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The EzineArticles blog has a great post about a method of “writing” multiple blog posts in a short amount of time. I put “writing” in quotes because you don’t actually write anything.

Instead, you use your voice. Basically, you record yourself and pretend that you’re giving a seminar to a live audience. Next, you take your recording and send it to a transcription service. After they send you the transcription, you separate and edit the text into multiple blog posts and publish it online.

The reason this method works so well is because most of us speak faster than we can write. Also, it forces us to split up the writing and editing process. Too often bloggers get bogged down with editing while writing the first draft. It’s much more time efficient to write a crappy first draft and then edit it.

The post states that you can expect to pay the transcription services about $60-$100 USD/per hour of audio. However, I’ve had good results using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk for less than $20/hour.

Voice recognition software is also an option. I bought Dragon NaturallySpeaking software and use it to create my longer posts (500+ words). I would use it for my shorter posts but I think I’ve gained enough blogging experience to create a short post quickly without having to use audio.

Have you ever come up with a blog post idea when the farthest thing from your mind at the moment was blogging?

If you haven’t started blogging, you’ll find that once you start, you’ll get ideas when you least expect them.

You could be in a restaurant hanging out with friends when you randomly think of a post topic your blog audience would enjoy. Or you could be driving around town doing some errands when inspiration strikes. For some business bloggers, they get their best ideas while exercising. For me, the moments right after I wake up seem to be when my subconscious works in overdrive and gives me multiple blog post ideas.

The subconscious is a weird animal. It likes to give us good ideas at the weirdest moments. It’s almost like if you’re not focusing on blogging, you get the best ideas.

Ever heard of writer’s block? I’ll often turn on my laptop and prepare to write, but my mind is blank. I can’t think of anything to write. However, just a couple minutes ago while watching TV or reading a magazine, I had some good ideas. It’s too bad I can’t remember any of them.

Take Advantage of Those Moments of Inspiration

To prevent the above event from happening, I started carrying 3×5 index cards and a pen with me wherever I go. Whenever I unexpectedly get an idea, I immediately write it down so I don’t forget it. While driving, I bring a small voice recorder because it’s hard (and unsafe) to write while driving.

You don’t have to be low tech like me. Use your favorite PDA if you have one. PDAs make great idea capturing tools.

This idea capturing process has helped me overcome writer’s block. By the time I sit down to write my next blog post, I already have some ideas to work with.

By harnessing my fickle yet creative subconscious, blogging has been much easier for me. I think this is because much of the difficultly in blogging is coming up with enough blog post topics.

Over to You

How do you capture your ideas? When does your subconscious give you ideas unexpectedly?

One of the first things I get asked from new business bloggers is how often they should post. Here are a couple principles to consider when determining your post frequency.

1. Consistency matters.

The most profitable blog audience is filled with many repeat visitors. Repeat visitors are more likely to be your loyal customers since they are exposed over and over to your brand. If the vast majority of your audience is one-time visitors, it can be hard to generate a consistent stream of revenue from your blog.

One effective way to attract repeat visitors to post consistently. This means having a regular publishing schedule like a magazine. It would be bad if a magazine published four issues one month, one issue the next month, and then eight issues the third month. In the same way, it’s not a good idea to publish six posts one week, one post the next week, two posts on the third week, and then five posts the fourth week.

Your readers want to know what to expect. Once you get a regular posting schedule going, you’ll find that many readers will start checking your blog for new content on the days you regularly publish.

2. Your word count per post affects your posting schedule.

The longer your posts are, the less posts per week you can afford to write.

What’s the bare minimum posting schedule? Here are my rough guidelines.

If you write less than 250 words per post, you should be posting at least 3-4 times a week. If your posts are in the 250 to 500 word range, you should post at least twice a week. If you write longer posts (500 or more words), you should post at least once a week.

3. Don’t set the bar too high.

New business bloggers often set unrealistic expectations. They’ll start with a high post frequency that is unsustainable in the long run. When they can’t keep up the posting schedule, they get frustrated and disappointed with themselves.

If you’re new to blogging, it can be easy to underestimate the time and effort it takes to write consistently. Therefore, don’t set your expectations too high.

4. Write posts ahead of time.

Emergencies will happen on posting days and you won’t be able to write your scheduled post. That’s why it’s important to write posts ahead of time.

You should have one or two days a week where you write a post but don’t publish it. Those days should be on your publishing schedule. By writing these “backup posts”, you’ll have something to publish on the days when you’re supposed to be writing but you get too busy or an emergency comes up. (By the way, I like using WordPress as my blogging software, because it allows you to publish posts on a later date.)

This principle works really well if you haven’t launched your blog. You can write a couple posts before your blog goes live. This backlog of “backup posts” ensures that you will be publishing regularly at the start of your blog.

5. It’s okay to take (infrequent) breaks.

Vacations are good for the soul. Just make sure to tell your audience that you will be gone. Tell them when you’ll be back so they know when to start reading again.

Feedback

How do you deal with posting frequency on your blog?