Earlier in the year I asked readers whether they outsourced any part of their blogging in a poll. By outsourcing I was talking about ‘paying‘ someone else to do something on your blog.
Here are the results after 2195 responses.
I was actually a little surprised that the number was so small because in the introduction to the poll I included things like ‘blog design’ in what could be included in outsourcing.
Here are the types of things that those who said ‘yes’ said that they outsourced:
- tech/managing the backend (updates, plugins etc)
- product creation/design
- writing of posts – staff writers
- writing of posts – ghost writing
- blog/logo design
- marketing
- comment moderation
- SEO
- administrative tasks
- editing/proofing posts
- selling advertising
Darren I am agree with you that many bloggers outsource their blogging work but the majority of those bloggers who don’t outsource their work.
But if any writer want to start a blog,he need everything for his blog.He may be Good writer but not a designer or coder so he has to outsource the work for his blog.
What do you say ?
I’ve voted then and answered ‘no’. And still my answer is the same. I haven’t outsourced any part of my blogging yet. Perhaps later I will ;)
I voted for ‘no’, as i don’t think that it will be profitable for me to outsource any part of my blog. I prefer doing everything myself currently, but my ultimate aim is to generate passive income from blogging, so someday I will be outsourcing writing and marketing.
http://www.dumblittleblogger.com/
I also answered no! I don’t outsource any part of my blog yet.
Thanks.
For anyone trying to make money online, you have to outsource. On TheDebtHawk.com, I don’t have any articles ghost written, but on my OnlineBanksBlog.com, http://www.onlinebanksblog.com , I use some great ghost writers.
I highly encourage bloggers to look into outsourcing article writing.
Nice topic. I was thinking of this same thing when I started a forum. But then I don’t really think it is necessary now. I would only pay for advertising. :)
http://webmaster-success.com
Outsourcing is very much efficient idea of handling things in time. If a blogger who don’t outsource any single bit of work, then I am sure that he still not become a professioanl blogger and he is not making much as he dreamed.
If you are starting to outsource, this is the good sign, you are becoming Pro.
I still not outsource anything. so i have also answered “No”. It shows that i still not become as what i want to.
As my self-editing sills are not superb, I outsource a lot of editing work.
I’ve also recently landed a client in India who needed someone with native English skills to blog for them. Their clients are primarily Americans, and though the employees speak English fluently, they generally don’t have the natural ease and grasp of vernacular as a native speaker/writer.
Reverse outsourcing? Backsourcing?
Some of the things on that list (plugins, blog design, etc.) aren’t hard for bloggers to obtain/modify for free. So I’m not surprised that most bloggers who responded don’t pay for these things.
But I am surprised that more don’t pay for things like marketing and SEO. These are things that each blog has to do for itself, and hiring a professional in these areas can make a big difference.
Wow that means a lot of people are doing everything for their own blogs.
However, advertising – is that really not outsourcing? If you sell you own adverts (banners etc) then you are doing your own advertising, but surely as soon as you use an advert engine of some sort (eg Google, adbrite, chikita) then you are infact outsourcing something.
Perhaps I am just being over-technical :)
Dave
Outsourcing is really best idea when you don’t have enough time to devote on your blog.Even it’s good when you run blog network.
I am also hiring bloggers,marketers and developers to run my blog network efficiently.
@Pascal – interesting point. Is outsourcing a sign of becoming “pro”?
I am agree with @ pascal. Outsourcing is means you are going to rock in blogging business.
I outsource (or rather license) only the theme via Elegant themes (which is like $20/year).
I still heavily edit the code behind it though, and I rather write the posts myself (as I love to write!).
Wow, that is a whole third! I didn’t think that many people outsourced their blogging. I thought it was just something that people did if they owned a business and used a blog to get some clients.
@Dave Higgs
Certainly. Do you feel like that?
Do you think any professional bloggers doing everything by their hand?
I definitely think that blog owners should outsource parts of their blog if they want to grow. Whether that’s blog design or content creation. While blog owners need to be responsible for their content, we also need to grow the blogs.
I “can” do everything but I probably shouldn’t.
This comment is not about this post but I must leave a comment about this blog. It is awesome!
I have implemented some of your suggestions and have already seen benefits. For example, I have a “subscription options” box in a prominent location on my blog and in 2 days my readership via RSS increased by 100%. Thank you!
Perhaps, when we start a blog, we do all the work ourselves. But as time goes by, a point comes where we have to outsource some of the usual stuff that we do in our blogs, especially the manual labor, because we are more focused already on the management of our blogs.
Or maybe, we outsource them because we’ve already ran out of ideas to put in our blogs.
Interesting figure to see. I think the answer Yes/No all depends on the kind of blog and the owner’s goal with it.
Some run a blog like a communication channel for a business. They’re more likely to outsource content creation, link building and technical work.
Writers might outsource the technical part, but want to write all the posts themselves.
And there are bloggers that are on a shoestring budget or like to do everything themselves… I must admit that I do a lot myself, even if it’s only to know how programs work. Saves me a lot of time when I got an error I need fixed a.s.a.p.
-Dave
I recognise my strengths are in business strategy and direction, not in the techo details of blog & website set ups.
Maybe because a lot of bloggers get bogged down with all the technical side of things they miss out on driving the strategic vehicle itself.
I believe I am better spending money on the things that will cause me most grief, so logically I outsource those things.
Official launch of The “Zero To A Hundred K in 30 Days” Blueprint at http://www.YourLawnAndGarden.com is on track for 1st May, 2010 – thanks to outsourcing.
No at present I don’t and some times it gets tough to think up new articles
The next question should be: Of the 29% that do outsource how many of them are making money with their blogs? I’m willing to bet it is a much higher percentage than the folks who don’t.
interesting. I also thought that writing is the main outsourcing task. glad to learn about other common jobs that people now outsource.
Does it count as outsourcing if you beg your husband to do all the technical work? LOL.
I guess if you only write for one or two blogs there isn’t any issue producing content on a daily basis. But when you start running 10s of sites, outsourcing is really required.
I do not outsource my blog, but I do plan on it in the future
The main thing I outsource for is blog design. Banners and buttons, mostly. Graphic design isn’t something I shine at, but I still wanted the best graphics I could afford.
I’m very happy to say that although I’ve spent a couple of hundred on my blog thus far, I’ve made it all back plus a little extra. I consider it worth it.
I was rather surprised to see how high (71%) the numbers were for people who don’t outsource any part of their blog. I was expecting to see numbers that were somewhat different because I imagine that owning a great blog site like problogger requires a lot of effort.
I have a typical newbie blog site; it’s free and easy to use, HTML novice friendly, free of ads, has the WordPress name in its url, hasn’t much outsourcing potential, I love it even with its current limitations yet recognize changes will be needed sometime in the future.
Perhaps I expected more because I have been thinking lately of revamping my blog, adding more to my platform, working on the name, and getting professional, technical help via a web developer/expert for it.
While all my written content is mine, I sorely need help with the technical aspects of it. There is only so much one person can do…
Have a great week ahead!
E
Well, I often think about outsourcing the writing part. But, haven’t gone for outsourcing so far.
I don’t like the part of writing, but when I get to the keyboard, writing seems to be like natural to me.
Regards,
Raja,
http://www.blackoutrollerblindsreview.blogspot.com/
This is interesting!..more people outsource there content than I thought!
I take a more “In-House” approach – I have done absolutely everything on my blog myself – design, posts, coding etc.
I prefer this method because I think it makes you a healthy marketer because as your blog or website grows so does your knowledge and expertise.
It might be considered the hard way to some but I prefer to learn rather than paying someone else to handle it – This way your blogging career/experience becomes much more versatile and enjoyable because your options are not so limited.
Cheers Darren…some interesting results!
Luke Etheridge
Internet-Marketing-Blog.co.uk
i have not outsource yet but might be in future.
You know what made Bill Gates really successful in his chosen careers? He knows what he doesn’t know and hires people that knows the job. With that, he becomes more productive and focus on tasks that he does best. I guess the same is true with outsourcing, you find the right people to work on a specific project and you could have more time on the area that you know better.
Outsourcing is not my choice currently. However, i will consider to do the outsourcing in the short future. I think i need a professional web designer to help me to design my blog. I also need someone to help me in SEO.
Outsourcing is understandable if you have a business blog.
But it would be vanity if someone does that for fame.
Interesting results and questions. Let me add: Can you give us the breakdown for how many people outsourced the specific tasks you listed? I’d like to see what people are more likely to source. Thanks
I recently began outsourcing a little and it’s proving to be a smart move for me. Learning the technical aspects of coding and online business strategies have gobbled up a lot of my time, not leaving much energy or time for creating unique & useful content. At least that’s been my experience up to this point. I’m a diehard DIY’r and love learning, so DIY has worked very well for me in several ventures before now, but this blogging thing has been kicking my b*tt. =)
The perfectionist in me probably needs to chill out a little more. Lol
So far I’ve only outsourced some of the coding. It was easier to start there because my son is a software developer and I know he has my back if someone messes me up. But I’d prefer to never have to go there because he’s busy building his own business. Fortunately the tech guy I’ve been using has been great, so I haven’t had to.
Next I’ll need to look at outsourcing some SEO and design work for a sales page and ebook, but have concerns about going there since it’s a bigger leap of trust. I’d be interested in hearing suggestions or other peoples experiences with making this leap.
Since finding this blog, and a few other good ones, the volatility of my learning curve has finally calmed down.
A massive THANKS for all you do here, Darren!
You know the saying ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. Do what you do well. Admit your deficiencies and outsource those aspects. Thanks.
Nice article. . . We have not yet outsourced our blogging – and we do not have any plans to do so as yet.
NO I hav’nt done it yet but I think it’s good idea. I’m designer n developer myself so I can do that.
Hey Darren,
Well, if you think about it, there are so many blogs that are made each day, and you have to assume since Problogger is all about optimizing you blog, the majority of visitors are new bloggers (like me, for example). If I decided that blog monetization was a realistic approach over time, then I would put some money into it with the hope of getting it back and moresome. However, at this point in my blogging career I definetaly am in the ‘test the waters’ stage and do not want to make it an investment… yet. I am sure that the reason why the poll went in favor of not outsourcing is because these people are new to the blogosphere and are not sure where they want to go yet or they are hesitant to decide if monetization is a trail worth walking on.
I do believe outsourcing can be beneficial but you must do your homework and find the right professional to either write posts for you or do the technical end of it. I was thinking about outsourcing for one of my blogs.
As per your post from a few days ago, I’m deep in the foundation one part of developing my blog, basically filling it with content. In relation to your foundation guide, when would you suggest the best time to start outsourcing if someone (like myself) who are strong on the content side of things but are weak on the technical side and wanted a more professional looking blog/site?
Thanks
Most bloggers don’t outsource until they become profitable.
Hi guys,
I’m not really surprised about the polls. Because I think that most bloggers in the beginning stages can’t afford to pay anyone to outsource.
Kind regards,
Sam
X
Wow! Quite honestly, I wish I had the resources to do this.
I am into 71% don’t outsource any work of my blogging these days.
Am i in 29%? He… it’s nice to know the real fact!
I’ve just stumbled upon your site while searching for a tutorial on an related subject. Glad I did too. There’s a lot I like. Anyway, you’ve been bookmarked and I’ll be back soon. :)
Great discussion. And I REALLY like that you practice what you preach. That’s when you can tell a post has come together.
And I’m also fascinated by how fresh you made the routine [admit it: what you just shared has been regurgitated millions of time. ;-)].
Ben Johnson said people don’t need taught as much as they need reminding.
Good work.