Blogging is a business like any other, and you need to treat it with the same kind of attention and respect. And just like every business, you’ll quickly realize that you have tasks and responsibilities associated with your blog piling up. Posts to write, social media channels to update, promotion ads to optimize, and more. Helping you organize all these projects together into an easier-to-manage package is Wrike, a tool that aims to “go beyond traditional task and project management.”
What Is Wrike?
Clearing up what that tagline seems to indicate, at its core Wrike is a project management tool, but it has a clear slant toward collaboration. While you could use Wrike on your own to manage all the projects you have going on, you really tap into the true power of Wrike when your team uses the tool together — as might be the case with a multi-author blog.
And that’s really what Wrike is all about. It’s an online dashboard that you can use for better, collaborative project management, and it also provides a real-time workspace where you can collaborate with the other people on your team, discuss focus topics or ideas, and share documents your team needs. For instance, you can use Wrike and its Chrome Extension to share a great report that a writer on your blog might find helpful or educational.
With Wrike, everyone is kept in the loop and the goals are clear for everyone involved. You can easily set priorities, demonstrate progress, and improve accountability.
The Big Picture & The Details
There are several features and reasons why Wrike project management tools could work to manage your blog and your business. First, collaboration is a lot easier, especially since Wrike can integrate with many of the services you’re already using, like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box. You can easily share files with your teammates and keep the project moving along. The revision history and versioning tools keep track of different versions of your work during collaborative editing.
You can get the big picture with Wrike, thanks to the complete visibility across teams and projects. The Dashboard feature makes it easy to grasp that bird’s eye view of everything going on, while also allowing you to dig deeper into any project or individual contributor to get the finer details.
If you have a bigger team where one group is working on one project (e.g., video production) and another group is working on something different (e.g., search engine optimization), every member can peek over the other team’s digital shoulder, allowing for better cross-team collaboration. The SEO guy can find out that such-and-such video will be ready soon without having to tap the producer on the shoulder or send him an email.
In the Office or On the Road
Today’s digital lifestyle means that we’re not always going to be bound to our office desks, but we still want to stay connected and productive while we’re away. Simply having a web-based dashboard might not be enough if you need to reach a team member who is out of the office.
To this end, Wrike has endeavored to make its solution as accessible as possible. They created native apps for both Google Android and Apple iOS to accommodate the vast majority of their on-the-go users.
Using Wrike mobile apps, you have full access to your work, including creating new tasks and editing existing assignments. You can also discuss work with your team, adjust schedules and deadlines, attach and share images and files, access your full list of to-dos, and set up your push notifications to stay constantly in the loop.
How Much Does Wrike Cost?
The pricing plans for Wrike are based on the features you desire and the number of users you expect to have.
The Freemium plan allows for “basic task management” for up to five users. Your projects are limited to a 2-level hierarchy and you miss out on several of the more advanced features, like the Gantt Chart dynamic timeline, time-tracking, advanced filters, custom fields, and progress reports.
To get those features (and more), you’ll need to sign up for the Professional plan. That costs $49/month for up to 5 users or $99/month for up to 15 users. This unlocks custom widgets, shareable dashboards, email add-ins, and Excel integration.
At the highest level, you have the Enterprise plan for up to thousands of users, which includes custom workflows, user groups, custom calendars, extended security controls, and more.
All plans are available with a free starting trial, so you can try it out and see which plan fits your team’s needs.
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