Struggling to write quality content that informs your audience and drives them to convert?
There’s nothing worse than blank page syndrome–staring at an empty Google doc, waiting for inspiration to hit. It can stir anxiety and create frustration (especially if you’re on a deadline).
As a business owner, your time is valuable. You can’t waste it being stuck at zero. But, you feel pressured to create thought leadership and content that builds your brand.
You need a way to write blog posts faster.
Not just that, you need to know how to write content that ranks quickly. That way, you can build your online presence and drive more organic leads to your business.
To help you create content faster so you can get back to focusing on your business, here are 14 strategies you can implement to speed up the writing process.
1. Work From a Content Calendar
A well-planned content calendar helps you build content aligned with your business goals. It keeps you on track. And it helps you connect posts and ideas together.
You don’t waste time trying to figure out what your next post is about. Instead, you follow the roadmap.
Building a basic content calendar is pretty straightforward.
Content calendars should cover categories for:
- Blog Topic
- Post Type
- Target Keyword
- Search Volume
- Due Date
- Publication Date
- Published URL
- Notes
To make this easier on you, copy our content calendar here.
While content calendars are flexible (don’t forget to account for time to cover trending topics), you should follow the calendar regularly to save time.
You can keep a running list of additional topics you may want to research as you work through your content calendar. This doesn’t need to be complex. Just an additional spreadsheet where you can jot down potential titles and notes will do.
You can revisit these ideas after working through your existing topics in your content calendar.
Ideally, your content calendar should run for 3 – 6 months. You don’t want to build it out too far as business goals change, and insights from new posts can change your strategy.
2. Use Content Briefs
A content brief (outline) is crucial if you want to create superior content quickly.
Content briefs take the guesswork out of writing. Instead of figuring out where to start and what to cover, you’ll know everything you need to know at the start.
Content briefs should include:
- Keywords
- Target Word Count
- Audience
- Title
- Main Keyword
- Purpose/Goal
- Outline
To make this easier, copy our content brief here.
Content briefs should be clear. They should give you a starting point for research and provide notes for each section to ensure the piece covers everything it needs to address the topic fully.
Without clear details, you have to fill in the gaps yourself. This slows down the process and leaves room for error.
At Lead Comet, we offer content briefs for businesses in our Content Sprint.
After running your Strategy Sprint, we work with you to find keywords and topics you should cover. Then, we create comprehensive briefs that help you or your writers effortlessly create a post that drives results.
3. Batch Content
If you need to write numerous posts on a similar topic, you can save time by bunching them together. Batching blogs speeds up the writing process because it speeds up the research and writing process.
The amount of time you need to spend researching will go down with each new post in a specific niche. And your writing speed increases because you grow increasingly familiar with the field.
Best of all, you’ll have everything you need to write each new piece right at the top of your mind. That means less writer’s block or slowdowns.
4. Conduct Thorough Research
Writer’s block is a huge bottleneck for writers. The key to overcoming it involves thorough research. Once you understand the topic, goal, and structure of your piece, the writing process goes much faster.
Start by researching the main keyword/topic of your post to see what’s out there. Get a firm understanding of the main topic. Even if you’re very familiar with the piece, it helps to refresh your memory so you can add your own insights later.
Using your content brief, dive deeper. Treat each section as a separate, mini-research project. Use the heading of that section as a keyword and dive into a post or two about that topic.
Write down your notes in the outline. Note any important facts and figures. Jot down any relevant URLs to make citations easier (stick to primary sources).
Make sure the information is current and accurate. You don’t want to quote spammy sites. And you don’t want to reference data that are more than 5 years old if you can avoid it. (3 years if you’re writing in the tech industry.)
If you want to add an extra element of expertise to your post and gain deeper insights, reach out to thought leaders in your space directly. Ask them to share insights in exchange for a reference.
5. Start with Body Content Immediately
Once you finish researching your piece, you need to start writing the body content right away. Otherwise, you’ll start to forget what you’ve read, and you’ll have to redo parts of the research.
Start with writing the body content first. The research and your ideas will be fresh in your mind, so it’ll be much easier to write your blog post faster.
Many writers try to tackle the piece head-on, focusing on the introduction first. Don’t do this. You’ll waste all your creative energy.
Introductions are harder to write. They involve more art and copywriting. The words you use at the start are critical to keeping your audience engaged and stirring interest in your piece.
Plus, it’s really hard to write an introduction to a piece you haven’t written yet. It’s like trying to introduce someone you don’t know.
Focus on the body content instead. It’ll speed up your writing process exponentially.
As you write, you’ll remember ideas and angles that may be relevant to other sections. Instead of waiting to write those sections, go there and start jotting down your thoughts. Follow your creative energy until you complete the post.
This may seem like a chaotic way to approach writing…
However, your content brief (outline) will keep everything organized. This empowers you to chase after the topics that are top of mind so that you can knock them out quickly.
6. Keep the End in Mind From The Beginning
Having a clear goal in mind at the start is key to writing a post faster.
Without an end in sight, creating a blog post can feel like an overwhelming task. Even worse, you may end up pivoting halfway through a post. As a result, you’ll have to go back through and spend more time editing the post into alignment.
You should know the goal of the post before starting. Mapping your content to sales enablement, brand awareness, and/or backlinking goals is key before you start drafting.
This is where all the prep work you did with researching and mapping out your content pays off. Use your content brief to guide you through the post.
Micro goals help you write faster, too. Rather than looking at a post as a whole, break it down into sections. You can accomplish smaller goals easily, giving you a feeling of encouragement, and creating a positive feedback loop that motivates you to write faster.
Remember this adage: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
7. Use Formulas + Templates
Copywriting formulas give you a simple template you can use to build out effective copy in your blog. The structure they provide saves you time by taking the guesswork out of certain parts of the writing process.
For example, you can use Problem, Agitation, Solution (PAS) to structure your introduction. In short, you highlight a customer pain point, agitate it by showing the full extent of the issue, and then provide a solution.
Templates speed up the writing process by giving you a clear framework to start. The content briefs (or outlines) mentioned above are another type of template. It lays out the entire post structure, so you or your writer can quickly jump in and fill in the gaps.
Except for thought leadership and articles, most blog types follow a template or structure. How-to guides, listicles, comparison posts, each content type has certain elements it needs to communicate value to your audience.
The more you understand these structures, the easier it will be for you to write faster.
Be careful not to let templates lead you astray. Your blog template should match search intent. Otherwise, your post may not rank.
To find search intent, Google the keyword and see what comes up. If you notice a trend (numerous listicles, for instance), then you should use that approach.
8. Walk Away When You Hit a Wall
You cannot get blood from stone.
The best thing to do when you hit a wall is to take a break. Get up from the computer and go for a walk, eat, drink or sleep and let your creative “battery” recharge.
Don’t risk burnout! Give yourself regular breaks using the Pomodoro technique. In short, you work in 30-, 45-, or 50-minute chunks and then take a 10 – 15 minute break.
It’s easy to lose track of time, get distracted, and slow down during the writing process. Using the Pomodoro technique provides structure. It also gives you a short deadline to work towards, keeping you focused and speeding up the writing process.
Breaks refresh your mind and give you a fresh perspective. Sometimes you even come up with new ideas. Obstacles seem to melt away after a break.
The last thing you should do is try to push through exhaustion. Your productivity will drastically decrease, and it will take you much, much longer to write the post.
9. Use Writing Tools
Writing a blog post is something you can do faster than ever before by using writing tools.
They can help with:
- Content Research (Clearscope, Frase)
- Keyword Research (SEMRush, Ahrefs, Moz, etc.)
- Writing, Grammar, and Editing (Grammarly, Hemingway Editor, etc.)
- Planning and Task Management (Trello, Asana, Basecamp, etc.)
- Dictation (Google Docs Voice Typing, Apple Dictation, etc.)
Full disclosure, a lot of these tools aren’t cheap. Costs can add up quickly. So, it’s best to go with a couple that provides support where you need it most.
For example, if you hate typing, using dictation software can help you get your thoughts down so you can share them with an editor to polish up. This can drastically streamline the writing process for you.
One of the benefits of working with an agency is that you gain access to their tool suite. For many businesses, this is a more cost-effective way to approach content creation.
Still, over-relying on tools can create problems. It’s easy to get lost trying to perfect a post to match the tool’s suggestions.
For example, you can easily spend hours trying to get all the orbs green for Yoast. And the end result will likely be a post that feels robotic and contrived.
Use tools to help you write faster and better, not as a crutch.
Avoid AI-Content Creation Tools
AI tools like Jasper AI, Rytr, and CopyAI are not good for long-form content.
They tend to generate a lot of bland (sometimes incoherent) run-on sentences. Ultimately, AI-written content requires so many revisions you lose any time it promised to save.
Additionally, AI-generated content platforms pull data from various posts and use natural language processing to organize it into a post. But, it can’t fact-check. This leads to made-up“facts” in your content.
Sharing inaccurate information with prospects can damage trust and create potential liability issues.
Plus, the content you create with them may not rank. Using AI-Tools is against Google guidelines. The helpful content update underscored Google’s stance and sent a warning out to content creators.
10. Write First – Edit Later
Don’t edit as you go. You’ll end up spending an hour trying to polish your introduction. In the end, you’ll quickly lose steam, and your writing will come to a halt.
Even worse, you’ll likely have to revisit earlier sections of your content and edit them even more later.
It’s a huge waste of time.
Hemingway once said, “The first draft of anything is shit.” Accept that and move on. If you want to write a blog post faster, your only goal should be to knock out the first draft.
When you finish the first draft, you can go back and edit it. But, the first draft is really about getting all those thoughts and ideas out on paper.
Don’t let anything get your way.
11. Use a Checklist to Edit Quicker
There are so many variables you need to consider when writing a great post. You need to make sure that you cover the topic thoroughly, drive action, and optimize the post for search.
With so many steps, it’s easy to forget things.
A checklist can help ensure you publish a polished piece that reflects your brand, supports business goals, and ranks for targeted keywords.
Your checklist covers editing essentials (removing passive voice, using spell check, running the post through Grammarly, etc.) and content essentials (having a CTA, using links, reflecting proper tone, etc.)
You should build out your checklist in a google doc, so you can refer to it as you edit. This will help ensure each post stays consistent.
To make this easier, you can copy our blog checklist.
12. Add Links at the End
Internal and external links are critical for your posts. Internal links improve the crawability of your site and keep people around longer. External links establish trust by backing up your statements with relevant facts and data.
It can be tempting to link as you write. But that turns a smooth writing process into a stop-and-start mess.
Instead, add links at the end.
As you write, either add a comment, asterisk, or TK (short for to come) in the text. This will help you find the places that need links later on without interrupting the writing process.
13. Avoid Perfection (It’s Not a Novel)
Perfectionism is a form of procrastination. It can keep you from finishing a post (or even starting). And it can drag out the writing process into a stressful, chaotic mess.
Perfectionism isn’t just stressful. It also limits your creativity and makes self-expression difficult.
Don’t let perfection be the enemy of the good.
Edit your post so that it’s readable. Ensure that the facts and figures are accurate. Then publish and move on.
You can pour out your inner Wallace, King, or Shelley into the script that’s in the top drawer of your desk. For your business blog, your focus should be on sharing your expertise with your prospective audience in a clear, concise way.
14. Outsource Content Creation to an Agency
As a business owner, it’s hard to find the time to write. Even with the best tools, workflows, and expertise, your ideas can sit abandoned in a spreadsheet for months (or longer).
That’s why most business owners outsource content creation to SEO agencies.
When you team up with the writing agency, they’ll map out potential topics, organize outlines, get your approval, and draft great content. All you need to do is review the post and add your feedback/expert insights.
At Lead Comet, we use the sprint model to publish content much faster than other agencies. Rather than put your business on retainer, we knock out the content you need in short, effective sprints.
Request a free traffic projection to see what kind of results we could get for your business.
How Long Does It Take to Write a Blog (On Average)?
Writing a blog post can take anywhere from 1 – 2 hours (for a short, 500-word piece) to 4 – 6 hours for medium-length pieces (1000 – 2000 words.) For longer posts or more complex topics, it can take longer.
This includes researching, drafting, and editing the piece.
If you find that it takes you longer to write posts, your approach may be off. To speed things up, you need structure. Otherwise, you’ll fall victim to writer’s block and Parkinson’s Law.
Both of which will drastically increase the time it takes you to publish your next blog post.
Luckily, the tips covered in this post can help you write content faster. Master them, and you can learn to write incredible blogs effortlessly.