A surefire system for quickly writing blog posts

I have a surefire system for quickly creating blog posts that I want to share with you.

If you are like most of bloggers, then it’s an ongoing struggle to continuously create epic content.

But, you also know that to increase your influence, impact, and income online, it’s essential to be a content-creation machine.

The struggle to write blog posts quickly

I have been a business writer for more than two decades.

While I can churn out content with no problem for other companies, it’s still a struggle to write my own blog posts.

I think that’s because it’s so personal and it means so much to me (whereas for a client’s content, I wasn’t emotionally attached to the people who would ultimately read it.)

Until I came up with this six-step process for quickly writing blog posts, I often sat behind my keyboard agonizing over what I would write.

The more I sat with my writer’s block, the more self-doubt would creep into my head and those little critical voices would get louder and louder.

They would shout things like:

• What are you going to write about?
• Why can’t you come up with any good ideas?
• Who are you to write a blog post, anyway?
• Who is going to want to read this?
• How is this blog post going to lead to income?

I definitely wrestled with impostor syndrome.

That is the term used to describe high-achieving people like you and me who often have an inability to internalize our accomplishment. We have a persistent, deep fear of being exposed as a “fraud” even if the external evidence points to success.

So, I completely understand if you feel that way. But, I want to help you move past this struggle. Because it’s really limiting.

I wish someone had written this post for me. And, I actually searched online for something like this post but couldn’t find anything that worked. I did find some blog-writing processes, but I thought they were overly complicated and didn’t actually save much time.

So, I developed my own formula.

Below, I walk you through my easy-to-follow 6-step process for quickly writing a blog post. Because, the more content you create, the more success you’ll have in your marketing. And, the more people who know about you, the more business you’ll get.

In this blog post, I’ll first write the step and then, I will answer it to show you how I go through the six-step process.

Sound good?

Great! Let’s get started.

STEP 1: Decide on your blog post topic

This seems like a no brainer. However, it can actually be a big sticking point to progress.

Thinking of topics can take time – especially when you are in a hurry and need to get a blog post completed quickly.

And, the reality is that ideas will come to you all the time. They’ll just pour into your head while you are taking a shower, walking the dog, exercising at the gym, watching your kids at the playground, driving, and so on.

The only time you won’t get any ideas at all is when you actually sit down to write your blog post.

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

This is why it’s essential to develop a system that allows you to capture all of your ideas before sitting down to write a post.

I use and love Evernote for creating, storing, and organizing ideas. Every time I have an idea for a blog post topic, I jot it down as an electronic note in that system.

That said, it doesn’t really matter what tool you use – a simple notebook works fine.

Blogger Melyssa Griffin gets tens of thousands of visitors each month and she just carries a notepad with her everywhere to keep track of ideas.

Don’t worry if you are the type of person who doesn’t have ideas pouring into your head and struggle to come up with topics. You can still use a topic idea system.

However, I recommend you plan time each week to batch your topic generation, This is where you sit down for 15-30 minutes at a set time that you have blocked out on your calendar and do a quick brainstorm of topic ideas. Even if you can only think of two or three, they will accumulate over time and your brain will become more adept at idea generation.

These approaches to blog topics are much more productive than trying to think of your next topic when it’s time to write a blog post.

STEP 2:  Pretend a friend asks you, “What are you going to write your blog post about today?”

This is typically where the intro paragraph and hook for my blog post will come from.

For example, for today’s blog post I would answer this question by writing down: I’m going to explain my process for quickly writing blog content.

The reason why this works well is because it forces me to isolate a theme and core concept for my blog post. It also allows me to write the post’s introduction, which is another area I would get hung up on in the past before I developed my 6-step Quick Blog Post Writing System.

That said, I often wait until I’ve developed the rest of the blog post to write the introductory paragraph. I find the act of writing the entire article makes it much easier to summarize it in the beginning.

STEP 3:  Next my pretend friend asks me, “Can you tell me the steps that you take?”

At this point, I write several sentences that will help my pretend friend get from the beginning to the end of the core concept. It might take three steps, or it might take six or seven.

It is really up to your discretion and will be completely dependent on the topics you are explaining in your blog post.

The answer to this question will also typically be the sub-headlines in my blog post. That’s exactly what I’ve done for this blog post. The sub-headlines are Step 1, Step 2, etc.

They are answering my pretend friend’s question.

At this point, I just write what I know. I write quickly and I try not to think too hard about my writing. I trust that the words will flow.

There is a popular quote that is often mistakenly attributed to Ernest Hemingway:

“Write drunk, edit sober.”

The truth is that these aren’t Hemingway’s words and in his real life, he actually wrote in the early, early morning when he was completely sober.

But there is a message behind the quote, which is why I included it.

When you are writing out the initial draft for your blog post – write rapidly, with little regard for the fine details. This is your “drunk” phase.

Do NOT write a little, edit a little, write a little, edit a little. This is a guaranteed time waster. It also will cause you to second guess your efforts.

Instead, let the words flow from your fingers and get your thoughts down. It should be just as if you were having a conversation with your friend, explaining your process.

Your stream of consciousness and a veritable word vomit is crucial to writing a blog post quickly. Allow yourself to suck.

Don’t worry, editing and formatting will come later.

If there are places where I need to fill in research later, during my initial draft, I will just put a placeholder like these: {ADD LINK} or {ADD RESEARCH} or {ADD CASE STUDY} or {ADD EXAMPLE} and so on.

Also, if there is something that I want to say, but I can’t think of it in that moment, I insert {TO COME}. This gives me the permission to keep writing without stopping or getting hung up on the thing I want to say. Later, I can finesse that one sentence or paragraph.

STEP 4: Next, tell your pretend friend exactly how to accomplish each step you listed

Under each of the high-level steps you wrote, explain how to accomplish them with several sentences or paragraphs (obviously, the content required is going to be highly variable depending on your topics and industry).

One way to get the content out quickly is to talk out loud as you write.

Remember that your pretend friend is asking you questions about your process.

You can verbally describe the steps aloud as you write. This makes your writing instantly more readable, and I find it a quick way to get the content out of my head. It also keeps me from getting distracted (I have been known to get distracted by videos of cats riding Roombas).

Avoid writing dense paragraphs of text. You want to make your post incredibly readable.

If you have a complex topic that requires a lot of content to explain, you can break ideas down into bullet points. This makes it easier for your readers to understand. Also, use your subheadings to narrow the sections of your post.

This isn’t English 101.

Don’t worry about what your teacher might say – she ain’t here.

To keep your a blog post readable, do not write more than three sentences in any single paragraph. And, you can also weave in paragraphs with just one or two sentences.

Blog writing is all about bite-sized nuggets. You can even have one-word paragraphs to add emphasis.

See!

You.

Can.

Write.

Them.

If you really want to geek out on the data behind what makes the perfect blog post, Buffer has a lengthy post all about it on their site.

STEP 5: Tell a story to your pretend friend that helps explain your blog post content.

Across centuries, around the globe, and in every culture, humans have told stories to share, remember, and understand the world around us.

Think about all of the ways we get stories.

They can be told by a tribal elder sitting around a campfire and explaining how zebras got their stripes, or they can be told by a parent perched on the side of their child’s bed at night reading Peter Pan.

Stories can also be told on a Broadway stage to a large audience, or via a nighttime Netflix binge.

Regardless of the venue, our brains are hardwired to be story processors.

In children, there is actually an inborn need for story hearing and then story creation emerges.

At around two years of age, children have already learned the rudiments of storytelling – they innately know how to sequence events, set action in a place and time, and organize a story around characters.

Isn’t that cool?

So, tell a story to illustrate the points in your blog post and your reader will find it easier to remember the content.

Cognitive psychologist Jerome Brunner says that a story is 22 times more memorable than the mere pronouncement of a fact. And, if you can make the story also have an emotional impact, your writing will create a deeper impact with your reader.

At the beginning of this blog post, you’ll see I told a quick story about how I struggled with writer’s block and impostor syndrome.

This set the stage for the blog post and it helps to demonstrate that I understand what you as the reader is going through.

That said, if you want to really move your audience, go deeper into your story. It can be about you, it can be about one of your clients, or it can even be about a celebrity or a fictional character.

You can place various stories throughout your post, or weave one story with tidbits of it in each one of the points you are making.

Play around with storytelling. You’ll find that the more you do it, the easier it gets and the more fun it will make your writing.

Stories also transform your blog posts into a compelling read.

STEP 6: Edit, format, proof, finalize

Once you have created your quick blog post draft, it’s time to edit.

Sometimes, I wait until later in the day or even the next day to edit because my brain is refreshed.

The easiest and fastest way to edit your blog post is to simply read your words out loud or to a friend.

You’ll be shocked at how powerful this technique is in picking up errors and being able to make quick corrections.

Once I edit, I create my graphics in Canva or do a quick search for free images on Pixabay.com and then add them to my blog post.

Next, I finalize the post, make it live, and promote it on social media.

Practice makes perfect

The more you write, the easier it gets.

Then work through the 6 steps I’ve listed above.

You will notice an immediate improvement in your writing speed and then you’ll get faster from there.

The more you write, the more blog posts you’ll create and the more people will come to your blog and website. Let me know how it goes!

And if you’re stuck, let’s talk! I can help you figure out how you CAN create a brand that has a competitive advantage.

Or you can access my free masterclass using the button below!