Do you want to run a blog while doing a 9-5 Job? Or Are you running a blog while doing a job? And finding it difficult to manage? Or You just want to start your own blog with a job in your hand. Whatever your problem, I am writing this post to help you to run a blog while doing a 9 to 5 job. Blogging is a spectrum of our lives where we let our inner selves truly shine. It is a welcome escape for the majority of us, bound to an eight-hour job, and allows us to explore our passions and share it with a virtual audience. Being a blogger and a full-time employee is equivalent to managing two jobs because successful blogging requires your utmost devotion and undivided concentration, in addition to your time. Moreover, it requires extensive research, competent articulation and of course, a lot of writing. But if you are a passionate blogger, the euphoria of seeing your post on the digital platform is worth all the hours you put in it. So how can you run an engaging blog, while working for one-third of the day? How can you keep your social media alter-ego alive and thriving while slaving away at the office on most mornings? The key to it is exceptional organization skills, effective time-management and the motivation to excel as a blogger. Allow me to elaborate:

Work on a schedule

Everyone has their own set of hurdles to overcome during a day. Therefore, you are the best judge of how much time you can set aside each day to pursue your blogging. Be realistic about the time you have, establish a schedule that works for you and follow it diligently. Most often, people spend a lot of their time unknowingly on mundane things. Begin by noting the time you waste doing unproductive things, like using social media or watching TV, and eliminate these time-wasters from your life to have more time to focus on your blog once you return from work. Secondly, try to become an early riser. Morning is an ideal time to focus on your writing because you don’t have any distractions or responsibilities that require your immediate attention to derail you from the task at hand. Even if you can spend just thirty minutes in the morning before going to work replying emails or jotting down ideas for your next blog, it is a good start. You can gradually increase the time once you get used waking up early. Finally, don’t overwork or overwhelm yourself because stress impacts the quality of your work. Blogging is an extension of yourself that you share with your followers; you should enjoy doing it to churn out a blog that is fun to read and follow.

Stay organized

Talking about wasting time; did you know that on average, a person spends 55 minutes a day looking for misplaced stuff? Being organized can save you up to an hour every day that you can dedicate to blogging! Possessing competent organizational skills or learning to be more disciplined saves you not only some precious time but also has numerous health benefits; reduced stress levels is one of these benefits. According to Health Reviser, a website on health assessment tools, a systematic approach to managing your daily activities can drastically reduce your stress levels. An uncluttered environment leads to a positive outlook towards different aspects of your life. You can translate this into a well-constructed blog which provides insightful guidance to its readers and is engaging as well. According to WebMD, being well-organized is an effective way to give you a natural boost of energy. For someone working on a tedious job which is mentally exhausting and physically draining, an increase in energy is the perfect remedy to get you going on your blog.

Gather ideas on the go

Blogging does not necessarily have to be limited to the time you sit in front of your laptop. Look for inspirations and scribble your thoughts throughout the day. Sometimes, gathering your thoughts on a topic takes a significant portion of the time invested in creating a blog. When you are doing it during your commute to work, lunch break or while cooking dinner, or whenever inspiration strikes, you will have a rough draft or a general idea about what you want to write about, saving you valuable time and allowing you to get right down to business.

Have a support system

Regardless of what you aim to achieve, having a healthy support system in place can facilitate your work. Your support system can be your understanding spouse who realizes the importance of blogging for you. You can both mutually agree on a fixed period that you spend together every day once you return from work and after that, you can focus on your blog. You can also outsource some of the more technical aspects of blogging such as editing, managing social media etc. so that you have more time to focus on writing. Another form of support is to invite guest bloggers to your website. One of the most critical aspects of having a flourishing blog is to post regularly to keep the users interested. If you post once in a while, your blog will disappear amongst the plethora of blogs abandoned by the users due to lack of activity. When things are crazy at work, and you are unable to take out time to write something, a cache of good articles from guest bloggers are the perfect backup solution for an inactive blog.

Network

Networking is all about being active on social media, which you can easily do even when confined to a cubicle. To garner attention as a blogger, you need to actively promote your blog posts on different social media channels and participate in discussions relevant to your blog’s niche. Build a healthy relationship with prominent bloggers by leaving valuable comments on their blogs that will get you noticed. Once you have cultivated ample notability amongst the influencers of your field, you can send them an email regarding a post you wrote and feel their audience will enjoy.

Conclusion

As a blogger, you want to reach out to a wider audience and may have aspirations to procure an income out of your blog, eventually. If your blog does not have a steady stream of users despite producing quality content, you need to conduct website SEO analysis to enhance your blog. An extensive website audit looks at the technical infrastructure of your website to ensure that it is appropriately optimized for search engines (visible on the search engine result pages) and provides a flawless user experience. It ensures that all your hard work that you invested in your blog is not futile because running a blog after doing 9 to 5 is no easy feat; it requires motivation, passion and above all, time.