To Blog or Not To Blog… – VAology Virtual Assistants

Out of all the things you do on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis, how many of you find that writing blog posts is one thing you just dread? Between the phone calls, emails, social media, scheduling appointments, networking, and everything else you do, writing a “quick” 500 word post for the website can easily drop to the bottom of your priority list.

Yeah, you know about SEO and that consistent content is pretty much CRITICAL to build a business online… but it’s near impossible to really keep up with the constant changes and try to stay a step ahead of your competitors. And if your FB Page or Group is getting decent engagement and your website’s not getting much traffic at all anyway, forget about it. What’s the point, right?!

Think again, my friends!

Yes, Google’s algorithms and search processes are constantly changing. Yes, Facebook is an excellent way to keep engagement and interaction going. And we totally understand that sitting down to write blog posts can be a painstakingly difficult thing to do with your precious business-running time! However… search engine rankings, customer engagement analytics, return customer occurrences, and overall conversion rates ALL indicate that
blogging is an essential part of your business marketing strategy.

Like it or not, it’s kind of a must.

If you find yourself in a blogging rut or just aren’t quite convinced it’s worth your time, energy, or effort, here’s a quick breakdown to help put things in perspective…

The Obstacle:
“I don’t know what to write about.”

The DIY Solution

Give em what they ask for!
Go back through the last 10-20 emails, texts, FB messages, or calls you have gotten from a client or potential client. What questions did they ask? What issues were they concered with? Why were they coming to you? In other words, what things were on their plate that they came to your for help with or an answer for. THOSE are the things you write about!

The VAology Solution

Let us ask for you!
Your VA get set up a quick and simple online survey and send a link out via email, text, social media, etc. to your current and potential clients. We can even create an ad campaign to attract people within your ideal client parameters, but that haven’t even heard of you yet. We put serious thought and strategy behind each question in the survey so that the answers you receive will help you know what is on your potential client’s mind – what they’re thinking about, what they need, etc. This gives you an amazing view into what topics you can write blogs about to really capture the attention and interest of your audience.

Result

Trust, Respect, Appreciation
Not only will your audience love the value and content you’re sharing, but they’ll see you as a source of genuine and generous information and answers to their real-life problems.

The Obstacle:
“I simply do not have the time.”

The DIY Solution

5 Minute Recording Ritual
This is one of our *favorite* things to implement with new clients. Here’s how it works… First, you’ll need an audio recorder. There are apps available to do this on your cell phone, but you can also purchase a digital audio recorder or just record the audio on your laptop or desktop computer. Either way, this is literally 5 minutes of you talking about a topic, question, or idea in a way that would provide value and spark engagement with your ideal clients. IN other words, instead of sitting down to type and having to worry about grammar, organization your thoughts into written words, etc., you can simply talk through the main points and ideas verbally. This method is quick and easy and can be done in any spare 5 minutes that pop up during your week. Ideally, you’d schedule 1 5 minute block at least 3-4 times per week. Think about it – 5 minutes. This could be during a commute or as a quick task just before or after you lunch break. Find a time to plug in 5 minutes. Once your audio is done, your might just come to a few interesting conclusions. Maybe you’re better able to articulate your ideas and thoughts through speaking than through writing, maybe it’s a lot faster to speak than to write, and/or oftentimes you’ll finish one recording and have a few new, awesome ideas pop in your head for your next recordings. All that’s left obe done then is to either transcribe the audio into typed words OR just listen to the audio as inspiration for typing up new blog posts. **BONUS** With a bit of editing and an intro/outro, this could become a podcast episode!

The VAology Solution

One Part of a Greater Whole
These 5-minute audio files are such a great way for us to get to know our client’s voice, views, syle, and opinions quickly. We have gotten super efficient at typing up what we hear, and are easily able to beef it up, refine it, and make it into a beautiful and effective blog post. *BONUS* From that same text, we can create and schedule several social media posts, create infographics or memes, and use the info to help us plan upcoming articles, newsletters, classes, etc.

Result

Creating a Symphony
For any of you music lovers out there, think of this like creating the basic melody – the foundational piano, cello, or flute piece… and from that single pieces, you end up creating a symphony of content, ideas, and useful information for your brand and your audience.

Obstacle:
“I’m just not good at writing.”

The DIY Solution

Truth or Excuse?
First of all, are you really not good at writing, or is this just an excuse? We believe you, we just want you to reevaluate why you have this thought. Are grammar and spelling errors holding you up? There are so many online tools and sites to help with spell checking and grammar – Grammarly is one that we have installed right in our browsers and we love it! We had one client who used this phrase all the time and, come to find out his biggest concern was that he had terrible handwriting and was a slow typer! we heped him overcome the need to place a time limit on his typing and also got him rolling with the DIY Solution from Obstacle #2 and he’s well on his way! We promise there are solutions out there to help you! Don’t give up!

The VAology Solution

We love you anyway!
Sloppy handwriting? Have a hard time getting all of that brilliant info in your brain out into clear sentences on paper? Can’t spell worth beens? (haha) We totally get it! So you weren’t born with a sixth sense to determine “i before e’s” or when to use a semicolon – it’s okay! Our team of copywriters and editors LOVE what they do! They enjoy finding misspelled words to correct or sentence structures to fix. Don’t stress about the “writing” part of blog posts – just hand it on over and let our VA’s do what they do best.

Result

Get Better or Get a VA
It’s very possible that the more you write, the better you will get at it! Maybe it’s time for you to work on or develop this set of skills, and maybe you just “think” you’re not great at it, but once you start, you’ll realize you’re better than you realized! On the other hand, you might discover that writing really just isn’t your forte. Big deal! That only helps confirm the talents, gifts, and skills you DO have… and you’ll get to work with an amazing VA as a bonus!

Obstacle:
“I should be doing _______ instead.”

The DIY Solution

Cost vs Payoff
How much is your time worth, and out of everything on your to do list, where is your time best spent? These can be tricky questions to answer. We are all for spending your time and energy wisely, but it’s important to keep in mind both the short-term and long-term costs and benefits of how you choose to spend your time. Sure, taking the time to write 1 blog post per week will definitely take time away from something else you could be doing. Then again, that one post might resonate with a particular client that could really turn into a wonderful long-term relationship. And the SEO and user engagement benefits might be enough to throw it over the edge. Either that, or the cost of your time doing online research, creating an outline, deciding exactly what to share, spending the time to write, then edit and refine… all of that could be way too much and, quite frankly, your energy is worth too darn much for that. The truth is, there’s no cookie-cutter answer for this. You really do have to look at your individual situation and determine where your heart, mind, and minutes are best spent.

The VAology Solution

Learn to Delegate
The bottom line is, if your time is better spent on things other than keeping up your blog, it’s time to delegate it. And, the truth is, you have probably already had a sense or an idea of whether or not outsourcing your blog writing would be a smart idea. So, what’s the hang up? Well, we’ll be the first to admit that great copywriters are rare and difficult to come by! And it’s only because we have had the bad experiences in the past that we have learned when to appreciate and hang onto a great writer when we find one! Our copywriters really are the cream of the crop. They love their craft and they put utmost respect and effort into creating content that fits your brand and illustrates your voice. **BONUS** We always have our junior designers create fantastic blog post images to go with each written piece.

Result

Clarity and Priority
As you evaluate the cost and payoffs of the decisions you make regarding your time and how to spend in, we really do believe you’ll discover a greater sense of clarity and priority. A quick evaluation every once in a while is a great way to keep yourself in check and to ensure that you really are putting your efforts into the things that you love and that will generate the greatest time, energy, and financial benefits in the long run.

The Obstacle:
“I have no excuse, I just flat don’t want to do it.”

The DIY Solution

Keeping It Real
Maybe the solution here is to, in the spirit of being totally true to yourself, just decide that it’s okay to choose not to do something that you’re just not into. And, if you’ve reviewed the DIY solutions above, you’ve already either found a solution or idea to try OR we’ve just confirmed that you really REALLY don’t want to do the blog thing. So be it! BUT… don’t write it off completely. If you haven’t caught on yet, blogs really are a worthwhile ongoing marketing effort. Just head on over to the column to the right and BAM, there’s your DIY solution… DIY with VAology!

The VAology Solution

We Will Do It For You
Keeping our client’s blogs up-to-date, consistent, engaging, and effective is one of our favorite things to do! We’ve got the right team members in place and ready to take this off of your plate. So… what are you waiting for?

Result

Do More of What You Love
When you finally free up the brain space the whole “blog thing” is taking up in your head and just come to terms with not wanting to do it and outsourcing it to a team of awesome VA’s, that brain space and energy will be available for you to puts towards something else! So take that bit of extra time and energy and do something that you actually WANT to do!

While this is by no means a comprehensive list, we’re guessing there’s 1 or 2 things you might be able to relate to here… and whether the solutions provided are a good fit for you or not, we encourage you to overcome your “blogstacles” and start seeking solutions to get you to the results you need to see your business thrive!

If you’d like to chat more about different levels of marketing support or would just love to have a few tasks or projects taken off your plate, feel free to schedule a call or send us a note and we’ll be in touch soon!