Project Management Options for Bloggers

When you first start out with the idea that, “Hey. Why don’t I start a blog?” you probably don’t think about project management.

But if that idea blossoms into a business, even a part-time business, you’ll find yourself juggling.  Consider just one blog post.  Here are the aspects you need to consider:

• the idea
• writing
• sources
• publishing
• promotion
• SEO factors
• monetization
• titles and quotes
• the image or images
• links for context and further reading

That’s pretty easy to manage if you post once a week on a single blog.  But what happens if you start posting daily?  You’ll be planning the content and the monetization and the writing and the images for multiple posts at once.  And you’ll be promoting posts from several days back as you plan for posts several days into the future.

And what happens if you start inviting guest posters?  Suddenly you have people to coordinate, too. That’s what Deborah Anderson does for this blog.

“Without some sort of project management, nothing would get done.  That is what I did for Internet Marketing Ninjas, teaching them how to manage projects (and developing their Project Management Office).  I’ve had people tell me that project management is too much work, but really, even if you use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, or sort your email, or use the WordPress editorial calendar, you are headed down the road of project management. ”

And what if you open up a second blog?  Or a third?  Or a landslide of blogs, as Erik Emanuelli has?

“I run many blogs, based on different monetization. Creating a website is a matter of minutes, but the challenge comes when you need to update it in a constant basis with compelling content. My “secret” is outsourcing.  I’ve contributors, writers, guest bloggers and even an agency that provide me with quality content to use for all my sites. Of course, there’s must be a balance between what you pay and what you earn. From my experience, once I reach break-even point with a website (and then I start earning), it’s time to invest again in other projects.“

Nobody I know coordinates more content written by more bloggers for more blogs than Gail Gardner.

“The biggest project management challenge I see bloggers facing every day is keeping track of it all. We started out using a process I developed for collaborations and ended up outgrowing it, then had to move to an Enterprise project management tool. ”

Project Management Ideas

Here are a few ideas for project management.

There are free online tools like Zoho docs.  These allow you to invite others, to share ideas and to keep track of each aspect of your project.

There are more robust tools, such as WorkflowMax, that have all the features of the free tools, but also let you integrate billing and whatever else you need to do. So if you have to pay a virtual assistant or some of your bloggers, or if you charge bloggers to guest post or need to collect money for reviews, it’s all integrated.

There is old school project management – a whiteboard.  I actually like this, because I can see what’s what without switching screens.  I don’t actually use the whiteboard for my own blogs.  I use it to keep track of planned posts on other blogs

On my own blogs, I tend to open up a new post in WordPress and paste my ideas, sources, quotes, links to images, etc.  When I am ready to write, I often have much of the information sitting waiting for me.  “Hello.”  That makes me happy.

If your blogging business gets big enough, you can just hire a VA.  That’s what professional blogger Miranda Marquit does. With two of her own blogs to run and countless others she writes for, she let’s others worry about the project management for her.

“My advice? Work with others. You get to the point where you can’t do it on your own. I have a virtual assistant to post on social media for me. I have a business partner that helps me with my blogs. The ultimate project management strategy is working with others so you have more time to focus on the things that are most likely to help you grow your business in the long run.”

Project management, pooh! Let somebody else get the headaches.

When you just start out, you really don’t need to worry about project management.  But if you are thinking big, you will be big.  And big gets clumsy without a strategy for project management.