Syed Naimath 8 years ago
You start to write your blog post and you estimate it’ll take 5 hours to finish.
When you almost finish the post finally the next day, it’s taken 12 hours, and you need more.
Commonly among bloggers, the process of writing is simply too long. Long enough to perhaps diminish a writer’s interest, overwork their mind, and consequently reduce the quality of work.
Some “productive” blog writing habits that seem productive can eat up time and mental resources. They end up being time-costing activities.
How do you avoid this? More importantly, how do you create more time, to do the more important tasks of running a blog?
Read on for 8 time-saving tips for pro-bloggers that can help answer that –
Scribbling ideas vertically on your notepad, with a scratchy pen, was the past.
Clubbing together links, reputed bloggers’ quotes, bullet points, links, infographics, voice notes, and then some typed sentences – is in the present.
To take advantage of how ideas can be captured today – analyze which device you most frequently use. On whichever it may be, your phone/laptop/tablet, install a word processor. Or a note-taking app like Evernote.
The idea isn’t to just install software, but to make sure the entire setup is easily accessible.
You will never lose the blog ideas that you might’ve forgotten if not for jotting it down. You may also find that keeping all your ideas in one place. This may help develop them better, as you improve each idea every time you view it.
As with architecture, create outlines. For posts, and for the kinds of content you wish to write about as such. Then see them through accordingly, setting up the girders, walls and tiles.
Outlining them beforehand can enhance your flow of writing, by giving you clear stages to reach in your post.
It keeps speculation to a minimum by eliminating the time thinking, “What else do I write about?”
It gives you a preview of how the reader will read it. You can adjust it as you see fit prior to writing the post, without reworking what’s written.
3. The Goldilocks zone for verifications
Verifying data can have you skipping from link to link, ebook to ebook, reference to reference, surfing the interwebs. Your time and bandwidth are both your fuel.
As non-renewable resources, it’s not the best idea to spend the majority of both on just verifications.
When making a mention of references (a study, statistics etc.) for the sake of the reader, test which method works fastest for you: checking for their validity before starting the article, while writing the article, or after.
Each method could work differently for each writer. It could be unnecessarily elaborate to follow one method, when another unexplored method is more efficient.
Try each method and find the one that is just right.
Lexicons help you learn more than one word that for you to use. By some, however, they are used indulgently.
Finding alternate, bigger, or even archaic words and phrases, might be your personal pleasure.
But if it is done while writing a post only to seem well-read – then it is time taken away from writing better content.
Unless there is no more accurate a word to use, other than the one that has to be looked up: use simple language.
That is, when spoilt for choice – choose the simplest over the most grandiloquent. It doesn’t just save time, it can also ensure the reader has great clarity on what you want to be conveyed.
When you pre-search your sources, you’ll have set aside a certain amount of time. Pristine and unbridled – to write.
If they are searched for while writing the post, it can needlessly dilute of your workflow.
Instead, find sources beforehand – it leaves you to be free to focus wholly on writing.
You might still find the need for a relevant media file and its source while writing. Those few instances, however, may not pause your writing much at all.
A tantalizing Facebook or Twitter notification sound can be a compounding obsession.
It may tell you your friend commented on a post that you liked. You may comment back with a smiley.
When you hear another notification for your comment being liked, and you want to say or do more: the device has to go mute. If finishing your blog post is the objective.
For the period of writing, try keeping your personal devices on silent or mute, to help you focus on writing. Even a short time allotted to dedicated writing might lead to better results for the effort put in.
Keyboard shortcuts eliminate the clicks, clicks and more clicks needed to achieve your desired result.
Which would you prefer? A quick second to press a few keys – or a whole minute clicking through menus, sub-menus and sections to get what you want?
It may not be hours saved just from individual instances. But eventually, you might notice you finish writing faster, and upload your posts sooner.
Shortcuts also open new ways to work. Learning them could help discover new features, and/or some options that you didn’t know could have a shortcut.
True, it is common advice, but it’s seldom taken. It may even seem like it prolongs the writing process by stopping to back up data.
But backing up needn’t be done during/after writing. Soon after, or a little later could do just as well. The sooner though, the better.
Some online web/cloud storage services you could use to backup your files are Dropbox, Bitcasa, Mega, and the like. Also, backup your blog from time to time, to protect your content from security compromises.
Every person’s methods are different. However, there are some means that are quicker than others and might be worth incorporating them in your work process. Writing habits can still be highly personalized, and what works for one might not work for the other.
These time-saving tips for pro-bloggers can help any kind of blogger. Use them, or improve upon them. Find a way that you can work fast, seamlessly, and purposefully, to produce great writing.
Summary:
When you’re writing your blog post, have you done something assuming it’s productive, but was actually time-consuming? What time-saving tips would you give to fellow bloggers? Sound off in the comments below.
Subscribe to our blog for tips and updates on running WordPress websites, on the blogosphere, and beyond.
Get weekly actionable tips, insights and case studies to maximize your results.
