As a professional blogger, it is important for you to be resourceful. No experience should be wasted, meaning that you can pull valuable lessons from your previous jobs to improve your blogging. Think of a current or former workplace, and then create a list of effective leadership, organization, and workflow processes that these organizations use.
Choose the methods you admire the most, and try to scale them to your blog. After all, even if you are writing solo, you are still in the business of blogging. You will be surprised by how many company tactics can be used to improve your blog.
Time Management
When most people go to work, they clock into a timekeeping system to log their duties and break periods. The same data can be useful for your blogging efforts. Write down your start and finish times, or download a mobile app to “clock in” for your blogging responsibilities.
The idea is to gain some knowledge about your writing tendencies – how long does it take for you to generate a focused entry, write about it, and post it for audiences to see? You can also log how much time is spent managing affiliates and advertising for your blog.
Using a time clock for your blogging activities can help you get a sense of your most productive times. Are you better at promoting your blog in the morning, before breakfast? When are your peak blogging times, and when do you have difficulty getting motivated? Some people find that inspiration strikes in the middle of the night, and these can be good times for content generation.
However, take other peoples’ schedules into consideration too. Connecting with audiences via social media is better relegated to mornings, when more people are awake to spread the word about a new article. Time management practices like the ones you find at work can help you track valuable productivity metrics.
Customer Service
Blogging should not seem like a one-sided conversation. Your readers should feel comfortable replying and adding new ideas to the discussion. Your blog opens you up to both praise and criticism. This is where customer service training can come in handy.
If your blog represents your products or services, it can be hard to take online criticism from readers. However, the feedback can be a blessing in disguise, because this is a new opportunity to strengthen relationships with your readers. Monitor your comments and social media for mentions of your blog.
Be sure to thank readers for their insights and for sharing your blog. Use any business communication and customer service training that you’ve gained from work in online conversations. Avoid inappropriate arguments or flame wars, since this can reflect poorly on your blog presence.
Organization
Picture how most offices and retail stores are run. Multiple leaders, departments, and teams work together to manage employees and take care of daily operations. These professionals will often use dedicated software to accomplish their tasks,organizing employee information and customer databases.
If you were to run your blog more like a business, what organizational tools would you need to invest in? Scale these solutions down to the blogging level. If you send out newsletters, you should have dedicated software for managing email campaigns and contacts. If other bloggers work with you, you will need web apps or software to assign group projects and tasks.
Distill general work knowledge, workflows, and business wisdom from your professional experiences. They can prove invaluable when applied to your blog. Time management tools can give you greater personal accountability, so that you use time effectively. Customer service skills can help you improve your audience connections. Organizational tools and software can help you cut through the clutter and drive your blog to new heights.
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