Blog News Watch

In my blog consulting work with Blawg In A Box and Inspired Consulting, I frequently hear three major complaints from bloggers:

1. I don’t know what to write about!
2. Nobody’s visiting my blog!

   but far and away the most often heard complaint:

3. I don’t have time to blog!

So, today’s post is for the #3-ers in the world - which, at one point or another means all of us bloggers, I can promise you!

Pinpointing the Problem

Before you can solve a problem, you have to first identify it. Seems simple enough in the context of this topic. After all, how many permutations can there be on the theme of “not enough time”?

Plenty, as it turns out. Consider whether you don’t have time …

• because you’re unorganized?
• because writing is a chore for you on par with building the Eiffel Tower out of toothpicks and Elmer’s Glue ™?
• because you’ve got too much on your plate?
• because you’re working against type?

That’s not an exhaustive list, of course, merely a representative one. But those four factors seem to be the ones I run into over and over again.  Take a moment to identify which one’s most likely the problem for you. To do this, simply adopt the logical “fix” in your imagination and see what the result is. Imagine you get more organized with a schedule that’s detailed and all your files and relevant information available at your fingertips. Do you “feel” better now? Can you see yourself blogging more effectively?  If so, you should definitely start by looking at organization as your main dragon to slay.  Likewise with writing - if you can see yourself hiring a ghostwriter, say, and having that immediately solve your blogging problems - well, even if hiring a ghostwriter is out of your budget (and you might be surprised), at least you now know what you need to focus your efforts on.

Give Yourself a Blogging Checkup

Once you’ve identified the problem and put a plan in motion to address it, consider taking an objective look at your blogging with an eye towards “tweaks” - small adjustments with minimal effort required that might yield larger than anticipated dividends.  Can you find a better way to collect and process “blog fodder”? (See this post for one super-easy and completely free method I designed.) Are you working against type? In other words, are you most suited for short bursts of writing, and instead you’re trying to force yourself into the mold of the dedicated all-day-long blogger? Are you writing in the PM when you’re really a morning person? Do you need a refresher course on social media?

Identify your weak spots, and then explore the web for some targeted solutions. Don’t get lost in browsing archives here - we’re aiming for greater productivity, remember?  Use Technorati tags and the search function of A-list blogs-about-blogging to get to the meet. (Another tip: use our weekly roundups for a one-stop searching shop.)

Delegate Your Life

Take a cue from 4HWW and outsource or delegate your delegable tasks. This requires a brief period of objective observation. The best method I’ve found is simply taking a blank 24-hour agenda page (print one off of iCal or Google Calendar or whatever app you prefer) and make 7 copies, one for each day of the week. Label the day (if it’s not already pre-printed) on each and then jot down your actual activities in the spaces provided. Break it down as far as you’re able, though I don’t know that it’s necessary to write down every 5 minute bathroom break. Simply add them all up and total them somewhere. You’re looking for patterns and timesucks - those tasks, whether large or small, that add up to a considerable drain on your energy and time.

Once you’ve identified a timesuck that might be subject to some sort of tweaking, ask yourself whether you can (A) kill it, (B) pare it down, (C) do it less often or more quickly, or (D) outsource it to someone else.  Don’t fall into the egotistical CEO trap of thinking you have to do everything yourself. If someone else can do it, but needs training, find time to train. Spending too much time at the grocery store but you have an able-bodied teenaged son or daughter with a driver’s license? Well, then.  I smell a tradeoff coming! Car time for grocery shopping. Seems fair to me! Wouldn’t trust your kid with the household shopping? Then take him or her on a couple of outings, run down the basics, and work out an arrangement whereby you monitor the results and the continued use of the car depends on adherence to the rules you set down.

Be Realistic

Don’t over- or under-estimate how much time blogging really takes. To do it correctly, you want to allow time for proofing, for revising, for “quality assurance” review (making sure links are correct, for instance), and for publicizing (tags, pinging - if not done automatically, social media, etc.).  But don’t fall into the trap of thinking every post must be a Hemingway-esque masterpiece of prose. Sometimes, good enough is good enough.

CYA!

Cover your absences, in this case - by making sure you have a steady backup supply of non-time-critical blog post drafts from which to select during those times when you really don’t have time to blog (and we all have them). Also consider assembling a “blog group” - a few bloggers who write about similar (if not competitive) themes who are willing to cover each other via “guest posts” from time to time.  Sometimes we all need a little help from our friends, right?

Time To Let Go …

Don’t be afraid to ask the question, “Do I really have time for this?” If you’ve tried the above tips, and you’re still wrestling with your time commitments … if you’re getting it all done but just barely and are miserable to boot … maybe - just maybe - it’s time to consider giving something up. That’s the conclusion I was forced to draw earlier this month when I realized that I was at a critical crossroads with respect to one of my practice blogs, the SC Bankruptcy & Consumer Law Blog. Not only had my time seriously decreased as a result of the launch of my BIAB service, but my interest was waning as well. I realized it was an important blog, and a very important subject - and it therefore deserved better treatment than I was able to give it. So I made the difficult decision to sell the site. (I hope to write more about how that was accomplished as a “how-to” post a bit later on, after the sale’s been wrapped up.)

This leaves me time to focus on my Employment Law blog (which is about the practice area I spend most of my law practice time in), and two new blogs I’m developing: Goddesses in Progress (currently under wraps for a formal launch later this year) and The Fibro Follies (which will launch on Friday - more on that in a later post, too). Was it a difficult decision? Absolutely. But once it was made, I felt a relief that sank down to my bones. (I even noticed a marked improvement in my writing and critical thinking skills - it’s amazing, really, how much time and energy is sucked up by our concerns over time management and productivity.)

Conclusion

Follow these suggestions and you will, I promise, find time to blog. You might even lead a happier, more productive life overall - and, dare we hope, have more time for the really important stuff in life? 

Technorati Tags: time management for bloggers, productive blogging

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If you’re a business blogger, you might want to pay attention to this story. If you’re a business owner, and think blogs are silly new-fangled things that will pass and you don’t need one, by God, you definitely need to read this.

Last week, a reader blogged at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website of a very disappointing experience she had with a local spa who refused to honor a gift certificate that had “expired” 11 days prior. She recounted the snippy, rude receptionist’s response (I especially love “I’m not sure what you want me to say”), and expressed her disappointment. Now, business owners, pay attention - she didn’t even name the spa. That’s a classy blogger, you’re thinking. Well - maybe. But she had zero obligation to be that discreet, and many other bloggers wouldn’t have been that nice. They’d have disclosed the name, location, name of the receptionist, time and date of the call, and address.

There was a happy ending, of sorts. The blogger updated that readers had encouraged her to call back and speak to the manager, which she did, and although the manager wasn’t “exactly chummy,” she did agree to honor the certificate until the end of the month.

Now what is the outcome for the spa? It’s tempting to think it won’t be impacted. After all, it wasn’t identified, and even if so, it did the right thing in the end, so what’s the harm? The harm is that this is already out there, and it’s a bell that can’t be unrung. Every potential customer is thinking, “That could be me. And I don’t go to a spa to be treated like that.” In fact, it might even be worse that the spa wasn’t identified. Now, every spa that offers gift certificates or used to is suspect. Is that a risk you’re willing to run for your business?

You’d better be aware that your business, and every single one of its employees, is on display for public consumption, and what used to be minor customer service scuffles that you could quickly rectify and sweep under the rug are now going to be immortalized on the web forever.

Here’s an interesting article from Information Week - Richard Martin writes about an experience he had asking a question at a Web 2.0 conference he attended:

I got a surprising answer today when I asked a question during today’s “Web 2.0 Gets Business Chops” panel discussion at the InformationWeek 500 conference in Tucson. My question was, “How do you handle off-topic discussions or inappropriate postings on corporate blogs and Wikis?” I expected the panelists, who included executives from Dell (Dell) and from Wells Fargo, to say that some form of moderation was needed to prevent flame wars, fantasy football discussions, and so forth. Instead they came down almost unanimously in favor of open, unfettered discussions and letting the power of the group steer the discourse. “You want to err on the side of letting people open their mouths and discuss things, without fear of being censored,” said open-source pioneer Brian Behlendorf, now the CTO at CollabNet.

Seriously, that was an executive talking. Granted, one well-known for advocating open-source technology, but still. This is good. Martin acknowledges later that he recognizes Behlendorf’s comments aren’t necessarily reflective of the consensus - that many CEOs still resist blogging at all. But, as he points out:

But it’s clearly a new day when executives at major companies are willing not only to launch their own blogs but to encourage free and open-ended discussion both within their organizations and with external customers, shareholders and so on. This in turn could help lead to the reform in corporate governance that many business analysts in this country consider long overdue. You can add blogging, and blog management, to the lengthening list of abilities the 21st-century CEO needs to have.

Information Week - Is Your Corporate Blog Flame Resistant?

Here’s a profile about Fort Lauderdale-based business man Jeff Block, who sells origami flowers from his JustPaperRoses.com site at the South Florida Business Journal online, and how his blog helped turn his business around.

If you’re looking for ammunition to convince your company to get into blogging, you really can’t do better than hard numbers and direct experience. Accumulate enough stories like Block’s and perhaps the old school holdouts will cave.

Business blogs get the word out - South Florida Business Journal

Eve Tahmincioglu (what a name!) is listed as the “primary author” of MSNBC’s Your Biz blog.  Interesting, that - since one of Eve’s stated no-nos for business blogs is … having more than one blogger on your company’s blog. (The reason, according to Eve: it creates a “voice” that isn’t unified and “strong.”)

Her other tips:

• Don’t let the CEO blog unless he’s really funny and a great writer.
• Blog often and regularly.
• Don’t be boring - skip financial stuff and new customer lists and anything Eve would consider “dry.”
• Don’t “go overboard” with personal information.
• Don’t put your business or your product down in any way. Given the context, I take this to include even self-deprecating remarks that aren’t so much put-downs as modesty.

With the exception of “blog often and regularly,” I disagree with just about all of this. Not so much in a blanket, “always do these things” fashion - it would be stupid to bore your readers with financial recaps in every post, and I trust my readers to know better - but in a “these things can work if you let them” sort of way.

Example - shutting up the CEO. Are you kidding? Have you ever met a CEO you couldn’t shut up? Actually, the CEO can be a perfect voice for the company. Typically, the CEO is more recognizable to the general public or targeted customer base, and can write more authentically (and authoritatively) about “big ticket” subjects such as company vision and philosophies.  If he or she needs help writing and editing posts, then assign a copyeditor staffer to clean up the posts. Just make sure the CEO understands the need for that person’s services, and has the ego to withstand the revisions - and likewise make sure the staffer understands the job is to clean up the post, not rewrite it wholesale.

Another example - Eve’s “rule” against self-deprecation. While I wouldn’t advocate a business blogger out the company as producing worthless goods or making assertions that directly counter factual information published by the company’s marketing department, a little self-deprecation and a lot of honesty go a very long way. I would absolutely advocate what I call “deep honesty” in business blogging. Be honest: is your product right for all customers, all the time? (I daresay not.) And as a smart marketer, you already know that businesses which target their marketing message with laser-like precision at a niched subgroup of their customer base fare far better than those adopting a scattershot approach. So, why not  ‘fess up in the blog, and let those customers know that in XYZ circumstances, your product probably isn’t the best solution? Be even bolder - tell them whose product is their best solution. That’s right - send them to a competitor. What happens? Your company name becomes synonymous with deep honesty and putting the customer’s needs above its own. This? Is definitely a place you want to be!

When someone presents you with a list of “rules” about blogging, put on your skeptical hat and read with a wary eye. There are no rules, really, for one simple reason: blogging is a conversation, and true, honest conversations have no rules either.

Technorati Tags: business blogs