Speedy Blog Posts: Tips to Write Blog Posts When Time is Scarce

Every business owner who understands the power of content marketing on a blog dreams of sitting down and cranking out articles lickety-split that get blasted out to their audience who swoons as soon as they read it. 

Then, reality hits. 

They find themselves spinning all the plates, putting out fires, and struggling to find time to fit in time to gather their thoughts, and on top of that, they have to write that blog article. 

Guess what happens?

It’s not the next blog article. 

The blog is neglected, gathers dust, and content marketing becomes a shattered dream. 

No time to write a blog post? That’s all about to change.

I don’t want you to neglect your blog. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to your strategy to become a thought leader in your niche. 

Thankfully, technology has advanced quickly in the last couple of years and you can cut your blogging time to a fraction of what it used to be. 

Today, I’m going to show you how to write blog articles fast. And, I’m not talking about those 300-word articles you write off the top of your head. I’m talking about 1,000 to 3,000-word articles that are rich enough with keywords to get Google’s attention and full of information unique to you so readers become familiar with your brand. 

If you’re ready, let’s go. 

Before writing blog posts, do your ideal client research

You want your ideal client to go, “Wow! It’s like they’re reading my mind!”

Always remember, you’re writing for them. When you write your blog articles, aspire to address those questions and issues that your ideal clients struggle with.

This means you need to have done your ideal client research. You need to know your reader’s hopes, dreams, and aspirations so that you can write to those. You need to know their worries, concerns, and fears so you can help them overcome those.

The better you know your ideal client, the better topics you will select for your blog. The better topics you select, the better traction you will get.

Set aside time on your calendar and adorn your space to enhance focus

One of the biggest hurdles to consistent blogging is trying to multi-task while writing. You simply won’t be able to focus on the actual blog article you’re trying to write if you keep having to answer the phone, respond to Facebook messages, or are listening to a podcast.

If you want to be one of those speedy bloggers, it’s important to stop switching your attention from one thing to another and focus. Make sure you have a distraction-free space so that you can get into a flow state during your writing session. 

Do whatever you need to do with your environment to create an atmosphere conducive to enhancing creativity and losing yourself in your work. For example, I personally need silence. If I try to play music, it will distract me. Others find that music helps trigger their creativity. If you like scents, potpourri might be a great way to add a little inspiration to the air. Do candles help you detach from the world around you? What about a warm cup of tea? Whatever works for you, add it to your writing practice. 

Make sure you schedule blog writing time each week. Set it as if it were a meeting with a client. There will be days that you are going to feel the crunch because you have a bunch of work to do, and you will be tempted to let the blog slide. By scheduling mandatory blog time, you promote and enforce a routine that helps you overcome procrastination and builds consistency.

I want to emphasize the importance of consistency here. It’s huge in the minds of potential clients. When you show up consistently in your marketing, that signals to them you are reliable. This is going to be important to anyone who wants to hire you and works with deadlines. 

If you are a “watch watcher” and will keep getting distracted by looking at the clock during your writing time, you can always set a timer. That way, you don’t have to pay attention to the clock. When the timer goes off, you know it’s time to move on to other things. 

A great way to set aside time for content creation is to join Planner Genius. Every month we get together as a group in a Planning Party for a couple of hours. During that time we generate content for the upcoming month. When you join us, you will not only secure the time on your calendar as if it were a meeting (because it is a meeting), but you will also get to share the time with other entrepreneurs, coaches, and service business owners who are doing the same thing you are (kind of like a study group). 

Leverage AI to get you started

Let’s begin by kissing writer’s block goodbye!

You can use chat GPT to help you come up with topics that your ideal client will be looking for. If you give it the right information, it will give you several options. If you don’t like what you see, ask for more. Think of chat GPT as your brainstorming buddy who knows your ideal client really well.

Once you have settled on a topic, ask ChatGPT and Google Bard for outlines. They’re probably going to come up with very different responses. This is good. It will enable you to create your own outline based on the information they have given you.

Streamline your research on the topic

You can also use AI to do keyword research. Ask ChatGPT and Google Bard what keywords you might try to rank for based on your title and ideal client.

Once you’ve finished this, you should now have a couple of outline options and some keywords.

Now, a bit of bad news…

AI can’t do everything for you. You still need to do some actual research on the topic.

Of course, this research can include using AI for assistance. You could ask ChatGPT or Bard to tell you about whatever it is you need to know. 

But remember, AI isn’t always the most accurate with its information. It scrapes the entire internet, but it has no way of evaluating the quality of information it scrapes.

Don’t be afraid to go old school and do a Google search to see what those top-ranked articles say about your topic and double-check the information you have received.

So, yes, you still have to roll your shirt sleeves up, dig in, and do research. But, you don’t have to do nearly as much as you used to. And that means research leveraging AI will go much faster. 

Craft a speedy and effective outline

You should now have enough information to create a strong outline.

I know a lot of people like to just sit down and write free-flow. There’s nothing wrong with that. However, I don’t think that’s the best way to go about it. I’m a strong advocate of using an outline, and here’s why.

First, you want to think about your SEO. If you have an outline in front of you, you can tell whether you’re going to include all the information that needs to be in there. Without an outline, you won’t know until the end. And then if you don’t get it all in, you have to figure out how to go back and fill in what you missed.

Second, a solid outline will help with your clarity and coherence. Think of your outline as a road map that gets you to a destination. The better your map is, the easier it is to get from point A to point Z.

Third (and this is what we’re talking about today), it’s about speed. The better your outline, the faster you will be able to write. You’re going to use that as a fill-in-the-blank template. (More on that in a minute.)

As you write your outline, make sure you are clear on what your call-to-action for the article will be. Every blog article you offer to the public should be a persuasive invitation to do something specific. You have to know what your call-to-action is in advance if you want everything you write to lead readers toward it.

Tips for writing blog articles fast

Now for the fun part. Let the writing begin!

But first, I want to say something about AI blog writing…

Don’t forget you are a writer. Please do not copy-paste an AI blog article right out of ChatGPT or Bard. You run a couple of risks when you do that. 

First, you run the danger of duplicate content. AI draws in information from all over the web, and it doesn’t always concern itself with an original presentation.

Second, you run the risk of incorrect information. You want your blog posts to help your visitors get to know you, like you, and trust you. If you are giving them misinformation, that can destroy your reputation. You do not want to look like someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about or (even worse) someone who lies.

Third, AI patterns are becoming more recognizable. While most people are currently not able to tell whether an article was generated by AI or a human, I suspect this is going to change. The more they read articles that lean heavily on AI, the more they’re going to start seeing patterns. The more readers become sensitive to AI patterns, the more important it becomes for you to make sure that you are avoiding them in your blog.

Here’s what you do instead…

Grab your phone, open up Google Docs, and use voice-to-text typing. You can talk faster than you can write. 

When I’m writing an article, I have my outline up on my laptop, and I have my phone with my article document open. I look at the outline topic, and I begin to talk into my phone.

Typically, each section of my outline will only have three to five short sentences. If I have a solid outline, I can quickly say what needs to be said for a section, and move on to the next.

By keeping my sections short, it is a lot easier to remain focused on what I need to say, finish, and move on.

This approach has a huge benefit: while I use AI to help me generate the outline and the information that I want to present, everything is written in my voice (literally, since I’m using voice-to-text). Every single word of it sounds like me because it is me. 

In a world where people are trying to rely too much on AI-generated content, what I write stands out as having a distinctly human voice.

Of course, I will need to go back and edit. But, I needed to do that anyway.

Alternatively…

There are options out there that can write articles for you. Consider WriteSonic, for example. You can ask it to pull from articles on the web to create a unique article for you.

If you choose this path, I recommend that you use the AI-generated article as your base. Then, rewrite the whole thing (or at least most of it). 

Even though WriteSonic includes a plagiarism checker, I recommend you run it through Grammarly’s plagiarism checker when you’re done. When I’ve done this, Grammarly has consistently revealed several things that WriteSonic’s plagiarism checker missed.

Regardless of whether you use voice-to-text to fill in your AI-assisted outline or rewrite the AI-generated article, you are going to be writing articles much faster than you have in the past.

Editing your blog post and spicing it up to make it more interesting

Revisit your hook. When people land on your blog article, you want it to catch their attention fast. Don’t just write a nice introduction. Right an alluring hook as part of your persuasive writing.

My favorite hook begins by identifying your readers’ hope that relates to the topic. Then, talk about the problem that prevents them from realizing their hope. Once they are aware of how important it is for them to overcome this problem, invite them to read on so they can use your solution.

Again, I recommend you consider using AI for inspiration. You can ask ChatGPT or Google Bard to write a hook to go with your title, and you can even ask it to include those three phases I just listed. Try it and see what happens.

Then ..

Like I’ve said before, rewrite it. Use your own words. Make sure your blog article sounds like you and not like AI.

Revisit your headings and sections. Read your headings one after another. Forget everything in between, and just read the headings. When you get to the bottom, ask yourself, “Now that I have skipped down my article, did I understand all the major points and what the article is about?” If not, rewrite them.

Also, make sure your headlines are written in a way that not only clarifies your message but also gets attention. For better or worse, most people will probably start skimming down your article rather than reading it word for word. Your headlines act like speed bumps that ask them to slow down and pay attention. 

Integrate illustrations and stories.There are several reasons to incorporate stories into your blog articles.

First, when people hear a story about an experience, their brains tend to fire as if they are having the experience at that moment. 

Second, because of the unique way stories connect people with your message, they allow readers to relate to you as a person. When you look at articles written by AI, they are not going to include stories like anything you can tell.

Third (and this brings us back to the topic of our article), stories are something that you can write quickly. You would be hard-pressed to find something that you can write faster, especially if you are using voice-to-text for content creation.

Not only is storytelling super-effective in helping your audience to connect with your message and you as a human being, it also speeds up the writing process itself. When it comes to return on investment for your time, stories give you the most bang for your buck.

Get an outside pair of eyes on your work.In this case, I don’t mean actual “eyes”, I mean a second opinion on your writing. Consider using “digital eyes” like the Hemingway App to review your work. It’s a great writing tool for any blogger. it can help you clean everything up (like spelling mistakes and grammar) and make it more readable.

Revisit your call-to-action. You knew everything was leading to this before you started writing. What is your call to action? Consider whether your article is effectively pointing people in this direction. If not, be prepared to make some changes.

When you get down to your call-to-action section, make sure that you are focusing on the benefits rather than just a simple “sign up no” message.

Once you’ve completed this part of the process, you should have a finished draft. 

Optimize for SEO

At the beginning of this article, I requested you identify the SEO keywords you want to rank for. I did not ask you to write with the intent of filling your article with those keywords, however. That’s because I want you to write for your readers first and for SEO second.

Once your article is done, go back through it and figure out what SEO keywords you need to add. If you are using WordPress, you can use the Yoast SEO Plugin. It’s a great plug-in that will point you in the right direction.

If you want to have AI help you with your keywords, I recommend using Neuron. It will show you what your competitors are ranking for and help you improve your score so you can do even better.

What do you need to make it happen?

I’m offering you my speedy blog article writing approach because I don’t want time to be a barrier when it comes to you engaging in content marketing. The faster you can write a post, the more likely you are to follow up and actually do it.

I encourage you to get into the habit now. Don’t wait. Start this week setting up your blogging strategy that will boost your productivity without requiring you to set aside time you don’t have.

Here’s the thing though…

I can tell you how to write high-quality blog articles quickly so that you can get them out in front of your audience and become their go-to when they need information and help. But, I can’t make you write them. (And I wouldn’t want to make you do anything even if I could. You are free to approach this however you want.)

I realize many coaches, entrepreneurs, and service business owners have the desire to do content marketing, but don’t have the discipline to pull off. They know how important content marketing is, but they just can’t seem to sit themselves down in front of the desk and do it.

If that’s you, it may be that you need more than just this “how-to”. You may need encouragement and accountability.

If so, then you’re looking for the Planning Party I mentioned earlier that happens every month inside the Planner Genius program. At the monthly Planning Party, everyone gathers on Zoom, and Heather walks you through a process that helps you plan out the next month’s content schedule in less than 2 hours.

This is the perfect opportunity to set aside a minimum amount of time so that you can focus, get into the flow, and get everything done so you’re ready to get back to your regularly-scheduled work day when the time is up. Once you finish the meeting, you can feel relieved knowing that you’ve got everything planned out and ready to go for your content marketing, and all you have left is to implement the plan.

Keep in mind the Planning Party is only one part of the Planner Genius program. Heather’s passion is to help businesses grow and scale so they can make their business dreams come true. The Planner Genius program fulfills that need for the price of a very low monthly subscription.  

If you are ready to create a marketing strategy designed to move you from “feast or famine” to “financial freedom”, then click the link below and check out the program.