Word to the Wise! 5 Ways You're Working "Harder, not Smarter"

Do you ever find yourself exhausted at the end of your day with little to show for your efforts?
Is your to-do-list expanding like your waistline around the holidays?
Are the blogging dreams you started out with still unfulfilled?

If so, you'll want to continue reading today's post to give you a little perspective...

Most bloggers start out with the best intentions. They launch their sites to share a passion for writing, or to raise awareness of a cause, or to connect and create community, or to provide expertise that allows others to live better.
No one can dispute that this creative endeavor requires dedication, time, and a great deal of sweat equity in order to reap returns.

Which is all the more reason why today's blogger must learn to be more strategic-- to deal with the weekly rigors, avoid burnout, and successfully build a strong platform that allows them to make a difference and make a living.

With this in mind, here are five practices and principles that may be sabotaging your efforts, stunting your growth, and stealing countless hours. There's great truth to the adage, "Time is money."

So, let's get started.

The Hard Way:
Blogging without goals or a game plan.

The Smart Way:
Reflect. Assess. Consider. Why are you blogging? What's your goal? To make money? To build a platform for your writing career? To entertain? To vent about your 9 to 5 job? Who is your target audience? What common problems do they encounter? What about their lifestyle? These are things to evaluate so that you can create a marketing plan that addresses these issues. Not having blogging goals or a game plan is like traveling to an unknown city without a road map or compass.

The Hard Way:
Spending countless hours getting caught up in social media: FaceBook, Google+, InstaGram, Twitter, etc. to get noticed. In the words of Dr. Phil, "How's that workin' out for ya'?"

The Smart Way:
Align your blogging goals with just two forms of social media and devote a day or two to promoting your content and establishing important contacts. The rest of the time you should probably devote to writing, researching, or marketing. Hello?

The Hard Way:
Not having consistency in updating your blog. Sometimes it's once a week; other times it's once a month, or whenever your muse inspires you.

The Smart Way:
Commit to a schedule that's comfortable then keep it. Ironically, when you post sporadically you work harder. You lose momentum, and you lose readership. I know that I have personally unsubscribed to bloggers who insist on playing games of "now you see me, now you don't!"
You're better than that.

The Hard Way:
Trying to do it all alone. Coming up with all your own topics, content, contests, etc.

The Smart Way:
Reach out to other writers and bloggers. Have them contribute to your site through accepting guest posts, or sponsoring blog tours;even book reviews work well. Doing so adds to your blog's appeal, and provides variety for your readers. Not to mention, it allows you to take a "mental break," so that you can go the distance.

The Hard Way:
Blogging without branding.

The Smart Way:
Making strategic efforts to make your online "brand" stick to your readers like Velcro.
This includes consistency in your message. Having a logo and a slogan. Creating content that is associated with excellence. And last but not least, honing your writer's "voice" so that it resonates with readers, and is easily distinguished. With all the blogs currently out in the blogosphere, it behooves you to do as much as possible to make your blog "bookmark worthy."
Wouldn't you agree?

Thoughts? Do you struggle in any of these areas?