Writing articles is the backbone of any good content marketing strategy. I end up writing several thousand words a day in an effort to keep my various sites fresh. It wasn’t always rainbows and butterflies though, I’ve had my share of writers’ block and delays due to slow writing.
As I’ve written more, I’ve put together a process that works for me to plan, write, and publish my articles quickly without sacrificing quality. I’m going to share that process today with you in this article.
Bear in mind that this process might not work for everyone, and that’s okay. Everyone has their own style and what works for some might not for others.
That said, I do encourage you to give it a try for a few weeks. It might just surprise you how efficient of a writer you become.
Keep a Backlog Of Articles
Step 0, before I even begin planning, is to make sure that I have a ready made list of articles to pull from. I’m constantly on the lookout for new ideas, and keep a document that is just full of unpublished article ideas.
This is essential as it’s much easier to write an article when you start with the idea. Getting writers block, and then needing to plan an article is not fun at all.
I make sure to schedule time every month to revisit this backlog and do research on new ideas. That way, I know I’ve always got article ideas.
Set a Time and Remove Distractions
Another tip I like to use is to set a dedicated writing time and during that remove all distractions. I put my phone away, close any unneeded tabs, and just write. This is something that is beat to death in productivity guides, but it really does work. Try to shoot for 30 minutes of ununitteruored writing, you’ll be surprised how much you can actually get done.
Start With Effective Research
The first step before I sit down and start writing is to make sure I do my research. My goal is always to provide the best content I can, so I look at others to see what type of content does well for my topic.
While I’m researching, I keep the following points in mind.
What Keywords They Use
SEO and keywords are always at the top of my list, and I keep this in mind while I research. I’ll typically take a look at other articles and see which types of keywords they use. I can then use this to help me plan my content.
How In-depth Their Content Is
I’m also looking at how in-depth they go and which subtopics they spend time on. This can help me better outline my own article, as well as make sure the content I’m writing is relevant and easy to understand.
What Types Of Additional Media They Use
If they’re using images or video to supplement their article I take note. That doesn’t mean I necessarily have to as well, but it helps me see where they might have an advantage over me if I don’t.
What They’re Missing
Lastly, and maybe most importantly, I keep note of what content an article might be missing. This gets easier as you read through a couple and start to notice details that were in one but not the other. This is the secret sauce, if you can create an article that covers everything plus these extras then you can beat out the other content.
Come Up With a Broad Outline
This is done in conjunction with research, while I research I’m taking notes. Generally, this takes the form of an outline.
I start by writing down headers for each section of the article. At this stage I’m not too worried about what they are, I just jot them down. Depending on the length and topic of the article this could be anywhere from 3-20 headings.
After that, I sort through the notes I have and try to logically order them. I’m also looking for redundancy, if two headers are too similar I might combine them and leave a note to make sure I touch on the aspects of both.
At this point I have the rough outline of my article and the key talking points I want to hit.
Fill In That Outline With Subheaders and Notes
Once I have the outline I start going through each point and add a brief sentence or two about what I want to cover. I include here any topics or keywords that should get hit in this section so I can verify that I cover everything.
Here I also add subheaders that might fit under a broader category. I do the same thing with each of these adding a sentence to reference when I’m writing.
This is really the crux of how I am able to write quickly, the time I spent outlining really helps make up for itself in the long run. Typically, once the outline is done I’m able to pretty much write the whole article in one go.
Start Writing
At this point it’s time to start writing. With my outline, I tend to not have to think too much since I have notes with all the key points right in front of me.
There are a lot of ways to approach this, but mine is to simply write until I have the article finished. I don’t worry too much about my grammar or how things sound yet, I just want to get all my ideas down on paper. I find if I worry too much about individual words or sentences at this point I get bogged down.
If you struggle to write quickly I encourage you to start with a brain dump. Write the whole article in one go, then come back after. At least in that case you should have the majority of your ideas written down.
I Save The Intro For Last
One little tip for writing that I’ve found works for me is to save the intro paragraph for last. I find writing an introduction is often the hardest part of the article, and I’ve found myself staring at the screen with nothing trying to come up with one.
By saving it for last, I get myself in both a writing mindset, but also understand better what the article is going to cover. These together help break that intro paragraph block.
Go Back and Edit
Once the article is complete I go back and revise and edit. Obviously, I check my grammar and flow, but I also keep in mind the topics I want to hit as well as my keywords. This makes sure my article is not grammatically correct, but solves the problems for my readers.
There are a lot of tools out there that can help speed this up. Grammarly is a good one for grammar checks and Yoast is great for SEO. No tool is perfect, but they can help you catch easy to miss errors and help speed up the review process.
Make a Plan To Revisit
Lastly, I never consider an article truly complete as there are always ways to improve it. Whenever I publish an article I add an updated field that I can reference later. I generally make it a goal to revisit articles at least 1-2 per year just to make sure that they are still relevant.
This is also a good time to go back and add anything you might have missed. As I spend more time in a niche I often find that my old articles are lacking or maybe missed some subtle details. This is a great opportunity to fix those issues, which only serves to make your content better.
It’s Your Turn
That’s really all there is to it, it basically boils down to
- Do Some Research
- Create an Outline
- Write
- Edit and Improve
It’s certainly more complicated than that, but at a high level that’s all it takes to write good content quickly. Like most things, the more you do the better you’ll get. So, why not start write (see what I did there?) now! Take the next 30 minutes, set a time, and get to writing. The more you do it the easier it will get, so don’t put it off!