I've had my blog now for eight years and in that time I've gone through my A-Levels, a degree, a part-time job through university and two full-time jobs, so I think I know a thing or two about juggling your blog with the wonder that is everyday life.
I loved having a blog through university, it was a way for me to have free reign over my writing and not really caring about what it was I wrote about. If I wanted to document a day out, I would. If I wanted to show you what I'd been loving one week, I did. If I was asked to review a certain product, I'd do it - that's what I loved about having a blog.
A degree requires you to be somewhat restrained, you're always working to a brief, but having a blog was different and I think that's why I'd always found the time to keep it going. I must admit, in the final few months of university, I did take a short break from blogging, just so I could get my dissertation and portfolio done (I expand on that part of the process later on in the blog post).
However, for the most part, I was very consistent with the content I was publishing and I've pretty much been that way ever since. I must say, it's not an easy thing to keep going as it requires a lot of hard work and time to publish content twice a week on top of everything else, but dedication and commitment is what will keep you going, among other things, and that's what I'm going to talk about today - the 'other things'.
Treat your blog as a job
Whether you're getting paid for your blog or not, whether you're receiving free gifts and PR samples to review on your blog or not, you should treat it as a job. Be disciplined with the whole thing, for example, be disciplined about when you'll be publishing content. If you say you'll upload content once a week on a Sunday, then stick to that because that's when your readers will check back.
One thing that makes me unfollow a blog is inconsistency. I don't have the time to keep checking back throughout the week when you've said I'll have new content to read come Sunday. The key to attaining and retaining a larger following is consistency and so you've got to be disciplined when it comes to that side of running a blog.
Something else you should be disciplined with is time, you should set aside a couple of hours once a week to work on your blog, much like a timetable your university would give you. Maybe take a couple of hours out of your evening once or twice a week to produce some content.
You'll be amazed by what you can produce in such a short space of time, especially if you're feeling particularly inspired or creative at the time.
Use a planner or editorial calendar
Planning in when you'll be spending time on your blog is paramount to keeping it going when you're rushed off your feet with uni work. Perhaps even set up a calendar with some realistic deadlines that you could stick to, even during the busier months of the academic year.
Where some of you might be disciplined enough to publish content twice a week, there may be some of you that feel you can only manage to push an article twice a month instead, which is still fine! But having a calendar outlining when content should be published will help with the discipline and consistency side of things I mentioned earlier - it all goes hand-in-hand, believe it or not!
Don't be afraid to ask friends & family for help
Whether you need a photos taking or need some text to be proofread, friends and family can really help out with the creation of your blog content. You've got to realise that you have even less time available now then you did before you started university, so it's important that you use that time efficiently if you still want to run a blog over your time at university and getting friends and relatives behind you will really help with that, you'd be surprised!
Set yourself some realistic goals
Take a look at your workload and predict how that could change over the next few months. I used to find that work would pile on come spring, so I could only really manage to get one or two posts out a week if I was lucky. Think about how much you could, realistically, get done and don't make any promises to your readers, just in case you don't meet the deadline.
A realistic goal could be that you're going to get one post up a week or one every two weeks. Maybe you'll produce more content over Christmas or Easter breaks if you don't have much revision or assessment work to do. Maybe even have a schedule and spend an hour on your blog a night or simply save it for the weekend, if you'd rather. Work out a routine that's right for you and you'll soon realise what goals are realistic and which ones aren't.
Be prepared to put university work first
The thing you have to realise is that, no matter what, your university work has to come first. Don't worry about your readers missing out on a post every so often, they'll totally understand that your university work has to come first. When the time is right, you'll get back to creating content again and your followers will be even more happy that you've returned :)
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Did you have a blog when you were at university? Are you at uni now and wish to maintain your blog while you carry out your studies? Let me know how you're getting along with it or how you managed your time while you were at uni.I'll see you again really soon with a brand new blog post for you all.
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