How to Simplify Your Blog Writing Process

Writing a blog isn’t a mystery. It’s a process. However, most people will overcomplicate that process for the sake of getting fast results. I’m here to tell you that there is no magical formula that will instantly increase traffic to your blog or even improve the overall quality of your content. Instead, I want to use this opportunity to reinforce basic strategies and philosophies that will help simplify your blog writing process.
 
Create an Editorial Calendar
 
Over the years, I’ve experimented with a multitude of strategies to write blogs.  No matter what I tried, I would encounter the same problem over and over again. One of the major faults I had early on was I overanalyzed every step of the process. Before I could even get an idea on the page, my mind would go off into a million different directions, and before you know it, I had lost two or three hours just thinking about something that would never come to fruition.
 
Things changed when I discovered how to use an editorial calendar. Using the editorial format, I could easily plan my writing around themes. Mainly, I chose to focus on holidays or celebrations during a specific month that were relevant to my industry or the services I provided. Once the calendar was filled out with ideas, I no longer spent hours trying to concoct the perfect blog post out of thin air. I simply referred to the calendar, chose a theme and focused all my time on putting pen to paper.
 
In essence, writing a blog post revolves around having a great time management system in place. The less thinking you have to do, the more you optimize productivity and encourage those creative juices to flow without inhibition.
 
Create a Keyword List
 
One of my favorite ways to start the blog writing process is to create a keyword list. Much like the editorial calendar, I use the Google Keyword Planner to generate ideas for a blog post. More specifically, I use the keyword planner to identify questions that I can answer for my audience. For example, I typed in the search terms “blog writing” and a series of questions flooded the results page. From these results, I can gather that the average person searching on Google in my area is stumped on where to start their blog writing process. Once I have an indication of what those pain-points are, I can provide solutions that are timely and relevant to advancing their personal or business goals.
 
Moreover, the keyword planner lays out the best SEO terms to use. If you are serious about ranking higher in organic search results, I’d take a few of these terms and sprinkle them into your blog post. I wouldn’t go ballistic with the list of terms and phrases provided to you. I believe relying too heavily on this will lead to keyword stuffing, which comes off as inauthentic and will steer people away from your site.  Needless to say, as you advance, it will become easier to incorporate keyword terms into your writing process and avoid those common pitfalls.
 
I’d recommend the keyword planner feature in Google Adwords to anyone who is writing blog posts for the first time. It’s free, simple to use and will remove much of the guest work until you become a pro at developing content ideas on your own.
 
The Question & Answer Method
 
When I was growing up, I read a ton of sports magazines. I particularly enjoyed when the writer did exclusive features on elite athletes or prominent figures within the basketball world. However, I would often stop midway through reading these feature stories because they were too long.  This forced me to seek out stories that catered to my reading style.
 
Naturally, I found that the Q & A features satisfied that need. I was able to follow along easily with the story and highlight the sections of the interview that interested me the most. Fast forward several years later and I thought to myself “What if I could reverse engineer this process to write stories myself?”.  Obviously, there is nothing revolutionary about this realization, but it was a key turning point in how I approached writing.
 
I think the Q & A style of preparing your blog post is a time-effective strategy. I say this because it truly narrows your focus by asking questions that elevate the value of your content to the reader. I’d recommend at least 3-5 questions you can separate into themes that relate back to the central idea of your blog post. Once those questions are defined, you simply pull together thoughts or research that support the point you are trying to make. However, if you choose this method, I wouldn’t worry too much about structure yet. That will come once you’ve gathered all the information needed to start the writing process.
 
In short, this method really helps to isolate the sexiest parts of your blog post. That is, pulling out those central ideas first will help you gain a bird eyes view of how to structure the content and write it more fluidly.
 
Find a Rhythm: Pencil in a Time to Write
 
There is a school of thought out there that says you cannot schedule inspiration. I would have to agree with that sentiment. However, I strongly believe you can optimize productivity and creative output by prioritizing when you write.
 
Cal Newport, author of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, argues that gaining proficiency at any new skill is a direct result of how well you are able to concentrate on a given task and execute it with minimal outside interference. He summed up this principle perfectly: “To learn hard things quickly, you must focus intensely without distraction.” Again, this isn’t earth-shattering news, but it is simple advice that could have tremendous impact on your content marketing efforts.
 
Needless to say, the exact same philosophy applies to writing your blog post. I’d recommend choosing a day of the week or specific time you can consistently set aside to push you through each phase of the writing process. For example, you might want to use Monday to brainstorm your topic, Wednesday to create an outline and Friday to write a first draft.  The goal is to break the process down and make incremental strides toward completing your blog post.
 
Above all, it’s about establishing a rhythm. Once you stick to a schedule, writing will become second nature and you’ll be able to crank out content more efficiently.
 
Kill the Inner-Critic
 
Let’s face it – no one will ever be a perfect writer. Some will excel at it better than others, but they’ll never be immaculate. That said, there are things you can do to do produce the best version of your writing every time. 
 
In college, we were taught to follow a very simple formula – Write. Edit. Rewrite. I believed in this formula and practiced it religiously. However, the second step in this process often slowed me down. Depending on length of the essay or research paper, I would concentrate too much on the details. Part of the problem stemmed from perfectionism; I would procrastinate until I wrote something that was absolutely flawless. A misplaced semicolon here. A wrong word spelled there. It seemed the more I sweated over the minutia, the longer it took me to complete my work.
 
Now a more seasoned writer, I’m wise enough to avoid these conventions. In the last few years, I’ve learned to silence the inner-critic that insists on tearing down my writing.  Trial and error have taught me progress trumps perfection every single time. I say this because writing quality content is a process, but you don’t want to extend that process any longer than it has to be. Otherwise, you’ll get stuck in one place and lose the desire to publish your work.
 
To build momentum, put some thoughts on the page first, then go back and sculpt out the best ideas that arise from each subsequent version you edit. Afterwhile, you’ll begin to notice that your ideas mature quicker and the blog writing process takes less time to complete.
 
 
Hire a Freelance Copywriter
 
As I’ve said time and time again, writing for your blog is a time-consuming process. If you are unable to apply the advice above for yourself, then it is time to divest that responsibility to a freelancer copywriter. According to Demand Metric, 62 % of companies now outsource their content marketing. Moreover, of the work outsourced, 64 % percent tends to be for writing purposes. Clearly, the numbers show outsourcing talent for this type of work will be the blueprint for business success in the future.
 
I propose the freelance copywriter option for two reasons. First, the amount of technical knowledge and skill required to master this area can seem like an insurmountable hurdle to the newly initiated. While it can be exciting to learn a new skill, the reality is most business owners or leadership executives don’t have the time to commit to such a demanding task.  Indeed, the better route would be to delegate that responsibility to someone with the expertise to manage that aspect of the business separately.
 
On the other hand, I think hiring a freelancer is a cost-effective solution. Depending on the project, you could hire the freelancer to work on an as-needed basis. In my view, this strategy makes sense because it not only gives you an opportunity to evaluate the freelancer’s output on a gradual scale, but also determine the long-term viability of the relationship. This way, the freelancer’s pay is directly tied to what he or she produces. Nothing more, nothing less.  As a result, the freelancer will be incentivized to hone in on specific tasks or assignments for the project while staying on budget.
 
All in all, I think hiring a freelance copywriter is a solid investment. As long as clear expectations are set by both parties on what needs to be done and compensation, then the relationship will flourish and your blog will get the attention it deserves.