A Behind-The-Scenes Look at My Blog Filled Day

Not unlike a lot of other bloggers, I don't have all the time in the world to blog. Hey, let's face it, we've all got to bring home money and put food on the table, but even if that weren't the case I probably wouldn't blog all the time anyway. I'd probably spend more hours than I should watching TV, skimming films or just plain ol' asleep, but when I do have the time, I like to spend a whole day on it, throwing together ideas, curating content, scheduling social media and just getting my act together.

Today, I wanted to share what a typical blog filled day is like for me.

1 | Wake up and check social media

I probably shouldn't, but I easily spend a good 30 minutes to an hour chilling in bed, scrolling through Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, checking out the interaction, getting all the gossip and getting started on my Pinterest pinning for the day. It's not the most productive of starts to the day, but it works for me, and allows me to wake up slowly, which is perfect for chilled out blogging day.

2 | Haul my ass outta bed and check my blog feeds

It seems almost weird that I would spend my first hours of the day checking out other people's content rather than setting up my own day with my goals, but I find that the sooner I've got my socialising and interacting out the way, the more I can focus on myself, my blog, my content and my plans much better. At this point, it's all about collecting links for Blogger Love with Google Chrome's Evernote Extension, commenting on the posts I love and choosing which ones to share amongst my own scheduled social media.

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3 | Schedule my social media for the next 24 hours

I'll confess to being a bit of a cheap blogger, and when I don't have to spend money on something, I almost always won't, so I make good use of Buffers 10 free social media updates and schedule the hell out of my Twitter for the day. I plan for 10 updates, the absolute perfect amount, and use Buffers Optimal Posting Time Tool and Followerwonk to establish when the best time for specific updates are. I like to create a good balance between sharing other people's content at peak times, just as I do mine, otherwise what's the point in sharing it at all?

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I also make good use of Latergram.me to make sure my Instagram content is on point too, setting up posting times, choosing the content and paying close attention to my Optimal Posting Times with Squarelovin' to get my content in front of my followers right when the time is right. I spend a good 30-40 minutes each day updating my social media schedulers, and it's certainly time well spent in the long run.

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4 | Sketch out post ideas and finalise content

I can easily spend anywhere from an hour to a few hours speed typing up some epic content, or smacking my head against a brick wall trying to generate post ideas, and how the day turns out depends a lot of my level of creativity and mood. If the days turns out to be a success, I'll usually have added a good 7-8 post ideas to Evernote, mapped out and partially drafted, and I always make sure the next post is ready in waiting a day or two in advance before it's posted.

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5 | Prepare and shoot some photography

This step is usually controlled by the weather, but if it's a super good-looking day, this is a must have step. If the weather is on my side, then I'll take a break in the day, snap some photos and use my mind and thoughts in a more physical way. It not only breaks up my day with different tasks, but it also brings out my creative side, which later comes in handy when I get back to blogging.

It's definitely one of the most pleasurable parts of the day, and sometimes I'll even create plans and lists on what kind of photos I want to take, and plan photo challenges in advance, or shoot some photos for blog graphics, so it's no surprise that I can take a good few hours on this. It's a rather good job I only do it around once a week, otherwise I'd never get any blogging done.

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6 | Update and Revamp Old Content and Design

If I have a really empty day and I'm still up for some blogging, but I'm all out creativity and don't have much motivation left, which trust me, is a really real thing, I'll stick to updating and revamping old content, one of the most common ways being with new graphics. It's one of the easiest and quickest ways to make old content look new and attractive to new followers, and it's also a really good way of making your blog or site look more professional and in tune with your current design.

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Sometimes though, updating content means making sure it's up to date if I want to link it in a post, or if it's one of my most viewed posts on the blog. These get the most traffic, and so it's extremely important that they're up to date, not only because it's common sense, but also because if you're posts are doing really well organically and through SEO, then you're likely to get a lot of traffic through it, and that traffic are not willing to let mistakes go. If your post doesn't help them, they're gone. It's a good habit to get into, and it helps you stay on top of inactive and missing links too.

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Some days turn out to only include some of these steps, while others will include more, like replying to emails, or fitting in shopping or socialising with people offline, but the average blogging filled day looks pretty much like this, and actually rather nice. I fill in my time, I get jobs done, and I go to bed feeling as I've achieved at least something, no matter how bad the overall day has been.

What one task do you always complete, every day?