Blogging is pretty time consuming, and writing can be a Herculean task. But, no matter how little time you have, maintaining a blog is highly important as a branding and marketing tool.
Even when you’re pressed for time, you can still create great content for your blog and social media accounts. With practice, you can learn to write faster. But until that happens, these four tips will help you maximize your writing time.
Create a Content Calendar
Planning ahead and scheduling time to write will keep you in constant supply of fresh content. It’s an important component of your marketing strategy because, all too often, we spend any time we set aside to write starting at a blank document trying to think of something to write. If you’ve pre-planned the topics, you can dive right in.
Start by establishing a consistent tone for your writing. Then, come up with a list of topics. Set daily or weekly goals to make sure you get it all done. If you don’t produce regular content, your readers will lose interest and your marketing strategy could tank — even if everything you are putting out there is top-notch content.
Make Outlines for What to Write
Once you’ve set a clear tone and have some topics ready, create outlines for the main points you want to include in each piece. Outlines can be informal — they’re for your eyes only — but will dramatically speed up the writing process.
Outlining keeps you from having writer’s block and removes a lot of the research and thinking from the process. The more time you spend preparing, the less time you’ll need to spend writing.
Keep Your Content Simple
It’s fine for blog content to be pretty short, around 350 to 500 words — people usually don’t read any more than that (unless you’re creating some evergreen content. With evergreen content, you can go much longer and get a solid return). Always write in active voice to get to the point in fewer words.
Some ways to simplify content include writing lists or steps, or using infographics to convey your point — as long as you keep it to being top-notch content.
Repurpose What You’ve Already Written
When you’re really in a time crunch, you take something you’ve already written and repurpose it. The topic of a blog post from a few months ago may be relevant again today. Share it again on social media to ensure that your feeds are kept up to date.
Another option is to rewrite a blog post that didn’t get many reads the first time. For example, if you have a post that was too lengthy, condense or turn it into a list to freshen it up.
Producing great content doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot of time writing. Careful planning and keeping it simple will ensure you always have relevant blogs. And, your readers will thank you.