Finding Time to Blog

For those about to blog, I salute you. However, don’t simply blog for the sake of blogging. Yes, a great many people are currently doing it. More than a handful are doing it well, albeit often with some outside help. But, before you begin blogging, you need to ask yourself: “Do I have time to blog?”

It’s true. The most important thing to consider when creating a blog is just how much time you can devote to a blog. It’s simply unrealistic to think that blogging is something you can do for even a half-hour every week. Sure, sometimes you may be able to do it. But, you want to make sure you have plenty of content waiting in the wings for when you get writer’s block. The last thing you want to happen is to simply put off your blog.

Should You Have Someone Blog For You?

If you’re running your own website, posting weekly to your blog is fine. However, most experts will tell you that you should blog at least three times a week. This is a good idea, as it keeps your content consistently fresh. A website that is updated roughly every 48 hours definitely looks good to the search engine crawler bots. But, do you have time to blog that much?

Whatever you do, make sure you’re putting out only quality content on your blog. If that is only possible once per week, that’s fine. Still, you should shoot towards at least having a decent short post to accompany it sometime during the week. Whether that’s earlier or later in the week is up to you.

While it’s not for everyone, you could consider guest bloggers. It’s good to have a group of good writers that can produce content for you on a regular basis. This way if you fall behind, you have some good content still going up on the website. It also can benefit your guest writers with backlinks and exposure for their own work.

Don’t Abandon Your Blog!

Don’t just start a blog, post a whole bunch of content to it, and then leave the site abandoned for months at a time. This happens far too often; it’s sad to say. Sometimes, those blogs sit there for years with nothing new posted.

Keep in mind that things will come up. Suddenly, you could find yourself not having posted on the blog in three or four months. That not only looks bad in the search engine rankings, but it also looks bad to visitors. Blog inactivity makes it look like you gave up. That’s a terrible thing in the eyes of online visitors.

So, yes, make sure you are making time to blog before you start blogging. Sometimes, if you can only write a few words, go ahead and write them. They may be the basis for an entire post later. And, yes, you can always hire outside help to put your ideas into action. There are plenty of writers out there to help you do it.

Whatever you decide, make sure you’re posting genuinely valuable blog content. If you don’t have the time to blog right now, find someone to manage it for you. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in-house or contracted outside, as long as it’s written well and well-targeted to your audience.

If you want to start a blog, don’t put it off. The later you start, the longer it takes to get results. So, post early and often with only the best quality posts you can. Whether you find the time to blog yourself, or have someone help you keep your blog active, eventually, you’re sure to get results in the form of new visitors and potential customers & clients.

~ Amelia <3