What to Work on for Your Blog When you Have Little Time

Have you ever looked at your blog and felt stuck because you only have a few minutes a day to work on it? A new baby, a sick kiddo, or a week with no childcare can make a content calendar feel impossible. You love creating content and connecting with your readers, but the behind-the-scenes work can feel overwhelming, and sometimes it’s tempting to give up altogether.

Please don’t. A season with less time doesn’t mean your blog has to stall. It just means it’s time to make a new plan. Be realistic about what you can get done right now, and be gracious with yourself when your original timeline doesn’t fit. Then pick the work that matters most in this season and focus there.

Here are six areas you can work on when your time is limited. 

1. Document your systems and processes

This is the thing many of us put off until it becomes a problem. Start by writing down every step you take to create a blog post, from start to finish. If you work with a team member, write out what they need from you before they start and what your review process looks like when they hand the work back. You can do the same for photography or video. Once these are on paper, you’ll have something to lean on the next time life gets busy.

2. Learn a new skill

Maybe there’s a course you bought and never finished. Maybe there’s a topic you’ve been curious about for years. Or maybe the skill you want to build isn’t directly about your blog at all. Trying a creative outlet, like going live on Instagram, can fuel your creativity and carry over into everything else you make.

3. Get ahead on what you love

Think about which part of the blogging process you enjoy most. If photography comes easily to you, get ahead on photos. If you love developing recipes, test new ones with your family and save the photos and posts for later. You can also focus on whatever part is easiest to do with kids around. The goal is to feel good about the work you’re getting done instead of dwelling on the work you can’t.

If the pressure of a deadline feels like too much right now, give yourself permission to create just for fun. Take photos of your dinner plate without any plan to publish them. Sometimes stepping out of content mode is exactly what loosens up your creativity.

4. Take care of the tech side

I know, this is the category most of us push to the bottom of the list. But a few small tasks can make a big difference. Update your plugins. Set up backups if you haven’t yet. Work through a plugin audit and remove any you no longer need. If you haven’t completed a full website audit in the last few months, that’s a great project for a slower season. Our free website audit checklist walks you through the steps, and you can find it in the show notes for Episode 4.

You can also use this time to comb through your categories and make sure each post is in the right place. It’s a task that works well while you’re watching TV or keeping an eye on the kids, because it doesn’t require your full focus. If you haven’t made the switch to the Gutenberg editor yet, try moving a few posts over at a time. Learning it in small pieces takes the pressure off.

5. Connect with your audience

Many of us are spending more time on our screens than we’d like, and that screen time can work for you. Send a reader survey to learn what your audience wants. Run a poll on Instagram. If a recipe is doing especially well right now, consider turning it into a freebie or a short mini course. You could also host a live session where you share tips for making your most popular recipes.

I know a project like that can sound like too much when you’re short on time. But try this exercise: imagine that for one week, your only job is that project. You might be surprised by how much you can get done when your focus is in one place. It may simply mean shifting your priorities for a little while.

6. Update your older posts

This is something you can always be doing. Some updates are mindless enough to do while you multitask, like adding alt text, updating photos, or creating new pins for an older post. Others, like redoing a recipe or answering more reader questions in a post, need more concentration. Even just reading through an older post will help. You’ll likely spot a typo, a step that needs more explanation, or information that’s out of date.

If you’ve created a new process for writing posts, run an older post through it. You’ll probably find something you missed the first time, and that’s a good sign your process is working.

Start with one thing

You don’t need to do all six of these things. In fact, trying to do everything at once is a fast way to feel defeated. Pick one, give it some protected time, and let the small win build your momentum. Even a small step forward is progress, and it keeps you moving toward the blog you want to build.

What’s one thing from this list you’re going to focus on this week? Tell me in the comments. I’d love to hear what you’re working on.