Bullet Journal for Blogging

Bullet Journal for Blogging

Not long ago I wrote an article about how to start a bullet journal. I had just heard about it myself. I ran right out to the store to find the supplies I wanted and got started.

Let me tell you… bullet journaling is one of my new favorite things ever. It keeps me organized, allows me to be creative away from my laptop, and honestly it’s very relaxing and enjoyable. I love my escape into bullet journal time. Not to mention it also gives me a good reason to buy pencils that come in a fancy tin box or drool over paper products I have to have. It’s ok. Me drooling over paper products doesn’t surprise my husband one bit. He’s obliged in most cases because he sees how much I love doing this!

So down to the details! When I first bought the journals, I bought these 3 pack travel journals. [Another time I’ll share my review of them and my first month of bullet journaling.] My intention was to use them as 3 seperate life areas. One for everyday mom stuff. One for the blog. One for the business. I was able to get the blog and life one’s easily but am still trying to decide how I’d like to set up the business one.

Here’s what the 3 journals looked like. This post is going to cover how exactly I’ve used my journal for organizing my blog. You’ll see the pages and what I use them for and I’ll explain what I like and dislike about the book. So stick with me!

 Bullet Journal for Blogging

After creating the life journal first, I decided that I would do the index page last. Because you’re constantly adding pages and spreads…. so I wasn’t sure how I would handle this. So I wrote a title and let it go for the first little while. Once I got the pages filled out, I went back and added the page names… but I didn’t number the pages so I’m sure this was pointless. It looks pretty though so we’re all good.

Bullet Journal for Blogging

I added a key page and an accounts page. Just to keep everything together and a place to reference how I wanted to organize my own thoughts.

Bullet Journal for Blogging

Next I drew up a schedule of the blog posts. I post twice per week on Tuesday and Thursday. I use Trello to keep my brain dump of blog ideas then I go back and use the calendar to move the posts around to see how they flow. I already had an idea of what I wanted to post so I added those posts into the schedule on their proper days. I still didn’t really follow it [due to vacation] but this gives me a guide at least.

Bullet Journal for Blogging

This page is my favorite of all thus far. I’ll admit, I was in a total zen late at night coloring and just enjoying the process of this page. It’s not for the faint of heart. Anyways, I am using the page as inspiration for next months. Thoughts for next month’s schedule. I love this! I’ll likely do this again but with variations.

Bullet Journal for Blogging

I can’t just sit down and write a blog post without sort of outlining it first. I could type it. But somehow I prefer to brain dump with handwriting. I make bullet points and draw arrows and basically flesh everything out. I’d been randomly writing in another journal but it was jumbled, out of order, and didn’t serve a purpose other than writing my thoughts down. So I decided to use these pages a little more strategically. That’s when I added these spreads to my bullet journal. I can still outline but I also can track the success of the post and start getting an idea of what’s shareable and what resonated with my audience. I added a little extras box for planning printables, giveaways, etc.

Side Note: I left a few blank pages after this just in case I wanted to add something. Or for those times when a blog post comes to you and you just have to get that thought out. I didn’t want to mess up the flow of the journal so I left a few blank pages. If I never fill them, I’ll just use them as reflection pages or quotes etc.

Bullet Journal for Blogging IMG_6090 IMG_6091  IMG_6094

You know when you’re in the store and you have this fabulous idea. I created this page for those pop up thoughts. Just jot it down quickly and move on.

Bullet Journal for Blogging

Here’s the big page. The TO DO list. Keep your running list here. I prefer to have a running list vs. a daily to do. I find when I write them daily and I don’t get them done I get too discouraged. So I keep one list and work off of there. If you wanted to plan daily tasks you can go over to my Bullet Journal Pinterest board and see a ton of great ideas for weekly spreads.

Bullet Journal for Blogging

Do you track your social media numbers? I didn’t used to but I’m trying to get a better feel for what content my reader enjoy and what prompts engagement and follows. So I created this fun page to track how I’m doing. These are June’s numbers where I missed an entire week due to a vacation with no internet connectivity. I had [sort of] tracked stats before I made this spread so I added those numbers to the bottom of the page. I’ll need to figure out how I want to keep this running for stats tracking spreads. Stay tuned.

Bullet Journal for Blogging

Hashtag heaven! I’m currently trying to figure out which hashtags work best for my audience. SO… I started collecting and breaking them down into pods. Sometimes I mix them together. Sometimes I use only the hashtags in one pod. Either way. This reference guide is so much easier when I’m planning my posts than coming up with them off the cuff.

Bullet Journal for Blogging

Bullet Journal for Blogging

I’m involved in a TON of facebook groups where bloggers and business owners network. Many of these groups have prompts throughout the week. The more I engage and share and answer and ask questions the more attention I draw to my blog. This has also brought me some amazing clients for iDo Collective. So many people promo and run. I do my very best not to do that. But sometimes find myself not sure what to say when the prompt arrives. SO… I did a little digging [oohh… fun stuff coming here too… not telling yet though] and did some research into what prompts are shared and came up with a 9 prompts that repeated themselves in many of the groups. I created these pages to help me plan for those so that I knew what to say. I just wrote the thought but I could essentially add the content and links into these squares if I wanted. So far this has helped me a better group participant.

Bullet Journal for Blogging

As a newer blogger, I am looking for partnerships that will help me build my audience. There are tons of great posts out there that are massive lists of places to submit your work for publishing. BUT… these lists only help me a little bit because I really on have interest in a few of them. Before the bullet journal, I had a bunch of random notes in my journal circled with a star. This helps me to compile and track locations to submit based on sites I believe would be a good fit for my work. I created two pages so that as I ran across places I could add them. In Trello, I track when I sent the submission and what the rules for pitching and following up are. I create cards for each entity and add the email address and a copy of the pitch and schedule the follow up date.

Bullet Journal for Blogging

Bullet Journal for Blogging

I’m always looking for new plug ins or places to promote. Again, you can find huge lists of places to promote your work… but you have to be aware of your niche and that platforms niche. Be sure you’re a good match. So water down the huge list to the places that your work fits. Then transfer those to your journal for safe keeping.

Bullet Journal for Blogging

I am getting to the point in my blogging adventure where it’s time to create my media kit. I have a template created in Canva but as usual, I really needed to draw it out on paper first so that I could begin creating it digitally. I keep the ideas here. I’m going to create a multiple page kit as well as a single page snapshot and see what I use the most. Again… just another step in my blogging adventure.

Bullet Journal for Blogging

Alright! For right now those are all the pages I’ve created. I am in the process of creating products so I don’t want to reveal [yet] those planning and design pages. I’m adding a few other pages as the month goes on… I’m sure we’ll have a follow up post!

How can you use a bullet journal for blogging. What elements would you include that I haven’t?

Are you just learning about Bullet Journaling? Check out my last post. At the bottom there’s a little shopping guide for you with products that will help you get started.

If you already bullet journal for your blog please share your favorite tips and tricks for staying organized and having fun with your bullet journal.

#sonottogether

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23 Comments

  1. Wow, this is so detailed and creative! I have a hard enough time organizing my blog, let alone doing it creatively. These pages are so beautiful and I love how you do it to keep yourself organized but also to have fun. I wish I were this creative!

  2. Nice of you to share this. I was thinking to start with bullet journal myself and I have the right notebook and pens for it, but I have some trouble on how to do the layout 🙂

  3. I loved this! I’m a big planner addict and I do the whole sticker, washi, and nice looking pens. I’ve always wanted to bullet journal but never knew how since I sort of compile everything together, but bullet journaling would totally work for my blog! I’m going to look into this, thank you!

  4. Beautiful post, and so inspiring! I’d never heard of bullet journaling before. I especially love the hashtag page – I always forget about hashtags! Just out of curiosity, how long did all of this take you?

    1. Bullet journaling is something I do at night after the kids go to bed. I live relaxing and organizing my days and tasks. I usually watch tv or something while I do it. I probably do 2 spreads or so a night. Once you start doing it though you lose track of the time and just enjoy creating.

  5. I love this, you’ve spent so much time and put in so much effort to get it exactly as you wanted it, I too take time away to refresh my brain and end up writing loads of ideas down in my notebook, I need to get more organised, thanks for sharing x

  6. I am in awe! You put my legal pad scribbles to shame, but I’m not complaining. I love how you merge your busines/professional side with you creative side. Now I think I need to go shopping for some pretty pens and notebook journals so that I can create a bullet journal too.

  7. I have never heard of bullet journals until now, but I think I will definitely give it a try! I am always looking for new ways to get organized (especially lately as things are getting busy!). I know that you are a very busy person, but if you have the time I would love for you to check out my latest blog post at https://mmessickblog.wordpress.com/2016/07/06/7-brilliant-ways-to-declutter-your-entire-life/ – I would be so grateful for any advice/feedback you would be willing to give! I can’t wait to read more from your blog 🙂

  8. This is very well done. I can’t imagine how much time it took to do just the art work alone? For me, I barely have enough time to make a to do list. I guess that I am just old school!You do have a very nice system though.

  9. Very impressive! I love the way you organized everything. I especially love your drawing skills, the journal is beautiful. I will be trying the hashtag pod idea this week. Thanks so much for sharing!

  10. Wow! Your bullet journal is beautiful! While I can’t draw like you do, I definitely want to use some of your ideas for my bullet journal. Especially tracking social media, and hashtags, and keeping track of promo days for Facebook groups! Great tips!

    1. Yes! Thanks for stopping by to check it out. I’m actually not all the great at drawing… the ruler is my bestie! But I think Bullet journaling is for anyone who likes paper products, journaling, and organization… regardless of your artistic prowess! Have fun!

  11. I love this. I just started bullet journaling over the weekend. As a new blogger and freelance writer with a 1 and 3 yr old – I was waking up at 2 in the morning and on my computer all day getting NOTHING done. I was a mess. I had notebooks, editorial calendars, stats, notes, etc scattered in every room of the house. I knew I had to get everything in one place. So far, so good. And I already sense that I am less stressed out. I am adding new collections as the days go on and this is an amazing list. Thanks