5 Time Management Tips for Bloggers & Marketers

You probably have read about this guy / gal-next-door who is raking in thousands of dollars monthly doing nothing more than “just blogging”.  Or perhaps your neighbor had told you about his daughter who can afford to quit her day job and concentrate on her internet marketing business.   And you thought to yourself “Why not I?”  Truth be told, there are many who thinks like you and every day, many had jumped into the bandwagon only to find out a few months down the road that making money through blogging or internet marketing is not as easy as it had sounded.

The usual complain I have heard from these exhausted and disillusioned people is that they do not have enough time.  Then does that mean that making good money through blogging and internet marketing is a hoax?  Well, I don’t think so.  You can indeed earn a fairly good income from it… you just need to learn to manage your time well.

Time management is a simple skill but requires lots of discipline, especially now that you are your own boss.  I mean, this is the internet we are talking about, where there are millions of sites to distract you.  Check some emails, read some online news, pay some bills and glance through some updates on your favorite celebrity and before long, you find that most of your morning is gone.  But fret not, here are some time management tips that can help you achieve your goal, the stress-free way.

Tip #1: List Down Ideas

Ideas come to us all the time and more often than not, it happens when we are not in front of the computer.  And sometimes, a great idea would suddenly pop up when you are in the middle of writing a post.  So what do you do?  Stop whatever you are doing to focus on this new idea?  From experience, it is better to write it down in your mobile phone, tablet or even a note pad.  This way, you won’t lose concentration in what you were doing earlier and end up wasting more time in trying to recall your ideas.  And once you are ready to start on your new posts, just bring out those filed up ideas and write away.

Tip #2: Schedule Your Tasks

Time management gurus had always stressed that a ToDo list is an essential tool.  Plan your day first thing in the morning or even the night before, writing down the tasks you realistically foresee that you can accomplish throughout the day, and not just listing down all the things that you hope to get them done.  Allocate a period of time for each task and keep to it.  Remember you have to be discipline here.  Just like a company, you should also have monthly and annual targets so you have a clear sense of direction.

One more thing… don’t forget to schedule in fun time too.  You deserve the rest and some fun after all the hard work in order to keep your motivation up. J

Tip #3: Prioritize

Now that you have a schedule, the next thing to do is to prioritize the list of tasks that need to get done.  Be clear about what you think is important and what can wait.  You don’t want to be caught unprepared where something urgent that was supposed to be completed earlier, did not get done so because you had forgotten or had been procrastinating on it. And at the same time, you want to be able to fully concentrate on your writings without having to worry about other tasks.

Naturally, those that are of higher priority should be those tasks that build your business and can affect your profit as well as those that are too costly to outsource.

Tip #4: Have A Clean Working Area

A cluttered work area is like a cluttered brain.  It doesn’t work as effective as it could be.  Do you know how much time was spent just by looking for that missing pen or piece of paper?  So do file up those letters and prepare those outstanding business documents (eg invoices), however unappealing those tasks may seem.

Have also a small board or working pad near you while you work.  This way, you can arrange your thoughts on them, if required and it can help you stay on focus.

Tip #5: Networking

Do not spend all your time concentrating on just writing.  You need to make an effort to widen your readership.  After all, the higher number of readers you have, the higher the chances is of making a sale.  So invest some of your time in Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter or even new blogging communities, to reach out beyond your current network.

So there you are some of the tips that can help you better manage your time.  All of us have 24 hours daily regardless of who we are so making the best out of your 24 hours is what set you apart from other bloggers and internet marketers.

Author Bio:- Alicia loves WordPress themes and plugins. She can be found writing on Premium WordPress Themes, a WP theme reviews website where she shares her latest WordPress theme reviews. Her favorite WordPress theme designer is Elegant Themes. Check out her website to find a great theme for your blog today!