In the past, I mostly paid attention to articles and the finer works of blogging that contained a lot of writing. This month, things are going to be slightly different and they look at another side: blog maintenance. This is often over-looked despite the fact that it is a vital component!
What is blog maintenance?
Would creating a RSS feed for your blog count as blog maintenance? Not really, but adding a button for people to subscribe does. The same goes for keeping your About Me, GDPR, and contact pages in tip top condition.
These are tasks that need to be done outside of writing articles and thus you need to be able to find the right time to do them. In order to do so, you need to know what kind of work lies ahead of you. This is important, so you can estimate the time needed.
The Best Way To Estimate The Effort Needed
This largely depends on your own skill-set and experience. There is no estimated set time every blogger needs to implement a new theme. I met people who did this within ten minutes because they don't want to adapt it. When I implemented this theme, I used a day off to do it because it takes me half a day.
The best way to wrap your head around this is by drawing up a list of everything that needs to be done:
- check for broken back-links
- fix broken back-links
- implement new theme
- re-write About Page
- make sure the contact form works
- etc.
Then sort your list by small and big tasks. So the tasks that can be done on the side go onto the pile for small, while the more time-costly ones go onto the pile for bigger tasks. This includes keeping in mind how much you know about the topic, and if it's going to be a quick fix for you.
Once you have an over-view, it is time to open your diary and find some room. I often squeeze smaller tasks into the week and simply do them when I have a few minutes left. Since I have blogger open anyway, I might as well correct that typo now.
However, big tasks like changing the theme can take a whole day. Then I often wait until a bank holiday, when I make the time to do these changes. Themes are not something you can do over the course of a week because it changes the design of your blog and if it's not fully installed can look dodgy.
Meanwhile, such things as re-writing the About Page, often replace writing an article in one week. This has little to no consequences if you already use a writing method to build a buffer - you can learn more about how here.
Basically, it boils down to either taking a specific day off, replacing a writing to-do, or doing the smallest things on the side. There is no 101 solution to this, so it is important to keep your calendar up to date, so you won't get buried under your work-load.
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