less than 3 months.

The objective of this blog post is to share with you about how to blog effectively with a great routine. What I was able to do in such a short time with such limited resources is something achievable. I feel that it also represents a way forward to better blogging for most beginner bloggers. Hopefully, you will find this routine on how to blog effectively helpful in making your blog an eventual success.

My Routine on How to Blog Effectively

The Night Before (about 11pm)

After my wife and I completed our night time routines putting our two babes to sleep, I like to lie down thinking about the major things I wished to accomplish for the next day. Prior to this, I would have done up a simple list for myself which indicated the really important things that must be done to make me happy.

In order to make how to blog effectively easy, I have picked up this habit from Jack Canfield’s book, The Success Principles. He advocated that if you think about the major things on your to-do list the night before, while sleeping subsequently, your subconscious mind would be able to help you arrange and conceptualize things better for action the following day.

Unearthly Hours (4.30am to 7.30am)

1. Reading time (30min).

The first thing I do after waking and washing up is to brew myself a nice cup of coffee, take my cereal breakfast and start reading on personal development materials. I spend at least hour an hour reading up. Reading feeds the mind and makes how to blog easier later on.

2. Household chores (45min).

As an independent family with two young toddlers and little help on the home front, there are certain essential household chores that must be done. Activities would include mainly laundry and washing up from the previous night. During the previous night we usually do not have time for this because the kids usually demand our full attention.

3. Writing critical articles for posting (75min)

I think for us to make how to blog effectively easy, writing articles for posting are one of the heart and soul activities that must be done. Hence, the first blogging activity that I do is to write articles. These could be for my own blog or for guest posting somewhere. This guest article here is written at 5.30am in the morning. I usually only have time for at most one article which will take up to 75min including research.

4. Glance through my emails (15min).

Before dressing up and leaving for work, I make it a habit to glance through my blog emails. I am looking for critical emails to attend to if any. Others could wait in my routine on how to blog effectively.

While Commuting to work (7.30 to 8.30am)

5. Clearing non priority emails on my iPhone.

On the subway to work, while standing in a crowded train, I will run through my emails on my iPhone and clear all the least important emails. These include twitter alerts, comment alerts that are irrelevant, spam mail, etc.

6. Commenting on one or two blogs.

One of the most fruitful activities on how to blog effectively is commenting while commuting. I like that phase too. Usually I will have time to read through at most two blogs and leave two valuable comments for the writers. I find this helpful as well because reading two good pieces of personal development article this early in the morning prepare my mind well for the rest of the day.

Working time in the morning (8.30am to 2pm)

I am blessed at work because my work offers me the flexibility to complete my projects. I do not have a boss breathing down my neck all the time. We are all expected to manage our own time, fix our own schedule and deliver what is required on time. As long as the quality of the work is good, we are usually left to work on our own.

7. Clearing work emails (30min).

This is the first thing I do everyday. From these emails, I would know the follow ups from existing and new projects. Of course time is also catered to talking to my colleagues on work related stuff.

8. Completing critical work pieces (90min).

To make sure I am able to squeeze as much time as possible on how to blog effectively, after clearing my emails, I will devote uninterrupted quality time on my critical work pieces. This is my most productive work time whereby, I make all my assignments of top notch quality.

9. Answering comments on my blog (30min).

When getting to how to blog effectively, my readers is one of my top priorities. Before even posting articles up, I spend some quality time answering comments left on my blog. During this time, I will also take note to visit the sites of my commenters. This is where comment luv is so powerful.

10. Posting articles up (30min).

Contrary to what most people think, posting up articles for how to blog effectively is not such a simple process. Beyond writing the article, there is editing, researching, linking, SEOing, etc to be done before you could click publish. I like to make sure everything is tip top before publishing. After publishing, I usually follow it up with submitting the article to directories, Stumble Upon and blog catalogues.

11. Clearing blog emails (30min).

On a typical day now, I get about 100 emails from how to blog activities. These could be comment alerts, reader’s requests, twitter alerts, social media alerts, networking mails, email subscriptions and many more. Clearing emails also allow me to start flowing into the mode of commenting on other blogs.

12. Quick lunch with short run (90min).

Every alternate day now, I will log in my runs before lunch. Typically it is for 5km that will take 25 minutes. I used to run everyday, but recently my body started showing signs of over exhaustion. Hence, I have scaled it down. After the run it is a quick shower followed by my own packed lunch. I do not waste time lunching out with my colleagues. They think I am anti-social. To me it is a big waste of time and attention.

Working time in the afternoon (2pm to 6pm)

13. Commenting on related blogs (120min)

If my work is completed and there are no more follow ups from my boss and colleagues, the afternoons are where all the hard work of how to blog effectively takes place. Commenting is the other key component which can be addictive and time consuming. Typical in a two hour block, I can get through 10-15 quality comments. I will do more if time permit, but generally for me those are the numbers.

14. Planning and writing forward looking articles (60min).

Once I am satisfied with commenting, I will start planning and writing more articles. Typically this boosts my future how to blog efforts. I will think of my article titles, draft out the outlines, research them a bit, and reflect on my themes for the coming weeks and even get down to writing them. Guest posting requests are also considered here.

15. Working on my products (30min).

The rest of my time is devoted mainly to working on my products. I try to put in 2-3 solid pages based on research and all for this portion of how to blog effectively routine.

16. Social Media Marketing (20min).

Currently, my social media presence is limited to Twitter, Stumble Upon and Blog Catalogue for how to blog effectively. I know I should be doing more of this.

17. Make a to-do list for the next day.

The final activity for my how to blog routine is to plan a to-do list for the next day. These also include my work assignments. It allows me to think through my activities for the next day and prepare for it.

After office hours (6pm to 11pm)

18. Uninterrupted family time.

The entire night is devoted to family time.

An Effective How to Blog Routine for Me and You?

This routine of mine has evolved over the last 2-3 months. I have tried many things when learning how to blog. Through repeated activities, this routine of activities has emerged that is comfortable and productive for me. I have no doubt that this routine will change again with time. For example, once my products and more traffic come online, I have no doubt more time would be devoted to that. Some other areas would be curbed as well.

I hope I have helped some of you who are still new to blogging gain a sense of purpose and clarity. As a beginning blogger myself, I have always craved for details on how to do things better. When I ask many bloggers out there about this, most of them do not give enough details of daily work necessary to make how to blog effectively work. It is nothing against them. People like us just need this type of attention to detail to speed up our progress.

How about you? What form of how to blog routines have your established? Do you find similarity in what I do here? What do you think of my how to blog routine? Did you learn anything valuable from this post? Your turn to share your how to blog secrets.

 Bio

Jimmy is a veteran teacher, coach and education officer in Singapore. He has combined his skills in the education and cosmically charged speaking style with his passion for personal development to become a life coach, speaker, trainer and writer. He writes extensively about personal development at www.mylifearchitects.com. His coaching and personal development training is anchored by his Ace Your PERSONAL Goals framework which sets the foundation for effective and easy to implement personal development skills.

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