It’s no secret that I’m super busy with four children, a fulltime job plus all the traveling and events that I schedule myself to attend. I always have tons of blogging ideas jotted down and rarely enough time to get them all written and posted. I have been trying to implement vlogging since 2010 and due to my fears of video, I’m never consistent when it comes to posting videos. It’s weird! I’ve taken vlog courses, I have the equipment to do it and I continue to push it to the back burner. I thought that vlogging a 2-3 minute video and posting at least once or twice a week would cut down on how much I sit and write blog posts. I still haven’t really tested that theory but, I know that editing takes time. I’ve always said that my videos would be raw footage with minor edits. Well, in a previous Niche Parent Post Joyce Brewer a.k.a Mommy Talk Show shared how you can use your iPhone to do speech to text using Siri directly in your WordPress App. I was blown away because I’ve used Siri for everything else but THAT! Lol! I also have a love-hate relationship with Siri because she acts like she doesn’t want to understand me sometimes.
I was intrigued with this blogger hack so I tried to use my “OK Google” Android Virtual Assistant on My Motorola Moto X in a Microsoft Word Document and I was successful. I NEVER write my blog posts in WordPress whether I’m on the computer or the app on my phone. I don’t know why, I just never have. I always write it in a Word or Google Doc and then copy & paste the text into WordPress. It must be one of the little quirks about me. I use the WordPress App to approve comments, respond to comments and make corrections if necessary. Using the Microphone to dictate my blog posts is pretty easy. The only thing that needs to be tweaked is punctuation and capital letters when starting a new sentence. Other than that it’s great! So, when you’re super busy and not by your laptop you can use your virtual assistant whether you have a iPhone, Android or Windows phone and do speech to text. You can do it right into your WordPress App if you’re nothing like me and need to draft your post in a Notepad, Google Doc or Microsoft Word Doc. I also find that using voice memo is beneficial when rambling off post ideas or even part of a post and then you can go back and type it later!
Once I have finished speaking and my post is complete, I save it to my device or Google Drive. When I am ready to post it, I open it up on my device or in Google Drive and copy the text into WordPress on my laptop. This comes in so handy when I’m waiting for an appointment to start, on my lunch break when I’m not running errands or if I’m waiting for the kids to finish at an activity and I’m wasting time in the car. I’ve typed entire blog posts in between appointments and then saved them to post later. Imagine how much time I will save by using the speech to text feature, even if I have to go back and edit a few things. Most of the time I know what I want to type and then play around with the right context to use, I think speech to text will eliminate me second guessing myself because I’ll be talking and saying exactly what I need to in order to get my point or thought across. I’m going to try this a few times and see if becomes the norm for me, because if I can shave off some time when writing blog posts… I’m winning! I love blogger hacks!
If you have a love-hate relationship with your mobile virtual assistant, check out some of the Apps that allow you to dictate. There are a few good ones on Google Play, Windows App Store and in the iPhone App Store. If you have any ideas or favorite apps to add, please share them. #BloggerHacks Making Moms Life Just a Little Easier!