
If you know me then you know I love everything to be super organised. I need to have control over every situation and I have to meet deadlines, many weeks or even months in advance in some cases ! It just helps with my anxiety, so that's just the way I roll. I manage my own personal blog (uploading every other day on normal occasions) alongside two side blog projects that I am part of; one I upload four times a month and one where I upload a couple of times a year. To add to this, I also write for a print magazine and an online magazine. In order to avoid exploding with stress- I need to be organised. Period!
This is where spreadsheets come in. They are my life saver! I honestly couldn't think how I would stay on top of everything without them! I have always wanted to use spreadsheets to organise my blog but to pretty honest with you guys, they scared me! I had no idea where to start and I couldn't find any blog posts on how any other bloggers used them. That was until Hannah from Hannah Emily Lane shared how she used them! Honestly, I couldn't thank this girl enough! Her blog post, which you can read HERE was so useful and really gave me the inspiration I needed.
Today I thought I would share with you guys how I use spreadsheets to basically organise my whole life and stop me crawling into a ball into the corner and crying about all the work I have to do! I hope you find this useful! If you any questions or queries about using spreadsheets, don't be afraid to ask in the comments below- I don't bite!
Okay, so the first page I have on my blog spreadsheet, which is also probably the most interesting is my ideas page! This is where all the magic happens! Whenever I get an idea, I make sure that I write it in on this page of the spreadsheet, under the relevant category. If I can't get access to the spreadsheet when I get an idea (Let's face it most of my best ideas happen, when I am trying to fall asleep late at night) I simply write it down in the memo section of my phone and copy it up next time I have the chance!
Side note; I am really sorry lots of the photos in this post are blurred, but I can't have you being cheeky and nicking any of my utterly fabulous post ideas, can't I? So what's actually going on, on this page? Well, I simply created a list of all the different topic areas I cover on my blog. So there's one for feminism, books, mental health etc. In total, there are 8 lists.
The observant amongst you may have noticed that the titles of lists are different colours. Which surprise surprise, do actually mean something and they are not just randomly used, to make the spreadsheet look more pretty. All the colours of the titles correspond with my Google Calender, which I have on my phone as an easy access to my blog schedule. Yes, I know that seems a bit excessive but I like colour coding things, Okay? If you are interested to see how I use Google Calender to organise my blog- you can check out a post I did about it HERE!

Here's a closer look at one of the lists. I simply write down the ideas under the relevant title, in a new cell each time (I nearly called it a textbox! Oh dear Nicole you need to get your head in gear) Once the post has been published, I put an 'X' in the published column. I also like to keep a track of when I am planning to put some of these posts up, so in the 'When?' column I pick a colour for the month and write what month I plan to publish that post! Simples really!
The next tab I use in my blog spreadsheet is; Schedule. This is how I keep track of all the posts that are going to be going up that month, as well as keeping a record of what features I have or have not added to that blog post. It can be really easy to forget to add the finishing touches to blog posts like ALT tags or a jump break. But these things are really important and should not be underestimated. To make sure I don't forget anything, when I edit a blog post as I go along I fill in these check boxes, This is also really handy when I am doing my #SpeakUp posts and I am waiting for photos or social media links etc. so I can easily see what I waiting for so, I don't forget and leave it until the day of publishing!
Leaving things to the last minute plus anxiety equals no no no!
Here's a closer look at my schedule. To keep it organised, I write the month down the side and have all the dates in the cell next to it. What's great about spreadsheets, is if you are lazy like me then you can write a few dates in and then drag them down until you want to stop and it will fill all the dates in for you! A lazy girl's dream, if you ask me! When the post has been published I like to put an 'X' in the status box!

As I mentioned before, I am part of lot's of other projects in relation to blogging and I run my own #SpeakUp project. In order to get a new #SpeakUp post up every week and to keep on up of all my other responsibilities, it is imperative I am aware of what's going on every week otherwise it could end in disaster! This is just an example of a simple table format that I use for all my projects, but this one in particular is for #SpeakUp. I record the date, the blogger who will be writing the post, the topic they will be talking about, if it has been written, if it has photos and when it has been published. This way, I know when everything is going up and can feel slightly more in control of everything!
The last page in my blog spreadsheet is stats. I only really record my Twitter stats, as I don't own my own blog domain and therefore, I can't use Google analytics and I don't really trust blogger stats. Anyway, I am a massive analytics nerd, so my Twitter stats really excite me! I genuinely look forward to filling this in at the end of the month! Yes, I know I am very sad! But I am completely okay with that! I practically record everything Twitter analytics gives me from how many tweets I published that month to my engagement rate. What I do find so exciting though is how many link clicks I can get from Twitter!! It just makes me want to put even more effort into Twitter and continue to boost my traffic!
I hope you enjoyed this rundown of how I use spreadsheets to organise my blog and maybe have given you some ideas or inspiration on how you can organise your blog in the future, using a spreadsheet.
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Like I said before, most of these ideas came from Hannah, so please go and check out her blog and spreadsheet post out. She even has a free downloadable template, so if you love the idea but have no idea where to get started, she's ya gal!
Do you use spreadsheets to organise your blog? If you don't I would love to hear how you keep track of everything blog related in the comments below!
Thanks for reading, as always x
I have recently started using spreadsheets to plan posts but I still don't use them frequently. I have made a calendar of each month and leave space to write the post title in a cell. Then I colour code the titles according to the topic. I love how you organise yours so I will try to do mine like that :)
ReplyDeleteWhat Sarah Writes
aw it sounds like you are very organised already! x
DeleteWow this is so organised Nicole! I have been trying to become more organised with my posts as the caos was doing my head in and I will definitly be borrowing some of these tips!
ReplyDeletemybeautyandbronwies.blogspot.com
aw thank you! I hope they help you out x
DeleteThanks so much for posting this! I've heard so much about spreadsheets in the blogging organisation world but have always been at a loss as to starting! I'm definitely going to dog ear this post & come back to it when I have the chance to set it up! I was also interested in what you mentioned about not using google analytics- are they inaccurate for blogger? I'm abit of an analytics newbie! Thanks again :)
ReplyDeleteKatie | http://kaleidoscopepeonies.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1
Thank you! I hope it helps you out when you get around to making your spreadsheet! Apparently, there not, no! I think they are pretty accurate but they tend to provide you with much information unlike Google Analytics x
DeleteThis was so helpful! I have recently made a spreadsheet for my blog and I am going to use some of your ideas! x
ReplyDeletewww.blossomofhope.blogspot.com
aw thank you! I hope it helps you out x
DeleteThis was so helpful Nicole! It's inspired me to get more organised now! x
ReplyDeleteKate// katerosexo1.blogspot.com
YAY for organisation x
DeleteI have decided to do this and it has helped me so much already!! Honestly changed my blogging life!!
ReplyDeleteKatieswaytohappy.blogspot.co.uk
Katie xx
aw that's great to hear! x
DeleteThis is so helpful! I just made a spreadsheet using this and I feel so organized. :D Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteaw that's lovely to hear! I am so glad I could help you out x
DeleteI've been quite unorganised with my blog lately just because I had so many other things going on, especially at school. It really annoys me but luckily the semester is over now & I'm determined to get organised with everything blog related during my summer break. Your tips always help a lot so thank you for sharing posts like this one, I really appreciate them :) Actually I just really appreciate your blog in general x
ReplyDeleteSara / AboutLittleThiings
aw Sara you cutie! I am really happy to hear you find my posts useful and I hope it helps you get your blog back on track xxx
DeleteYay, I'm not the only one who does this! I schedule everything on paper (for some reason I can't think properly when I work on my laptop for my blog) and don't add that many details, but the spreadsheets are almost exactly like the pages of my blogging notebook! It's really nice to see that others put so much effort into this too.
ReplyDeletex Envy
Lost in Translation
aw definitely! I wouldn't be able to function if my blog wasn't organised xx
DeleteLoved reading this, I love getting some organisational inspo. I've been doing something similar with pen and paper but I think I need to upgrade to the laptop!
ReplyDeletewww.Barely There Beauty.com | British Beauty & Lifestyle blog
xx
aw I would just stick with whatever works best for you x
DeleteThis is such an amazing idea! I'll definitely have to give it a go! Let's hope and pray iPad has Microsoft edexcel xx
ReplyDeleteCheck Out My Recent?
www.hannahporterx.blogspot.co.uk
Thank you! If it doesn't, you can use it online either by creating a outlook.com email address or using Google Docs and simply using your gmail to log in xx
DeleteThis was so helpful! I am defiantly going to start doing this. Thank you x
ReplyDeletekatielou99.blogspot.co.uk
I am glad it could help you out x
DeleteOh my you are so organised! To be honest I'm a bit old school and still use pen and paper to organise my blog! I really do want to get it all down in spreadsheets though and I love your schedule spreadsheet - I might use that idea!
ReplyDeleteAmy xx
www.callmeamy.co.uk
aw thank you! There is nothing wrong with pen and paper, whatever works best for you xx
DeleteThis post is so helpful as I really wanted to start using spreadsheets but I didn't know where to start at all but now at least I have a bit of an idea.
ReplyDeleteRóisÃn
totallyro.blogspot.ie
I am glad it could help! If you have any more questions, you know where to find me xx
DeleteOmg I have a spreadsheet to organise my posts, but wow, you're so organised! I'm now inspired to suddenly make about 10 different spreadsheets for my blog haha!
ReplyDeleteRobyn x
Www.0hsodaisy.blogspot.com
haha! Thank you! I would do it! I find it so much fun x
DeleteI'm so unorganised with blogging, this has been really helpful! Think I'm going to start a spread sheet now xx
ReplyDeleteyou should! Let me know if you need any help with anything :)
DeleteI'm so unorganised with blogging, this has been really helpful! Think I'm going to start a spread sheet now xx
ReplyDeleteหวยà¸à¸à¸™à¹„ลน์
royal1688
ทางเข้า maxbet
Hi! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I genuinely enjoy reading your blog posts. Can you recommend any other Women Empowerment blogs that go over the same topics? Thanks a ton!
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