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How I Write Quality Blog Posts, Fast: 5 Tips

Carol Tice

Blog Post FactoryEarlier this month, I shared how I make $5,000 a month as a paid blogger. One of the questions I got in comments was on how I can execute 50-60 blog entries in a month, meet all those deadlines, and still keep the writing top-quality.

So here are five techniques I use to crank out lots of compelling blog posts — fast. Some of these will work for generating more blog entries for your own blog, too.

  1. Get organized and find ideas. For my own blog, I use WP Editorial Calendar to plan and easily move around my post ideas — really helps me think ahead and save ideas. To generate the story ideas I need for my clients’ blog posts, I get Google Alerts and SmartBrief emails that expose me to a lot of possible topics on my clients’ subject niches. My most important online sources I even go that one better, and build a desktop of RSS feeds for that client’s topic, so I can look at dozens of ideas at a glance. Getting into a last-minute scramble to find more blog ideas is a real time-waster.
  2. Pitch efficiently. I try to take one meeting monthly with clients who need to approve my post ideas before I write. I come to those meetings prepared with lots of possible ideas. Bang, and we’re done, and I’m off to create blogs.
  3. Keep posts brief. I’ve learned that for most business blogs, the ideal post length is about 6-8 paragraphs. That’s it. If prospective clients ask me to write 1,000-word blog posts, I explain to them that for most blogs (Copyblogger being a notable exception), short posts do best. That’s what most people want to read on the Internet. Brevity is really a virtue. They’ll seem smart if they can be concise. Of course, it also greatly improves my hourly rate on that fee if each post is less work because they’re 350 words, so it’s win-win. This one is basically why paid blogging pencils out for me.
  4. Eliminate the editor. If you are a meticulous proofer and fabulous grammarian and speller, you can impress your clients that they don’t need to edit your blog posts. They likely hired you in part because they’re very time-pressed, so if they see you write clean they will often give you admin privileges and say, “Sure, just put it up.” Obviously, this saves a lot of back-and-forth editing time. If  you write sharp and have been delivering for a client for a while, ask for the privilege of posting blogs directly onto their site. They’ll probably be thrilled to realize they can completely outsource their blog to you.
  5. Write in batches. I may have clients that need a post or two a week, but I don’t write them one a week. I grab a big block of time — a half-day or more — and then write them all at once, in a single block. That way I get into that client’s voice and stay there, making the blogs flow out much easier. It takes energy to get into a groove writing posts for a blog other than your own. (Actually, it takes time for your own blog, too.) This approach saves me tons of time.

If you blog a lot, how do you make it an efficient process? Leave a comment and tell us about your approach.

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Photo via Flickr user ichaz

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