Can't write? Can't blog? Use a recorder & transcriber

By Joan Stewart

If you’re still not blogging because you’re not a very good writer, or you don’t have time to write, here’s an easy solution.

Dictate your thoughts about a topic into a hand-held recorder. Then, find an assistant to transcribe what you’ve recorded and—voila!—you’ve got a blog post.

I was talking to one of my clients, Harry Dennis of TEC/Vistage, this morning, and he was commenting about how a few of his members blog but that most—all CEOs, company presidents and business owners—know they should blog but just don’t have the time. Some, he said, can’t write.

He loved my idea about the recorder.

If you think a transcribed version won’t be as “nice” as something you’ve written, get over it. One of the biggest impediments to blogging is perfection. When I started blogging at The Publicity Hound’s Blog, I wanted my blog to be perfect but soon learned that posting frequently means other things have to fall by the wayside.

  
What frustrated me

My biggest frustrations included:

—Not having time to link from within the blog to relevant websites that would interest my readers. All that linking takes a lot of time to check and double-check. So I don’t always link when I’m in a huarry.

—Not finding attractive photos and graphics to dress up the copy. I soon discovered stock photo services, and that solved the problem. But if I don’t have time to download photos, I don’t. The search engines can still find the content, however.

—Not having enough time. I try to make it a habit to blog first thing in the morning when my mind is freshest.

—Not being able to do all the research I want to do when I write about a certain topic. I’ve learned that mixing short posts with long and medium-size ones seems to keep everybody happy. Everybody, it seems, is pressed for time, and readers like short posts, too.

  
What’s frustrating you?

What are your biggest frustrations that are either keeping you from starting a blog or from blogging more often? Have you found shortcuts to blogging that you’d like to share? Is there anything about blogging that makes you crazy?