Making time for blogging is harder than it looks. In fact, a few weeks ago I wrote about my own experiences taking a blogging break. In that article, I admitted that I got to the point that making time for blogging became challenging. Yet it wasn’t always that way. Making time for blogging used to be effortless no matter how busy I was. However, one of the most important things it taught my blogging break taught me is the fact that no longer believing in and being passionate about the blog content that you produce – can stop you from producing new material.

Then, I stumbled upon proof that a lot of the challenge of making time for blogging is about mindset

A great example of this is a Twitter-based survey that the blogger behind Blogging Tyrant. In this survey, he found a majority of his follower’s blogs failed because they lost interest.

In other words… if making time for blogging is challenging for you, the problem is likely your mindset. And, if making time for blogging sounds way too complicated for you, I’m here to challenge where that point of view might be coming from.

1) You (think that) you need to be on every platform at once

But doing that successfully is more about showing up on the platforms that are the most popular among your target audience. You don’t actually have everywhere at once.

In fact, people I talk to are often surprised that a majority of my social media posts are automated and pre-scheduled:

• A week
• Sometimes even a month in advance.

This is exactly why making time for blogging is so easy for me.

Because the apps I use regularly do some of the necessary promotion and audience outreach work.

But I totally get why some people hate it: the spontaneous and personalised elements of human interactions are left out of the equation.

The only way you can work around that is by (never) automating responses to messages. Instead, automate stuff like:

• Notifications about that blog post you just released
• Social media triggers, which allow you to automatically publish the same social media post on more than one platform (see this Buffer article about all the different ways you can use IFTTT to automatically publish posts about your latest blog posts on multiple platforms. This will help provide insight on how this works).
• Frequently asked questions.
• Past media appearances and examples of your work.

This will create more time for the aspects you can’t automate, such as social media interactions…

Because of the automation systems I have set up, I can easily set aside time in Twitter and Facebook threads for direct interactions with potential readers, clients, etc.

One of the ways I do this is by including Facebook promo thread days in my calendar.

Then, when the group admin posts the thread I’ll make it my mission to read at least one participant in the thread’s blog post. Next, I’ll leave a thoughtful comment about something they mentioned in the article:

Because I took the time to share and read their article, they remember that are much more likely to share my blog posts in the future. When I publish something new, I thoughtfully promote it in the threads in a way that appeals to the stuff that the group struggles with:

So…why is this worth doing? People often reciprocate the complimentary promotion of their work:

Because direct conversations with your target audience are a game changer

These moments are what the folks at Hootsuite refer to as “meaningful relationship moments” (MRMs);  Hootsuite offers the following definition:

An MRM goes beyond a like or simple “thanks”; it’s about having a meaningful, one-to-one conversation with another person on social media. From a business perspective, it’s about placing value on the human connections that we make with our customers every day.

I would also argue that this applies to everywhere from the comments section of your blog, to the interactions you have with mailing list subscribers.

The steps involved in building relationships with your readers are the same as how you build any other type of relationship. In other words, it’s about:

• Finding the perfect balance between your needs, and the other person’s needs
• And then using what you know to be a valuable contribution to someone’s life; Or, as Ross Simmonds so beautifully put it:

If you want to succeed as a blogger you can’t put page views first you have to put the people first. You have to look at your audience as the most valuable asset you have and think about how you can maintain that asset over the long-term.

I find that’s the best thing anyone can do.  And the proof is in Google’s quality guidelines; the most important guidelines are the following:

• Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.
• Don’t deceive your users.
• Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings.
• Think about what makes your website unique, valuable, or engaging. Make your website stand out from others in your field.

That’s exactly why putting the interests of your readers first is more important than ever.

2) There is never enough time in your busy schedule

However, that’s likely not the case. How you are structuring your time is likely the problem. For instance, did you know that the average, adult American spends more than 11 hours per day watching, reading, or at least interacting with some sort of media? If that sounds far too familiar, at least some of that time can be dedicated to writing your latest post or interacting with your target audience.

And if you automate some elements of your content marketing, you’ll still have plenty of time left over for:

• Planning what you’re going to write about
• And key components such as the writing, editing, and promotion stages of the blogging process.

It’s really just about setting aside at least one day/ time per week…

For everything that’s required to write and upload a post, and audience interaction. Then, take your writing and audience interaction time slots as seriously as you would:

• Your work schedule
• Or a meeting with a client or customer.

In other words, schedule a time frame in your calendar for both these things, and then make it part of your routine.

So…you’re probably wondering how long it takes to produce new blog posts. There isn’t one, right answer. A lot depends on:

• The writer’s experience
• The topic’s complexity
• And how people react when it’s published.

Which brings me to the good news:

Eventually, you’ll get so used to blogging, that it won’t seem nearly as daunting.

I often hear people say the same thing about activities such as exercise and learning a new language.

A part of the brain that processes learned behaviours, the motor cortex, makes this 100% possible (according to the Harvard Gazette).

Once new habits are:

• Learned
• And processed

The brain will store learned motor sequences. This applies to your blog as well. If you always publish blog posts on Monday morning, you’ll eventually do that without thinking about it.

But it’s not just about scheduling a day and time…

Planning things in a strategic way is as important.

In my book, Blog on I urge readers to develop a Facebook Marketing-focused spreadsheet:

Before I started to use Facebook group marketing consistently in my business, I took a Freelance to Freedom Project course on this exact subject. One of the things that this course taught me was the value of creating a spreadsheet, which covers what I’m going to post about when.

In the sample spreadsheet, I included stuff like:

• “How-to” posts
• Q &A
• Stories
• And tips based on my personal experiences, in my weekly engaging with Facebook group member schedule.

However,  this spreadsheet is helpful for planning interactions with your target audience on all platforms. Because, according to CoSchedule, marketers who document their strategy are 538% more likely to report success than those who don’t.

And that makes a lot of sense. Because having a marketing plan documented on paper will force you to log in to your social media accounts with a specific goal in mind. This will lead to you:

• Spending less time watching cat videos, and looking at your friends’ baby and travel photos.
• Knowing exactly what you need to do to offer value to your target audience in a strategic way.

3) Blogging is a lot of work

Before you give it a chance, you might be tempted to give up on blogging.

However, It takes a lot of:

• Time
• And patience.

To get the results you’re seeking. In fact, the average time it takes for a new blog to get traction on search engines is 3 to 6 months. And that’s only the case if you’re producing high-quality content.

If you were hoping for instant success, this is the wrong platform for you.

If you still don’t have time for blogging…

Remember this wonderful bit of advice I found on what “I don’t have time” actually means:

If you want something to be a priority in your life, you make the time for it at the expense of something you deem not as important. It’s truly that simple.

There are over 6 million blogs already. That’s exactly why you need to consider if it’s worth it for your organization before you give it a try.

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Please add a comment below if you'd like to discuss this topic. – Rosie