Keeping my blog going during Lockdown

AD – This is a collaborative post

Those of you who have followed me for a while will know that I am a goals person. I like to plan ahead, set objectives for the start of each year and targets that I want to try and meet. I like to see positive growth and see my business heading in the right direction. I find tracking my progress throughout the year incredibly motivating, spurring me on to work harder and focus my attention in the areas where it matters most.

Fast forward to 2020 and suddenly my goals for the blog have gone out the window. Just missing out on the government grant (less than 50% of my overall earrings come from self employment due to having a PAYE part time job in addition), I’ve seen paid work decline, my time stretched to its limits with home schooling and childcare and seen my views plateau rather than grow, as many people, parents in particular come offline and limit social media usage in attempt to save their sanity (I can sympathise!)

Like many self employed people across the UK at the moment I am wondering how I can best keep my business afloat during lockdown. Having worked for over 6 years to build up my blog and following, I refuse to let a global pandemic force me to wipe the slate clean. Whilst I have to be realistic about what and how much I can achieve during lockdown; there are at least some basic steps that can help keep your blog or business ticking over during lockdown.

1. Think about relationships – now more than ever, the relationships and connections you have made matter more than ever. When this is all over, your contacts will remember the ones that reached out and made conversation, that told them to take care, that checked in when others may have sent a short and to the point email. Don’t forget that people invest in people, not just products and services. Stay true to yourself and protect the credibility you worked hard to build up.
2. Make the best use of your time – with lots of plate to juggle including childcare and my part time employment, I am having to blog at somewhat anti social hours. Using a social media content calendar is a great way to ensure your content goes out at the optimum time, creating your content as and when suits you, and scheduling it to go out automatically across your channels at a date and time that works best to engage your target market.
3. Quality not Quantity – You may be used to releasing a new blog post every Tuesday and Saturday without fail, and sharing a new grid pic every single evening on Instagram, but lets be realistic here, you’re unlikely to be able to keep up the same pace with two children at home. Focus on quality not quantity. Work on creating content that will resonate best with your audience and use keyword searches to make sure your content is SEO friendly.
4. Don’t be afraid to re-share evergreen content – As tempting as it can be to write about coronavirus, most people have coronavirus overload, and actually evergreen content can be more engaging and light relief from the day to day bombardment of bad news. Don’t be afraid to share old posts that you are proud of or that work around the season or key events during the year. You wrote the post for a reason, and if its not time bound, there’s no harm in sharing it again. Reap the benefits of work already completed!
5. Embrace the Quiet – If the work coming in is quiet, make the most of the time you do have by completing some of those less inspiring ‘blogmin’ tasks that you have repeatedly put off. Focus on getting your content seen by more people – check your SEO, update your Pinterest pins and step into the rabbit hole that is google analytics – a little effort now could soon reap rewards later.

What the future holds for Real Mum Reviews is yet to be determined, as let’s face it, none of us know what the future holds for online influencers going forwards. One thing is for sure, I won’t let it go without a fight!

Are you a blogger or self employed? How are you keeping your business alive during lockdown?