How to Write Blog Posts Faster

We all know that adding fresh blog posts to our site helps us to rank in the search engines, provides informative or entertaining content for our audience, and brings more visitors to our website. However, knowing that and actually creating regular content are two different things.

If you are struggling to find the time to blog, or maybe you just want to write more blog posts per week, this article is going to help you, as we are diving into how to write blog posts faster.

First, I want to say that I will be giving you a number of steps today to increase your speed. To help you save even more time, it can help to batch these tasks. For example, research a few posts on one day, write the posts on another, and then edit at a later time. This batching approach will work for some people and for others it will seem too daunting. It’s not by any means a requirement, but it’s worth seeing if this method resonates with you. If it does, why not try it and see how it pans out?

Ok, so on to the heart of how to write blog posts faster – let’s dive into the steps.

Step 1: Do Some General Research

If you are not clear what to write about, then you need to discover what is going to be of interest to your audience, if you have an existing one.

Here are some ways to find that out:

• What questions do your audience/clients ask you in real life, on socials or via email?
• What questions do you see people asking on your competitors’ sites (best for people without an audience).
• Take a look at AnswerthePublic and see what questions people are asking on your topic (you can have a few free searches per day).
• Check out Exploding Topics and see if there is anything relevant to your niche that is an up-and-coming popular topic.
• Read other people’s blog posts in your niche and around it. See what they are covering. Not to copy, but to take inspiration and put your own spin on it and to highlight your own expertise.

Step 2: Dig Into Keyword Research

Once you have some broad topics outlined, you need to dig into keyword research and come up with one clear, targeted keyword for every blog post you write. Other keywords will arise naturally, but by targeting you are giving yourself the best chance possible to rank.

The keyword tool I use for this is Keysearch. I chose it because it’s reasonably priced, very easy to use, and you can even track your chosen keyword to see how it’s performing in the search engines. (If you want to try Keysearch you can get 20% off if you use code: KSDISC at checkout).

If you would like step-by-step training on how to select your keywords, then take a look at my course The Keyword Factor. This will walk you through the complete process.

Step 3: Map out the Post

What do I mean by this? It’s easier to write quickly if you have some headlines to guide you. First, sit down and think about all the sections you want to include and then write a quick header for each.

You can then reorder these, decide whether you have missed anything vital and then know that when you come to write the post, you have a roadmap. It also means if you are short on time, you can just write one of these small sections in any snippets of the day you have available. For someone who is juggling a lot of things, this can be a lifesaver. Not every blog post has to be completed in one sitting. Work to your strengths and to your timetable.

Step 4: Start Writing

Easier said than done, eh? It can be a good idea to block some time out in your calendar to make sure this step gets done, particularly if you are someone who likes to complete a post or two in one sitting.

Then write. Don’t worry about checking facts or finding external links at this stage (if they are needed), just get everything down on the page. Mark any sections that you need to fact check or link out from later and don’t edit until the very end.

Just write, write like the wind ☺ I like to put on a Spotify productivity podcast at this stage or I listen to sounds of storms or classical music. I’m not someone who can listen to any lyrics when I am writing. I have to just put my head down and get in the zone. But other people love upbeat pop music or Disco sounds of the seventies! You listen to whatever floats your boat, and if that’s silence, then that’s cool too.

Once you have the post finished, you can either leave the editing until another day or get stuck in right away.

Step 5: Editing is Vital

As you have written pretty fast, you are now going to need to edit. I love an editing tool to make life simpler and either of these fits the bill. I have used both and loved both; I think for my needs ProWriting Aid just edges ahead, but Grammarly is great too.

You don’t want to miss the editing step because it will give your post a much better, more polished finished result. This is a blog post, not a school essay, so make sure you have lots of white space on the page. What does that mean? Use subtitles, bullet points and keep your sentences short and easy to read.

If your blog post is easily digestible, then people will read more of it, and hopefully share it with others.

Step 6: Add Your Images

Images bring your blog post to life. Because I want my blogs to be visually appealing, I opted for a monthly subscription to Envato Elements, as it means I can download as many images per month as I need – plus it includes fonts, graphics, video, music and lots more.

You will need at least a featured image, but you may also want to include more images to break up the text. One last note on images, always add Alt txt to let people who are visually impaired know exactly what the image is about.

Step 7: Let’s Get Meta!

If you are using WordPress, then use a plugin like Yoast to add your targeted keyword and your meta description for the post. This can help you with ranking in the search engines and it’s something I go into further in The Keyword Factor.

If you are using a different platform like Wix or Squarespace, there should still be a place to add your meta description (there also is if you write on Medium) and you don’t want to miss completing that information.

Step 8: Interlink Your Posts

Interlinking between posts on your website can help with SEO, but even more importantly, it can keep visitors on your site for longer as they then read more of your blog posts.

For WordPress I use the plugin Linkwhisper for this. It’s quick, easy to use, and I noticed an uptick in how long people stay on my site after installing it.

Step 9: Promote the Heck Out of It

Know what saves you time? Making sure you get the most out of every blog post you write. Therefore, once you have the post written, don’t forget to share it on socials, in your newsletter and anywhere else you want to spread the word.

I also add it to my evergreen social media posts and I use Smarterqueue for this.

Step 10: Repurpose Your Content

As you get faster at writing blog posts, so you have more content to repurpose. These are just some of the ways I reach a wider audience:

• Add my blog post to Medium
• Use the content for a podcast
• Turn the post into a video using slides
• Take snippets from it and use them as social media posts

So that’s how to write blog posts faster. Are you ready to get started? The thing with this process is that when you do it the first couple of times, you may feel you aren’t making much progress. But if you stick with it and keep working through the steps, you will grow in confidence, speed and your writing will get better.

How do I know? Because it’s what I do week after week and it works! Come and join me and let’s use the power of blogging to find our audience.