By: Kelly Smith; Photos by Brooke Dennis and Justin Hackworth for Alt Summit
Mid-summer tends to be a slower time for bloggers. In general, stats dip down a little lower than usual because families are outside playing, enjoying, and vacationing. Wise and seasoned bloggers have recognized this pattern and utilize this time frame for planning ahead.
- Reassess your goals: Have you made significant strides towards your long and short term goals? Are those original goals still driving motivation and success? What adjustments can you make to your goals?
- Plan for the busy months: What can you do now that will make the fall and winter months less overwhelming? Have you thought about scheduling previous evergreen content to run on Facebook or Pinterest? Have you created secret pinning boards filled new content related to fall and winter projects? Have you filled in your editorial calendar through the end of the year, and can you start on projects now?
- Build your skills: Think about what skills you could improve to make your blogging/business more efficient. Are there programs you learned about and wrote down during an Alt class that you just haven’t had the time to research and set up? Spend a day working on setting up those apps or programs and tap into those resources to save time when you need it most.
- Organize your physical space: Is your office space a mess? Has your prop closet spilled out into your living space? Can you see your desk or floor around your computer? Now is the perfect time to go through everything, decide what sparks a creative project, and let go of the clutter. A clean and inspiring workspace will lead to increased productivity.
When you think of your blog as a business it is clear that planning ahead, assessing goals, and making adjustments regularly is good practice for achieving success. Also keep in mind that it is never too late to follow up with people or sponsors that you met at a conference. Chances are they are planning and looking ahead just like you and would love to fill in an editorial gap with a partnership.
