Writing, as all aspiring writers should know, is a beautiful craft.
You create with words an idea, a new concept, plus motivate and inspire others. There are also many writers who find their job extremely therapeutic.
When one starts writing in this day and age, the first thing they usually consider is maintaining a blog.
Blogging can be quite a lucrative practice as well as an enjoyable past time. In fact, several bloggers have seen it fit to quit their day job and focus all their efforts on writing for their blog.
However, in order to make a blog successful, a blogger needs to attract and retain their readers’ attention.
They can do so by staying up to date in their relevant field, trying to introduce new things, or branding themselves and their work.
In order to achieve this, a blogger needs to write well, and write fast. Speed is of the essence when blogging, especially if you run multiple blogs.
Your readers also want a regular dose of your writing; otherwise, they could soon lose interest. So in order to keep up with the demand, read on for some tips on how to write a blog fast:
1. Headline Innovations
Since you’re a blogger, you should be familiar with the term ‘clickbait’. Articles with clickbait headings usually lure readers in with promising of a fascinating discovery, or something equally amazing.
These articles are now mostly irritating and disappointing for readers. Thus, people would either pass them by or simply view the comments to get a summary.
Spending some time on a headline that is at once interesting and honest will make your readers happy. As an added bonus, it could actually help you frame your post so that you write faster, too!
When you make a headline, you are actually telling yourself just what you want to write. Understanding this, and knowing what you want to convey to the reader, will have you writing in a flow.
For example, having the headline “Top 5 Ways to Lose Weight” is easier than simply “How to Lose Weight”.
It may be a simple tweak, but it can make your mind work faster. If nothing else, you will get motivated when you see yourself progressing through the topic numbers, knowing that you’re nearing your goal.
2. Set a Time for Research
When a writer starts researching, the Internet is both a blessing and a trap. You have a myriad of blogs, articles, and posts to read on your subject of interest.
You get excited by the prospect of reading a new viewpoint on a certain situation, and may even get sidetracked by recommended articles.
Of course, with all this reading, you hardly get any writing done. The best writers, hence, don’t conduct research in the time they should be writing.
They set a separate time for research. It’s a good idea to have your downtime as your research time. For example, you could whip out your smartphone in the doctor’s waiting room, or on the subway.
Research time should consist of reading, taking notes, and copying and pasting relevant points for later reference, etc.
When you come to the actual writing, close down your browser, and avoid all distractions. Disconnect from the Internet, if possible, and write on!
If you need to open up a browser to verify a point while writing, you simply need to highlight the point and keep on writing.
Many a writer has broken their train of thought in this manner. It’s simply not worth it. Once you get to the end of your post, go back up and do what you need to do online.
If you do it this way, you will be surprised at how fast your writing seems to come together.
3. Write a Blog Fast: Save Most of the Editing For Later
Yes, we all have that perfectionist streak in us that makes us backspace and rewrite a misspelled word.
We may even erase whole sentences and edit them extensively before we even get to the end of a paragraph.
However, this habit can really cut into your writing time. Not only does it break the flow of your process, but it makes it harder for you to take up the train of thought later.
Take a look at the first drafts of great writers such as Charles Dickens. Their drafts were messy scribbles most of the time. Plus, they edited like there was no tomorrow.
So don’t be afraid to take a great big ax to your post in order to refine it. Remember, though, this should only be done once you complete your writing.
Bloggers are professional writers, or on the way there. Hence, they don’t have time to edit every sentence as they go along.
They should, however, develop the skill of catching every kind of error when re-reading their work.
One tip that works for a lot of writers is reading the post from back to front. This makes it easier to catch errors, especially in structure.
Finishing your work and then editing it will likely make you a more productive and faster writer.
Plus, you will probably have more fun getting everything out there! It will be messy, but so much richer.
4. Swear By the Outline
Your teachers and professors weren’t crazy when they asked for an outline of each piece of writing they assigned.
Outlining a writing project before tackling it has several benefits, one of which is increasing your writing speed.
Basically, before you start writing, break your blog post into different headings, subheadings, or chapters. You can even break up a blog post into two or more if there’s a lot of content.
Some writers like to do this breaking up with an actual pen and paper, but you can use any writing software you’re comfortable with.
The basic sections should include an introduction, the body, and the conclusion. Within the body, you can have several themes, all of which deserve their own section.
You might even consider making a sort of list post. In this case, write a word or phrase to remind you of what you want to write under that particular heading.
When you start the actual process of writing, then, all you will have to do is expand upon the words and phrases. This saves you a lot of thinking time.
The act of outlining will compress your thought process into around ten minutes, or even less. This will also prevent you from writing too much or getting distracted by other thoughts.
5. Add In Media
It’s not uncommon for a Blogger to find themselves stuck for a topic. Or if they do have a topic, they just can’t seem to start writing about it.
In such a case, they should consider using mediums other than writing. Pictures, audio, and video can help in focusing your writing, as well as give you a fast way out of updating your blog.
Plus, all kinds of media add-ons will help you in illustrating a point, or better, explaining it to your readers.
For example, you could choose to embed a video into your cooking blog. This will not only help your readers see how to perform a task, but also save you the time and effort of writing it all out.
Wrap-Up…
There are several blog readers on the Internet today. While they may be interested in a blog, it can be hard to make them visit your page frequently.
They have a lot of options and a very short attention span. Hence, writing and posting quickly is the surest way to keep your audience’s interest piqued.
Author Bio:
Joseph Carey is a Professional Writer, Blogging Expert, and a Social Media Marketer. Due to his excellent writing chops, he can write one of the best essay writing service reviews. He is passionate about gaming and spends his free time playing online games. You can connect with him on Google Plus.
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Joseph – I like the basic idea that you have highlighted. Clearly, I think writing the first blog post needs to be unique as well as original. It’s a worth reading Article. It’ll be a great help from you.
I’m glad you liked Joseph’s article and that you got something good out of it, Mohd! 😀