It’s Been Awhile

“It’s been a while
Since I could hold my head up high
and it’s been a while
Since I first saw you”
– A. Lewis

Has it really been that long since I last blogged? Wow. When I started this blog, I told myself I would blog at a minimum of once a week. Looks like I just barely made it with today’s post.

Life and work have been busy. That’s the usual excuse for not keeping up with a blog. Unfortunately, infrequent updates are also the usual reason readers abandon a blog. I sure wouldn’t want you to do that, goodness no!

In brainstorming a post for today, I thought: how is an entrepreneur to balance a regularly-updated blog and a start-up? Some business owners do this well. Many others, I suspect, are like me and sometimes find it tough to do both. What’s a busy entrepreneur to do?

Here are a few ideas:

Schedule It
Carve out some time in your schedule to blog. Maybe it’s in the mornings, right after you check emails. Maybe it’s at night, right before you go to bed. It may not be easy to find time in a busy schedule, but if you are like me and run your life with a calendar, whatever isn’t make it to your calendar won’t make it into your day. So schedule it.
Write a Bunch at a Time
Don’t have any spare hours to write? Perhaps there is an occasional slow work day. Take advantage of this block of free time to write a bunch of entries. Then schedule them to be published throughout the week or month. By their very nature, these entries can’t be about daily events, so pick time-insensitive topics.
Hire a Ghost Writer
This technique is controversial, though some celebrities do it (and on Twitter too). If you are a business owner and are trying to establish a brand for yourself or your company, I would highly recommend against this tactic, however. Instead, consider the next tip:
Assign a Team of Bloggers
Do away with the idea of your own personal blog and select some responsible & word-crafty members of your company to operate a company blog. You may want to write an occasional entry so your readers can hear (see?) your voice. Of course, this effectively means you’re running a group blog and not a personal blog anymore.
Write Shorter Posts
If you are prone to somewhat-verbose entries like me, consider writing a short post here and there. They are quicker and easier to do, not to mention a lot less stressful.
Use Alternate Publication Tools
Speaking of short posts, there are other publication tools that are formatted for smaller entries, such as Twitter, Tumblr, and Posterous. Consider using one of those for your self-publication needs.
Use Alternate Devices to Blog
If being at a computer is difficult because you are frequently traveling, then download a blogging app for your mobile device, such as WordPress on Blackberry, WordPress on iPhone, TypePad on Blackberry, Blogger from Blackberry, or MoveableType from iPhone. There are plenty more out there too.
Give It Up
Ultimately, it is a matter of prioritizing your workload within a finite amount of time. If there are simply too many other important responsibilities, maybe it is time to retire your blog. Bid bye-bye to your abandoned blog.

Of these tactics, I try to schedule some time to blog and occasionally write a bunch at a time. Once in a while, I’ll do a shorter post just to get an idea or comment out. But to make sure my blog doesn’t start attracting cobwebs, maybe I’ll need to schedule a weekly time for them.

These are just some ideas I’ve heard of or thought up. Do you have any other suggestions?

Author: Mike Lee

An idealistic realist, humanistic technologist & constant student.