Blogging 101: Organization

 for other posts in this series, check out Getting Started, Next Steps, Growing Your Readership, and Finding Inspiration. 

a key to having a successful and stress-free (or at least less-stressful) blog is getting organized and staying that way. organization will look different for everyone. on a scale of ‘i don’t even know where my kids are right now’ to ‘i know where every single tupperware lid is and can tell you my hourly schedule for the next 30 days’, i’m at about ‘i can’t fall asleep if my room is even slightly disorganized but i have too many planners to keep track of my schedule’. so, i’m on the more organized end, which makes it easy for me to stay on top of everything blog-related.

a few things that have worked well for me are:

– keeping track of important posts/deadlines in my computer/iPhone calendar

 if i commit to a sponsored post or to participate in a giveaway, i immediately input the deadlines into my calendar and set a reminder for a couple days before to make sure everything is ready to go. since my phone and computer automatically sync, i have all of my deadlines with me when i’m traveling, which has been a lifesaver. 

– having a weekly editorial calendar on my desk

editorial calendars certainly aren’t required, but they can make your life so much easier. i have this weekly calendar from Rifle Paper Co. that i like to use as my calendar/mousepad. typically, the weekend before another work week i’ll write out the posts that i plan to do each day. that way, i know what i need to do during that week to prepare the posts and have them ready to be published. it helps me a lot to visually have my week planned out. 

– using a stack of sticky notes for quick reminders

i have this stack of sticky notes from Knock Knock sitting just below my computer on my desk to jot down any quick notes about things. if i need to remember to email somebody or check in on something, i have a note sticking to my computer so i can’t forget to do it. it’s also really gratifying to rip it off and throw it away once i’ve done what i needed to do. 

– i always travel with a notebook and pen

i’ve found that airplanes are a great place for me to get some brainstorming/planning done. it must be the fact that i can’t be distracted by the internet or working on something else. i like to have pen and paper on hand to jot down ideas for future posts, think about ways to improve my site or social media interaction, or people i’d like to reach out to. 

i’ve tried using a formal weekly and monthly planner for staying organized and i’ve found that it just doesn’t work as well for me because i don’t like to tote it around with me. having everything on my phone means that it’s everywhere my phone is, which is pretty much always with me. 

have any tips or tricks for staying organized as a blogger? let me know!