How to Create the Perfect Structure to Your Day

Building a structure into your day is an important and useful habit to become accustomed to, and if blogging is factored into that, even better. As part of the #BloggingBreakthrough challenge so far, I sat down and really thought about what I wanted my blog to be this year. This involved where it had come so far in 2015, and also where I want to make improvements, inspiring me to write a list of Blog Goals for 2016.

You may notice that right at the top of the list is “blog more regularly” – something that in my fledgling first nine months of blogging I have found difficult to grasp, with some weeks posting nearly daily and others only once. Having usually planned a whole bunch of great posts, not only does this push your schedule back, the sporadic nature can be irritating to your followers and appear erratic.

Therefore this year on Wooden Window Sills, I'm determined to design (and more importantly stick to) a regular calendar, both for blogging and more generally in life. Don’t know where to start? That’s exactly what Day 9 of the #BloggingBreakthrough Challenge is here for!

How Do I Start?

Firstly, use some of the pointers given on days 1-8 of this challenge. Trust me, they will be amazingly useful. For blogging in particular I especially refer to Day 4 on planning your editorial calendar, and equally yesterday’s Day 8 on writing lists. Because ultimately, the key to organization is both of these things – planning when you’re going to do things, and making lists of what you want to achieve.

I tend to use three calendar systems in my day to day life, and the beauty is, you may choose to not use any of them! The main thing here is finding what works best for you, so that it fits into your life and is easy to stick to.

What System Do I Choose?

To start, think about what style suits you.

Holly SuttonJanuary 12, 2016blogging breakthrough challenge, planning, organising, bloggersComment

Let's Talk About the Amazing Power of the List

Let me ask you a question. Are you ready?

Do you have a to-do list for your blog?

It's great if you do. But if you don't, it wouldn't surprise me.

You see, being productive and being organised are two totally different things. You could write the best to-do list in the world. Completing it is a different story.

I can see the problem, though - because I've been there myself. Last year, I was trying so hard to come with a system for completing all my tasks for my blog. I tried out lots of different ways and none of them worked. Until recently.

I bet it's safe to say that many bloggers have a to-do list. But I bet it's also safe to say that you're making it more complicated for yourself than you need to be. That's where Day 8 of the #BloggingBreakthrough Challenge comes in.

I find reading about other people's productivity processes really interesting. And honestly? My blogging life would be nowhere near as successful without my to-do list process. I couldn't keep track of everything without this list, and since using it, I've been more ahead with my blog than I've ever been before.

So today, I present to you my process for creating the best to-do list ever for your blog.

So the main list I want to talk to you about is one for your actual blog content.

If you've been joining in with the #BloggingBreakthrough Challenge, you'll have sorted out your editorial calendar on Day 4. That's the foundation I use to create my to-do lists.

I don't have a monthly to-do list - my editorial calendar does that for me. My lists consist of weekly ones that I create every time I've planned the following month's editorial calendar.

What's in the List?

This list is to help you understand where you're up to with creating content in your blog schedule. I use paper and pen, but you can feel free to do it on Word or online too.

Holly SuttonJanuary 11, 2016blogging breakthrough challenge, making lists, organisation, bloggersComment

How to Sort out All Your Blog Files Really Quickly

The other day I needed to find a pretty important document that was in my bedroom. I remembered that I'd put it on my desk. But over a few days (plus Christmas), I'd also put a lot of other things on my desk. So much so, that I couldn't see the surface.

I was going back to work and my untidy bedroom had made me feel like my whole life just wasn't organised. So I tidied and cleaned it - afterwards, I felt a whole lot better.

So let me ask you something - can you relate to this with your blog?

Something we all want as bloggers is to be organised. We've got so many images, documents, calendars, ideas, printables and so much more that we want to be able to find quickly.

But if these are all over your computer, then it makes it quite difficult to stay organised, right?

Welcome to Day 7 of the #BloggingBreakthrough challenge. Today I want to talk to you about how you can create dedicated places on your computer for all your blog-related items that will save you a massive chunk of time. Plus, you'll be able to get it done quickly. I'll be telling you the system I use so you can start using it too. All you need is some motivation and your drink of choice (tea for me). Let's go.

Spoiler alert – I don’t have anything on my desktop.

Nope. It’s a free zone of everything. All I’ve got is my pretty desktop calendar from The Blog Market and that’s it.

Some people have their desktops full of everything. And that might work for you. But to me, that just shows mess and clutter, which makes me feel like I’m not on track with anything.

The method I use takes away all of that. It’ll feel like a breath of fresh air!

If you’re on your computer reading this and you’ve got your folder open with all your documents that’s a fab place to start. But first, there’s something else to tackle.

Holly SuttonJanuary 10, 2016blogging, bloggers, organising, blogging breakthrough challengeComment

How to Tell People What You Do in Just 5 Minutes

If there’s one question I know we all hate answering it’s this: “so, what do you do?” We pause and think. What’s the right thing to say here?

I’ve been asked this question many times over the past few years. And if like me, you stumble across the words and can’t think of how to answer this question, then today’s post is for you.

The #BloggingBreakthrough challenge is all about getting a breakthrough with your blog, right? Part of that means you’ve got to be recognised and remembered.

How you answer this question makes all the difference. I was so sick of my response being “I work in marketing and I’m a blogger.” That sounds so boring, right? I mean, how many people work in marketing? And how many people are bloggers?

You want to be different. You want to be the only one that a person will remember when they ask you this question. So you need a good answer. You get that by creating a brand statement,

HOLLY, I'M LOST - WHAT EVEN IS A BRAND STATEMENT?

I first learnt about brand statements during my Masters course in Journalism, two years ago. For every brand we created during that time, we had to create a brand statement for it. This was so we knew exactly what each brand embodied. It was so if someone said, OK, tell me about [insert brand name here]”, we knew exactly what to say to blow them away.

Let’s say you answer “so, what do you do?” with “I’m a marketer and blogger.” Boring, right? Or you could answer it like this:

"By day, I market one of the top sixth form College’s in the country through online content, email marketing and social media strategies. By night, I write for my online community about building a fulfilling online presence, reaching your dreams and getting to where you want to be. I also use what I learn on a daily basis as content ideas to teach my audience. It seems that people know what sort of what they want to do in life but they don’t believe they can get there. That’s what A Branch of Holly is for."

Which one do you think is the better answer?

Which one would be remembered the most?

Holly SuttonJanuary 9, 2016bloggers, blogging, blogging breakthrough challengeComment

Want a Breakthrough with Your Blog? Introduce Something New

As we come towards the end of the first week in the 28 Day #BloggingBreakthrough challenge, I wanted to give you just one tip. A tip that for me, completely changed the way people looked at ABOH. It was a breakthrough moment. And it’s actually not that difficult. Plus, it’s got nothing to do with strategies, SEO or burning yourself into the ground. The only thing it involves is you and your ideas.

If you truly want your blog to grow, you can’t stay static. It’s like anything. You want to move up the career ladder, right? You know you won’t be able to do that by staying in the same job. This is true for you blog, too. It’s all about coming up with new ideas and really, the whole point of day five of this challenge - introducing new things.

But I get it - you’ve got to come up with so many blog post ideas on a daily basis. You’re thinking, I can’t come up with a whole new series or feature idea for my blog too!

That fear is natural, friend. Many of us have felt that way at some point, myself included. Earlier this year, I felt like I didn’t have any ideas left. I wanted to do something different with ABOH. I wanted to introduce something new that wasn’t just another blog post. I wanted it to be bigger and better. But could I find the idea? No.

I tried so hard to search for this that the idea just never came. I’ve always believed that when you look for something, you won’t find it. It’s like when you go shopping and think, “I need a little black dress.” Chances are you won’t find it, because you’re set on looking purely for that.

So I decided to stop looking. I stopped forcing myself to look for this new idea.

And that’s when it came to me like a light bulb.

Holly SuttonJanuary 8, 2016blog, blogging, blogging breakthrough challengeComment

How to Create an Editorial Calendar for Your Blog

If you’ve never used an editorial calendar for your blog, you’re really missing out. Even though this is one of the most important tools I use to run my own site, I’ve never actually written about it - until today.

An editorial or content calendar helps you plan out your blog posts for the month and keep track of them. This was one of the first things I learnt about as a blogger and I’ve been using one for two years.

Over time, I’ve tried out different ways of managing my calendar. But now I’ve finally found the one that works best for me. So for day four of the #BloggingBreakthrough challenge, I want to share with you how I set up my publishing schedule and how easy it is for you to create your own editorial calendar.

Why Do I Need an Editorial Calendar?

If I’m ever asked by a fellow blogger whether an editorial calendar is worth it I always say yes. Here are a few reasons why:

Blogging consistently, whether it’s every day or once a week is challenging. An editorial calendar makes it a whole lot easier.
It gives you consistency by helping you post content on the same days and at the same time each week.
It improves your productivity by allowing you to see what tasks you’ve completed and what you need to do.
An editorial calendar gives you an overview of the types of content you’re posting - it can open you up to lot more variety.
It also allows you to monitor how often you’re blogging about certain categories - plus you can schedule all your content for when you’re going on holiday or taking a break.
You’ll be surprised at how many new ideas you get each month.

So now you know why you need an editorial calendar - let’s talk about how you actually create one.

Every blogger manages their calendar in different ways. But I’m going to take you through the steps of my process and show you my own editorial calendar.

Holly SuttonJanuary 7, 2016editorial calendar, content creation, blogging, blogging breakthrough challengeComment

Goal Setting for Creatives

If there is something I have a love hate relationship with, it's goal setting. For some reason it works with some things I do but not with others; for example, my free email opt-in was taking a while, so back in October I gave myself the deadline of December 30th and it was ready almost a month beforehand. However, with my book I gave myself the deadline of February 28th and I’m definitely not on target with this one – as least 10,000 words behind on it and it’s been getting me down.

One question I always think is – how can I make my goals easier to achieve?

Reading up on it, there is a lot of information and honestly with so much to soak up it can be hard to remember or even ascertain which information to follow. I’m sure they all work, but as everyone is different, I’m not sure what will work for me or you. Then I found a tweet by my friend Rebecca Viner - she has recently done her website, rebranded and set herself goals to achieve AND released a workbook – which you should definitely get if you’re just starting out. Her tweet went a bit like this: "Ultimate Vision - 3 objectives - 5 achievable steps. Okay so that's it broken down now lets create some goals."

Write down Your Ultimate Vision or Goal

Whatever it is that you want to achieve this year, write it down. It can be anything, from putting out your first workbook (free or paid), to setting up your course idea. It doesn't matter what it is that you're aiming for, only that you write it down. Once it's written it can't be forgotten - so write it somewhere you'll remember.

Holly SuttonJanuary 6, 2016goals, setting goals, blogging breakthrough challengeComment

How to Get Reader Feedback to Help Grow Your Blog

Next month, I’m planning on recapping my first ever reader survey. I’m going to analyse all the data and talk about all the information I’ve gained from it. It’s so exciting to read your responses and find out how I can improve ABOH based on what you want. But I know what you’re thinking - how did I even get this feedback on my blog?

You’re not a mind reader. You don’t know what your audience wants. So how do you find out? By asking them.

Reader feedback is one of the things that can benefit your blog the most. Your readers are like your cheerleaders. They’re there to share your content, sign up to your mailing list and tell people how great you are. These are the people who are going to be able to help you grow your blog right now.

It’s as simple as that. So on Day 2 of the #BloggingBreakthrough challenge, I want to share with you exactly how I went about getting my own reader feedback, from start to finish. By the time you’ve finished reading this post, you’ll have everything you need to ask your readers for exactly what you want.

How Do I Get Reader Feedback?

The easiest and best way to get reader feedback is to create a survey. We’re going to walk through it right now. There are a few questions you need to ask yourself as we go through.

#1 What Do I Want out of This Survey?

If you run a survey just for the sake of it, you won’t get the answers you want. You’ve got to be intentional and purposeful with it. You need to know why you’re doing it. I can give you a general reason for why you’re doing it - to get a breakthrough with your blog. But the deeper reason is up to you.

Do you need to find out more about who is actually visiting your blog? Do you need to find out what type of content they like the best? Are you planning a rebrand this year and need some feedback? Figure out the deeper reason. I ran my survey to find out more about my audience, what they were enjoying and what they wanted to see more of. So this really helped me figure out what information I wanted from my readers.

Holly SuttonJanuary 5, 2016reader feedback, survey, blogger, blogging, blogging breakthrough challengeComment

How to Get Your Blog Ready for 2016

It’s official. 2016 is here which means it’s the start of a brand new year of blogging. Like me, I’m sure you’ve got lots of grand plans up your sleeve and want to make this another big year for your blog. But how do you make sure that’s going to happen?

If there’s one way to kick start the new blogging year it’s this. Forget reading blog posts, guest posting for others and scrolling your way through endless social media feeds. If you want a breakthrough with your blog, the first day of this challenge is how you make that happen. That’s what we’re going to talk about today - by looking at where you’re at with your blog right now.

Why Is Reflecting so Important?

You can’t breakthrough with your blog unless you know what’s working and what isn’t. It’s like anything - a business doesn't function year on year without a review. And you don’t move up the career ladder without an annual review. This applies directly to your blog too.

Before you can start to plan what you want to introduce to your blog this year and how you want to grow it, you’ve got to take some time and reflect on your current situation. So, what does this start with?

Holly SuttonJanuary 4, 2016blog, blogger, blogging, blogging breakthrough challengeComment