A guest post by Justin Osbourne. 

Freelance Blogging has professional privileges. You can write whenever it suits you, but you also worry about earning enough money. After all, we all have bills to pay.

That’s why freelance writers put blogging productivity at the top of their priorities. This means writing as many posts as possible in any given timeframe. However, Productivity is also about creating high quality content. To be productive in both quantity and quality, you need a good work plan.

Successful bloggers are both creative and systematic. All topics are analysed thoroughly via their special systems to increase productivity. Here are six practices that produce the best results:

Planning your blogging productivity

Bloggers need to prioritise their tasks by planning their work. This means scheduling their days to accommodate everything that needs to be done and in the correct order. It is important to deal with urgent matters first before moving on to those further down the priority list.

Ideally you should not burden yourself with more than three major issues each day. This is the optimum number of topics or tasks the average blogger can cope with without getting in a muddle or making serious mistakes.

If you want to maintain the quality of your work, it’s worth focusing on a minimum number of tasks and doing them well, rather than rushing or skimping on your Blogging Productivity.

Get to know your daily rhythm

Not everybody is the same. All bloggers are different and don’t follow the same work patterns. Some writers like to finish most of their tasks before noon, while others are night owls who reach their highest creative potential in the evening.

This is because they have different circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythm is a human being’s internal clock which cycles between sleepiness and alertness at regular intervals. Once you’ve recognised your personal behavioural pattern, take advantage of it to prioritise when you do your everyday work.

Your optimum periods of blogging productivity are known as your power hours. Use this time each day to write articles that demand your full focus and creativity. This allows you to save time for your other activities throughout the day.

Freedom from the 9-to-5 schedule

Many bloggers freelance so they can avoid the usual 9-to-5 schedule. By adjusting your daily routine, you can choose when you work to match your circadian rhythm. This in turn improves your overall blogging productivity.

Some businesses recognise this phenomenon and are beginning to embrace this new concept. A recent study showed that employee retention increases by 10% in organisations that follow a “choose your own work style” culture.

Luckily technology makes it irrelevant where and when you work – the only thing that matters is you get the work done as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Focus and concentration

Blogging productivity is impossible if you are unable to concentrate on your job. You need to eliminate all distractions, such as social media and mobile apps. Luckily there are tools like Stay Focusd that can solve this problem. This is an app which blocks unwanted content from your computer or mobile phone, enabling you to only focus on your writing.

Of course, procrastination is not allowed, especially during your power hours. Combat this problem by establishing a daily routine to keep yourself on the straight and narrow. Or you could visualise how procrastination would affect your blogging productivity, and ultimately your earnings. Hopefully this will force you to focus better.

Another way to strengthen your concentration is to divide your tasks into smaller units. This makes large projects less intimidating and allows you to easily record your progress. Avoid multi-tasking, as doing several things at once can be counter-productive. Keep your head down until you have completed the task at hand.

Avoid work burnout

A recent survey revealed a quarter of employees are often stressed by their work. These circumstances make it impossible to maintain the desired level of productivity. Work burnout is even worse for freelance bloggers, who are usually lone workers with no one to help them.

Make sure you take appropriate time-out to recover both mentally and physically. Revitalise yourself with 15-minute breaks several times a day. Take your weekends seriously to recharge, treat them as mini holidays. Otherwise you won’t be able to stay productive in the long run.

Also spare time and leisure activities are crucial for your imagination and creativity. Bloggers accumulate ideas through new adventures and everyday communication with friends and family. If you stop experiencing things, you will soon find yourself without blog post ideas.

Utilise digital tools

If you don’t have a team of colleagues to assist with daily tasks, you can use digital tools to help increase your blogging productivity. There are dozens of interesting software and app solutions, but we will show you a few valuable tools for freelance bloggers:

• Evernote: This app enables you to write down ideas and organize your notes anytime, anywhere.
• Rescue Time: Analyse your daily habits to find the most efficient daily pattern of work.
• Google Trends: If you will run out of ideas Google Trends will help you to find trendy topics in a wide variety of categories.

How do you cope with blogging productivity?

Freelance blogging is an exciting but very demanding business. You rely on your blogging productivity to efficiently use each spare minute of your time to produce quality work.

This article has given you a freelance blogger’s guide to productive work flow. If you use our suggestions about blogging productivity, let us know in the comments how you get on. And if you have other interesting tips to share with our readers, we would love to hear from you.

About the author:

Justin Osbourne is a teacher from Leicester, England, UK. When not teaching his students and rooting for Leicester FC, he loves to share his thoughts and opinions about education, writing and blogging with other people on different blogs and forums. Currently, he is working as an editor at UK Best Essays.  Follow Justin on Facebook and Twitter.

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