12 Things to do when you are not Blogging

We as bloggers are always talking about how to increase productivity when are blogging. But a lot of time is spent in activities which are not directly affecting the blog, but help in the overall progress of the blog. A lot of these activities can be done in your spare time, some maybe and some may not be productive. In this edition, I will be advising you in ways to increase productivity in the time when you are not blogging.

12 Things to do when you are not blogging:

1. Read Blogs for Inspiration

Read blogs of bloggers that you think are very successful in your niche. These bloggers should be your role models and they would inspire you to work even harder. By reading these blogs, you can gather insight into the way their content is written and presented. How they target their audience, what all words they use in their Titles. There are a lot of questions which crop up in a bloggers’ mind and reading popular blogs will help in finding the answers to it.

2. Check your Competition

Take a look at other blogger’s blogs that are at par with you and are blogging in the same niche. Read their blogs, to get more information about what topics they are writing on. Make a point to write the same or similar topics in a way that is better than the one written by your competitor. This way you will be one step ahead of your competition.

3. Redefine Goals

What goals did you set for your Blog? Are they fulfilled. Take some time to check the progress of the blog.  Also check whether the goals are being met or are they too unrealistic.  Set new goals for your website, which are ambitious yet achievable.

4. Redesign Your Website

Design is a very important aspect of a blog. A good design makes a great first impression. You can experiment with various free or paid themes available online. Try to minimize the clutter, and use a simple yet elegant theme. Try to reduce the number of images, because it affects the overall loading speed of the blog. Try adding plugins that can increase the speed of the blog and also add some functionality to it.

5. Engage with Readers

Engagement is as important as blogging. Blogs should be like discussion forums, where minds can freely interact and share knowledge. Readers prefer bloggers that interact and answer their queries. Pay attention to each and every comment because comments provide feedback, which can help in blog improvement. After all, it is about creating a relationship with your readers.

6. Blog Marketing

Blogging regularly is important. But what if the content doesn’t get enough attention. Some articles are very good, but don’t get the required attention. To prevent this from occurring you need to market your blog. Become an active member in major social media sites and try to comment on blogs regularly. Focus on getting traffic to your blog.

7. Balance sheet

If you are looking forward to make an earning out of blogging, then you should treat is as a business. Make a chart of your investment and revenue. From the graph, make out whether you are earning enough. If not, then you should reevaluate your money making strategy.

8. Read a Book

Books are vast sources of knowledge. They can motivate you to do better, inspire you to achieve excellence.Try reading books by famous marketers and businessmen because they can teach you how to  start and grow a business.

9. Case studies

Read case studies of famous bloggers who have succeeded in their respective fields. Learn about their marketing stategy, make notes on how they increased their subscriber base. Compare their strategy with yours, and see what is it lacking.

10. Write a Book

Writing a Book, is a really good hobby as it can improve your overall writing skills. The book when finished, can be used as a freebie or a free resource and then it can be shared on book websites, which can help in blog promotion.

11. Complete piled up work

When you are a professional blogger like me, other work gets lower priority and so the work just gets piling up. You should use this time to decrease the pile size and complete the work given to you.

12. Take a Break

At some points of time, you get stressed that you need some fresh air.
A tensed mind will not produce good results. So take a break(after all you deserve it), party with your friends, spend some time with your family and go on a vacation.

What you do when you are not Blogging? Do you have a better idea to improve the productivity in the spare time?

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