How to Maximize Your Blogging Productivity

Writing is one of the most creativity-driven tasks lots of marketers have to deal with on a regular basis.

And it doesn’t make sense.

You see, marketing is supposed to be highly pragmatic: It has a lot to do with numbers.

And yet, writing (i.e. creating relevant content) which is all about creativity is one of the most essential parts of marketing.

And that’s where finding focus is what we are all struggling with. And while marketing and SEO are my primary focus, I do blog a lot!

I am easily distracted, tend to multitask and my work suffers for it. In fact, I usually have to download tools that force me to remain focused. Even those are often not enough to keep me from finding ways around them.

The worst part of this is how long it can take me to finish an article that might have only taken a few hours had I just worked on it from the beginning. Because so much of my work involves the internet – my main distraction – it is a hard hurdle to overcome.

This lack of focus has led me to seek out every blogging productivity tool and tip I could find. In the end, I have managed to come up with a small list of things that have helped me fight off my procrastination. Luckily, they seem to also be tips that help many others.

1. Pick The Right Background Noise

This is a big one for me. I love to have music playing in the background, but if I choose the wrong kind it will distract me as badly as anything else. Inevitably, it leads to YouTube searches, playlist creation, and other non-productive activities. Putting together something that helps keep you relaxed and attentive is best. 

Anything instrumental, such as classical or even movie orchestral soundtracks, is great. Studies have shown that lyrics are horrible for focusing on tasks. You can find many great playlists with instrumental music anywhere from YouTube to Soundcloud.

2. Put Things Aside

I will always manage to come across something I want to read. Some might be helpful articles, but writing is not the time to immerse myself in them. This is why I have found great tools like Pocket to be helpful. 

That way you can bookmark it for when you have time, and move on with what you are doing.

3. Remove The Distractions

Sometimes staying focused can be as simple as keeping yourself from looking at anything else. There are tools that will hide other windows and icons, to keep you from looking away from what you are currently working on. 

My favorite is definitely Isolator. Nice and customizable, it gives you several options for hiding any other content on your screen. This includes blacking it out entirely, or only blurring it. This lets you remain visually focused on a single window. There’s also a great simple extension for Google Chrome users.

Probably the most popular way to increase blogging productivity is through a site blocker. These are simple plugins that work by having you fill in the sites that distract you the most, and times when you can or cannot access them. 

They also have an option to block them for a certain amount of time, such as a few hours, so you can work without distraction. StayFocusd and LeechBlock are both great (and free).

There are many more productivity tools helping you to focus on your work and ignore distractions.

4. Make Lists To Follow

Take control of your day and reprioritize your to-do list. 

Place the most daunting task at the top and tackle it head-on. When you’ve completed it – or made as much progress as possible – you’ll feel satisfied and your other tasks for the day will seem like easily surmountable items. 

You’ll feel a weight lifted by getting your big scary item out of the way, and then the rest of your day will fly by as you check everything else off your list. 

Sometimes it helps just to organize a nice list that gives you everything you have to do and the priority in which you have to do it. It can be a simple sticky note on your desktop. Or you can use this checklist which you can download to complete every time you are writing anything or use it digitally by copying it to your Google Drive:

If you tend to type your content directly into WordPress, there’s a way to create a to-do list inside your WordPress dashboard to turn your blog backend into your productivity tool.

5. Use Writing Tools

Tools always make me productive and motivate me to get down to writing. Sometimes all it takes is opening my favorite tool and finding a cool content idea for me to get down to writing.

Text Optimizer is a writing tool that has never failed to turn my productivity mode on: It provides an unlimited list of ideas based on your target search query and then encourages you to keep writing by giving you a list of topics you failed to cover:

Another cool keyword research tactic that works well for writing productivity is called keyword clustering which always helps structure my mind and organize content ideas.

6. Remain Motivated Through Success

Another great idea is to remind yourself of how well you have done at working on what needs to be done. My favorite tool for this is the rather simple Don’tBreakTheChain.

When you meet your goal, you simply sign in and check off the day with a red box on the calendar. The longer you go, the longer the red chain becomes. Very basic, but super effective.

7. Start Something New!

Now, this may seem counterproductive but it has always worked for me. When I feel a burn-out, I start a new project!

It may be a new ebook, a micro-tool that has been at the back of my mind for months, a new micro-site, etc. I love starting something new, even if I don’t have a clear monetization plan yet. Even choosing a new name will get me excited, especially since I discovered Namify which I find truly addictive.

In fact, I feel I have too many domains due to that tool. If you don’t believe me, check out their business names in the Marketing category:

I have to admit that 80% of my projects go nowhere. But those 20% are priceless! I am a big believer that you won’t achieve anything unless you keep trying new things!

Conclusion

Staying on track is possible for even the most easily distracted person. It just takes a bit of willpower and some helpful tools. Try the ones above, and watch how much your focus and your writing productivity improve.

Before you go…what are your favorite blogging productivity tools? Share in the comments with a link (if you have one). Let’s add to the list!

Blog cover image: by Catherine Hughes on Unsplash