When you are blogging full-time and this is your business, you have to make sure you have a constant flow of traffic. It will help keep your blog ranking within the SERP’s, but at the same time, keep your visitors engaged with your content. This is important especially when you are depending on your blog for a full-time income and want to continue to grow your brand. I’ve noticed over the years that much of your success has to do with your ability to write content quickly. For example, I have been able to sustain my various jobs because I write approx 3,000 words daily for my various bloggers and personal blogs. I admit I get paid for writing, but the point I’m making is this income is ONLY possible because I’m able to complete the assigned projects on time. I know what it takes to continually push out content and would like to share much of the process with you below.
Let’s get started and go over some of the fundamentals of writing content and how to increase your processing speed. These strategies won’t hurt the quality, but will simply allow you to create value more quickly. Let’s get started…
Improve Your Speed
I have to admit, much of my success does have to do with the rate I am able to write at. I practice a lot and can write words quickly. For example, I timing my work right now and can see within 3 minutes, I have written 300 words, which is an awesome rate. This means 15 minutes will allow me to produce something close to 1,800 words and for many of you, this is way above the average post. I take around 30 minutes a post and by the time I’m done, I have something that is roughly 2,500 words long and full of value.
I take some more time adding images and videos where applicable but obviously, this does depend on the type of content and niche I’m publishing content for. Next, bloggers who have hired me might have a particular criteria so by the time I’m done, I’ve taken an hour to get everything ready. This is awesome because within “4†hours, I’m done and been paid for my efforts.
Create an Outline
One of the main ways my writing has been affected is because I simply lose track of the direction I’m going in. However, this was an easy fix going forward since I started to create outlines every time I write. Here is the process I go through:
- Research
- Outline
- Intro
- Body
- Conclusion
This is very general, but in each section, I’ll write a breakdown of what I’d like to cover, which will help me stay focused throughout my writing.
Change Work Environment
The funny thing is, sometimes you’ll have a complete breakdown ready and have improved your typing speed, but you still can’t get work done. This used to happen to me until I decided to shift offices into a place less distracting. I’ll admit, before, I would get distracted by the slightest things like my phone ringing, family within my home, noise outside, etc. I decided to give a new setting a try and the changes made a huge difference. Personally, I was able to get way more done and this improved my overall productivity, which brought me closer to my bottom line.
This doesn’t have to be a huge shift, but work in a place where you feel you can produce your best work. For example,
- Right lighting
- No noise
- No phone
- No emails
All of these don’t need to be locked off completely, but I choose to NOT have them around when I’m writing content because they cause me to lose my focus.
I’d like to continue this series with Part 2 because I feel there are more factors I’d like to cover. Please provide your feedback and comments on what helps you stay focused.