Friday 8 April 2016

How I Organise and Manage My Blog With Evernote


In the grand scheme of things, I'm not as open to new and exciting resources and tools one would make you believe. Going from checking something out, to taking the leap and using it can take a looooong time, and my experience with Evernote was very much the same. I did my research and I read up on the different ways you can use it, what the free version included and allowed you to do, and I eventually got to the point where the only thing left to do was the actually start using it.

Evernote has made managing my blog a piece of cake.

Everything from drafting blog posts to storing ideas, to collecting links from all over the blog community and sharing them through Blogger Love, Evernote makes every task a doddle and is much easier to get started with than the rest of the interest would lead you to think. Today, I wanted to share with you how I use Evernote to organise and manage my blog, right down the details, so you can make a fair and logical decision behind using it yourself.


1 | Evernote allows me to store separate information easily


I don't know what your blog requires from you, but mine is a pretty demanding lil' baby, so keeping all my tasks, information and general bits and bobs organised, but still within easy reach is high on my priorities. Evernote works with me to achieve this by enabling me to create numerous folders for various information, and subfolders within those folders, along with tags to make searching for information so much easier.

I recently overhauled my entire organisation process with Evernote, which now looks a little like this:


As you can see, I'm aiming for a clean and practical set-up, something that makes all my information and content easy to find, but still keeps it tucked away and hidden until I need it. I have two very firm areas in my Evernote organisation; Blogger Love and Nellie and Co, and with Evernote's help, I manage to keep these two areas pretty much well away from one another since as I consider them pretty much completely different entities.

2 | Evernote allows organisation into subfolders


Before I started using Evernote, Blogger Love was put together in an extremely messy way. I'd almost always have that drafted post open in my tabs, and I'd input the links each day as I went along. Surprise surprise, it wasn't fun, nor easy, and really affected the amount of posts I would find and share, knowing I would have to input them all throughout the day, every day. Evernote however, with the help of it's Google Chrome Web Clipper Extension have completed changed that.

Now with the Web Clipper, I can collect links from all over the blog community and store them in the perfect folder at that moment in time. For example, I'm currently in the process of collecting posts for May's Blogger Love edition, so every post I like the look of and want to share gets stored in the Blogger Love - 'May' folder, which makes finding all those posts at a later date a godsend.

Quick Tip: How to Create Folders and Subfolders


In the sidebar, click Notebooks, and you'll get taken to a screen like this.


Click New Folder in the top left corner and name your chosen folder. You can turn a newly created folder into a subfolder just as easily by dragging and dropping the folder you've just created into another already existing folder. This is the exact method I used to create my two main folders and following subfolders, and it's really helpful in terms of being super organised.

3 | Evernote allows me to use tags to organise my notes


Tags are in some ways more helpful than notebooks, as you can search Evernote for them, and filter them, making it even easier to find the information you've put away.

In terms of Blogger Love, tags allows me to search for specific topics of interest and input those posts first into the blog post, rather than having a long list of content to organise myself. For Nellie and Co. tags allow me to see what my different areas of interest, the different topics I have, and organise posts by 'published' and 'writing' which makes it easier to see which posts I have to work on.

Quick Tip: How To Search and Filter Evernote Tags


You can search the whole of Evernote for absolutely anything, but you can also search for anything you have on Evernote under a specific tag by using the top right search bar. You can search for a notebook, note or tag through that search box, however tags are probably the most helpful.


You can also filter notes either inside or out of a notebook in order to locate notes under a specific category. For example, if I wanted to locate all the posts I've saved of 'Books' for Blogger Love, I would only need to filter the Blogger Love notebook to show me the 'Books' tag, and they'd all be there.

4 | Evernote's Chrome Extension allows me to bookmark


It's not just bookmarking posts for Blogger Love that the Evernote Chrome Extension comes in handy, but it's also helpful in terms of taking note of possible post ideas from around the internet. Sometimes I'll get an idea or be inspired by somebody else's post, or a snippet or sentence they've used, so I'll save it in my 'post ideas' folder tagged 'inspiration', so when I come to create content, I have some handy ideas.


The Web Clipper is also great for collecting data or references to use in posts. I can simply bookmark the source and link it within on of my posts, which can really help make your post look and feel trustworthy. Whether we like to admit it or not, we like to know and learn where people get their knowledge from.


Other Evernote features that might be of interest:


5.1 | You can communicate directly with other users of Evernote through email. This isn't something I've personally done before, however, it's achievable on the free service and could be helpful for people who collaborate or co-blog with others.

5.2 | You can send notes and notebooks to other users of Evernote through email. I also haven't explored this avenue although I imagine it would be great to for people interested in guest posts in terms of previewing content and the like.

5.3 | You can export and import notebooks between other Evernote users. I have actually used this feature and it's extremely easy to use and only takes a matter of minutes. I used this feature when I started a new Evernote account which proved really helpful in terms of moving my collected notes for Blogger Love and already stored and written posts seen on Nellie and Co. I'm still in the process of exporting and importing content from one account to another and can steadily recommend this feature.

5.4 | You can store notes, notebooks and tags in 'Shortcuts' for quick access. Access to your information, if stored well is pretty quick to find anyway in Evernote, but if you were looking for a way to make this step even quicker, you could drag and drop any notes, notebooks or tags into your Shortcuts section of the sidebar to have them there waiting for you.

5.5 | You can access all your information on mobile devices. I probably don't use the Evernote app on my phone as much as I could and should, but it's certainly helpful for those times when I'm out and about and need to note down some inspiration, or bookmark something I've read online. It's a definite must have for people looking to save time who are always on the go though.


Evernote has been a game changer for me in terms of organisation and managing Nellie and Co. It puts all my information, all my posts, all my bookmark and inspiration all in one place, which makes it the perfectly app to have open while I'm blogging. It's also a much better alternative to creating content straight into Blogger, because I'm less distracted and tempted to check out social media and the like online, and it provides me with another copy of my content should Blogger ever feel the need to lose my content on me.

The answer is yes, you should seriously consider using Evernote. If you're looking for a resource that helps you stay organised and manage everything all in one place, it's a no brainer. If you're more of a fly-by-your-pants kind of person, then finding the time to commit to setting up Evernote so it's personalised to you might be more effort than you're willing to give. I would definitely recommend using Evernote, even if I'm extremely biased towards the Web Clipper which for me is more than enough reason to add it to your tool belt.

How do you stay organised and manage your blog?


11 comments:

  1. I use Evernote almost every day! It's my favorite app, though I use it for writing novels instead of writing for my blog. :) It's so great to suck in research, take pictures and add them to notes, and then confer with my critique partner on blurbs for my books, etc. I could not live without it!

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  2. Ooh, that looks AMAZING. I'm actually not a very organised blogger. XD Which is odd because I'm an absolute stickler for having my posts up at the perfect time on the perfect day but I just keep a list of post ideas on my sticky-notes on my Mac or floating around my room on to-do lists. xD This sounds like a better option! Although, weird question, why is it better to write posts in something like Evernote than straight onto your blog platform? Just wondering!! :D

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  3. I've never heard of this, but it sounds really awesome. I would definitely have to find a good time to really check it out and set it all up - a time when I'm focused and ready to do it, you know? haha In the end though, I like that it keeps things together and in order. That would definitely be handy for certain posts/projects.

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com

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  4. Wonderful! I use evernote too, and I LOVE it!

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  5. I have just started to use Evernote this week, and like yourself this will be a great place to put all my research, blog ideas, posts etc...

    Ang xxx | www.alleluiatobeauty.com

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  6. I just download Evernote today and can't wait to try it out! Thanks for the tips on using it!
    Bridget * http://nuttyhiker.com

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  7. What a great post, Amanda! I'm just wondering, have you ever used Microsoft OneNote before? Because I always hear about comparisons between OneNote and Evernote, and I'm a huge fan of OneNote right now. Does Evernote bring about any advantages compared to OneNote, in your opinion?

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  8. I might need to start using this, so I can keep my self more organized.
    Great post!

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  9. Evernote is a life saver. I've been using it for years now for studying and keeping notes. The best part is how I get to do all this on my phone. On the go. So convenient.

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