Instigator Blog

I get asked that question a lot. Friends and other bloggers ask because they’re curious about how much time I spend blogging. Clients and prospects ask because they’re nervous about the time commitment.

I usually reply with a question of my own, “Are you talking about the time I’m thinking about blogging and the content I want to produce, or just the time it physically takes to type stuff out?”

Typing up a blog post takes anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. It rarely takes longer than that, although occasionally it does when I’m hunting around for a great image. Ultimately, it’s not the writing (and editing) time that’s significant - it’s the thinking time.

Blogging successfully means adopting a new mindset.

That’s really the challenge. When you get neck-deep into blogging you realize that the physical act of writing is nothing more than getting pre-written blog posts out of your head. They’re pre-written because you’ve been thinking about them already, sometimes for days or even weeks.

The Blogger Mindset has a few elements:

1. You become much more observant. Bloggers are observant people. They have to be. They need something to put into their blog tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. The Blogger Mindset means that you’re always looking around for something interesting to spur on a post. It might be a funny anecdote, an experience you’re having in life, or a song you’re listening to that triggers an idea. You’re always asking, “How can I turn that into a blog post?”
2. You become more focused. Bloggers need to focus. Whether it’s on one idea for a blog post or on the news in their industry / subject of choice, the Blogger Mindset means more focus. It is easy to get distracted when you start tracking hundreds of blogs and feeds, but successful bloggers know the importance of focus and they’re mastering it daily.
3. You become more of a salesperson. Bloggers need to be salespeople. Why? Because you’re selling your blog and its content. You’re selling it as important, meaningful, entertaining, worthwhile…and the more you blog and get into the Blogger Mindset the more you want to grow your audience and community. The result of that is becoming a better salesperson. In blog terms, selling means writing great headlines & copy and networking online.
4. You become more social. Blogging isn’t a one-way form of communication. There’s plenty of interaction involved. You want people commenting on your blog. As a result of blogging and developing the Blogger Mindset you’ll find yourself being more open and accessible, wanting to socialize and interact with people all the time. This is key component of blogging and part of why it takes commitment and time.
5. You become more strategic. Bloggers are strategic in a number of ways. As your blog gains popularity you’ll start looking for ways of leveraging that opportunity. Heck, opportunities will just come to you, but you have to be in the Blogger Mindset to recognize them and pounce on them. The Blogger Mindset means being strategic about what you post, how, when, why…you’re no longer just writing whatever comes to you, whenever you want.

   It also means being strategic in terms of planning the development of your blog and using it as a springboard to other things. Your blog becomes part and parcel of everything you do. It’s strategically placed at the core of all other activities, things you’re doing, and how you think.

So, how much time does it take to blog?

How many hours are you awake in the day?

Welcome to the Blogger Mindset.

After some nudging from a few people (I won’t name names: Mitch, Austin and Chris) I decided to give Twitter a chance.

You can see the widget in my first sidebar on the right. That now tells you (as accurately as I so choose) what I’m up to. Scary, huh?

When I first heard about Twitter I was not impressed. Do I really need to know what everyone is doing down to the minute?

It seems so compulsive, obsessive and over-the-top. And in many ways it is. It plays beautifully (or frighteningly) towards our natural instincts as humans to know what others are doing. We’re all Peeping Toms and voyeurs at heart - Twitter let’s us do that very easily.

We also like to think of ourselves as rock stars (why not!) and when you start to see the number of people following you grow that’s exactly what you feel like. Bam! There goes my ego! Robert Scoble is apparently being followed by everyone in Twitter. Maybe not, but he’s got over 850 followers in there tracking his every move.

One friend emailed me and said, “Welcome to Twitter Hell…” which I can only assume means I’ll spend too much time reading my friends’ 1-sentence long bits on what they’re doing, watching as updates roll in on the site or through my phone.

Here are some quick observations:

• Twitter is fun. You can’t help but get roped in to tracking what your friends are doing, updating them every time you sneeze and watching your list of friends and followers grow. What I found particularly interesting is that a couple people I know who aren’t considered great communicators are using Twitter heavily.
• Twitter is being used for 2-way communication. People are actually communicating with specific friends through Twitter and not using it solely to broadcast what they’re doing. I recently wrote a message @jeremywright about his current trip to Vegas. Although everyone can see it, Twitter is creating actual dialogues and not just bits of information floating all over.
• Twitter is forming a sub-culture. There’s no question that Twitter is forming a sub-culture of people connected through it. Soon, people won’t ask, “Do you blog?” The question will be, “Do you Twitter?” (or “Are you a twit?” - but that might be for a different reason.)
• Twitter might be a flavor du jour. I can see a point in time when people get bored with or tired of Twitter. After 1 day I already feel anxiety about making sure it’s regularly updated and used effectively. That might be more telling about me than anything else. But, at some point I can imagine people deciding it’s not worth updating regularly and then letting it slide. Twitter only works if people use it a lot.

I’m going to try very hard not to get too sucked into Twitter. But it’s amazing the type of people using it - people who are so insanely busy it’s not funny. But they’re still updating Twitter a few times per day. That says something for sure.

In the meantime, feel free to check out my Twitter profile and add me as a friend.

Giving good presentations is hard. Public speaking is a true skill that you can develop over time; a combination of art and science. Thinking about my upcoming presentation in May for SOBCon 07 - The Relationship Bloggers’ Conference, I can’t help but hone in on those words I know don’t belong.

• MAKE SOME NOISE!!! Unless you’re at the MTV Music Awards this isn’t much of a crowd pleaser. The key point is this: Know Thy Audience. Your audience should dictate your style, approach, the words you use, etc. If you can’t modify your pitch to your audience you’ll turn people off quicker than you can say…
• Um… The dreaded “um” is so commonplace in our speech we often overlook it. But when you’re standing in front of a crowd, selling ‘em whatever you’re selling ‘em (and don’t be mistaken: you ARE selling) too many “ums” shows a lack of preparedness and comfort.
• Did That Make Sense? Actually, it didn’t. And on top of that, because you had to ask me I’m so disengaged at this point that I’ve started playing a game on my BlackBerry. The key here: Practice. Do it in front of a mirror. Do it in the shower. Do it in front of others. Do it in public. If you present in front of friends and family who aren’t in your field of expertise and they get it, you’ve got yourself a winner.
• What Else Can I Show You? I don’t know, you tell me, that’s why you’re standing up there on the stage and I’m sitting here eagerly in the crowd. Presentations are stories - they need a beginning, middle and end. It doesn’t matter the setting, format or style of presentation/conference/meeting. If you’re standing in front of people and telling them something, you’re spinning a story. And that means it needs all the elements of a good one.
• I Guess That’s It. Well is that the end or not? You would know better than me. Blog professionals often talk about ending strongly, and the same holds true when giving a presentation. Even saying, “That’s the end” is kind of lame - your final point (and the entire presentation arc) should make it obvious enough, and you should be able to transition instantly into the next step - be it questions, slinking off the stage, hours of clapping…

So, I guess that’s it.

Kidding.

Public speaking is the sort of thing that makes grown men cry, and buckles people to their knees. We all know it’s daunting, which is all the more reason to master the 4 Ps of Presentations:

1. Prepare. You might not need a word-for-word script, but prepare something. Make sure your story is compelling, entertaining and worth listening to.
2. Practice. You need to practice. Even veteran presenters practice. Make sure you at least read it out loud a few times to develop a good rhythm.
3. Pronunciate. You need to speak clearly. There’s no room for mumbling in a presentation. Let me toss another P in there - Project. Speak clearly and firmly to get your point across.
4. Participate. You should always try to engage your audience. The sooner they feel like they’re part of what you’re doing, the better.

Every blogger is faced with situations that don’t allow them to publish as frequently as normal. Could be a slump. Maybe they’re too busy. Or…wait for it…they could be taking a vacation!

When there’s some planned time away from the computer lots of bloggers will set the publish date on stories in advance, so the stories go live automatically - but that’s not always the case.

My last post was Tuesday, February 27th - probably the longest gap ever. The reason: I was moving. A new house means lots and lots and lots of boxes. It took me 2 days to crawl out from under the boxes, let alone squeeze my arse out from behind the dryer that I had to install.

But I’m back! And along with a host of other major changes in my life (to be discussed soon, I promise) I’m hopping back into the blog saddle.

Thinking about the blog saddle a bit more, here are 6 steps to help:

1. Read More. Now is a great time to catch up on some reading - be it your feeds, or, dare I say it, an actual book. I spent a few days reading some magazines and the newspaper, letting new ideas and thoughts percolate in the back of my head.
2. Take Some More Time Off. Sounds strange - you’ve already been out of blogging for awhile - but take some more time off anyway. Don’t rush it. If you jump back in desperate to publish something the result won’t be as good as you want. So don’t panic; get back into the swing of things by taking just a little more time off to prepare.
3. Think About a Series of Posts. While you’re taking just a little bit more time off you should think about writing a series of posts. A series is a great way to get back into things because you’re preparing a few posts in a row and thinking longer term. Instead of trying to get back on the saddle with just one post, you’re now thinking about a real story arc that can help re-build momentum.
4. Write What You Always Wanted To But Never Did. Every blogger has a post or two in his/her mind that’s been sitting there for ages. Now is the time to finally spit it out. If you don’t, you might lose it and never find the right opportunity again. Maybe it’s a controversial post, or something a bit out of synch with what you normally write…that’s fine! Give it a shot. Grab your readers’ attention back quickly and suck ‘em in.
5. Keep It Simple. No matter what you do, keep it simple. The worst thing you could do is blurt out a million different ideas in a hundred posts in a very fast period of time. You’ll overwhelm your audience. And as Darren Rowse points out in a recent survey he did, most people unsubscribe from a blog because of too many posts. Shock and awe isn’t really suited to blogging, especially when you first get back into it.
6. Give Me Something Unique. Don’t come back into blogging with a link post, or something that might be considered “content filler.” Give me something unique, interesting, thought provoking, funny. Your first post back has to really resonate with people, who may already have forgotten you were there. Hey, people are fickle! So keep it simple but don’t be chintzy. (Granted, a post about how to get back into blogging might not be the most unique; so I may be breaking my own rule!)

Getting back into the blog saddle isn’t easy. You may be a bit unmotivated, distracted, tired, overwhelmed, bored…Even if you’re absolutely raring to go it’s not always obvious how to jump back in. Ultimately you just do it. You won’t be wholly judged on that first post, so don’t throw yourself into a frenzy about it. Write something, make it as good as you can, and plan the next few posts as quickly as possible. You don’t want to tease people with one post only to disappear right after.

The most important thing is to find your groove again, and as soon as possible. I know my groove is packed away in a box somewhere…if only I had labeled these boxes better! Kitchen, bathroom, dining room, blog groove…

Photo by Rexys Lightgarden.