I’d like to run a quick poll in this post that examine the idea of outsourcing.

You see more and more I’m talking to bloggers (big and small) and am hearing that they outsource at least some of their blogging activities.

Perhaps the most common of these is hiring designers or writers – but there are many other activities that I see blogger outsource.

Here are some of those that I’ve seen bloggers do as well as a few suggestions from my followers on Twitter:

Please note – I’m talking about ‘paid outsourcing’ - not guest posts or getting a friend to help you with some aspect of your blog or even buying a blog template – but paying others to do some aspect of your blogging.

• Blog Design
• SEO
• Paid Blog Writing
• Comment Moderation
• Selling Advertising
• Administrative Tasks (like managing email)
• Post Editing
• Tech – Looking after the Back End
• Creation of Products (E-Books)

I’m sure there are many other things that could be added to this list (and I invite you to do so below).

So now you know the type of things I’m talking about – do you outsource any aspect of your blogging?

PS: again, I’m talking about outsourcing to freelancers or paid staff in some way and not buying a blog template or getting someone to do some of these things for free.

If you’re a blogger where English is not your first language – I’d love to get your participation in this discussion.

Recently I surveyed subscribers to my newsletter on the challenges that face them going into 2010. Quite a few of the responses to that question came from bloggers for whom English was not a first language.

The problems that this group of bloggers presented to me were numerous but two recurring challenges were:

• Not knowing which language that they should blog in – should they blog in their own first language and have a smaller potential readership or blog in English where their readership could be larger but where they had challenges in writing as well?
• Feeling isolated from other bloggers – a number reflected that at times they felt that they were not taken as seriously by bloggers in other parts of the world and found networking difficult.

As a blogger who speaks no other language but English I’m probably not the person to bring much wisdom to this topic – however I’d love to get the thoughts, experiences, tips and stories of bloggers who have been in this situation in comments below.

My hope is that this post will not only give bloggers struggling with these and other issues a place to tell of their challenges – but that some might also share how they approach the challenges and give some tips and advice for bloggers from a non English speaking background. I’d also love to hear stories of (and see examples of) your successes (and those of others) as I know that the blogosphere is alive and well in all corners of the globe.

If you’d like to share in your own language and/or English I’m happy for you to do so in any way that you feel comfortable.

I’m looking forward to reading what is shared below.

Last week we published a post by Jade Craven which contained a list of 30 bloggers to watch in 2010 from her perspective.

As tends to happen with these kinds of posts – the list caused a lot of discussion!

Not only did people post comments about it and Tweet up a storm – some bloggers even put together alternative lists of bloggers that they are watching in 2010 (see Sherri’s list here for example).

Sherri’s list got me thinking – perhaps it’s time for a mini ProBlogger ‘Group Writing Project’.

My hope is that this little project will not only highlight some great bloggers, but that it’ll help bloggers generate a little link love from one blog to another within niches and also be useful to your readers (and hopefully some of these posts will generate some buzz for your blogs – these types of lists generally do!).

Your Task is to write a ‘Bloggers to Watch’ post on your blog

Jade’s list last week was a list of bloggers that she’s watching (and as a result did have a focus upon a certain type of blogger that she follows) – but my hope is that this little project will generate some lists of bloggers that focus upon all kinds of niches/industries.

• If you’re a craft blogger – write a list of Craft bloggers to watch in 2010.
• If you’re a sports blogger – write a list of sports bloggers to watch in 2010.
• If you’re a political blogger – write a list of political bloggers to watch in 2010.

Your list doesn’t have to be 30 bloggers – it could be 100, 50, 30, 10…. or if you have a small niche even smaller.

Once you’ve created your list…. Tell Us About It

After publishing your list – come back to this post and leave a comment with a link to your new post (please only submit new posts that have been written this year).

Also take some time to surf through the other comments left on this post to see what lists that other readers have created!

I’m looking forward to reading your lists of bloggers to watch!

The new year is here and in chatting with a lot of bloggers this past week I’m hearing a lot of optimism and planning going on when it comes to blogging in 2010.

Do You Have Any Blogging New Years Resolutions for 2010?

Would love to hear your thoughts on where you’ll be heading and what you’re planning?

My plans are coming along for ProBlogger. I’m planning on a review of the whole brand of ProBlogger in the coming weeks, a redesign (that will flow out of that), new features and levels on ProBlogger.com, a new E-book in the coming month and a lot more.

What about you?

What are your biggest challenges going forward as a blogger into the new year?

In the coming weeks I’m planning on taking a day or two out to plan a roadmap for ProBlogger going into the new year. I already have a fair idea of where I’d like to go based upon a recent survey I did of newsletter subscriber – but I want to test some of the ideas I have against your feedback as the wider ProBlogger readership.

As you look at your blog and the year ahead:

• what is it that you feel is holding you back?
• What problems do you face?
• What questions do you have that you can’t get passed?
• What issues do you keep coming up against that just hold you back?

I’m not going to give you any suggested answers on this question as I don’t want to cloud or skew your answers in any way – but am keen to hear what you have to say.

What are you doing with your blog over the holidays?

As the end of the year draws nearer I’ve been pondering what to do with my blogs over the Christmas/New Years break.

In the past I’ve done a number of things including:

• Blogging on as normal
• Getting a Guest in to cover the blog over a week
• Running a special series of ‘lighter’ posts
• Running a variety of guest posts

This year I’m going to do something I’ve not done before – take a break from blogging for a whole week.

I will be putting up a few posts over the week that are wrap up posts looking back at the year that has been on different topics – but these will be written in advance and set to go off so that I can have a break from blogging between Christmas and New Years. I won’t be having the week off completely though – I have a couple of other writing commitments that I need to finish off so will use the week to tackle those.

What are you doing with your blog over the holidays?

Time for another reader poll – this one is on a topic that many bloggers are getting into – monetizing your blog by selling something of your own from it.

Many bloggers make money by selling other peoples products with advertising or affiliate programs – but do you have something of your own to sell and are you doing it?

What you sell might include an e-book, membership are, consulting services, training, a DVD, real hard cover book, T-shirts….. anything!

Once you’ve voted and if you’ve said ‘yes’ – I’d love to hear what type of product or service you sell!

It hits every blogger at some point in their blogging – bloggers block.

Whether it’s not being able to come up with a topic or whether it strikes midway through a post in which you just can’t seem to find a way to express yourself – bloggers block sucks.

So how do you over come it?

I once wrote a series of tips on the topic of battling bloggers block – but I’m interested to hear your own techniques for getting through these tough patches on a blog – what advice would you give a blogger struggling with it?