This is a guest post by Chris Ducker.
I always say I am a businessman first, and a blogger second. Even though I take my blogging seriously, focusing on putting out the best content I absolutely can on my chosen niche of virtual and mobile entrepreneurship, it is not my focus in my day-to-day routine.
However, I am smart enough to know that by blogging I can definitely attribute a certain amount of new business that has come to my offline companies, from my online activities from last year, as I worked my way up from complete blogging virgin to attending BlogWorld and interviewing tons of great bloggers (including our Blogging-God-of-a-Host, David!) and building a pretty popular blog of my own.
This year, with the small amount of success that I experienced blogging last year, I decided that I was going to ramp it up a little and announced that I was going to attempt to post daily, Monday-Friday.
That plan lasted all of 12 days.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t create the content. I blog through written posts, podcasts, and a certain amount of video, and as far as I know, my visitors enjoy all the content, across all of those mediums.
It became very apparent very quickly that I simply did not have the time to devote to blogging daily. I own and operate a company with well over 200 employees. As a full-time Virtual CEO, I go into the office twice a week for a few hours each time, and the rest of the week I work from home. The juggling of working with my management team, servicing my clients, working on upcoming projects, being a husband, being a father (of three), and a blogger took its toll, quickly.
So, the decision was made to cut back to 3 posts a week.
Lifting the Load
The moment I made the decision I felt as if a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders. That feeling itself was enough for me to know I had done the right thing. I mean, seriously, if that weight hadn’t of been felt, then obviously the blogging part of my week wasn’t an important element for me. But, it was. It is.
Through coming to this decision I did a certain amount of planning and strategizing to allow me to focus on my business (both personal and “real business” related) and still blog regularly and produce great content.
The following are my five pointers to be able to blog consistently and still take care of business!
1. Don’t think of blogging daily as a requirement. Putting that type of pressure on yourself, especially when it comes to a creative situation, like writing, is utterly pointless.
2. Think about utilizing a Virtual Assistant. As someone that has been involved in the outsourcing industry for a decade I get asked about VA’s and what they can do to help you in business all the time – daily almost. What a lot of people have asked is if they can use a VA to blog for them. For me, this is a complete no-no. Your blog is an extension of YOU! You should be the one creating the content. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t work with a VA to help your blogging load to become a little lighter. Nowadays I actually dictate all of my blog posts (including this one). I then send it to my VA, who will transcribe it for me, and email it back as a Word file. I read over it, make simple, small edits and corrections and send it back. She will then import it into WordPress, get it all ready (along with All-in-One-SEO tags, etc. to post), and I will simply hit the “Publish” button. I’ve worked out that this set-up alone saves me on average around one hour for each post. The same goes for audio and video files too, for when it comes to uploading to servers or YouTube, etc.
3. Put a schedule in place – but, not necessarily a posting schedule. When you post is nowhere near as important as when you create your blog content. The creative process of writing is different for everyone. Because of my highly busy workday, I like to have a lot of things scheduled on my calendar so that I make sure I achieve them all. My blog content is no different. Following my little “blogging rehab” thinking stage, I decided that I would put to one side five hours every Friday (I don’t do much “work” on Fridays) for me to concentrate entirely on my blog content. That’s everything – written, audio, video – the whole lot. Being structured like this enables me to then focus on other things during the rest of the week. Of course, I visit WordPress daily (at the end of my day usually) to reply to comments, questions, etc., too.
4. Capture your blog ideas. Immediately. Some people jot them down in a notepad, others create a draft post right there and then. Whatever system you use to capture your post ideas, it doesn’t really matter – just be sure to capture them. This will enable you to always have something to blog about, so you’re never “hurting” for ideas. Personally, I use Penultimate on my iPad. It’s a quick and easy tool for me to hand scribble ideas. I then open it up on Fridays and start writing/recording my content.
5. Easily the most important one…Quality over Quantity – Always. Even though I got through those 12 days of constant blogging, producing some cool content, the fact of the matter is that I would not have been able to sustain it. That’s clear to me now. Sooner or later, the quality of my posts (regardless of the medium) would have dropped, and that would have just plain sucked.
The Conclusion
A lot of bloggers are online, wanting to monetize their blogs. Some are posting because they enjoy it and simply want to help others and tell their tales. Some are business people that want to zone-in on blogging and the things it can do for their business.
Regardless of your reasons for blogging, one thing you must understand, realize and accept, above and beyond everything else is that a burned out blogger is not going to help, inspire or motivate anyone.
So, sit back for a moment. Breathe. Relax. Think. Then plan your next blogging move. Just like I did. The moment you finalize it, it will all make total sense, I assure you.
See you in the Blogosphere!
About the author: Chris Ducker is a 20-year sales, marketing and PR professional originally from the UK. He’s now the Virtual CEO of the Live2Sell Group of Companies, a thriving total business outsourcing provider based in Cebu City, Philippines, with almost 200 full-time staff. Read more about Chris at Virtual Business Lifestyle.
David has been blogging for 15 years, and generating a six-figure income at it for the last 12. He is the founder of Blog Marketing Academy. 
David Risley has been building and operating authority blogs for 15 years, and operating a six-figure business doing it for a decade.
Interesting post this, Chris. I’ve kind of come full circle on the subject, having swallowed the line that you “must have a posting schedule and stick to it!”
I write on a number of blogs now, and I’m completely relaxed about posting. When I’m in the mood, I can post twice in a day, and when I’m not, I might go four days without a post.
And I’ve discovered that *People don’t notice when you don’t post!*
I love this comment and bit of feedback, Mike – people dont notice when you dont post. Awesome.
Glad you’re in the right place for you as a blogger now. I certainly am.
Thanks for the comment.
Chris
Thanks for posting this – timely for me for sure. I’ve been wrestling with feeling the blogging hamster wheel for a while now. I should totally be using VAs for every part of it that doesn’t absolutely require me. Thanks for the reminder.
Hi JP
VA’s can become great helping hands in todays busy online business world. At the VBL blog I talk about them a lot. And the feedback is always very vibrant, exciting and entertaining.
Look into getting one, buddy – it’ll make things a little easier for you.
Thanks for commenting.
Chris
Fantastic post, I especially like the idea of recording a post down and having someone else transcribe it. I usually feel like I have a billion great ideas and can talk it out but I can never seem to consistently blog, I start and then end up doing nothing for months.
Breathe, Kahthan.
Relax.
And THEN write… Whenever the mood takes you. And stay focused on one post at a time. I know a lot of people like to start lots of posts and save them as drafts. I dont and CAN’T do that. I go one at a time now, and it really works well for me.
Good luck!
Chris
When I started my blog I had a five day schedule, I also took Dave’s advice and have a small folder of blogs already written before the start of the week.
I tried to keep at least five if not more posts in the folder all set to post, tags, excerpt, etc in html format.
That lasted longer than 12 days, it lasted six months. I could have kept up with the posting schedule for a couple of years.
What made me go to a three day posting schedule was my readers. I was sending an alert for every three posts via Aweber. Some of my readers wanted me to send the alert after every post.
I decided to run a little survey to find out from my readers (who are also busy) when they would like to see new articles, how often to be alerted, and when to post the article.
It did supprise me to find out they wanted to see posts on Monday morning and Friday morning with a few that would have liked a Wednesday post. And the majority of the survey want the post early in the morning.
My schedule is M-W-F and I try to get it done before 7 AM (MST). Yes this makes it easier and keeps the stress level a little lower.
Great info about the VA, my business isn’t to that point yet. Maybe later this year.
Awesome feedback, Monte.
You bring up a great point – we write (or should, anyway!) for our readers. Not ourselves. Their insights should be taken VERY seriously.
I recently just finished a survey on the VBL Blog, too. I am making several other changes to my blog in the coming weeks on things, and I know, based on their feedback, that it will make the blog way better and a lot more popular to my chosen demographic!
When you’re ready for that VA, let me know if you have any questions!
Best,
Chris
I have 4 blogs and keeping them up to date is a huge task. But then I also worked out that people are too busy to notice if you have kept to your schedule or not. What they do notice is if your post speaks to them or not. So the “when” doesn’t matter nearly as much as the “what”!
Great observation, Sandra.
I couldn’t agree with you more. I wouldn’t have a few weeks back – but, I do now!!!!
LOL
Chris
Hi Chris
It makes life a lot easier and reduces the panic when you take away the pressure! I really hate to be forced to be creative and blogging should be a creative experience. Funny how we tend to ruin a good thing!
Good post and some important lessons in there too – I often find that thinking of what to write about is not a problem but getting down to write and having to focus is very difficult – How do you do it?
Great question, for me its about being in the right setting, more than anything else.
And that setting changes quite frequently. Sometimes it’ll be in my home office, sometimes in my companies HQ office. Often I will go to a Starbucks and sit there for hours and knock out 4-5 posts, literally.
The other night I was surfing on my iPad in bed and a great post idea came to me. I opened up SimpleNote and typed out an 800 word piece on company culture. Awesome!
Its a ‘is the time and place’ right thing more than anything else, with me, anyway.
Good luck with your writing!
Chris
Good information. One comment, though…
Is there an advantage to having a VA transcribe a blog post rather than using voice recognition software? Granted, I’m a bit biased, because I *have* to use VRS (nerve damage), but it seems more efficient to use Dragon to write directly to Word. The higher-end versions can even transcribe from recordings.
It’s not perfect, of course (well, 99% perfect for me) but if you have to edit a VA’s transcription anyway, it’s really no more difficult to edit a Word doc produced via Dragon.
Just food for thought. Thanks for the great post, Chris!
A good VA is also a copy editor who can not only clean up transcription errors but make sure the post clearly communicates its intended meaning without impinging on the author’s style. So for the blogger to look over and “edit” a transcribed blog post is basically just to give it a once-over and make sure she agrees with the VA’s editorial decisions — pretty much the same way an author looks over edited galleys to accept or reject the copy editor’s decisions. Which is a far cry from doing all of the work of editing yourself.
Jean, you’re talking about something completely different than what Chris described. He simply mentioned transcription. Now, if you’re lucky enough to find a VA that transcribes and edits… sure, there’s no comparison between that and VRS, I grant you.
Thank you for pointing out that there are other options.
Hi Lee
Yep – Jean makes a great point here, but o do you, too. It is a different animal.
Its a tough call – but, I guess you have to ask yourself what is more important. Just getting words from audio, or getting words from audio, plus that little extra touch.
Sometimes you might want/need it, sometimes it might be a waste.
Personal opinion stuff, I think…
Thanks for the comment on the post – much appreciated.
Chris
I bow to you who write more than once a week. It’s all I have time for. Love these tips about planning time and transcribing a dictate blog. Know any reasonably priced transcribers who can do that on short notice? Thanks Chris!
Hi Rhonda
I suggest you check out one of the outsourcing sites like Elance or ODesk.
Unless you need a someone full-time. The you call MY company and we’ll take great care of you, I promise.
Best,
Chris
Or you could use something like http://www.speechpad.com/.
Thanks for this post. As a VA I especially appreciate Item #2.
But seriously, I’m down to posting twice a week, maybe three times max if something comes up in the middle of the week that can’t wait for Monday’s post. One thing that helped me let go of the “must post daily” mentality was realizing that most people are too busy to read five or more posts per week per every blog that they read. I’ve personally had to unsubscribe from a lot of blogs because they post too often for me to keep up.
Hi Jean
You’re absolutely right…! People are too busy.
I’ve decided that quality, over quantity is waaay more important. Thanks for the kind words.
Chris
Thanks for giving me permission. I’ve been trying to post a blog 5 days a week and it’s been difficult. I just decided to cut it back to 3 days a week and, like you, felt a tremendous weight lifted off my shoulders. I loved your statement “a burned out blogger is not going to help, inspire or motivate anyone.”
Hi Connie
Permission – hehehe. I like that!
Let me know how you go, by dropping my an email, okay! Stay in touch…
Chris
Hi David, all of these tips are great. I especially like the ‘capturing your blog ideas immediately’ tip. I often have some good content ideas and forget them because I don’t write them down.
Appreciate all of the tips – thanks!
All have a capture device with you, Mark.
Can be a notepad, iPad, iPhone, whatever – always, ALWAYS capture those ideas…
Chris
Great post, Chris. Appreciated your comments on the time saving aspects of a VA. Aloha. Janet
Hi Janet
Thanks for the kind words, you are more than welcome, and I hope it shed a little light on things for you.
Thanks for the comment.
Chris
Great post, Chris. Appreciated your comments on the time saving aspects of a VA. Aloha. Janet
Hey Chris,
I can appreciate the burnouts you are mentioning here. Totally agree with getting someone to help with outsourcing your work or getting a VA. And when I get ideas, I just write it in a notepad and I keep a diary of things to do online, and also stay away from unnecessary distractions online.
The distractions are brutal. Switch ‘em off.
Tweet Deck, MSN, Skype – whatever the case may be. When I’m writing, they are ALL off…!!!
C
Sounds good. What gets me most, being new to this blogging thing, is the amount of spam comments I get. Enough to really get me down. Any suggestions?
thanks
Look into getting Akismet set-up in your WP dashboard.
Really helps!
C
Great stuff just what I needed right now.
I always want to do a post a day its like a addiction!
Great tips will be thinking about this today!
Thanks
Phill
I’ve noticed, Phil, that since I’ve cut back to 3 per week I’ve gotten a lot more done on other projects. Not only that – but, more great comments, too.
I’d suggest you seriously re-look at things.
Chris
Ha ha Just sorting the diary too!
Just perfect timing Chris, so I have decided to do a post on Tuesday and then one on Fridays to start with now I’m in the flow. I will add another after a month or so.
Thanks again for the great advice
Phill
Hey Chris!
Talk about avoiding burnout… I was just talking to Ben Lumley about you after engaging Matthew in a post and then I come over here and you are posting.
Dont you go away?!?
How you been my friend – long time since the days of TIP
Oh and great post with some tips that I NEED to take on board. I am starting to feel a little sizzle from blogging as we speak
All good, Alex.
Nice to see you back online…!
Take on board, and then fly, fly, my man.
Mentions of Ben, Matthew and Me all in one comment – ah, the Brit’s are taking over..!!!
C
Hi Chris!
Fantastic, useful tips! I have applied most of the techniques and they really work. I apply the ‘writing them down’ technique more often than any of them since I tend to forget very easily. My brain can’t hold and remember all that info.
I had to cut back to three a week just like you did and it relieves A LOT of stress.
Thanks for this!
Hi Morgan
So happy that you’ve put these to use, and that they’ve worked well for you. Thats half the battle – just actually getting started.
Good for you!!!
Keep rockin’.
C
Totally agree with getting someone to help with outsourcing your work or getting a VA. And when I get ideas, I just write it in a notepad and I keep a diary of things to do online, I especially like the ‘capturing your blog ideas immediately’ tip. ecommerce website developer ecommerce website development
Great tips, thanks for sharing!
Although I don’t run a company and manage 200 employees, I have a fair bit on my plate as well, and i’ve run into the same time issue. I too decided 2-3 posts/week was optimal for both my time/health and to ensure quality posts
Great tips, thanks for sharing!
Although I don’t run a company and manage 200 employees, I have a fair bit on my plate as well, and i’ve run into the same time issue. I too decided 2-3 posts/week was optimal for both my time/health and for quality purposes.
Thanks for the tips on scheduling writing, not necessarily posting time (although I love to get it all done at once), as well as capturing thoughts immediately so you never run out of content.
Hi Ryan
Glad that your own schedule works for you. I think thats the key, more than anything else – finding something that works for YOU!
Keep going for it, buddy. Blog til your hearts content..!!!
C
Hey Chris,
Thanks for the tips! I totally agree with your point that stresses on the need for quality over quantity.. it’s true!
There are many blogs out there, and in a race to get traffic, people are just postings random stuff and leaving behind backlinks everywhere on the internet!
I appreciate that link building helps build a sites ranking, obviously.
But, Leo Babauta gave me some great advice when we had lunch together last year – just write great content and write for your VISITORS, not for SEO or Google.
He is right. Absolutely.
C
After nearly a year of being a blogger first I decided I should start shifting to businessman err woman first but at the same time was feeling burnout. I just took a 9 day detox from the internet and have to say I came out with much more clarity.
Interesting… 9-days with no internet…… Anyone else here beaten that???! I doubt it.
Good for you, Ayngelina.
All the best,
Chris
I totally agree not to see Blogging as a Daily Requirement, I only Post when I feel Inspired to write this way not posting actually makes my Posts more
– Exclusive –
All the Best,
To your Happy – Blogging – Inspiration,
HP
Exclusive.
What a great word. And it sums it all up. Not point in writing for the sake of it, or even copying or using peoples ideas and concepts. Be yourself.
I recently had a blogger send me a link to his newly designed blog. When I saw that he had 4 main sections / categories to the site and that he called them his ‘Core Concepts’, I thought I was looking at MY site…. Copying sucks. Plain and simple.
Exclusive. Nice.
C
Thanks for your reply…,
The Funny thing is that (scrolling down a little) on my Home Business Lifestyle Blog I actually (pre) sell a Book titled:
– Do You! –
By author and very Successful Entrepreneur Russell Simmons.
(BTW you can also see video interview with the author)
All the Best,
To your Happy – Blogging – Inspiration,
HP
Blogs will also be the main source to get the keyword ranks in the first page of major search engines,creating blogs with a good and popular topics will surely work out,also commenting on blogs will definitely works more compare to other factors,..
Thus, no blogger is safe from “blogging burnout”. Blogging burnout is best exemplified at the point where a blogger is guilted enough to write “Sorry for not posting in a while”. It is indicative of the blogger who is compelled to post on something just because everyone else is writing about it. Blogging burnout has peaked with the blogger who considers blogging a chore.
Blogging is very important for a business and all of these tips are really important for me.
I always say I am a businessman first, and a blogger second. Even though I take my blogging seriously