I just went back and looked at my VERY first blog post. It was July of 2011.

First, ouch! Yeah, I have grown as a blogger.  Thank goodness!

Second, I was really blown away with how much blogging in general has changed over the past five years.  When I began it was just a place to dump classroom photos and share ideas.  Nothing elaborate. Now blogs seem much more polished, images are much more professional, and there are actually suggested blogging TEMPLATES for structuring posts!

While I am by far a blogging expert (although I should be after all this time, LOL #lifegoal.  Wait no, my life goal is actually #morenaps), I HAVE picked up a few tips and tricks over the years. Hopefully, these will help you.  If you are not a teacher blogger, then you will either be amazed by all the things that happen behind the scenes or will be totally bored.  Either way, I apologize for revealing “the man behind the curtain.”

Post Ideas

I have notebooks full of random ideas for blog posts,  I tried writing everything down in one notebook, but the notebook also held my to do list for the week, grocery list, and a variety of other junk.  My blogging ideas were quickly lost. I also realized that this was just creating extra work me.

Now I try to brainstorm in Blogger!  So much time saved!

I even outline my posts!!

Getting Organized
I have written in the past specifically for bloggers.  In this post, I share how I organize files on my computer for each post.

For each blog post I create a folder WITHIN my blogging folder.  I keep any images for each blog post in the folder. . For each blog post, I usually make some kind of image or button, Facebook image, Pinterest image, and sometimes headers to divide the post.  Here is an example of a post with headers.

To make things as fast as possible, I try to keep templates of all my social media images in power point.  This makes it easy for me to update all the images needed for each post. 
You can get a folder of ALL my social media templates in ppt by clicking on the image above!

Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Oh My!
As a blogger, it is all the “other stuff” that I find overwhelming to keep up with. I try so hard to stay on top of social media, but it is just another thing on my plate.  I find that the more organized I am, the better I do.
For Pinterest, I HIGHLY recommend Tailwind.  I love it. It makes it so easy to make sure I find and pin quality ideas.
For Facebook, I have another system. I shared about it over on the collaborative blog Classroom Tested Resources.
I also use a planner to keep myself on track.  I mark off when I schedule on Facebook so I can make sure I do it on a regular basis.
Even though I write my post ideas in Blogger, I actually write when I am scheduling posts in the planner, so I can see the whole month at a glance.  I write the posts right on the calendar.
I also right down any of my “to do lists” right in the planner so it is all in one place.
I also use it to track all my Tpt Stats and earnings. This helps me with goal setting.
You can pick up the blog planner here.
I printed mine at home and had the cover laminated and the spiral binding done at Staples for $10!!
I hope this helps you if you are struggling with blogging!
 If you would like more ideas from me, be sure to follow me on Teachers Pay TeachersPinterest, and Facebook to catch all the freebies and ideas and more!
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