Organisational tips to incorporate into your blog in the New Year

I am very organised. That’s not me being big-headed, it’s simply a fact. I thrive off of organisation, I work well when I’m organised, when things are in place and I know what I’m doing and when. I’ve never really been a spontaneous person, I like having a plan and a schedule. I am very much a Type A personality – you can’t get much more Type A than me! But I pride myself on this because I get shit done. I might not be the most creative person. I can’t draw or paint or write poetry or arrange flowers but you know what I can do? Get 7 blog posts written in 1 day. I can keep to deadlines and I make a plan and stick to it. I recently ran a Twitter poll about whether to do a post like it – I didn’t want to come across as pompous or anything, I simply just want to share some tips that I personally find helpful!

But it’s important to understand that if you’re not mega organised, that’s all gravy. To be a good blogger, you don’t have to be sticking to a schedule every day or writing every day or never stepping a foot out of line and getting 5 posts up, every week, without fail. Blogging doesn’t work like that and life doesn’t work like that. But these tips are simply for those who wanna get a bit more organised with their blog and a New Year is always the best time to start! Whether you’re Type A through and through like me or you rock to the beat of the universe and take things as they come, we’re all blogging royalty here!

1. Delete everything from your laptop and start again: Get yourself a USB and wipe your laptop clear of everything you don’t need from the previous year. You can do this with non-blog related stuff too (I always do) but any photos or documents you don’t need, put them on that USB and delete!

2. Create all new folders: My laptop consists of a “Blogging” folder and within that folder I have, “Images” and “Documents”. Within those folders, I have, “Book Covers”, “Product Reviews”, “Misc”, “Invoices” etc. You get the jist. You don’t have to go as far as this of course but create all the folders you want ahead of the New Year so they’re ready to go!

3. Brainstorm blog post ideas in advance: I always brainstorm my ideas for the month after next, so at the time of writing (beginning of November), I’m finishing up scheduling my December content and will then brainstorm and work on January content. Working in advance really helps because it takes the pressure off!

4. Scheduling is your friend: As I said above, scheduling content in advance is a great way to stay organised. Because if it happens that you’re having a particularly bad or busy week and literally cannot blog, knowing you already have a bunch of content scheduled can be a huge weight off of your shoulders!

5. Figure out what you want from your blog this year: You might find you was a new lease of life for your blog in 2018 and that’s cool! If you wanna take things more seriously, blog more often, get sponsored posts and review products then that’s great! Set yourself some goals and a plan before the year starts so you can jump straight in!

6. Notebooks: Aside from all my folders, I have a lot of notebooks. I find that physically writing things down instead of typing them for a change can be really beneficial as it takes more time and effort and gets those cogs working. Treat yourself to a cute notebook for the New Year!

7. And carry that notebook everywhere: If it’s a relatively small notebook, keep it in your bag to jot down ideas. Or if not, use a note on your phone. Either way, as you go along on your day to day life, any idea that comes to you, note it down! Even if it’s not right for that time, it might be in a month or so.

8. Get into the habit of reading blogs: The latter part of 2017, I’ve been reading and commenting on so many more blogs and my motivation and inspiration has spiked dramatically. As a blogger, it’s important to support and recognize other people’s talents and taking inspo from our fellow bloggers. As long as you’re not copying them!

9. Make use of publicize: On WordPress, publicize allows you to connect Twitter, Facebook, Google + and LinkedIn to your blog so every time you have a new post published, it gets posted straight on these sites without you doing it. Utilize that feature so if you don’t have time to share your new post straight away, your platform has already done it for you. I’m not sure if Blogger has this but if you’re a Blogger user and you know, please leave a comment!

10. Remember to have fun: Organizing and being organised sounds so bloody boring, I know but it doesn’t need to be. It’s your blog and you need to be enjoying it, otherwise it’s going to show and remember that adding organisational skills into your blogging routine shouldn’t make it any less fun, it’s designed to make it easier and more rewarding. Seeing all those posts scheduled in advance and knowing you’ve got plenty of ideas to last you and you’ve not got to worry it so rewarding.

I hope these tips were helpful for anyone who wants to try and be a bit more organised with their blog in the New Year! If you have any tips of your own, please leave them below!