Blogging Planners and Why You Should Use One

( Image borrowed from Confessions of a Homeschooler )

There are a ton of advice and resources available to bloggers these days. When I first began to blog years ago many of the helpful resources available today simply just didn’t exist. Often times I share my own personal experiences with others in an attempt to help them avoid the frustration I myself had to endure at some point. One of my biggest mistakes when I was a beginner was my lack of organization. Blogging is like a real job with a real commitment and your success is measured by how dedicated you are to your job. Sure you can be a fly by night person that posts sporadically and without much substance but that will not be very rewarding or lucrative. The most successful blogs are those written by people that are extremely organized. The easiest way to create and maintain organization is to use a blog planner. Most bloggers wear many hats, we are often mothers, fathers, spouses and have a full or part time job outside of the blogging world. A blogging planner helps you with dates and deadline, while keeping a record of past completed work. A good planner has a place for blog ideas so that the idea does not get forgotten during the chaos of everyday life. Keep records of website analytics which are your statistics such as page views, followers, and subscribers. Keep another document in your planner for website and blog information such as usernames and passwords. Affiliate programs you are apart of should also have a document included. A document for conference information and another for sponsor information is very useful too. If you work with any companies or PR agencies I urge you to include a section of your planner with all of their contact information. Some people prefer to have a planner that functions monthly while other people like to view things weekly. I personally use a planner that includes monthly and weekly views. You can buy a planner online or in a store but I choose to make my planner so I could tailor it to my specific needs which also allows me to add files to it any time I come across something new. Your planner can be simple or detailed depending on your style. I used a regular binder and free printout’s offline. There are quite a few sites that allow you to download and print a whole blogging planner for free. I goggled “free blogger planner” and came across at least 7 different reliable websites. I have been using a blogging planner for about 3 years now and it makes my life a lot easier and organized. Whether you are a new or seasoned blogger, a blog planner is one very important resource that I recommend taking advantage of.