How to Balance Blogging and School
Happy Wednesday friends!
I hope you all are doing well and are having a fantastic week so far. School is in full swing now and it's hard to believe that days of sitting poolside with a fruity drink in hand is behind us (*insert crying face emoji here*). After going through some trial and error last school year I'm here to share with you all some of my tips on how I balance blogging and school!
Let's get started now, shall we?
Remember, school comes first
First things first (I'm the realest). Remember that school comes first and blogging comes second. Focus on your education first and when you have free time do your blog work. Don't get discouraged that you missed an upload day or haven't posted a blog post in two weeks because it's finals week. We get it. If you are going to miss an upload day maybe shoot a tweet or post an Instagram photo giving your followers a heads up. They'll understand, I promise!
Schedule, Schedule, Schedule!
I recently discovered scheduling tools this past summer and they've seriously been a lifesaver! They allow me to get post everything I need for the week and not having me constantly be on my phone all day. My favorite scheduling tools to use are:
Buffer and Tweetdeck for Twitter
Hootsuite for Instagram
Funny side story: the other day in class I overheard some classmates having to create a Hootsuite account for a social media class and they were saying "Why on earth would anyone need an app to schedule all of their social media posts on? That's so silly and unnecessary!" LOL if only they knew how helpful it is for bloggers!
I also like using the scheduling tool on Facebook and Tumblr to schedule posts on there as well. On Sundays I like to set aside time to schedule all of my posts and social media posts for the week so it's out of the way!
Set aside time for blogging
I don't have classes or really any set obligations on Fridays so I like to use that day as my "blogging day." On Fridays I knock out all the photos I need for posts, put together my posts and anything else blogging related. You don't necessary need to set out a whole day to do strictly blogging things, it cane be a certain time in the day such as early in the mornings. It helps to have a schedule of when to do things and at least for me, I get more things done when I have a set schedule for what I need to do!
Plan ahead of time
This is kind of piggy backing off of the scheduling tip, but plan ahead of time! Remember all of those time management skills they keep drilling into us? If you have some free time try to knock out some blog posts or plan out content for future posts. My blogging planner is great for letting me know when I need to start preparing my posts if I know I have a busy week ahead of me. This way you're not waiting until the night before to write a post while you have about 100 other things you have due tomorrow as well.
When I know I have a busy school week coming up I usually plan ahead on my posts and get them knocked out and schedule them for that week. I also (try to) strategically plan out certain types of post based on my school schedule. For example, if I know I'm going to have two exams in one week, I know I'm not going to want to do a sponsored post, outfit post and a long in depth post about how to organize my closet that week.
Lists are a great way to visually see all the posts you need to knock out if you want to write and prep them in advance. I usually have a running list of posts I need to finish on the side of my planner for days when I want to get ahead and write some posts in advance!
Take your photos in bulk
With my blog being a fashion blog my biggest struggle has always been finding time to take outfit posts. I've gotten into a habit of shooting 3 - 4 outfits on the days we shoot photos and even more if we can fit it in just so I am a little ahead of schedule just incase something happens where I can't get photos done. Like I had mentioned earlier, I try to dedicate Fridays to get all the photos I need for the blog shot and out of the way for the upcoming week (or weeks) just so I have them out of the way.
"Rainy day" posts
Okay, let's say your internet goes down for a few days or you have a major test you have to study for or what ever reason that prevents you from sitting down and writing a post. This is where those "rain day" blog posts comes in handy.
I like to have 2 -3 "rainy day" blog posts handy and pre written (or at least 90% written) to go up when I know I don't have time to write a full post or go out and take pictures for it. This could be a story time post, a how to post, whatever post that isn't time or seasonally sensitive and you can post it whenever.
Those are some of my tips I use to help me balance blogging and school. Just remember that blogging is a hobby and that school does come first. It'll take a little to get use to balancing the two, but once you find a system that works for you then you'll have it down pat in no time!
What are some of your tips on how to balance blogging and school? I'd love to know in the comments down below! I hope you all have a great day!
Thanks for reading!
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