6 Steps to Writing a Blog in 20 Minutes Flat
A well-read blog is one that is updated regularly. Search engines pick it up, and followers know to check in for the latest news. However, coming up with a post almost every day is a lot of pressure for bloggers. After years of finding my head in my hands at 3 p.m. as I struggle to write a post, I’ve come up with a formula. Follow these easy steps and you, too, can write a good blog post fast!
1. Keep a list of blog topics.
This is key. When inspiration hits you, write it down. I have been known to e-mail my work address with a blog idea I come up during off hours. I often have at least 10 topics on the list, and each day I go over it to see if something is particularly relevant that day or whether I have more ideas for any of them. A good blog idea is the most important part of the writing process. If you keep a stash of ideas, each day the hardest part of writing is already taken care of.
2. Jot down your points in list form.
Once you’ve chosen your blog topic, write an outline: List your main points and mess around with the order. Weigh the importance of each thought. Often you’ll come up with more things to say as you go.
3. Fill in the list items with a sentence or two.
Expand on your points, but don’t go crazy. Blogs are not meant to be feature length. Aim for a minimum of a few paragraphs, but try to stick to 1,500 words or less. I usually shoot for 250 to 800 words for search engine optimization purposes. When people read on computers, their attention spans tend to last a shorter time than they’d spend on printed materials. So what’s the point of writing a lot if no one reads it?
4. Do an Internet search for relevant links.
There is a difference between blogs and journalism. Articles are where you go to for facts and research. Blogs are interpretations of those articles or extensions. That’s not to say blogs aren’t well researched; rather, blogs link elsewhere to back up their claims. Rather than repeat a well-written article, keep your readers’ attention by linking.
5. Revisit what you’ve written.
Often, once I’ve written a post, it turns out my theme has changed since its inception. I then rewrite the opening paragraph. Blogging isn’t just for educating or entertaining your audience – I’ve learned so much by researching for posts.
6. Proofread.
Never, ever post your blog without rereading it a few times and checking links. As someone whose career started off in copy editing, I am mortified if I let a spelling error go live. Your credibility can be dashed by one typo or grammatical mistake, never mind a factual error.
Blogging is a different animal from article writing. If you plan ahead, your post can practically write itself. Just keep an ear out for topics and then organize your thoughts. After that, you fill in the holes and voila – a blog that doesn’t eat up your whole day!
Jennifer Moline is a writer for PsPrint and the PsPrint Design Blog. PsPrint is an online commercial printing company.
Number three is key for me — not only does it enable you the chance to expand upon your immediate inspiration, but it’s also a way to get more on the page during the initial idea … which I think is key to avoiding always creating lists of posts to write but never actually writing them.
Writing the title, at least three points, and a tid bit within those points will enable you to look back and know what to write — especially if you blog around the clock to the point where you start forgetting what you had thought.
These are such great tips that I’m going to print them out and post them as a constant reminder for how to “speed blog” without sacrificing quality – time management is essential in managing a successful blog. Thanks for the time-saving tips.
Point #1 is huge for me! I usually come up with ideas for new articles as I’m writing, so I make myself stop and just write it down. I hate to lose my ideas, and if I don’t write it down immediately, I’ll probably forget about it.
I often find that the biggest problem is the order of the points I want to make.
Sometimes it seems so obvious, and then I find when I start to flesh out the points, that I need to re-order them in order to tell the story coherently.
So far, I’m enjoying writing posts. Your points will help me to continue to come up with ideas and post 3 – 4 times a week. I seem to spend too long publishing each post. Finding images, checking sources, getting side-tracked, proof-reading over and over, rearranging things and messing around with styling. It’s fun, but I take too long. 20 minutes to write it? Wow! If I could get my post ready to go in that time frame, I would be a very happy girl. I’m taking your challenge and applying these steps to the next post I write. Practice makes perfect so eventually I’ll get closer to 20 minutes per post.
For those still not quick in writing, this is a good pocket manual.
The steps are quite good, creativity is even better, to flow and insert new things to visitors.
I will share! Thanks!
Wonderful post! Very well thought out.
As I am just beginning my adventures in blogging, and tend to be rather wordy with my toughts and am not always inspired to contribute something, these are points I an definitely taking to heart!
Thanks for the inspiration!
Great stuff here. I don’t usually need to have an existing list whenever I’m ready to write something. If I don’t already have an idea I just look up a few things on the web, then an idea will hit me and I’m ready to go. There’s just so much to write about if we don’t get ourselves locked up into having to be so strict in our topics.
Awesome tips,
Number 2 and 3 are especially essential – they really look feasible.
I normally just write the first version down without censoring myself – just to keep that creative juices going !
Concise and valuable,
Nice work, Jennifer !
I am not sure how I missed this post – excellent points. I only began writing for real fairly recently, but one thing that has really helped me is to have a skeleton that I use over and over again. I just fill in the headings, write a few things, and presto!
Well, perhaps it is not quite that easy, but if I can incorporate a few of the tips you gave, it might just be.
Have a great day!
Great Tips. I need to start following these, as I sometimes find myself spending entirely too much on a single blog post. Yes, this cuts into my study time and causes my grades to suffer.
Hi there, Jennifer. Thank you for making my life easier. I tend to write very long blog posts where I just talk and talk and wonder if I’m getting my points across, so most of the time, I start out meaning to write about “How to meet new people” and end up with my philosophical ramblings on why it is very difficult to divine the meaning of the universe from Facebook status messages. I know, right? With your tips here, I just know I can create a more focused blog post for my customers. THANK YOU!
One thing, though, I’ve always thought that for SEO purposes the minimum word count should be around 300 – 800 words? I could be wrong.
Thanks for the comments, everyone!
Scribbles: According to PsPrint’s SEO master, Tom, there is no “golden number” that will make you rank higher. All there is relevancy, context and quality. He says, “From my experience I can get top ranking with only 150 words, but it all depends on what keywords I go after! On average 250-300 words is a good number. Also, I recommend doing lots of keywords research before you start writing.”