There are almost as many reasons to quit blogging as there are to start, but I’ve noticed a trend. A significant number of people seem to quit blogging because of the time and effort that it takes. A perfectly valid reason. Blogging can be time consuming, and a lot of the time consuming parts aren’t very much fun. Consider how much time do you waste on spam comments and trackbacks for instance. How the annoying little details of links and quotes and making your post look like you want? What’s the solution? Here’s a short list of things that I use to make things go a little smoother.

• Hands free design – Choose a blog theme that is well thought out and low maintenance. You’re there to blog, not fix the site
• Install Spam Karma or some other quality spam protection. You shouldn’t have to fight with that junk.
• Firefox and Sage – Any good feed reader will work, but this is my choice. Allows for more reading in less time
• Performancing – A blogging tool that allows you to view a page, blog it, and get on with your life. I prefer the blog to draft option, which doesn’t post to the web, but saves as a draft that I can edit and post later.
• WordPress – Any good blogging software will do, but choosing one that doesn’t work for you makes things much more difficult than they have to be. Try a few, you’ll notice the difference.
• Dedicated e-mail account – Get an e-mail account just for your blog. Don’t give it out indiscriminately. When you don’t want to think about your blog, don’t check it.
• Blog about what you like. Having fun is the key to lasting as a blogger.

That should give you at least a start on streamline your blogging workflow. Sure it takes a few minutes to make some of those changes, but each one can save you time in the future. Then the time you devote to your blog can be spent… blogging.