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How to Blog Efficiently

Drowning in a sea of blog resources but don't have the time to work through them? This blogger's simple approach to blog productivity will get you out from under the mounds of eBooks and eCourses collecting digital dust and help you implement strategies in record time!

How to Blog Efficiently

 

When you’re a blogger, there’s never enough time to accomplish everything on your massive to-do list.  Basically as soon as I started Elite Blog Academy (best investment ever, by the way…I’ve made thousands with what I learned), my life was flooded with blogging resources. If you’re guilty of this expensive blogging mistake, you’re even more overwhelmed.  This simple mindset trick will help you to implement everything on your list, get more organized, and finally get shit done.  I call it:  the lumberjack method to blogging efficiently.

Let me first emphasize the fact that I absolutely believe in being “green” and my family and I try to reduce our impact in every way that we can.  That being said, paperless just doesn’t work for me in a few areas when it comes to my to-do list and time management.

My old boss used to call me a “flat filer.”  I needed to be able to see everything in front of me at once to accomplish my tasks.

Since I started implementing that system in my blogging life, I’ve accomplished at least 200% more than I used to.

Drowning in Blogging Resources

Here’s the thing.  When you blog, there are a never ending stream of free ebooks, courses, webinars, and paid resources that you know are going to be the one secret to catapult your blog to success.  Almost every blogger is guilty of this expensive mindset, but the only thing worse than buying into every resource out there is buying it but never implementing it.

In fact, had I not implemented the strategy I learned in Pinteresting Strategies, I would have half the blog traffic I have today.

It’s so easy to get into this sticky situation where you’re drowning in resources but sorely lacking on time to implement them.  It seems like every awesome blogging resource is only available for a short time before it goes away for good or goes drastically up in price.

That’s where this simple mindset change comes into play.

My word of the year is IMPLEMENT.

We’re going to make a simple list of the resources we have been meaning to get to, and we’re going to tackle those things FAST.

Prepare

For me, this means printing those ebooks and putting them into binders.  Yes, I know it’s a complete waste of paper.  I hate it too.  Try as I might, I can’t make online notes work for me.  I have to have a print version in front of me that I can mark the every living crap out of, refer back to time and time again, and cross things off in real time as I implement them on my blog without having to tab back and forth between windows.  I’m only 29.  I don’t know why this talent alludes me.

If you’re capable of being productive with ebooks and notes, GREAT.  Do that!

Skim, Highlight, and Take Notes!

We’re going to skim through these resources, highlighting the main points and action items.

If you can tell the first few paragraphs or pages are just fluff, skip it.  People are guilty of filling a post or ebook with tons of fluff.  For example, I have an ebook that’s all about Facebook and how to drive tons of traffic with Facebook.  There is a whole chapter dedicated to why you should care about Facebook, what Facebook is, how long it’s been around…etc.

I don’t need to know that information in order to implement the “meat” of the book.

Skip that crap and move back into your skimming.

If there are steps to do something specific, take note of that and move on.  The fastest way to do this is to highlight quickly or put a star next to info that solves an immediate problem on your blog.

I star every plugin that someone claims is life-altering, for example.

But What If I Miss Something?

Move through the pages as fast as you can without skipping too much important info.

Now, I know you might be thinking that you paid good money for this resource, why would you risk skipping any info at all??

Well, because you’re currently skipping all of it as it collects digital dust in your computer files somewhere.

Trust me when I tell you that lumberjacking this ebook, course, or how-to video is going to get you way further to your goal of implementing this info than sitting around and wishing you had the time to do it.

I can get through a 40 page ebook in about 10 minutes.

Seriously.

Massive To-Do List

Now, I’ll go back to the beginning of the ebook (for the sake of this example) and if I have the time, I’ll turn through the printed pages stopping only at my highlighted parts.

I type out quick bullet points in my Wunderlist app for every single thing I need to implement on my blog.

More likely though, whatever valuable tidbits I collected in my lumberjacking session are going to be long-term things.

For example, I recently have started to focus more on SEO.  Working through various resources has added a few things to my “must do for every post” list…and that’s the extent of the value I got from the ebook.

I now know that I have to do x, y, and z to make Yoast happy, put keywords in these certain places, and “nofollow” affiliate links.

Okay, those aren’t 5 minute tasks when I have 104 posts on my blog, so I’m going to add that to my list going forward and will tackle one post at a time as I get a few extra minutes.

Without this lumberjacking mindset, I would still be sitting on gold mines of information that I was longing to have the time to look at, but when my work hours are between 11 pm and 2 am…I run out of time quickly.

Must. Move. Fast.

Is this stupidly simple?  Yes.  Is it practical?  Yep.  Does it work?  You betcha.

To recap:

  • Print or save each resource you want to focus on accomplishing (but I’d recommend no more than 5)
  • Quickly skim the content, skipping the fluff, and taking notes/highlighting action items as you go
  • Go back through and quickly make note of the action items in categories that make sense (do to every post, implement on social media, etc.)
  • IMPLEMENT, IMPLEMENT, IMPLEMENT! Did you buy that course just to let it sit in the back of your computer files, forgotten?  Or did you buy it because you really thought it was the answer to one of your biggest blogging problems?  Quickly comb through that info and implement every action item you can as quickly as you can!
  • Do NOT buy any additional resources until you’ve pushed through that massive to-do list we created. Since you took note of ONLY the action items and long-term “must do for every post” items, your to-do list should be large, but manageable.

 

Is this a ground-breaking technique?  Of course not.  I feel like I may be insulting you by even suggesting this is a “technique” and not just common sense.  However, I find that people generally need “permission” for lack of a better word to just tackle a project as quickly as they can for the sake of getting it done.

Like my typing teacher used to say – “haste makes waste.”

But not when you’re a blogger.  When you’re a blogger, you’re trying to keep up with everything that’s changing, produce quality content, create graphics, post on social media regularly, interact with your readers, network with other bloggers…the list goes on and on and on…

The truth is, to be a successful blogger, you just have to get shit done.  Move through things as quickly as possible and move on.

 

What is your best time management secret to blogging?  What is your biggest blogging struggle?  Let me know in the comments!

 

Stephanie

Tuesday 22nd of August 2017

Thanks for these tips! I love them! I am so glad I found your blog.

Jamie

Tuesday 22nd of August 2017

Thanks Stephanie! I'm so glad you're here!

Kemi

Monday 21st of August 2017

LOL! I love this! I actually started doing this a few weeks ago. I have a ton of resources and precious little time too. I have a big resource I'm working through but I.just.had.to.do.something so I started implementing one of the strategies mentioned. I need to do more though. Thanks for the push!

Bethany

Monday 21st of August 2017

I’m here because Carly sent me here. I found this advice to be great, especially because I am the same way. I have to have things in front of me in order to even remember they exist. Thanks for the permission to pull out the meat. Now to just get some shit done. That’s what I need the most. Thanks!

Jamie

Monday 21st of August 2017

Haha thanks for stopping by Bethany! I love Carly. Just print, skim, and do work. Get shit done... I love it!

jenny

Sunday 20th of August 2017

Thank you for this! I was planning to do this exact thing with several ebooks I have that I tend to go and look back through, but I hadn’t gotten around to it. And now, I have one printing as I type this.

The Pinteresting Strategies is such a great ebook. I have read it multiple times and it was the main book I was planning to print.

Jamie

Sunday 20th of August 2017

Oh my goodness I just finished manually pinning for the night based on that book and tonight I'm getting alerts from WP that my stats are booming. What would we do without Carly Campbell and her genius ways?!

Hena

Saturday 19th of August 2017

This is the second yime I’m coming back to read your post. Your suggestions are sticky awesome. I’ve been reading my training stuff faster, skipping the whys for now and focusing on the how tos. Next up, I’ll try to get print outs too. All clutter and expense issues that come with it aside, this really is the best way to stay motivated when the book’s right next to me in ‘real’ life. Sometimes we know the things but just when someone reminds us, they become so power and actually help us get back on track so a huge thank you, Jamie. Pinned with love!!

Jamie

Saturday 19th of August 2017

Wow Hena thank you for such a sweet comment! I'm such a paper person, it really does motivate me to have a book there in person that I can scribble on and highlight. I'm so happy this motivates you! I'm headed over to your blog right now :-) I hope you have an amazing day!

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