If you blog often/consistently, chances are 1 article alone may take you several hours to complete.
In my case, I write at least 1,000 words on each of mine and the time it takes for me to complete it is between 30 minutes to under 2 hours. That’s actually short if you compare it to the average person and I will show you how I usually get it done faster than most.
If you are an active blogger, here are just some of the many things that occupy your time when writing your article/s (articles = blog posts, whereas a blog = a website with articles):
- Not knowing what to blog about (Could last days).
- Research into the topic (1 hour usually).
- Finding images that fit the article (20-30 minutes usually).
- Keyword research (Could be up to 1 hour).
- Coming up with a good title (Could be up to 10-20 minutes).
- The article itself (Could be hours long).
Each of these things alone take time to figure out and do and when you add them together, it will take hours for it to be done and if you’re a perfectionist, even longer.
Here is a preview of the 4 strategies I use to write blog posts faster:
- Know your niche topic well (speeds up the flow).
- Make your own images (cuts down on research time).
- Improvise your blog post (planning usually lags content production).
- Know what to blog about always as it’ll save on research time (I’ll show you how I do it).
Good bloggers that focus on quality usually have to deal with these types of obstacles but then there are those who don’t really care about that and seek to write anything, as quickly as possible just for the sake of putting something on their website, usually with an end goal to make money. These people generally produce low quality work in the end.
I am going to advise against being one of those latter people because you’ll never succeed that way. At the same time, I am going to suggest you not be one of those perfectionists either because overdoing anything is also bad. The end goal I want to help you achieve is to write blogs faster than you’re doing now, while maintaining a high level of quality content on it.
4 strategies I use to write blog posts fast:
Strategy 1: Knowing your niche topic = faster content production.
I’m telling you, if most people who entered the blogging world knew something about what they’re writing, less of them would quit and more of the would actually be successful.
I read articles very often and most of the time, I can tell when the writer knows their niche and when they don’t. I can also tell you that most readers have that sense when they’re reading it. Bad blogs will not make good money, period.
It’s not secret that many and possibly most people who start a blog do it to make money and it’s often the need to make the money that ends up blinding them from pursuing a blog of interest. The MOST common example is people who have NO experience in making money online, writing about making money online.
No other blogs I’ve run into show more lack of information than those. I know for a fact that those people definitely have other topics they do know about, but they choose not to write about them because they don’t know if they will make money. Pursue finding your niche, not the one you don’t know.
Every time I review a product I know about, it’s SO much easier to write about it and I have far less instances of stopping and wondering if I’m saying the right things.
I can probably group bloggers into 3 categories and correlate how long on average each will take to write a new article:
First is the blogger that knows their niche. Usually these people will produce good-great quality work of each of their articles because they actually know about it. This is really the group you want to be in. It’s so much easier to write faster when you don’t have to research information you already know about. Typically the only problem these people have is that they seek to provide too much information and that ends up costing time.
Then there are the bloggers who don’t know their niche, but take the time to study it to become more experienced in it. Everyone who begins a new hobby/niche that interests them will always lack knowledge in it at first until they study it more and more. Those people will have a harder time at first gathering all the information to write good articles (typically several hours), but they will also learn and become experts overtime, making the time it takes to produce their articles much shorter. Really this group is an end version of the first group.
Then there are the bad ones who don’t know their niche (or do), but choose to write anything they can as quickly as possible in order to try and make money. These people also don’t care about learning their niche and would rather just stick some stuff together.
If this is you, then you may as well compare your blogging skills to mud because that’s what it will look like when it’s done. And if you also decide that you don’t want to learn and get better at writing, then you should either pick a niche you like, or if not, then quit this business. Nobody who tried this has ever succeeded.
Strategy 2: Make your own images.
If you are the type of person who enjoys adding visual references to their articles, I recommend you draw your own images because usually it takes a lot of time to find images that are free and legal to use on your site, whereas if you were to make your own, you’d save time.
As I’ve said in many of my articles before, I draw my own images and while I’m not an amazing artists, even if it’s some letters in a box or some geometric shapes with words in them, as long as my image gets the point across, it’s a good image. It takes me a few minutes to draw an image, such as the one above but much longer to find one online, look up what rights I would have if I downloaded it and worry if I can use it.
Strategy 3: If you like to improvise like me, don’t make yourself into a planner.
The only things I ever plan are my title and that actually takes me about 10 minutes to do. I just tend to write better when I don’t have a blueprint. It actually limits me. Although I will always make a point in my articles, I find it more free when I’m not limiting myself to writing a certain way and I just write. It ends up being faster.
I do know there’s a lot of people who are organized with their articles and like to plan them out a way to make them easier to read through. I recommend those people not over emphasize the planning. Spend less time thinking about organization and more time spent on sharing what you really think and believe.
Think of yourself as having a conversation with your visitor. You’re not trying to lecture them, you’re trying to talk to them like a normal person. Write that way. It will save you time.
Strategy 4: How to never run out of blogging ideas.
Having plentiful blogging ideas helps expedite the process overall, and because I’ve blogged for such a long time, I know what to blog about to do this correctly. Read that article and you will too.
My final thoughts:
These strategies might not help everyone, but in the end, there is one major point I want to make in this article: You should ALWAYS aim to write a good blog vs one that’s quickly written.
If anything you produce diminishes the quality of the work, don’t do it it or re-write to make it better at least.
For me, I have just started a blog and it takes me a few hours to complete a post. It is about the making money niche but I have tried so many programs online that didn’t work so I think I am pretty good at explaining why they are not good or why I think they are scams. Experiences speak louder than anything else in my opinion. I totally agree with you, that we should focus our blogs on our passions and things we know a lot about, because it will only help us out in the future with finding things to write about, rather than taking up time doing research. Additionally, I have found that other topics or niches tend to be successful much faster than making money niches, as they are so competitive.
Every niche topic out there has it’s own number of competing websites, each delivering their own blog posts and content. So the more popular it is, naturally the more competitive it is, but if you have a passion for a niche that is competitive, I would not let it deter you from moving forward with it anyway. A lot of people like to use the word saturated to describe their competitive niche and it is simply a matter of working harder than the other competing pages to get the better rankings.
I really enjoyed reading this. I am new to the world of blogging and sometimes struggle with time management because it often takes me quite some time to produce a post. I love your idea about using my own images and although I am not a photographer, I really do enjoy taking pictures. This is something that I am trying to push myself to improve with and I’m hopeful it will end up saving me some time!
You don’t necessarily have to take pictures and making them is actually a lot easier than you think Jennifer. Here is a tutorial I made awhile back on how I personally make them.
Hi Vitality,
You have some great recommendations to get faster, I’ll take them into account for my next posts. I guess I would say I am right in between the one who knows his niche and the one who researches to write a post. I say this because my site is focused on reviews, no matter how much I know about the niche, I’ll always have to research for what the different products have to offer. This ends up taking lots of time I know, but I guess in time I’ll get faster at it.
What would you recommend I do to write faster reviews?
Thanks in advance,
Luis
Hi Luis, I have 2 pieces of advice for this:
1) For product reviews, if you know your niche, you should also know some products in it. Review those and share your experiences, this will produce faster articles.
2) Start writing more so about your niche topic than the produce reviews and obviously find corresponding keywords to those things. The keywords in these types of articles can literally be a common question your niche audience asks and if you have trouble with this let me know more details about the topic.
But I give this advice because if all you produce are product reviews, your site will become boring. Your audience needs to know what you’re all about and if you do nothing but review stuff, it doesn’t show your expertise.
Start chasing keywords about questions and topics related to the niche and then link those to product reviews of things you recommend. When people read free information that doesn’t sell them anything and shows that you really understand your topic, they will look at your site through respect and may keep coming back to learn more. Plus this information adds to your credibility in their eyes.
So glad I ran into this informative read. It usually takes me two hours or more to write a decent blog post. I thought I was taking too long with my craft, so you can just imagine, how I felt reading it could take that amount of time to come up with quality content.
Also, many thumbs up, for sharing the tip on creating personal images. I will try to do my own images as you indicated, it should certainly save time. Hey, one question though…When writing a short version, blog content, exactly how many words are acceptable or safe to write? By the way, thanks a lot, for the insight.
Well I have a post about that exact question Bev and it should answer that fully 🙂
Writing post takes me days sometimes just because I have a very demanding day job. Though i love my niche and i always write and choose my topics with intent.
Thank you for your take, it will help me work on myself so as to reduce the writing duration.
Thanks
John
Yeah a day job can definitely make things complicated, not just because of the hours you dedicate to it, but also that when you’re finally done with it, it is hard to focus on writing something. I’ve been down that road John and I’ll tell you that honestly, inspiration and ambition are the only solutions to this problem.
They must drive you to work on your business when you don’t feel like it or have no time and let me tell you that if that emotion is there, you will find the time to do this.
Great sharing here buddy. I’m definitely in the second group – still not an expert in my niche but learning everyday about it =)
It seems that I’m totally different than you are. I like to have an outline for my articles especially my review articles as it helps me to start on track. I like to begin with the end in mind lol.
On average it might take me two hours to write a piece. Not a good time for sure but it’s something it’ll improve in future.
If this is the writing style which produces the best content Isaac, then keep it going. You can always find a faster way to do the writing you are doing now, but without having to switch to anything you’re not comfortable with.
As I’ve said to many people, you will, with practice become a much faster writer and will be able to shave off a minute here and there with new posts. I think overtime, you’ll be able to finish your work twice as fast.
Great tips! I am just starting our my blog with only 5 posts so far and I am definitely the perfectionist that takes a while to write one post! But at least I don’t slop my way through right? I used to source my pictures online, but after reading your post I think I am going to invest in a good camera to start taking my own pictures. Seems less time consuming and even more fun because they will be my own! Thanks for the info
You don’t need to invest in a camera unless you’re actually selling them or it’s part of a hobby Rina, just use your phone.
I enjoyed your article. I usually research before I begin a post for my niche. Depending on the actual topic, my research is basically to confirm what I already know. I intentionally picked a niche I am not only passionate about, but one I am intimately familiar with. My process is, find a few keywords…create a title…then I take off from there. I write very conversationally, so my posts tend to come naturally as if I were speaking to a good friend.
That’s pretty much the same way I write Paul. In some cases I don’t research the topic when I know enough about it already. That’s why knowing the niche benefits the speed of your writing.
Hi Vitaly
I’m not sure if this is what you mean by planning the article, but I spend a long time searching for the suitable keyword for my idea, to add it to main title, write the subtitles, and then start writing within the subtitles.
Normally it takes about six hours to finish a blog post, but I will follow your idea about using my own images, for sure it will save one hour at least 🙂
Do you think it is a good idea to publish the article without images, then adding the images later as an update?
Thank you for this nice article, I enjoyed reading it.
Hi Dana, if you’re having problems finding/making images and it’s impeding your publishing speed, publish the content and then add it later, it’s fine.
Regarding the keyword stuff, you may be overdoing it on the research. One main for the title is really enough and if you can find some related ones to the main one to add within the content, that works too, but I wouldn’t overdo your research efforts as it appears this may be lagging on your posting.
Hi Vitaliy,
I tend to be one who has a passion for a topic but little or only a base of knowledge to start with. First, a few posts do tend to take a whole evening to write but once I have several dozen written, 2 hours tends to be the average time for a blog article to be produced with an extra half hour to double check if my info is correct.
2 hours or more is also very common for most bloggers Derek, but you will find ways to cut this whether it be the experience of getting used to writing or being confident enough in your writing so you don’t have to double check everything.
In fact, regarding the double checking, if it takes you this long, publish the article on the first draft, then review it later so at least it has a chance to index on Google.
Hey Vitaliy,
I really enjoyed reading your post and got useful info which help me to write my content 2 times faster now. 🙂
I wanted to ask if for any reason I’m not able to use my own images for my blog what would be your recommendation? Searching for free royalty images or buying images?
Thanks.
Yeah you can try searching sites or even buying images. Personally, I always do my best to make my own and even if I can’t, I’ll still publish content with few or no images. To me content is always most important and things like images can be added in later.