Most bloggers understand the importance of delivering regular, high-quality content to their readers, but it's not always easy to keep up with demand. Even the most productive bloggers struggle to achieve their goals from time to time.
If you're feeling overwhelmed, there are various strategies you can use to manage your time and make content production more efficient. The following eleven productivity and time management techniques will make creating blog content a less stressful, more efficient process.
List of 11 Productivity Techniques for Bloggers In 2019
1) Schedule Writing Times
This is the exact same technique I use as a book author: Blocking out one, two, four hours or even entire days to make sure that I am productive in creating content. The same goes for blogging.
Make sure you set aside blocks of time purely devoted to writing content. Find out what time of day you're more creative and use this time to focus on writing. For many people, the best time is in the morning, but choose times when you have more energy and stick to this routine.
The problem with many bloggers is that they set themselves up for failure by setting unrealistic goals. For example, they aim to write for three hours, and when they fall short, they feel like they've failed.
It's hard to convince the lazy part of your brain to commit to writing for three hours non-stop. Instead, commit to writing for 30 minutes before taking a break. This makes it easier to get going. Use a timer and take a break after achieving each 30-minute goal.
2) Do Your Homework Once
When I talk about homework for bloggers, I am talking about topic research and keyword management . You should do this once so that you have a list of keywords that you need to write blog posts for.
My process for doing this is by using and then tracking the performance of how my blog posts are ranking over time, but at a minimum, you should be using Google Keyword Planner , Google Suggest , or even Pinterest Search to narrow down on keywords and topic ideas for your blog posts.
3) Set Deadlines
Working to deadlines can help you focus on completing posts on time. Without a fixed deadline, you'll find excuses for not finishing each piece of content. There will always be things you want to change, but you need to know when to call your work finished. Having a deadline will help you focus on delivery.
Commit to a frequency that doesn't bring down the quality of your writing. It's better to write one great piece of content every week, rather than three average posts.
I personally try to blog once a week and try to get my next blog post ready one week in advance. When I have time, I try to create more posts for the blog post queue, but at a minimum, I will ensure that a blog post is ready one business day before its weekly due date.
4) Create an Editorial Calendar
Editorial calendars sound daunting, but since you already know the topics you want to write about and deadlines for when you want to write them by, you have the basis to stay better organized through creating an editorial calendar.
The organization is a key part of maintaining a successful blog, and an editorial calendar for your content is essential for planning your content marketing strategy and managing your time. Fortunately, there are plenty of productivity tools out there to help you stay on track. For example, tools like and offer a range of project management tools, including editorial calendars.
5) Use Outlines
Now that you know what topics you want to write about, you should be able to make a simple 3 to 5 bullet point outline of what you want to write about that topic. These bullet points then become your H2 titles inside your blog post.
So, before you start writing any piece of content, create an outline. When you have a structure from the outset, you'll find it easier to write and focus on the topic being addressed. With long-form content, break it down into smaller sections and focus on completing one section at a time.
6) Avoid Distractions
Almost everyone has to fight distractions. Your mobile phone, email notifications, and social media can all kill productivity. To help you focus, set aside specific times to check your phone and emails. Use a browser extension such as Simple Blocker to block certain sites for specific time periods. Keep your working space tidy. It will all help in your goal to be more productive.
7) Group Together Similar Tasks
The writing process consists of various disciplines, like generating topic ideas, creating outlines, writing, editing, and proofreading. Try batching similar tasks together. For example, spend an hour generating ideas, then another hour outlining each post. Separating the more creative tasks from the analytical tasks can boost productivity in the long run.
Many bloggers make the mistake of trying to do everything at once. They write and edit at the same time, for example. It doesn't help. It's important to allow yourself to write a bad first draft. You can set aside time later for editing.
8) Don't Worry About the Word Count
While it's tempting to keep an eye on the number of words in each post, and sometimes it's necessary for certain projects, it can interfere with the creative process. Some topics will require more in-depth analysis, while others can be tackled using fewer words.
Restricting the word count can result in shallow content that fails to engage readers. The length of each piece of content depends on the subject matter, how much new information you have to put across, and your marketing goals.
While I do think that Google rewards content that is longer rather than shorter, sometimes there is not a lot to write about. In those instances, you might want to combine two blog post topic ideas into one. On the other hand, if your blog post is too long, it might make sense to divide them into two. But only decide on this after you've already written the piece to maintain your productivity.
9) Repurpose Content
When you're struggling to come up with fresh content, it's worth taking a look back at older blog posts and other content delivered in different formats. For example, are there older posts that need updating? Perhaps an infographic you published could be expanded into a more in-depth article. This can speed up content production because you've already done the initial research.
Once you've created tens or hundreds of blog posts, you can begin to fill your editorial calendar with republishing older blog posts with revised information. This is especially the case if you find strategic blog posts going down in rankings and you want to maintain search engine traffic for that blog post. Here is my system for optimizing old blog posts to increase SEO rankings .
10) Take a Break
If you work too hard and for too long, it will only lead to burnout. You're more productive if you take regular breaks and make time to relax in some way. After you've finished a blog post, leave it alone for a while. Reward yourself by doing something you enjoy. Take a walk. Watch a movie.
Taking care of your mental health is just as important as looking after your physical health. What's more, when you come back, it will allow you to see your work from a fresh perspective.
Celebrate the completion of every blog post!
11) Delegate
Finally, if you really want to boost productivity, you need to consider getting help. Are there other team members with unique expertise that can contribute to your content marketing efforts? Remember that there is strength in numbers, so two people could work together on one piece of content to get the job done more efficiently.
If you have the resources, it's also worth considering hiring freelance writers. Freelancers can give your content a fresh perspective and can also deliver content relatively quickly. This way you can make progress faster, especially if you don't have many blog posts on your site.
If you've never hired a freelancer before, you can find them on general gig sites such as and as well as on specialty writer marketplaces such as WriterAccess .
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In Summary: Productivity Techniques for Bloggers 2019:
Every blogger, even myself, will struggle with content production from time to time. This is why it's important to use strategies that make the process more efficient. Increasing productivity boils down to time management, proper planning, collaboration, and setting clear deadlines.
Keep these techniques in mind during your content creation process, and you'll be able to achieve more and still remain in control of your content output. Over time, all of this will become muscle memory, and that's where all of your efforts will be rewarded by having an extremely effective process for writing blog posts that help you meet all of your marketing objectives.
Any other productivity tips for bloggers that you would add? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter ( @NealSchaffer ) or Instagram ( @NealSchaffer ) !
