As a blogger, a big part of your job is to write content for your readers. But regardless of how long you’ve been blogging for, some days the words just don’t flow. As much as you try to force it, there are days where your creative juices will have seemingly dried up. Am I right?
Whilst we all wish that we could sit down at our desks every day and write freely, the reality is that it just doesn’t happen like that.
Try as you might, when inspiration decides to pick up and leave, you simply can’t force it back. So the next time you’re sitting there staring at a blank ‘Add New Post’ screen, focus on improving your blog with one of these 12 blogging tasks instead.
1. Update & Delete Plugins
This is a really quick and easy task, and often one we do without even thinking about. However, it’s an important thing to do as plugins which aren’t updated can affect how your blog is viewed by other people.
I also check which plugins I’m using and if any of them are inactive. There’s no reason to keep inactive plugins as not only do they clutter up your dashboard, but they can also deteriorate your website by slowing it down and making it vulnerable to hackers. The best thing to do is delete the inactive plugins that you no longer need.
2. Make A Note Of Your Analytics
This is something I try to do on the 1st of every month, but every so often I forget or only do half of it. I use a basic spreadsheet template that I created to track my blogging stats a few years ago. I keep track of the number of my social media followers on each platform, blog visitors, page views, popular posts, DA etc – all the key information I need.
This is helpful for when you update your media kit or if a brand asks you for any blogging stats. Let me know in the comments if you’d like a copy of my template.
3. Update Media Kit
Since you’ve checked your Analytics and updated your spreadsheet, now would be the best time to update your Media Kit. I try to do mine every 2-3 months.
You may also want to update your Rate Card; if you’ve added another service or upped your prices since the last edit.
If you don’t have a Media Kit or Rate Card, you can create one in Canva or outsource it to me – I offer this and multiple VA services.
4. Take or Plan Photos That Need To Be Taken
If you’re not in the mood to be sat at your laptop at all, take a step back and think about any upcoming content that you need imagery for. You could either sit down with a notebook and pen and plan out photos you want to take for a blog post or self-shoot some photos for instagram.
5. Plan Other Content
Again, if you want some time away from the screen, you can use a notebook to plan/brainstorm future content. Sometimes when I can’t write a particular post I plan out other posts that I want to write. Not just blog posts, I plan youtube videos, or social media content too.
This may even get you in the mood to put words on paper. Often, I find sitting in front of a screen isn’t productive, but my words flow when I have a pen and a pretty notebook to hand.
6. Improve SEO Of Old Posts
This is something I’m guilty of not doing, but when I first started blogging, I had no idea what SEO was and have only recently discovered how to improve my posts!
You can do this by adding alt text or descriptions to photos, using keywords, checking for the green light on Yoast, creating pinnable images for Pinterest, editing the post to make it more relevant etc. The list goes on. Read more about how to make Google love your blog, here.
7. Read Other Blogs
This is also a good way to find out what other people are writing about, what’s trending and it may spark some creativity. Obviously don’t copy other people’s blog posts, but you can take inspiration from it and add your own twist on a topic they’ve written about.
While you’re there, comment on other people’s blog posts too. It’s always nice to spread the love, but also they might in turn come and check out your blog too.
8. Fix Broken Links
This is the bane of every blogger’s life and something we all say we need to do more often, but it can be so mundane. This needs to be done for a number of reasons including SEO purposes, but also so you can continue earning income from affiliate links that may be broken. I’ve written a post all about how affiliate links work.
There are plenty of sites and plugins you can do this on; I use brokenlinkcheck.com which is really easy to use and sort of self-explanatory. Once you enter your URL and hit submit, the broken link checker will work away and find any links that are broken on your site.
9. Schedule Tweets
Something else that a lot of people find boring is scheduling tweets – I actually love doing this as it makes me feel super organised. All you need to do is sign up so either Hootsuite, Buffer or similar and schedule tweets promoting your content.
You can also schedule facebook posts directly on Facebook and I believe Instagram posts can be saved as a draft ready to hit publish on whenever you want.
10. Reply To Comments
It’s always nice to be appreciative of any comments you get from readers or followers, and often blog comments are overlooked. Set aside 30 minutes every so often or when you don’t feel like blogging to reply to these. Don’t forget about YouTube or social media comments too!
11. Spruce Up Your Blog
Have a look at your menus; are they logical and clear? Do they point your readers to everything they need? Now would be a good time to reorganise them or switch things up if you need to.
Are you happy with your sidebar? Does it contain all the essential elements you need there? What can you do to make it even better? Now’s a good time to play around with some options.
You could even re-design your logo or change your theme.. the possibilities are endless!
12. Don’t be so hard on yourself – do nothing at all!
You know what? If you don’t feel like writing, switch off from your blog completely and just take some time out! We can get so caught up in always feeling like we should be productive but sometimes you just need to step away from it all. Switch off from your blog for a while and you’re almost guaranteed to come back to it with renewed energy.
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