When one decides to start a blog they never think of the million things that they will have to do, you know besides writing the post. We are often motivated by creativity and ideas, but forget all about the operational side. However, the more you blog, the more you will need a simple, yet effective way to keep track your previous blog content and plan for your future blog content.
Over time I have created a system which works for me, in the categories I blog in. This would vary from blogger-to-blogger if you blog about more than three things. Majority of my posts are on Fashion, Travel and Fitness with the sub-categories of Decor, Beauty and Personal Stories.
Here's my three step plan:
- Create a blog schedule: This helps you keep track of all the ideas you have for the posts. Also, helps you sync your 'real' life with the blog life, how much time you require to shoot, edit, write, etc. I know we are all creative types and do not consider 'scheduling' stuff part of the job, however it is. You get to be creative because you have everything else under control. Else the brain space is occupied by clutter. e.g. My 2015 blog schedule is Mondays: Outfit Post; Wednesday: YouTube; Friday: Misc. (Three Ways, Decor, Fitness etc.)
- Create an editorial calendar: Now you have a schedule, hence you have an outline of what you want to achieve each week. Next step would to to break it down by the week and jot down your specific post ideas in to the calendar. I personally, love Google calendars. They help keep my personal, professional and blog life in order. Having ideas organized in advance would skyrocket your blog productivity.
- Organize your pictures in folder: Now that you already know what post you will be working on in the following weeks, you can take pictures and edit them and organize them in folders in advance. I personally like to give the same name to the folders as the title of the posts. Talking of pictures, they are often the most important part of the post and require special attention. However, the downside is that after years and years of blogging you have 50,000 pictures and none of which you can delete as they are all part of your blog archives. Here's where Amazon Cloud Drive comes in. I back-up all my pictures (and videos) here, first categorized by the year and then by the title of the post. It allows me an easy access from my MacBook, iPad and iPhone making it an ideal cloud storage option.
P.S. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you already have access to Prime Photos, provided through Amazon Cloud Drive as part of your membership. If you are not a Prime member, you will need to log-in to Amazon Cloud Drive and select a trial of the Unlimited Photos storage plan, using your Amazon log in. The Amazon Cloud Drive team, will extend your free trial from three months to one year.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Blogger, Stylist, Storyteller, Fitness Enthusiast, Experimental Cook. If you have questions in any of the mentioned areas or have feedback, feel free to contact me at [email protected].
