I’m still a relatively new blogger. As I mentioned in my Member post I started running Untemplater earlier this year and am still adapting as I go. One thing that’s constantly on my mind lately is how I can be a better and more efficient blogger. Even though I haven’t been blogging for a full year yet, I already can tell that I am a blogging addict after reading Sam’s brilliant “You Might Be A Blogging Addict If…” post, which left my stomach sore from laughing so hard.
Right now I blog part time and my life has never felt SO full and in motion. It’s often quite challenging to physically keep up with my constantly racing mind. Man do I wish I could function on just 4 hours of sleep, don’t you?!
Before I turn 40 or maybe even 35, I want to start blogging full-time, but before I take that leap, I need to hone my skills and master as much as I can because I am not doing a very good job with my blogging efficiency. We’ve all experienced burn out at least once and it’s not fun.
A lot of you reading this have probably already passed your 2nd, 3rd, maybe even 5th blogoversaries so I look forward to hearing some of your expertise and insight on how your productivity has changed over the years.
Here’s my take on the ideal amount to spend blogging each week across 6 main tasks, along with my current hours.
Writing Content
My Current Hours Per Week: 4-5 hours for 1 post
Ideal Hours Per Week: 5-6 hours for 3 posts
My favorite part of blogging is writing articles, which is also why I get so frustrated that I’m so darn slow at it. My perfectionist habits are hard to break, and when I first started out I’d completely lose track of time and easily spent 10-15 hours writing and tweaking each post trying to make it perfect, and without great reader results.
Lately I spend about 4-5 hours to write 1 post over two or three days and although that’s way better than double digits, I’m still really frustrated at that pace. Granted I do believe it’s better to publish fewer yet higher quality posts vs. pumping out lots of low quality ones.
I mostly write in the evenings after I get home from work and it’s tough to focus sometimes. My mind either wanders off or I just can’t organize my thoughts well. I’ve learned to just stop and go do something else when I can’t spit out what I want to say.
I think the ideal amount of time to spend on a post from start to finish is about 2 hours. The first 1-1.5 hours can be spent typing out the content, and the remainder for editing and formatting. Some people claim they only spend 20 minutes writing a post, but I have serious doubts about quality with such little time, unless they’re talking about only 200-300 word articles. I usually aim for 600-900 words.
Advertising
Current Hours Per Week: 1 hour
Ideal Hours Per Week: 2-3 hours
So far I haven’t spent much time handling and setting up advertising but I hope this will increase over time as my site grows. I didn’t start blogging just to make money though, so I’m not that concerned about earnings right now. I think blogging solely for the purpose of making money can lead to greediness, bitterness, and a lot of stress when things dry up or when opportunities are given to “competing” sites. And I definitely don’t want that.
If I do start blogging full time in 5-10 years I plan on having at least one side job, probably 2, because I strongly believe in diversifying income streams. I wouldn’t want the pressure of all my income to be from blogging alone.
Networking
Current Hours Per Week: 2 hours
Ideal Hours Per Week: 4 hours
I want to spend more time networking, and I should start to have the time as I get more efficient in writing content. Right now I spend roughly two hours a week reading and commenting on other blogs and it never feels like enough. There’s SO much awesome content out there and it’s really rewarding and fun building relationships and getting to know other bloggers and readers.
There are so many fabulous bloggers out there and I love interacting with fellow Members and Challengers in the Yakezie forums. YakChat has also been super fun on Twitter and I encourage all of you who haven’t tried it yet to join in!
SEO & Stats
Current Hours Per Week: 0.25 hours
Ideal Hours Per Week: 1-1.5 hours
I am an SEO dunce and really should be spending a few hours each week learning more about how it all works. Right now I use SEO Smart Links and WordPress SEO by Yoast’s plugins and that’s about it. I haven’t been obsessed with rankings and stats much at all, but I probably should check more often than I have and actually use the data. The only stat I actively monitor is Alexa and that’s because it’s easy to see in the toolbar.
Part of the reason I don’t want to get too hung up on checking stats though is it can be discouraging, especially when comparing your own rankings to other sites. I’m convinced there’s no faster way to turn blogging from relaxing fun into stressful work than concentrating too much on stats and money!
Social Media
Current Hours Per Week: 0.5 hours
Ideal Hours Per Week: 2-2.5 hours
Currently I’m not spending much time using social media platforms like Twitter and FB mostly because I’m at work during the day with restricted web access and crappy cell reception, and I use most of my time in the evening to unwind over dinner, write content, comment on a few blogs, and get caught up on emails. Social Media is always the first thing to get bumped off my to do list when I’m short on time.
Twenty minutes a day can go a long way promoting/marketing though and seeing what other people are up to so I need to get better at this. Plus it’s a lot of fun. If I had full access during the weekday I could totally see myself getting addicted.
Bookkeeping
Current Hours Per Month: 3-3.5 hours
Ideal Hours Per Month: 2 hours
Right now I spend about 3-3.5 hours a month doing all my accounting, payments, and bookkeeping. I do as much of it as I can in one sitting so I can download all my statements and receipts in one go. It’s not that painful it just takes time, so I usually try to multitask by watching a fun TV show or listening to some fun music.
Some bloggers outsource this kind of stuff, but it doesn’t seem worth the cost to me unless you’re running your own business with multiple employees, or making bank.
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so right now, according to your numbers, you spend at 8-10 hours a week on your blog. As a part time gig, i think that’s OK, especially if you already have a 40+ hr/wk day job. But if you can I would suggest increasing it to 15-20 hrs to really supercharge your blog growth. I know I really need to up my time involvement on my own blog as well.
My total hours do vary week to week but I spend around 10 at a minimum and up to 15-20 if I’m writing a lot. I agree some extra hours could make a big difference especially if I ramp up my efficiency. Gotta keep trying!
I love this post Sydney! I spend too much time on twitter I think :)
Thanks! Twitter is definitely addicting and a lot of fun. Time flies big time when a good discussion comes up in the streams.
If you add up all those hours, it will be a 20 hours/week part time job. :)
I spend 1-3 hours per post and that’s with Mrs. RB40 to help with the final edit. That’s a lot of time, but I think it’s worth it.
I spend way too much time networking and commenting on other blogs. I need to focus this effort too.
It really is a part time job although I’m trying not to use the word “job” since I want blogging to feel as fun as possible instead of thinking of it as work. 1-3 hours per post sounds awesome to me!
What do you think is too much time to network and comment a week?
I spend probably about 2 hours a day reading and commenting on other blogs. It’s addicting and fun for me so I don’t mind it so much.
Two hours a day does sound like a lot of fun! I’m continually amazed by how much great content there is out there
It takes us 4-6 hours to complete a post. We’d love to become more efficient but it’s tough. When we don’t have as much time in the week we cut back on the social networking and commenting. Not always the smartest decision when one of our main goals is to grow our blog!
Yeah social networking is usually the first thing I cut out when I’m having a busy week too. I don’t want to cut it out but something has to give when things get hectic. As I get faster at writing content I need to make sure that the time I’m saving gets put to productive use for blogging and not taken up by running errands and cleaning the house! :)
Sydney, you are doing much much better than I am :) It takes me 10-12 hrs to write one post, so it easily takes me 40+ hrs each week for my blog. I am also trying to get more efficient, hopefully in the next year I will be able to make my writing more efficient. I don’t spend any time at all on social media. I should do that,
Your posts ROCK Suba!! :) They are so informative and creative and you always have the coolest graphics. Your hard work really shows! I think spending time on quality content pays off a lot more than social media. I’m still trying to work on a better balance though because I do enjoy networking and interacting online and am not getting much time in right now.
Mine are very close to yours, so don’t get discouraged. I’m pretty much a blogging addict too!
hehe thanks. I’m so glad to hear my hours aren’t totally off the spectrum. I’ve found that giving myself specific times to finish certain blogging tasks is helping lately. If I never looked at the clock I could easily spend 10-20 hours writing, editing, and reworking a post without realizing it! I get lost in my own zone when I’m not paying attention. :)
It takes about two hours for me to write a post (English is my third language.) Networking takes about 1-2 hours day! I try to do most of my writing on the weekends and networking during the week. So, yes, blogging is a part-time job. Feels like full time. :) Great post Sydney!
Thanks Aloysa! That is fabulous English is your third language and you’re writing posts in 2 hours, very cool. I do the most writing on the weekends too, especially in the mornings when things are still quiet. Blogging really does keep us busy!
Hi Sydney,
The one thing I’ve discovered in my time blogging is that perfection is an illusion. We aren’t the NY Times so our readers don’t have he same writing expectations. Useful and entertaining content with your opinions are the best IMO.
1-2 hrs per post is what I spend too, with probably 10-20 revisions and more so after the post is published! I remind myself to focus on the main message.
I hate boo keeping, and I’m finding more and more that I don’t like money so much either! I just want to write and interact. I spend less than the time it takes me to come up with a title in SEO. It’s just logic and I wouldn’t worry so much.
You’ll become more efficient over time. Hang in there!
Sam
Thanks Sam. :) Perfection really is an illusion. I’ve been working on having more fun when I write because it seems to come out in the post. When I’m in a serious or unfocused mood I’ve noticed my writing is boring and scattered when I read over it and thus it takes a lot more time to edit. So lately I’m trying to write only when I’m inspired and have a clear direction of where I want a post to go, and stop as soon as I start getting writers block and use that time to wash the dishes or something else instead. :)
Sounds good. Or, simply write whatever you want and put some opinion into it. Readers are looking for opinions, and arguments buttressing those opinions. Fun times!
Blogging is my 2nd job. I likely spend about 3-4 hrs per day across all activities. So 21-28 hours a week. Mrs. SPF claims it is more than that … and if we count her time it surely is. She thinks I spend about 35hrs a week. Prior to baby SPF arriving she was spending about 3-4 hours a week on writing and commenting.
35 hours a week is quite a difference from 21-28. :) I’m sure your total hours vary by the week too like me. In either case, those are some impressive hours as your 2nd job! That’s nice Mrs. SPF helps you too. Teamwork is awesome.
I spend a lot of time running my blog, at least 25 hours a week. Between posts, commenting, advertising, the forum etc, I can spend a few hours a day. It definitely gets hard to manage and keep up with but I always tell myself just do the best you can.
I like your mentality and try to tell myself the same thing. There’s always more I could be doing each day but I’ve learned not to push myself too far because I’ve ended up getting sick and stuck in bed on more than one occasion when I’ve deprived myself of sleep and fresh air. I hope the older I get the less sleep my body needs so I can do more. :)
I currently spend a max of 1 hour per day on my blogs + 6 hours straight on Wednesday. I do a lot of outsourcing though:
– someone is editing my articles (English is my second language and I don’t have the time to spend 1 hour writing + 1 hour editing while the final product won’t be as good as if English was my mother tongue!).
– I pay my accountant for bookeeping, I just track income, I don’t even look at my expenses ;-)
– I don’t spend much time on commenting & forum but I know I should ;-)
– I don’t spend time on social media at all as they never brough me significant traffic (or quality traffic)
– sometimes, I do a few extra hours over the week to work on specific projects but that’s about it.
Note that if you put too many hours on it, you might burnout and you won’t find it funny after a while. This is actually why so many bloggers quit after 6 to 12 months. They just don’t see why they would put 20-30hours a weekn on their hobby. Be careful ;-)
Burn out is no fun at all and neither is getting sick and hurting our health from a lack of balance. You have quite a nice schedule and I never would have guessed English isn’t your native language. I’m always so impressed with how many multilingual bloggers there are. I wish I knew a second language well enough to write posts!
After reading these comments, I know why my blog growth has been slower than average. (plus my niche is small….)
I can get an article done in 2 hours usually, with my wife doing a semi-final edit, and me doing the final one. (I use too many commas, and probably too many parenthesis….)
I find I can hit twitter during the day at my office for 1-3 minutes at the time, and with lists in Tweet Deck have a few conversations in addition to posts. I outsource my advertising.
I have one regular guest poster.
I do my best writing at 6am.
I am making an effort to show up here and at the forums more, and comment more at other blogs.
For now I’ll keep muddling along till I’m able to slow down in my day job.
Sounds like you are doing a great job balancing your time.
I’m definitely trying to keep a healthy balance. 2 hours per post is really good and that’s nice your wife helps you with some editing. I wish I was productive at 6am so I could get in a little blogging before work instead of only after work but right now it’s easier for me to stay up later vs get up earlier.
I spend about an hour a post I think. One thing that I think helps is that I am a pretty fast typist. I know some people research a lot for their posts (like Suba) so I can imagine those posts take a LONG time.
I do not have a huge social media presence at all. I envy those with thousands of followers, but I don’t put the time into Twitter and such to earn a huge amount of followers I guess.
SEO, not my favorite thing either, but I would say 8 minutes of every post is interlinking my posts and adding tags/description. A large percentage of my traffic is search engine, so I do see the value in taking the time to do it.
I used to love the days when I had a large queue of articles. Life has gotten busy and I am barely keeping my head above water. I miss the amount of commenting I used to be able to do.
Overall, I blog probably 10 hours a week.
10 hours a week sounds like a nice balance especially since you write fast at 1 hour each. It’s funny that you mention being a fast typist because I hadn’t really thought of that, but it’s quite a valid point! I type a little bit faster than when I first started blogging but I’ve definitely semen faster fingers than mine. I pause a lot mid sentence which slows me down a lot so I need to work on that. Interlinking posts is a good tactic and I try to do that too when I can.
Good post, and along the lines of my thoughts of late. It’s reassuring to see that I’m not the only one who might take some time writing posts!
Efficiency is so important. If we can maintain high quality while taking less time, that leaves us more room to do other productive things – blogging or not.
I might look into some applications that can tell me how much time I’m spending at different websites or using certain programs. Much like how many PF bloggers have tracked expenses, might be good to do an actual time audit.
Thanks Squirrelers! A time audit is a great idea. I’m pretty good at limiting my time aimlessly surfing the web but I still have a weakness for watching TV. I’m doing a lot better than 6 months ago because I cut out a lot of shows from my dvr queue but I still have so much fun watching programs and that can eat up a lot of time very quickly.
Content is the biggest key and should be a bloggers busiest effort to complete. In my eyes it is the hardest part of running a blog, and keeping up with trends related to the niche they are in.
I know and realize that SEO tactics are very important, but you can never go wrong with content, content, content!!
Yep, content really is king! It’ll be weird one day when I retire from my day job and have so many more hours in the day just to write. I’m still happy to have my day job though because I love a steady paycheck and it challenges me in different ways than blogging can, plus I’m managing writing part time ok so far.
Thanks for sharing everybody because I now realize I spend way too much time blogging! :) I actually spend more time blogging than I work! I average 40+ hours a week. I write at least 2 articles every weekend. Each article start to finish takes an average of 2 hours. I read a tremendous amount of stuff online to generate ideas though. During the week, I spend 3-4 hours commenting, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Wow that’s impressive!! Writing 2+ posts a weekend is really good, especially at a 2 hour pace. If I was single I’d probably never leave the house on the weekend because I’d be on the computer all day long so luckily my husband is good at getting me to take long breaks so we can spend time together and enjoy the outdoors.
I feel incredibly guilty like I don’t spend enough time on my blog given the amount of time everyone else is spending. I suppose I have never really paid too much attention so maybe reality would be different than my perception.
You shouldn’t feel guilty! Some days I spend 0 hours blogging, especially after a long day at my office job, or if I have dinner plans during the week, or if I just feeling like doing nothing. :) Blogging time adds up quite fast though so I wouldn’t be surprised if the amount of time you’re actually spending is higher than you think.
Interesting stuff. I definitely spent the first two years of my site pumping at material to almost the complete exclusion of all the other stuff – well, other than collecting ad money. I hope my social push makes a difference.
Social media is definitely powerful and there are so many platforms and ways to connect with people and spread your message these days. If you put in the effort I’m sure it will pay off!
Great post! You have the right idea to spend time on quality content and not focus on the stats. It will come in time.
Yeah I think so too. Stats can be really enlightening but my time is definitely better spent focusing on writing right now.
I bet I spend about 15-20 hours per week blogging. This includes the time I spend writing my eBook and writing for others. Plus, it’s all fun! All in all, it does take some time, but I enjoy every minute of it. Thanks for the post.
Having fun is what it’s all about so it’s good that you enjoy all the time you put into it! That’s awesome you’re writing an ebook too, nice. :)
I’ve never actually categorized it like that, but those are great ‘breakdowns’. I don’t know how much I average per week but the allocation to each of the categories definitely varies from week to week depending on what’s up.
Looking at the hours in different buckets really helps. I’m glad to hear a lot of people put their most hours into content and not into social media networking since that’s what I’ve had to skip over a lot recently. Having specific goals has always helped me a lot and I’m definitely motivated to keep improving my efficiency and getting more balanced allocations of time.
Brilliant post Sydney!
I think about the categories loosely, but haven’t really broke it down like you have, nice job.
I think the mix will change for me as I grow. For instance, I only put about 1 to 1.5 hours into a post. I know that I don’t get too many views currently, so I want something that is very good, but not too time consuming. The idea is once I have over a thousand or two visits a day, then I’ll put more time into it. I don’t know if the strategy that I’m following is the best approach though…
Thanks! I see your point about looking at traffic and adjusting your input time accordingly. And your posts are already really good MR :) I’m hoping to increase my posting frequency as my traffic increases and I get more efficient too.
I notice that if I take the time to write in the morning I can knock out a great post or maybe even two for the week. I have to admit that I don’t do as much on social media. It’s a bit distracting and too time consuming. But I’ve been using Twuffer recently for Twitter and that’s helping. Mostly I’d like to find extra time in the day but with working full time and studying it’s really hard. Maybe I’ll go full time too in a few years. We’ll see :)
Social media really can take up a lot of time if we’re not watching. I hadn’t heard of Twuffer but I have a Bufferapp account which is basically the same thing. I’m really bad at actually using it though haha
I spend less than an hour writing my articles. I have noted everything down on my mind or my notebook before sitting and typing it. I spend more time on editing pictures as I prefer lots of pictures. But most of my time is spent on SEO, social media and networking to gain more traffic and for Mr. Google to index my site.
Less than an hour is super fast! That’s great that you’re so organized before you start writing. I need to get better at that.
I want to congratulate you on spending so much time and energy on your articles. I agree that it is important to have quality content. I admit that it’s hard sometimes to write quality content and I command you for sticking to it. It also sounds like you are learning from your experience and adjusting appropriately. Always find ways to constantly improve. I’m sure you will be very successful with blogging when you turn 40.
Thanks! There’s an endless amount of new things to learn from blogging and that’s why I enjoy it so much. It’s also very rewarding to set goals and keep aiming for new targets.
I’d be pretty scared to actually sit down and count all of the hours I spend doing one thing or another related to blogging, as I’m pretty obsessed. I tend to work in 2-3 hour spurts though, and then take a break and do something else. You do have a very nice balance going on there with the different activities, whereas I tend to get caught up working on one thing or another for hours on end, and ignoring other stuff I should also be doing. Do you think if you were blogging full time that you’d be able to double or triple the amount of time that you’re spending on tasks now on a part-time basis? Or would you try to reach a balance of blogging like 30-35 hours a week as well as the part-time gigs?
It’d definitely take me some time to get adjusted to going from part time hours to full time hours. But I think I’d get a lot more things done during the day when I’m the most alert instead of primarily in the evening. And I think my focus is a lot better during the day so I should be able to get more accomplished faster. If I had kids that’d only work if they were in school though! Ideally I’d like to blog 4-6 hours a day if I was doing it full time. I could see myself burning out if I was doing 8-10 hours every day.
Direction is key. So long as the direction is correct, sooner or later, you’ll get there!
I can usually write a post in an hour or two. I am still learning lots of new information right now and networking as much as possible, so I don’t know what I would do if it took me longer to write a post. I also have a few weeks in the queue so that I can write when I am inspired and not try to force something out. Right now I am spending at least 20+ hours per week. But, once I get established, I plan on limiting that and becoming more efficient with everything. I hope to follow TFB’s advice and limit it to 10-15 hrs per week (I hope to start up a second one at the beginning of next year) :). I definitely need to spend less time looking at statistics. :) It’s just so much fun!!
I’d love to get to the point where I have several weeks in the queue consistently. Right now that only happens for me on occasion. That’s fantastic you’re hoping to start a second site. I think I’d be too overwhelmed to manage two at this point but a lot of bloggers do it with much success. Glad you’re having fun!
Every other day is a great frequency Lisa! I’d like to get to that point when my readership gets higher and my writing improves.
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Sydney, You sound just like me! I know some people can churn about 4 posts a week because because they can write one an hour, but I’m so much slower and detail oriented (and usually longer posts). On average I take 5-6 hours per post and sometimes twice that. And I can never sit down and do it in one session, I always have to come back multple times…ugh, I’m a horrible writer! :) It’s funny, but I’m slowly realizing I like all the other aspects of blogging a whole lot better than writing itself. I do need to figure out a way to become a little quicker without sacrificing quality though. If you learn any tricks, let me know!
Don’t say that – you’re a great writer! I can never write a post in one sitting either. I spent close to 10 hours on my most recent post because it has a ton of pictures that I had to find and edit. It took way more time than I hoped but at least it was fun looking through my pics. :)
I think finding a balance that works for your life is most important. I have seen people rev things up to reach certain goals and then slow down to regroup/recharge. Some people seem to go at full speed constantly while others pace themselves and do admirably. Experiment to find your groove, and then enjoy the ride!
I blog in waves because some days I just need a break, especially because being in front of a computer for 10+ hours for days in a row can wear me down and it feels good to unplug and rest my eyes at least one day a week.
[…] Yakezie – The Ideal Amount of Blogging Time to Spend Each Week by Untemplater It’s always interesting to read how people started up their first blog, and to […]
I am as slow as you while writing a blog post. I do a lot of mistakes in writing and have to edit multiple times. Blog commenting Yakezie forum and replying to blog mails is all I do after work. Even I reply to FB, twitter and personal mails after work as social media and personal mails are blocked at work.
I do find its very hard to keep going this way. I reduced posting from 5 a week to 3 a week now. Contemplating on staff writers as well.
3 times a week is still a great pace. I am blown away at people that post 4-5. I just don’t have the efficiency or time to write at that pace yet. I think more and more companies are blocking social media sites nowadays too.
I am really trying to improve my efficiency and I am not that fast either, but this is where I think the 80/20 rule really comes into play. You need to determine the point when something is “good enough” and not feel bad that it wasn’t “perfect enough”, because all that time you saved can be put into something that will be of more benefit.
I am 29 going on 30 next year and I’ve been working for about 4 years full-time since graduation. (yeah, I graduated late compared to my peers, but that’s because I did a bachelor’s program after I learned the hard way that my technical degree was not very useful. It all worked out in the end). I think it’s time for a change and time to shake things up a bit. I don’t believe in working until 50 or 60 just to get out of the cubicle, and that life is not for me.
I find it hard to keep up on it all without burning out so sometimes something has to give. Lately it’s been commenting and twitter.
Unfortunately, those are two tasks are fun and I miss the interaction.
I think that’s a lot of fun too. I hate when I miss Twitter or commenting. There’s only so much time :(
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