Blogger overwhelm is real. Recently in my Help a Blogger Out Facebook Group, the question of “how do you stay on top of all the blogging tasks?” has come up multiple times.

There are just so many things a blogger does to bring in more traffic to a blog and keep it running at optimal levels. First things first, you need to be writing good content. Then you need to optimise those posts for search engine traffic. Then you need to share them out to Pinterest and Facebook groups and it just goes on and on.

Then, when you’re writing, it’s so easy to get distracted by your Facebook and email notifications. The struggle is real.

I did a Facebook Live on my Blog With Mo Facebook Page recently that gave some tips on how I avoid this blogger overwhelm and stay on top of my tasks each week for my two blogs. The gist of it all is that you need a schedule and an accountability partner if that works for you.

A Blogging Schedule That Works

For me, I have decided that I write my best stuff in the morning when my brain is firing. I know a lot of people leave writing to the night time when the kids are asleep and the house is quiet. The point here is to find a time that works best for you and stick with it.

Carve out that blogging hour or two where nothing else but writing gets done. Your best work will be when you’re focused and free from distractions. Is that every morning for an hour? Is that on a Tuesday and Friday at lunchtime?

You know your schedule and temperament best. But once you’ve decided on your writing time, stick with it.

Block out all distractions for that time. Put your phone on DND where only VIP notifications get through to you. Close Facebook and email tabs leaving only your WordPress dashboard or whatever word application you write in open. Center everything around your writing which is the most important blogging task there is when you’re just getting started. You need good content up on your blog to promote.

When you have your drafts ready to go, you can begin the process of editing and open your keyword research tool to find the best keywords for your blog posts. But get all the writing done and out and then worry about that.

Then, use a planner to schedule out your other tasks. My free blog planner printable helps me to do just this. It is never too far away from me since I also use it to brain dump and jot down ideas. Here’s what my weekly schedule may look like.

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At the beginning of the week, I write my goals for the week. Is it to get more posts published? Is it to get more email subscribers? Is it to get more traffic? Is it to get more sales/coaching clients?

Then I tailor the week’s task to fit the goal at hand. Once my weekly blogging schedule is completed, I’m ready to actually schedule my days and allot times to the various activities. A daily schedule, two of them actually, are inside the blog planner as well. Whichever one fits your style, use them to guide your day-to-day activities to include your blogging tasks.

For the week above, the focus here was getting more content out and bringing more traffic in. Further on in the week, I put my attention to going through blogging courses or books I may be working through and completing other tasks I need to do on a weekly basis anyway, like emailing my list.

For more tips on avoiding blogger overwhelm and getting your schedule together, check out this Facebook live that talks a little more about my blogging schedule and how I go about it day-by-day.

Avoiding Blogger Burnout or Blogger Overwhelm

With this schedule, I know my plan of action and I can easily see what I’ve done so far and what needs to get done. I’m not running around chasing my tail wondering what task I should do today. This is because I’ve already decided and set my intentions clear on what needs to be done and how I’m going to go about doing it.

If not, it’s easy to see a mountain of tasks before me and just throw my hands up in the air. This is also a recipe for you to continue to do only one type of blogging activity, ignoring the rest and allowing them to fall by the wayside.

With a solid schedule in place, you spread out all the tasks that you know need to get done and you can tick them off as you go along, confident in the actions you’re taking each day.

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Outsourcing or Automating Tasks that are Important

Some tasks are super important to the success of a blogger so they can’t actually be ignored or allowed to slip by the wayside because of your schedule if you want to make money.

Things like these, you want to find a way to stay on top of them with help if you can. This means outsourcing or automating those things. Everything a blogger does can be outsourced. You can hire a VA to write your blog posts, to SEO them for you and schedule them to be published so you focus on promotion, or to promote them for you once you’ve written them.

If a VA isn’t in your budget right now, what can you automate? My Pinterest traffic is super important to me but thankfully schedulers come in quite handy for me. It’s very important to pin all day every day but if you did that manually you’d never get anything else done. I use Tailwind to keep my blog traffic high and Keysearch to perform keyword research so my blog traffic from Google is constant.

Check out this list of blogging tools that can help you to automate those things that need to be managed properly.

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Accountability Partners and Mastermind Groups

With that said, some of us need a little more than simply sticking to a schedule. Some of us write out our tasks for the week and never look at the schedule again until it’s time to write out next week’s tasks.

That’s where an accountability partner comes into play. Someone who’s on the same blogging journey with you can be a godsend to help keep you on track and push you towards achieving your goals.

It can be as simple as messaging each other on Facebook once per day to say yep, got my writing done. If you didn’t get it done or are having trouble with some aspect of it, your partner will be able to help you work through whatever issue is causing this. That’s why it’s important to choose a partner who’s on a similar journey as you are.

That’s one reason I created the HABO Facebook Group. Not many of us have close friends who are also bloggers. It’s good to have someone who can understand your blogging struggles and help you to work through them. It’s good to have a whole community celebrating with you when you make your first $0.09 from Adsense. Only a blogger can know what an amazing accomplishment those first few cents feel like.

Do you have any tips to add? How do you avoid blogging overwhelm?

Do you need more organisation in your life? Of course you do. I love planners and wanted one that was specific to my needs as a blogger, so I created a blog planner and I’m sharing it with you for free.

A blog planner is a great tool for new or well-experienced bloggers to keep track of their progress and set goals and achieve them in a smart manner.  Here’s what’s included in this free blog planner and how to use it to grow your blog.

Why You Need a Blog Planner

A planner on a whole is a place where you store all of your thoughts, ideas and goals. Writing stuff down unloads it from your brain and releases brain fog, leading to clarity and focus which is useful for getting sh*t done.

A blogger’s journey can be lonely and frustrating. I specifically created a space inside this blog planner for you to write down your why. Whenever you feel like quitting, refer to this space to remind yourself why you started a blog and what you’re hoping to achieve with it.

Remember that difficult times will pass and that it was perhaps a successful blogger that motivated you to get into blogging yourself. You too can have this success as long as you keep at it.

A planner keeps your ideas in one place. When you’re running on fumes and not sure which way to turn, your planner can be a source of inspiration with ideas long forgotten. You can also use it to keep you on target so that you’re not spinning around chasing your tail but know exactly what goal you’re working on and the exact steps needed to accomplish it.

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Inside the HABO Blog Planner Printable

I named it the HABO Blog Planner after my free Facebook Community Help a Blogger Out because that’s exactly what I, and this planner are here to do, help you out on your blogging journey.

It holds 12 pages plus a bonus page that’s filled out with an example of what my week looks like as a blogger.

The first three pages of the planner are designed to help you keep track of important aspects of your blog like the hex codes for your chosen brand colours and the link to your hosting account and the date it expires so this doesn’t creep up on you.

I’ve also added a place for you to write down your blog strategy and what you’re hoping to accomplish with your blog. Every blogger is different and so is every strategy. It’s important to know what yours is, stick to it and tweak it only after you’ve analysed what’s working and what isn’t.

Without this kind of clinical approach, you may not be sure what works for you as a blogger and what ideas to toss. There’s also a place for you to write your short and long-term goals as a blogger.

These are pages you may only need to print once, or once in a while, like every year or whenever you update your blogging strategy and goals. That’s the beauty of an undated printable planner, you control what you use and what you don’t.

There are also pages to track your blogging income, expenses and stats like your social media followers, email subscribers and pageviews. This is great to fill in monthly to track your growth over time and help manage your emotions and expectations.

Write down any money spent on courses, hosting, graphics or other expenses and keep track of your income whether from affiliate marketing or other blogging income sources.

Brainstorm and Keyword Research

There’s a section to dump all the ideas that come to you about future blog posts. Inspiration comes to us from a plethora of sources and it can be easy to forget about them. This is a great place to group them and then apply your keyword research principles learnt here to flesh out your ideas into money-making blog posts.

The usual monthly and weekly spreads are then included. These are pages that you will print over and over as time goes by and you begin to fill up your planner.

Printing what you need and adding it to the same planner allows you to have one place with all your ideas whether from March or September. You could also print enough to last a whole year and bind them together to create a fully fleshed out planner straight from the beginning.

The final page is a blank page labelled notes for anything that I may have missed or something that’s specific to you. Maybe you’d like a page to plan holiday posts or maybe you’d like a page to keep track of guest post submissions and backlinks. Use this page to make the planner unique to you.

You can use the form below to grab your free blog planner printable. If you put it to use I am pretty sure it will help you to grow your blog into a money-making machine. Let me know in the comments if you enjoy the planner and please share this with a blogging buddy of yours.

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If you’re wondering how to set up a blog and launch it properly, you’re in the right place. Today I’ll give you all the tips you need to start a successful blog from day 1.

When I hang out in Facebook groups for bloggers, I see many of the same questions being asked over and over again by people wanting to launch blogs.

I rounded up a few of them so I can help to alleviate your fears, answer your questions and help you with any issues you may be facing as a new blogger.

As someone who’s been doing this for quite a while, I thought I could offer my perspective on this whole blogging thing. Many bloggers are overthinking parts of the process and would do well to rely on one of my favourite mantras, done is better than perfect.

That will be the main theme of lots of the tips I provide here today to prepare for your blog launch. Done is better than perfect. Let’s get into these questions I get all the time from new bloggers.

Where Should I Set-Up My Blog?

This is an interesting question because it depends a little on if you want to make money with your blog or you’re just dipping your toes in to either document your life and share it with others or decide if you even like blogging.

If you’re just starting out and you’re not sure that blogging will be for you, then sure, sign up for a free account on WordPress.com and get a feel for the blogging platform.

If, however, you’ve made a decision that you love blogging or you want to start one to make money, then skip the amateur step and go self-hosted from day one. You’ll save yourself a lot of headache down the road and you’ll also be free of monetization limitations that free platforms have. So you’ll actually be able to start making money with your blog as soon as you go self-hosted.

I recommend Siteground as your host of choice. I’ve been using them for over a decade and have never had any serious headaches or downtime with them. Their customer service is quick and friendly and will help you with any tech questions you have. Here’s my tutorial for getting your new blog up and running in mere minutes using them.

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How Many Posts Should I Have on my Blog Launch?

So my best answer to this question is to have one month’s worth of posts up when you launch your blog. This gives you a whole month’s head start on new content and allows you sufficient time to write new posts.

Now, one month’s worth of posts looks different for everybody. How often do you really see yourself publishing a new piece? For me, a month’s worth of posts is only 4 posts because I publish once per week. My content creation process takes quite a bit of time and I run two blogs so I really can only get through this twice for the week plus promoting my blog posts, curating photos and all the other things that go into running a successful blog.

I spoke about my content creation process in a Facebook Live in my Help a Blogger Out Facebook group so you can see what that process is like and why it takes so long. This brings me to my next tip, how often to post.

How Often Should I Post on My Blog?

As much as you can realistically manage. My content creation process is quite in-depth. Once a week is just fine for me. There’s a myth that Google loves a blog that is updated regularly with fresh content and so posting more improves your SEO.

The truth is that Google loves content that is fresh and updated, not fresh content that is of no value. One of the masters of SEO that I quote regularly on this blog, Brian Dean, has less than 50 whole posts on his blog. When he does post, you are guaranteed a thorough post explaining everything you would ever need to know about whatever SEO topic he is writing on and that counts much more to Google than you posting 3 or 4 or 5 times per week.

Another popular view is that you should post on a regular schedule so that your readers are accustomed to your schedule.

I guarantee you that with everything happening in everyone’s daily lives, keeping up with your blog on a set schedule is not a high priority for anyone at all. Your job is to make sure that whenever you do publish a new piece of content, you market the heck out of it.

This is how your fans and followers will know that hey there’s something new. Don’t rely on them remembering that you post every Monday and Wednesday, cause, they won’t.

Blog Branding: Your Colours, a Logo and a Theme

This is where my mantra comes in strongly. Done is better than perfect. Don’t get so hung up on having the perfect theme, logo and colours selected before you launch your blog that you never end up actually launching.

Here’s a secret I want to let you in on, whatever you decide on today for your branding elements, you’re going to change at least a time or two throughout the course of your blog.

Many of your favourite bloggers started out with blogs that would make your eyes cringe. You do not want to see where my lifestyle blog is coming from and OMG the logo back then makes my heart cry.

But they worked at the time and as my tastes refined, my blog grew and I took on elements I preferred and dropped ones I didn’t care for, my branding came together pretty much on its own. I’ll continue to refine it as I grow too, I’m sure.

This blog started with a logo I made quickly in Canva until I could get a designer to do one for me and yet still I already know that I will be changing it again soon.

The point is that these elements are less important than you think. It’s more important to launch and begin getting your Google link love on than worrying about finding the right shade of pink.

How to Choose Your Blog Niche

Some new bloggers struggle with picking a niche. Maybe you want to write about different things and are wondering if they all can be covered on one blog. Maybe you’re wondering if your niche will make money. Maybe you’re wondering if you should niche down or go broader.

The advice that I will give you is to pick something and start writing. Over time, your readers will begin to gravitate to particular topics. Over time, you’ll realise what you prefer to write about. Over time, you will realise what posts make more money and will probably choose to go for more of those.

It’s more important to define and find your target audience than it is to define your niche immediately.

There are successful blogs who write about everything under the sun and successful blogs that write about one specific thing only. There’s no one formula to this bog thing. Trial and error and lots of DIY will help you to hit your stride and figure out what works best for you.

How Long Should Your Blog Posts Be?

As long and as thorough as they need to be without any fluff. If you watched my content creation process video mentioned above, you’ll see why all my posts are between 1500-2500 words with some much longer.

For SEO purposes, your content should always be helping your reader to solve a problem. Those are the types of posts that will do well. If you want to land on the first page of Google for your topic, then your post will have to be better than every post already ranking there in order to boost your chances of beating one of them out.

Chances are, you’re going to need a very thorough and in-depth post that’s more than just a few hundred words in order to accomplish this.

There’s no magic number. Just be sure that you have exhausted the topic you’re choosing to write about. I talk more about this in my Keysearch review, this is the tool I use to research keywords for my blog posts.

What Should You Include in Your About Page?

Another one that new bloggers struggle with that I find not so important. My about page doesn’t get any traffic at all so I pay very little attention there.

Some bloggers say it’s definitely a page their visitors visit however so you should at least optimise this page with a freebie to get visitors on your email list. I use one of mine as a “start here” page of sorts, taking new visitors through a list of my most popular posts on the blog.

The one for this blog is actually my first blog post. I introduce myself and why I feel qualified to give you advice on blogging, just in case you wonder.

While this page could use some optimization as you grow, it should definitely not hinder you from launching your blog. Done, not perfect. Get something up and out and tweak yours as you find awesome about pages you want to emulate in some way.

Related: Avoid these 10 Blogging Mistakes Many New Bloggers Make

What Should Your First Blog Post Be About?

Well, both of my blogs started out with posts introducing who I am and why I started the blog. I use that same intro post as my about page on this blog. That’s one way to go.

You could also just jump right in and start writing about whatever topic you’ll be covering on the blog. Remember I suggested above that when launching, it’s a good idea to start with a handful of posts so that when you begin to get readers, they have something else to read.

Interlinking your posts is super important for SEO and it will help your bounce rate if a reader has related topics to click through for further reading if they happen to like your blog.

So go ahead and launch with a couple posts related to each other in some way. But again, don’t stress over this too much because your first handful of blog posts are probably going to be your worst ever. You’ll get more seasoned and polished as a blogger and writer the more you blog.

How to Manage Your Time As a Blogger

You will definitely need some sort of system in order to keep on top of all the tasks that are part of blogging. There’s social media promotion, content creation, research, finding stock images, shooting your own photography, guest posting, blogger outreach, regular maintenance, tracking your affiliate links and just so much stuff to think about.

Some bloggers use online productivity programs like Asana or Trello while some, like myself, stick to good old pen and paper.

I bullet journal plus keep a running list of blog post ideas and other knick-knacks in a notepad that lives on my office desk. Here’s my current blogging schedule that keeps me sane and from going into burnout and overwhelm as a blogger.

You will definitely need a planner to keep yourself on track. This is the planner I’m currently using and it makes a superb planner for everyday life.

I also created a 9-page blog planner that is non-dated. This means you can add dates where needed and print the pages you use on demand.

The awesome thing about this planner is that you’re able to track your stats, income, expenses jot down blog post ideas and plan your week and month using this one printable. As the year goes on, you’re able to simply print a blank month sheet and fill it in while keeping your stats tracker etc handy.

I’ve made it available to you for free, enter your details below to download.

How Should I Collect Emails on My Blog?

Yes, you should begin to collect emails on your blog as soon as you’ve launched. If you want to make money as a blogger, your email list will explode your blog traffic exponentially. I wrote a whole blog post explaining email marketing for bloggers here plus I have a free email list building course that you can take to get you going.

Sign up for a free Mailerlite account to get going. It’s free till you hit 1000 subscribers and by then you should already be making enough money from your blog to cover the low $10 monthly fee. They are one of the most affordable email service providers out there.

What Tools Will I Need for my Blog Launch Plan?

There are a lot of things that bloggers need to take care of to be profitable. Don’t think that you can manage to do it all on your own. I recommend these blogging tools for beginners to start with. A lot of them are free and the rest are really affordable since I only recommend the tools that helped me to get into the money making stage of blogging and not all the tools I currently use. I don’t want to bombard beginners but you will need at least some blogging tools to start so check out that post.

I hope you found this post helpful and are ready to launch your blog! I’d love it if you pinned this post to a blogging board on Pinterest! Please leave a comment below letting me know what stage you are at in blogging and I will help you if I can. You can also join my free Facebook community here to get support from other bloggers making money online.

All courses on Udemy are currently $10.99 and so I thought I would share with you these courses that can benefit your blogging journey if you’re in this to make money.

These courses aren’t all about blogging. Some of them complement your business in some way, whether marketing the posts, converting social shares into customers or improving skills like photography and videography.

It definitely benefits you to always invest in your business, always learn and evolve. That’s how we grow as bloggers and business owners. I’ve selected courses from the best Udemy has to offer so let’s dive right in.

Writing Courses

I begin with writing courses since improving upon your writing is one of the best ways to improve your blog overall. Great content will convert readers into long-term fans of your blog and customers of any products you happen to put out.

The Four Levels of Writing Mastery

Writing Tools and Hacks for Blogging and Content Writing

Write Killer Web Content That Sells

Copywriting Secrets: Write copy that sells

Selling Courses

These courses are for bloggers who may also want to sell physical products online, whether your own products or reselling products from other suppliers (dropshipping) Maybe you’re interested in a t-shirt line or promotional items with your logo on them or maybe you want to sell items in your niche like clothes, art, cooking accessories etc. Dropshipping is a great way to sell products without having to carry loads of inventory in a physical store.

Build a Shopify Dropshipping Business

Dropshipping, the Complete Blueprint

Photography Courses

Stock photography is great but using our own photos will take your blogging efforts to the next level. Depending on your niche, you may rely heavily on your own photography and so I’ve included niche-specific photography courses on this list.

Complete Photography Course – Camera, Lighting, Portrait modes etc

Travel Photography Course

Food Photography Course

Easy DSLR Course for Beginners

iPhone Photography Course

Videography Courses

Video is the way to go! If you’re not including some aspect of video in your blogging efforts then you will be left behind in the evolution of earning income online through a blog. Whether it’s turning your blog posts into video for Youtube, capturing content that relates to your post or simply posting smaller snippets to social media, learning video mastery will help to elevate your blog in a crowd of bloggers.

Final Cut Pro Mastery Course

Make Explainer Videos in Powerpoint

Facebook Courses

Facebook is something we could all stand to learn more of. It’s a monster of complexity especially if you want to grow your Facebook page audience or try Facebook ads. Take away the mystery of Facebook success by picking up a course specifically relating to this social media network.

The Complete Facebook Marketing Masterclass 

Facebook Ads Mastery Guide

The complete Hands-On Training for Facebook Ads

Instagram Courses

One question I get asked all the time by bloggers is how to make Instagram work for us. It’s a wonderful social media channel that we all love to consume but getting it to convert into blog readers is tricky. Perhaps these courses can help you to figure it all out.

How to get Famous on Instagram

Master Instagram Stories

Instagram Marketing for Small Business

Youtube Courses

If you’re going to pick up video for your blog, mastering Youtube marketing then should be a natural next step. Learn the tricks and secrets to going viral on Youtube and getting your video seen by more people on this network.

Vlogging on Youtube Course

Youtube Marketing Course 

How to Become Famous on Youtube

Virtual Assistant Courses

Ever thought of adding VA services to your online business? A virtual assistant is a great way to pick up a side-hustle while building your blog and you may like it so much that you decide to make it a full-time hustle.

Learn How to Become a Virtual Assistant

Entrepreneurship Courses

Guy Kawasaki is one of those big names in the social media and entrepreneurship world. It would be awesome to pick up his secrets of getting to his level.

Guide to Entrepreneurship By Guy Kawasaki

Podcasting Courses

Do you want to start podcasting? It’s gained in popularity so much and we now all have our own favourite podcasts. Whether you want to add it to your blog as a way to repurpose your content or start up one on a separate topic all on its own, it would do you well to pick up a course in best practices first so you can shortcut your way to podcasting success.

Guide to Podcasting

Google Analytics

Ever dived really deep into the Google Analytics beast? Knowing the data on your blog is a surefire way to create content that brings in traffic and to know where, when and how to market your blog posts. This course also comes with Google certification just in case you wanted to add to your social media marketing service offerings online.

Become Certified in Google Analytics

Social Media Marketing

Do you want to get a handle on marketing your blog posts on all social media channels in one course? These social media marketing courses are for you. Become an expert in social media marketing and add it to your skills whether to grow traffic on your own blog or to offer SMM services to others.

Social Media Marketing Masterclass

Social Media Marketing Ads Guide

SEO Courses

The SEO monster many bloggers are afraid of has many facets and link building is one of them. This course promises to lay out the path to building strong links back to your blog which helps you to rank higher in Google for your chosen keywords.

Link Building for SEO

General Marketing Courses

Of course, general marketing courses are always a good idea to invest in as business owners. Stay up-to-date with the latest marketing trends and study things like buyer behaviour and how to influence others. This can only help you to stand out in your marketing efforts.

Marketing Psychology, Become a Master of Influence

Affiliate Marketing

This one is specific to making money on your blog. Master affiliate marketing with this course and take the mystery out of earning your next dollar through your blog.

Effective Affiliate Marketing Strategies

As time goes by I’m sure I’ll add to this list. Many of these blogging courses I have picked up for myself to go through at my leisure. I believe that investing in yourself and your business is one of the best ways to grow. We will never know all that there is to know and it’s always good to see what works for another blogger, especially one that is already successful so I can find more tips and tricks to incorporate into my own blog or tweak something I may already be doing to get better results.

Speaking of growth, you should take my free blog traffic growth challenge. It’s a 5-day intensive challenge meant to push your traffic to the next level.

Have you done any blogging courses recently? Which course on this list are you interested in?