The super talented Katy Widrick shares her tips and tricks to stay organized and make the most out of your blogging time: a valuable commodity!

Katy Widrick from KatyWidrick.com was so kind to be my first ever blogger/ entrepreneur/ fitpreneur interview. And, boy, was it a good one!

 

Back when I got this idea to start a new blog and interview some awesome lady bosses, Katy was nice enough to answer a few burning questions I had about blogging. In fact, here is what I wrote back in December 2015 when this post first published:

 

“Not only do I feel honored and grateful that Katy took the time out of her crazy busy day to do an “online interview” with me, but I am stoked because this is my first, of hopefully many, blogger interviews!”

 

I wanted to update and share this interview again today because it is so valuable! If you are a blogger and have never heard of Katy and are not on her email list – get over to KatyWidrick.com asap because she shares such super helpful (and easy-to-follow) blogging, social media, and biz tips.

 

Katy is a kick-butt healthy living blogger (who also offers tons of great blogging and social media advice), a triathlete, personal trainer, group exercise instructor, mom and wife; she runs a social media and blogging consulting business; and also has a full-time job as an Executive Producer!

 

Holy moly, that is a lot. But this girl makes it work!

 

So, let’s get right to it!

 

Where to find find Katy:

On her blog at KatyWidrick.com

Facebook: Katy Widrick

Twitter: @kwidrick

Instagram: @kwidrick

Pinterest: Kwidrick

 

 

Question:

Do you have any tools or resources that you can’t live without when it comes to managing your blog and/or media business?

 

Answer:

I’m a big believer in a blogging editorial calendar – I find it helps me and others not only stay organized but to work and look ahead to posts that may take several revisions and drafts. I love the CoSchedule tool, but a simple notepad or online calendar can work as well. I think the key is to have a plan, because so many bloggers get overwhelmed when it comes to post topics, sponsorship deadlines and more.

 

A simple notepad or online calendar can work as blogging editorial calendar! #Blogtips w/ @Kwidrick Click To Tweet

 

Question:

How do you promote/market your business?

 

Answer:

I started offering consulting services for bloggers about a year ago because I would get so many emails from people asking for help. I love being a resource, but it became overwhelming to keep up with the demand. Now I offer video chats, online consultations, and more.

I really don’t promote this business much, but my amazing clients are fantastic at sending me referrals and their testimonials and word-of-mouth keep me very busy!

 

Question:

I noticed a while ago that you closed comments on your blog. What made you decide to do that and what kind of impact has it had on your blog following?

 

Answer:

I found myself getting really caught up in the game of measuring my success by the number of comments I’d get on each post.

As blogging behavior changed, and people started commenting less frequently, I found myself getting really discouraged when something I’d worked hard on seemed to fall flat, even though I was getting great engagement with shares and comments on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Especially since most of the comments I got were fairly throwaway – “thanks!” or “great job!,” I decided to spend less time monitoring and responding to comments on my site itself, and more time answering emails, responding on social media, etc.

I worried that my readership would go down but instead, it’s gone up and I’ve been able to work on more meaningful, better-developed work with the extra time, so I’m very happy with the decision.

 

Let’s Chat

Do you have an editorial calendar?

I recently started a rough draft of an editorial calendar and social media marketing plan on a notepad next to my computer. I would definitely like to get more organized with this because I feel coming up with great content on a regular schedule was one of the most difficult and stressful things with my other blog.

 

Do you offer any kind of services that make you money on your blog?

I am reading more and more about getting away from the one-on-one consulting or training sessions and going more towards online webinars, e-courses, and monthly subscriptions for upgraded content. And I think it makes total sense! As a personal trainer, I can relate to only having so many hours in the day to train clients and therefore only being able to make so much money. Why not put your time and effort in to a great product that can be sold to multiple people at once!?

 

Would you ever close comments on your blog?

This is an interesting approach. Many bloggers feel comments connect them to their audience and helps them to find out what their readers (or potential customers) need. But to Katy’s point, she is still interacting with her readers on social media and closing her blog comments allowed her to devote more time to more important tasks.

 

Until next time, CHEERS!