Updates – Time Tracking – Open Mic

54 thoughts on “Updates – Time Tracking – Open Mic”

1. Hi Barbara. I probably blog about 6 hours per day. Today was more! I’m transferring over to a hosted site and trying to figure out why the “5-minute” install took 2 hours! Now I’m trying to figure out how to transfer Loving Pulse over and choose the new theme/design.

   I might have questions over the weekend, after I do some digging through some certain archives.

   Have a great weekend.

   Davina´s last blog post..Free Spirit My Ass!

2. Hi again. Ok, I’m going to bed! If anyone can help me out with these 2 questions that would be terrific.

   I am transferring my blog over to wordpress.org with bluehost.

   Does anyone have any experience with this? Would you recommend that I choose a template and build the website myself, or pick a ready-made theme? (That is if I can find the darn themes to see what they look like!#$@!@&% – not such a loving pulse today eh?)

   And, should I get the theme/layout done first and then transfer my current blog over, or transfer first and pick the theme after?

   Davina´s last blog post..Free Spirit My Ass!

3. Hi Barbara,
   during the week I work from 8 till 4.30pm. During this time I sometimes look at my stats, read one or the other blog, maybe comment. But that’s only when work is slow. My real blogging time is one or two hours after work. At the weekend or when I have got a day off, it’s one and a half hour in the morning and two hours in the late afternoon. I am trying to keep that up regularly, writing about two posts per week.

   Ulla Hennig´s last blog post..Art on the Ceiling

4. I spend 5-6 hours a day on blogging or related activities… Well, I dont need to really explain the number of things a blogger needs to on a daily or weekly basis right?

   Have a nice weekend you all 😀

   Ajith

   Ajith Edassery´s last blog post..10 things that rub your blog visitors the wrong way!

5. I have spent day and night for since the beginning of the month doing my plugin and commenting like crazy to get it working on as many blogs as possible and I am still itching to get some ‘proper’ blogging done. lol

   FYI: I see you’re running version 2.1.5 of commentluv and you’re on WP 2.5.1 which is why the badge isn’t showing below the form. I updated the code of 2.1.5 and uploaded it to the codex so it would fix this for WP2.5.1 but I didn’t increase the version number so it looks like you got the first version of 2.1.5 commentluv

   if you download it again from the codex and upload it, it will be able to show the badge properly

   (you can set it to display the comment text area if you want too, just put “comment” (no quotes) in the ‘append badge to’ box and put a <br/> in the ‘prepend html’ box in the plugins settings page)

   Andy Bailey´s last blog post..CommentLuv Update by popular demand!

6. I spend about two hours a day blogging. I usually write entries ahead of time and post them up first thing in the morning. I don’t set an alarm so it all depends on what time I get up if I have enough time to read and comment on other blogs.

   I usually check to see if I have gotten any comments some time during the school day and I then check again at home at night time.

   Chase March´s last blog post..Rabbits Ears and Wireless Internet

7. It’s hard to know. It’s hard to draw the line between friendship and link-love, sometimes.

   But I’d guess 2 or 3 hours, maybe less, as I don’t blog on weekends…. yet.

   Miguel de Luis´s last blog post..Roots, how to make them grow

8. Blogging has become a powerful experience for me. And one I enjoy very much (I qualified as a blogaholic yesterday…). So, while I spend many hours on this new-found activity, it is one that I do happily.

   So, it varies a bit day to day, but I’m going to guess maybe 3-4 hours a day. Sometimes more, maybe 5 – 6 hours.

   Maybe this explains all the coffee I drink now…

   Lance´s last blog post..Spread Your Wings and Fly

9. I would say I easily hit that 8 hour a day mark as well. I basically treat it as if it were a second full time job. (A job in which I work 7 days a week. :-0 )

   For me it’s an investment in my future. I’m working at it with growth and success in mind. I hope to one day be able to actually BE a full time blogger. So I figure if that’s my goal I better treat my blogging that way.

   BTW, how the heck did you get the commentluv to work? You don’t have to get into details, but basically, I’ve registered and account with commentluv, uploaded the latest plugin (2.1.5) and activated it, input my ID number and run through the basic setup. I get the commentluv icon to show up under the comment form, but there is no drop down list like you have and no way of choosing whether or not to use it on you comment. I then tested it on my test blog and it doesn’t even seem to work when you make a comment.

   Like I said, feel free to just say ‘I have no idea’, but if you ran in this as well, what was it?

   You said open mike… 🙂

   “Motivate Thyself”´s last blog post..Up-And-Coming Blogger: How We Judge Other Blogs

10. Well, I guess technically I do spend time on blogging relating activities, Barbara.

    Most of that time is taken up by preparation rather than actually writing content.

    Coupled with my other online activity, I guess I’m on the net for about 8ish hours.

    I’m sure this will only increase before I’m able to cut back.

11. I cannot seem to get the new CommentLuv working. I’m not sure if it’s compatable w/ my version of WordPress or if I just need to try a few more times. Have a great weekend!

    Stacey / CreateaBalance´s last blog post..Practicing Being Selfish = Self Nurturing

12. I’d guess about 2 to 4 hours a day on blogging activities.

    I don’t count my photography, of course, though I do take some of the pictures with blogging in mind.

    Of course, I do count the writing time — even of those posts where I am writing outside of my old comfort zone, which I write, read, edit and tweak until it feels… just right.

    Mike Goad´s last blog post..Race Matters!

13. Hi Barbara,
    This comment is about you! Thanks for everything you do. I really appreciate your presence and supportive spirit.

14. i spend about 2/3 hours…not on my blog cause i don’t blog everyday, but maybe dropping cards and visiting other blogs. sometimes more…depends on how much time i have.

    Natural´s last blog post..Do Excuses Negate Responsibility?

15. Hi Barbara,

    I’m really amazed and impressed to hear how long people spend working on their blogs!

    Setting up my blog took a lot of work, I spent 3-4 hours per day looking for wordpress themes, searching for and installing plug-ins, editing bits of code and getting it wrong.

    I’ve taken a step back from my blog over the last couple of months, both in terms of posts and maintenence – I’m letting it run itself.

    Writing a post and finding the pictures for it takes 2-3 hours. My most recent post took a bit longer because it required a lot of fiddly editing to get it to look right.

    I also spend about 10-20 minutes per day reading other blogs, sometimes longer on busy days.

    David

    David | beplayful´s last blog post..The A-Z of Playfulness

16. I find that I am closer to 8 hours of blogging a day. Lately, being fapped and losing power always puts a kink on good intentions but I still manage to get a couple of hours in. So I qualify as a blogaholic. Yeah!

    Have a great weekend! 🙂

    Linda´s last blog post..An Idea I really Like!

17. Hi Davina – With regard to your questions, I would say it depends on how comfortable you feel with “building the website” (I’m not sure I understand what you mean by this). What I did was have a few themes in my “theme folder” and then checked to see how they looked with my information.

    I’m not sure if it matters what you transfer first as you’ll need both of them anyway. Let me know if you have more questions. We’ll keep the questions here (instead of via email) as others may have the same issue.

    Hi Ulla – It sounds like you have your blogging time under control. For me, keeping my blogging time down is hard to do.

    Hi Ajith – Nope! We all know what can be entailed with blogging. By the time we get it all done (or half way done), another day is upon us.

    Hi Miguel – **smiles**, I don’t post on weekends, but do go on the computer to check for comments, work behind the scenes, and visit those in my reader. You’re right though, it is hard to “draw the line”.

    Hi Lance – I totally agree, blogging is a powerful experience. It’s such a fun hobby, it’s hard NOT to blog. Just make sure the coffee’s on. 🙂

    Hi Eric – Blogging can be an investment in the future. Like you, I would like to do it “full-time”. I agree, it’s our mindset that will determine whether that will happen or not.

    Re: CommentLuv. I see Stacey asked the same question. I looked at my settings and here’s what I have: (ignore the quotation marks)

    1) Updated to version 2.1.5
    2) Under options it reads: “[name]´s last blog post..[lastpost]”
    Text displayed…”choose a different post to show”
    Choose to have CommentLuv on by default – “true”
    3) Styling: “border:1px solid; display:block; padding:4px;”
    4) Comment Form Identification: In all of the drop downs I have “name”
    5) Display Badge – I left this as it was. Nothing is checked although I did hard code a badge into my sidebar
    In the first “box” it reads “CommentLuv Enabled”
    6) I entered my member ID and checked the box for “click tracking”

    Hope this helps. Let me know if it doesn’t.

    BTW : I cannot “see” CommentLuv when I look at my blog.

    Hi Stacey – See my reply to Eric

    Hi Chase – I’m guessing you’re enjoying having more time to access the internet now that you’re back at school again. During the summer I remember you went to the library and were down to one hour.

    Hi Mike – I hear you when you speak of wanting posts “just right”. That also takes me a long time as I keep changing words, deleting words, adding words, etc… Editing can be time consuming, hey?

    Hi Scott – You’re right. We often spend MORE time, and then we learn how to cut back as we become more efficient.

    Hi Betsy – You’re most welcome. Thank you for your kind words. 🙂

    Hi Natural – It does help if we’re not posting every day. Like you said, that gives us time for other activities.

    Hi David – I hear you on the part about finding pictures for blog posts. Sometimes I can spend up to an hour on Flickr and still not be happy with what I found.

    Hi Linda – That had to have been tough on you when hurricane Ike knocked out your power, as I know you enjoy your blogging activities.

    Hi Tom – I like how you tie your coaching and blogging together. It’s also a great way for your potential clients to get to know you better. And yes, we do need to take time off (from blogging) to live our lives.

    Hi Paunchiness – Welcome to the BWAB community. LOL, I’m guessing you’re not the only one who blogs while working for someone else. It’s a hobby that’s hard to stay away from.

18. My usual blogging hours is 10 hour plus on weekdays. I usually avoid switching on my computer (except for movies or some website tweaks) on weekends since once it starts, it takes over the entire weekend.

    This month because of health issues I averaged 4-5 hours a week and was quite refreshing. I could come up with post ideas easily, write easily, found time to pursue reading, meeting friends etc.

    Am now getting better day by day, so I guess from October, I should be all geared up to take blogging full time.

    Avani-Mehta´s last blog post..How To Pick Your First Anger Management Area – Anger Management Series Part IV

19. Since I have decided to post twice weekly my time averages about 2-3 daily hours blogging. Like “Motivate” I consider blogging an investment in my future as well as sound marketing and relationship building. But If I blogged any more hors in the day I wouldn’t have time to coach or simply be me. I think that would defeat the purpose.

    Tom Volkar / Delightful Work´s last blog post..How to Beat the Work Life Blues

20. I’m not sure if I feel comfortable answering your friday question as I do most of my blogging while I’m getting paid to do something else. But I guess I’ll lie it down a little bit and say about an hour or so. When I’m playing with a new theme or something like that or editing other writers entries then it can go up to the 8 hours you talked about.

    But I’m going to say my average is one hour every day.

    Paunchiness´s last blog post..Win an Apple® iPod® Shuffle

21. Like Tom, ever since I cut back to 2-3 weekly posts, I work significantly less on my blog, and I’m very happy about it.

    I think I average about 3-4 hours per day, including writing, answering comments, commenting on other blogs and participating in social media. I check my stats only once a day now and I don’t have much behind-the-scenes work to do anymore.

    Vered – MomGrind´s last blog post..Saw “Burn After Reading”. Non-Botoxed Actresses. Awesome.

22. Hi Vered – I agree, cutting back on posting is a great way to allow more time for life and/or other blogging activities. That’s something that’s on my “list”. I just have to figure out the details.

    Hi Avani – I hear you on “weekend blogging”. It’s amazing how fast the time goes, and before you know it, the day is done.

    Hi Eric – You’re welcome. I went over to your blog and left a comment so you can see it “in action”.

    Hi UrbanVox – Welcome to the BWAB community. You’ll have to keep me posted on how your “full-time” blogging is coming along. 🙂

23. @Barbara: Thank you SO MUCH! I couldn’t figure it out for the life of me. Where you had ‘Name’ all the way down, I had ‘ID’. So I switched it to ‘Name’ and that did it. Thanks again!

    @Stacey: Read @Barbara. Hope this helps, Eric.

    “Motivate Thyself”´s last blog post..Up-And-Coming Blogger: How We Judge Other Blogs

24. I’ve been thinking about making the transition to full time blogger!!!
    lol
    let’s see… about 4 hours a day…
    just not all of them blogging… 🙂

    heheheh

    UrbanVox´s last blog post..I Blame Boris!!!!

25. Hi Andy – Welcome to the BWAB community. Your comment was in moderation, so it’s being answered out of sequence.

    I appreciate you stopping by. When I’m working behind the scenes this weekend, I’ll download it from codex and upload it again.

    Your comment has been most helpful. It’s not often a plugin author shows up to help users, for that I commend you.

    Hi Ann (Vintage Mommy) – Having more than one blog does entail more time, and I do agree, reading and commenting on other blogs is the most time consuming.

    Hi Marelisa – Yes, blogging is tons of fun. Taking time off is important, as we certainly don’t want to get burnt out.

    Hi Jennifer – I like your answer ‘ too many and not enough at the same time”. When I look at what all I could do, that’s when I wish I had more time to spend on blogging.

26. I’m trying to spend less time online in general, but I probably spend 3-4 hours minimum between my two blogs. I’m trying to get on a regular posting schedule for both, but it’s often the reading and commenting elsewhere that really burns up the time.

    Vintage Mommy´s last blog post..It’s Like My Shoes Are A Little Too Tight

27. Hi Barbara: I think I spend about four hours a day on blogging activities, but I’m doing it on Saturday and Sunday as well, which has got to stop. Gotta say I’m enjoying myself though 🙂

    Marelisa´s last blog post..Three Awesome Productivity Tips

28. How many hours a day (average) do you spend on blogging activities?

    Too many and not enough all at the same time. 🙂 Many hours a day, though not as many hours lately.

    Jennifer´s last blog post..Heroes of Healing: Ron Wilkins

29. @ Davina – Like Barbara mentioned, it really depends on how comfortable and experienced you are at coding and designing your own website. Unless you’re a developer, it would be much easier to find an already designed WordPress theme you like and go from there.

    If you’re not sure how to customize it you might want to pay a company to do that for you.

    As for which you should do/get first: it doesn’t really matter. The only thing you might want to consider is SEO. For example, if you wait 30 days until a theme is designed for you before you put up any content, that’s 30 days you’ll of missed out on Google getting to know your site.

    However, if you get your content on there asap the sooner search engines will find and index your site.

    @ Barbara – My blogging varies depending on what tasks I have to complete for a day. I try to spend about 1 to 2 hours about 4 times a week visiting and commenting on other blogs and forums. I probably spend about another 3 to 4 hours 3 days a week writing posts.

    John Hoff – eVentureBiz´s last blog post..The Pros and Cons of Social Media Marketing and Does It Teach Us Bad Habits As Entrepreneurs?

30. Wow…I am a amazed at the number of hours bloggers will put into their blog. I could easily turn into a blog-o-holic. I have a family and I have to fight the urge a great deal. I guess that is why I blog about my children and my daily life. I kinda have the best of both worlds. I am in the process of making a book out of my blog to share with the children. I have many many readers that I have connected with and I have enjoyed my little online community that I have built. It is a highlight of my day many times.

    I love coming to your blog to read about how everyone is accomplishing, balancing, and struggling with how to fit it all in a 24 hour day.

    I guess I would say I spend about 2 1/2 hours on actual blog time. I roam around making comments and reading blogs during this little window. This is not counting my “writing” time for my blog. I write whenever I can. At ballgames, breaks from exercise, while working in the yard, etc…whenever a thought crosses my mind I sometimes stop in my tracks and write.

    Tammy Warren´s last blog post..Was that a compliment? Think about it.

31. Hi Barbara,

    My hours vary every day, but on average . . . . 4-6 hours, and yes even on weekends sometimes. Not this one — lots of social activities planned! Hope you enjoy your weekend as well.

    Linda Abbit´s last blog post..Inspiring Quotes for Caregivers — 9/24/08

32. Hi Barbara,

    My blogging hours depend on how much sleep I am willing to give up on a particular night 🙂 … I probably average 5 hours/day. It goes up or down on my priority list depending on what else I have going on … I try to put some hours into other important things before I let myself get sucked into the blog world. I have to say it is getting extremely addicting!

    With regards to blogging questions … when I started my blog, I decided to blog about balance in life and career – but now I wonder if the career portion should be another blog altogether … What do you think? How do I make that decision?

    Thanks!
    maya

    Maya´s last blog post..Are we taking the time to meditate?

33. I’ve been tracking my blogging activity the past two weeks and on average four to four and a half hours a day Monday to Friday (with one or two on weekends if we’re in town) with the breakdown as follows:

    Creating posting articles on my blog: 30min/day
    Commenting on my blog: 15min/day
    Reviewing other blogs: 2.5-3 hours/day
    Writing guest posts: 30min/day

    The rest of my day includes 2-3 hours other writing stuff and 2-4 hours teaching English classes. When I have lots of client work, I could be doing up to 15 hours a day.

    Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome´s last blog post..Madonna and the Success of Hypocrisy

34. Hi John – Thank you for helping Davina. Like you, some days I spend more time on my blog, than on others. Having a business often determines how much “free” time we have, doesn’t it?

    Hi Tammy – What a wonderful idea; making a book out of your blog for your children. How cool will that be?

    Hi Linda Abbit – I’m happy to hear you’re taking the weekend off. I’ll be around my blog, and hope to catch up on visiting the blogs of others.

    Hi Alex – That’s a great breakdown of your blogging activity. I was only guessing, so now I wonder if my time would be more if I did like yo and actually “track” it.

    Hi Maya – Yes, blogging can be VERY addicting.

    With regard to your question. Setting up a separate blog for the career portion would work well if you have enough topics to write about that are career oriented, however, when talking about balance in life, it affects all aspects of our day, so having them together works well.

    Instead of having a separate blog, you could also use categories to divide the topics. Keep in mind, a second blog will also require more of your time. I hope this helped.

35. Hi Davina – You’re welcome. Just take you time and it won’t be long before your comfort level increases.

    Thanks for the link to Citymaker.com.

36. Thanks Barbara!

    Yes, I’d much prefer not to have to manage two blogs. I like your answer 🙂

    Maya´s last blog post..Are we taking the time to meditate?

37. Hi Maya – You’re welcome. 🙂

38. Barbara, thank you for addressing my question. I’m pretty comfortable building the website if I have a template to work with. I just need to find the right template and I’m not used to the new software.

    If anyone is looking for such a template (not for blogs though), I highly recommend citymaker.com. I’m no teckkie and I was able to build my own business website with their software.

    @ John, thanks for your comment as well. That bit about SEO was not something I had considered.

    Davina´s last blog post..Free Spirit My Ass!

39. Hi Barbara,

    Blogging is taking around four hours a day, but I have spent up 6 to eight hours while I was setting up.

    I struggle to find four hours most days at the moment and it’s come at the cost of sleep. Totally worth it though. Totally.

    Before I started blogging on my own site I spent the whole time visiting and having fun on a wide variety of blogs. I’m a bit sad that I can’t do that so much now.

    Barbara, I’m afraid I don’t know the rules for ‘Open Mike’ so I’m going to hold off asking a question for the moment.

    This is a great community you have here, and I really love the way everyone interacts with each other. Thanks.

    Dave Fowler´s last blog post..Why I Want To Feel Hungry

40. What I think I might spend: 15 minutes in the morning (“Oh, I’ll just check my comments…”)

    What I actually spend: four hours a day

    I’ve never gotten up so early for anything like this on a consistent basis. 🙂

    Pink Ink´s last blog post..Please, No Lies

41. Barbara – I spend probably 10-15 hours per week on blogging related activities, whether it’s reading, posting, managing, or dropping my Entrecards.

    Justin´s last blog post..Entrecard is For Sale

42. Hi Barbara- I probably blog about six hours a day and that included social networking…much more time on the computer and my brain is fried. Sometimes I think I would be more productive though if I had two computers and one I just used for writing and editing posts. My emails and friends can be really distracting. I should do an experiment to see how much time I would save…but everyone popping in and out keeps things fun though too.

    Dr. Nicole Sundene´s last blog post..55 Healthy School Lunch Ideas

43. WOW Teach! 8 hrs a day as part-time blogger….No wonder your blog is awesome…I average about 1-2 hrs a day. And if I really have time, I push it to 3 hrs…I wish I ave more time though because I really want to be in the same league as you and your regular readers.

    chris´s last blog post..I Don’t Get It

44. Hi Dave – Blogging does start eating into our sleep, doesn’t it? Like you, I happily sacrifice a little of my sleep time in order to attend to my blogging activities.

    Re: Open Mic – Any blogging question is acceptable. I don’t worry about going off topic, so feel free to ask. If I can’t answer your question, someone else in the BWAB community might be able to.

    And yes, the community here is awesome. I love how they all willing help each other.

    Hi Pink Ink – Isn’t a blog a wonderful thing to wake up to? Me and the blog share a cup of coffee each morning. 🙂

    Hi Justin – I’m guessing you’re proficient at dropping my Entrecards. Are you finding the process is helping bring traffic to your blog?

    Hi Dr. Nicole – Like you, sometimes I don’t mind the distractions, but when I’m trying to catch up, I prefer to do it without interruptions.

    Hi Chris – LOL – 8 hours a day and I’m a part time blogger. I can’t imagine how hectic your schedule must be with having a family and full time job. With that being said, you’re producing quality posts. Building a blog takes time and lots of patience. I have no doubt you’ll see growth with yours, as well.

45. Hi Barbara – I don’t keep track – but I guess it’s a lot now that I’m planning to use my blog to promote the new business I’m planning. Probably too many.

46. Hi Catherine – Combining a blog with a business would add a lot of hours to your blogging time. I agree, it could be hard to track.

    Hi J.D. – It sounds like you have your blogging time well scheduled. But, like you said, your day job is your highest priority, plus I know you’re also working a your book. Sounds like a full schedule.

47. I’m still learning, but generally I carve out 2 hours on weekends, and a 1/2 hr each day during the week for 3 blogs. One is a work blog and the other two are project blogs that I’m using to build focused knowledge bases.

    On the weekends I write, on the weekdays I post. If something hits me during the week, I’ll write those too. This way, I have a routine I can count on, but if inspiration happens, I can run with it. I used to just wait for inspiration and that was too random. I like the routine + random approach.

    I’m a fan of setting timeboxes and then finding ways to improve results within the timebox. I would actually use a bigger timebox since I’m ramping up my blogs, but my day job has my highest priority at the moment, and it’s challenging.

    I think one of Skellie’s key tips is she writes on the weekend and the posts during the week (this way she can factor her writing from her editorial and production.)

    J.D. Meier´s last blog post..Label What is Right with Things

48. Currently, I am so busy, that’s why I can hardly find anytime for blogging, but I hope to be able to work at least an hour/day for my blog in the near time.

    AxeCity´s last blog post..How to design a book cover?

49. Barbara, thank you for explaining the rules to me. I thought you might have had a ‘search before asking’ kind of a rule.

    I’ll wait until the next open mike.
    Dave
    😀

    Dave Fowler´s last blog post..Why I Want To Feel Hungry

50. Hi AxeCity – When life gets busy it’s hard to squeeze in time for blogging. I hope your schedule lets up, soon.

    Hi Dave Fowler – You’re welcome. I’ll have Open Mic again this coming Friday.

51. Hello! I like the design of your blog (and content too btw) and I would like to know what theme are you using? Is it your own design or free theme? thanks in advance, regards Pete

    1. Hi Pete,

       The theme I’m currently using was free from Elegant Themes (see link in footer). Between Frugal Site Design and myself we customized it to what it is today. I’m happy to hear you like it and the content.

       I hope to see you here again soon.

52. Hey, this is a bit irrelevant, but I noticed your blog page loaded lightning fast compared to mine. So I was wondering are you using dedicated hosting or shared hosting? thanks.

    1. Hi Shoes,

       I’d love to be using dedicated hosting, but for now it’s shared.

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