When I first started blogging, I had no idea how much stuff really went into it. There’s hosting, WordPress, and social media login information. You also have to manage and organize your sharing schedule, emails, networking connections, and like 5 million other things. This is where a bullet journal becomes one of your most precious tools.
Before I used the bullet journal system, my blog life was a hot mess. I had no rhyme or reason. I posted to Pinterest whenever. I frequently forgot about my Facebook page, and I had to reset my blog email password like 15 times because I kept forgetting what it was. I wrote posts without doing much research and I didn’t have a schedule of any kind for posting. But, now that I keep track of everything in my bullet journal, I find that I’m less worried and anxious, and better yet, my blog is thriving because of consistency and prior planning.
I’ve contemplated starting a separate journal just for my blog, but I haven’t convinced myself just yet. Instead, I’ve added a number of helpful and effective blog related spreads to my current bullet journal. I track monthly statistics for my blog and social media channels. I also keep a two-week editorial/social media calendar, a blog post idea spread, a password tracker, and more.
How to Organize Your Blog with a Bullet Journal
I use this blog and social media stats tracker to analyze my monthly growth and set new goals. On the first of every month, I log into each of my social media platforms and jot down my followers. I do the same with page views and unique visitors with information from Google Analytics. It only takes about 3 minutes to visit the websites and fill in the tracker completely.
I think it’s pertinent to have a place in your bullet journal to keep track of blog post ideas. I tend to be doing the most random things when I get inspiration for a new blog post. Instead of trying to remember it until I sit down to write, I jot it down on this spread immediately. Having a blog post ideas spread also helps me fill out my editorial calendar and plan out my posts in advance.
My editorial calendar is a new addition to my bullet journal this month. I went with a two-week spread to leave me enough room to write in each box. I also created a key to organize and visualize my tasks. A red dot is for Pinterest, a dark blue dot is for Facebook, and a circle with an N inside it means new post. This is probably one of my most valuable blogging spreads and I will definitely keep using them in the future.
For my own sanity and slightly crazy obsessive brain, I needed a complete list of all my blog posts. Luckily, with this blog, I don’t have a ton of posts to catch up on, and now it’s just a matter of keeping up on it. But, this helps to schedule my social sharing, find articles to link to from new posts, and just a basic idea of what posts I have and what can be expanded on.
Source: Pinterest
A password log is incredibly helpful, but if you carry your journal around a lot, you may want to create this and then put it somewhere safe in your house instead. Most bloggers have about a million and one usernames and passwords for different websites. I keep track of affiliate network login, social media login, WordPress and hosting login, and resource/tool login info. Without it, I would probably be lost.
If you make money from your blog, you should be tracking your income and sources. Filing taxes as a blogger can be a bit similar to writing a master thesis on brain surgery with no knowledge of medicine. Having a place to keep track of all the money you make and where that money came from will help you come February of next year. It’s also motivational and allows you to track your progress.
I haven’t taken a lot of time to fill in this spread, but it has the potential to be a useful tool. I have created a place to put all of my non-essential, yet very handy blogging tools. I occasionally use stock images, so I keep track of websites that offer quality stock images. I also note my affiliates here, places to submit blog posts, websites that pay for guest posts, and link parties. It could be customized to include whatever blogging tools and resources you use.
How do you keep track of blogging stuff in your bullet journal? Do you have a separate notebook for blogging? Let me know in the comments below.
