Become a More Effective Blogger in Limited Time.

Keeping your blog up, running, and active when you’re short on time can be a chore. Not all of us have a lot of time to devote to running and organizing our blog, so sometimes time is of the essence. If that’s the dilemma you’re facing, here are a few tips that could help you stay effective when you’re blogging but are short on time.

1. Social Networking

For many, one of the most difficult aspects of blogging, and often most time consuming as well, is the promotional side of being a blogger. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and a host of other social networking sites can help you in promoting your blog while also saving you time.

Also read: When does Social Media strategy fails?

2. You Don’t Have to Design Your Own Theme

If you aren’t really proficient at HTML or CSS, or just don’t have the time to deal with such matters, then you’ll be happy to know that there are lots of themes available for WordPress and Blogger blogs. Some themes are free and others are paid, but either way you’ll save yourself the hassle of actually designing your own theme.

3. Write What You Know

Yep, it’s the old adage, “write what you know.” Drawing from your knowledge and experience within an industry or niche can save time on research and writing for your blog.

4. Brief Isn’t Always Bad

You may not always have time to write an in-depth post, and that’s okay. Sometimes just doing a brief update or short comment on something in the news, or a post to let your readers know that you’re out there and paying attention may suffice. Some of the easiest and often most entertaining posts can be as simple as a funny image or interesting video you’ve found on YouTube.

5. Pool Your Resources

If you’re in a time crunch, you might be able to use articles or posts from article directories or other blogs who publish under the Creative Commons license. While this might not be a perfect scenario, it can help to keep your blog looking active. You may also be able to rehash or update old ideas or previous posts so that you don’t have to come up with a completely new post idea.

6. Link to Other Content

Even if you don’t own the rights to certain material you’ve posted on other sites, you still may be able to use that work by writing a brief summary and then linking to it as part of a link roundup. This can also be a great way to network with or drive traffic to work you’ve done for other sites.

7. Invite Others to Contribute

If you really just don’t have much time to spend on your blog, you might want to consider inviting others to contribute guest posts. This can be a great time saver for you and is a means to put some other opinions and knowledge to work on your site.

8. Outsource Some of Your Work

Getting others to contribute to your blog is often easier said than done, especially with newer or less popular blogs. If this is the case, you might want to consider outsourcing some of the work. There are plenty of sites out there where you may purchase reasonably priced content for your blog’s niche.

9. Let Your Site Do The Work

While you don’t want to overload your blog with gadgets, polls, surveys, and contests, sometimes they can work for you while you’re away. Utilizing such content can provide something of interest to your visitors that they can interact with other than just reading posts.

10. Advertising Issues

Looking for, dealing with, and handling advertisers and their issues can be time consuming. If this type of work really isn’t your thing or you don’t want to spend the time on it, consider letting someone else do the work for you. Programs like Google’s AdSense do the dirty work for you and let you reap the rewards. While over the long term this might not be the best strategy for maximizing advertising revenue, it can certainly save you time and allow you to focus on building and bettering your blog.

Also read: Tips to monetize a blog.

In Conclusion

It’s important to remember that it isn’t always about the amount of time you spend on your blog but how you make the most efficient use of the time you do have. Just because you sit in front of the computer for hours, staring at your blog, doesn’t mean you’re making it better. Sometimes the best work is quick, efficient work!

This is a guest post by James Adam, a blogger working with a supplier of HP 336 ink cartridges. Subscribe to his blog for his posts about advertising and design. If you too would like to write for Extreme Trix or any other blog in our network and get paid per post, join now!