15 practical tips to speed up your writing and publish blogs faster

Blogging is phenomenal for boosting your website’s search engine optimisation (SEO), introducing your brand to thousands of new customers, and increasing your website traffic.

However, that blog post that you started writing but never finished, or that article idea you’ve been toying with but haven’t actually starting typing up, will do sweet fudge all.

I get it – blogging takes ages.

Blog articles are generally around 1,200-1,500 words – which is around 5x longer than even the longest Instagram captions, or maybe 30x longer an old-school tweet.

Then there’s the fact that writing a blog can be pretty mentally taxing. You gotta come up with an idea, and then you need to stretch your writing muscles further than you might have done since leaving uni 15 years ago.

Oh, and then you need to do it again next month. And the month after. And the month after that, too.

But I still want you to reap those blogging rewards because they are ludicrously powerful. For my own website, we get over 1 million impressions and thousands of clicks every quarter because of our blog articles.

So let’s focus on how we can actually get some articles onto your website. Let’s go through some practical tips that’ll help you speed up your writing, and finish more blog articles, faster.

PS. This article is not only written without any use of AI, but it’s also free from blog-creating tips using AI. 

 

1. Throw The ultimate guide to… blogs in the bin (even though they’re great for SEO)

If you could title your next blog “The ultimate guide to [thing you know a lot about]”, I don’t want you to write it.

Ultimate guides can be incredible for SEO – they tick a lot of checkboxes that Google likes to see: long, specific, thorough, nuanced, expertise-based.

But they take fluffin’ ages to write.

Now, I’m not saying that you should never ever post an ultimate guide – like I said, they’re great for SEO – but if you’re not already in the habit of blogging, the last thing I want is to clog up your calendar with the job of writing 3,500+ words on a single topic.

I’ve been working with businesses on their blog and website content for over a decade, and trust me – far more ultimate guides float around in draft-blog purgatory than ever make it onto your website.

And then, after you’ve maybe finished your first 10 posts and fancy diving a little deeper, you can pop back into this bin and give your ultimate guide a go.

 

2. Publish shorter blogs

Eugh, so obvious right? Why even include this? Well matey, listen up. Read up?

Google itself says over and over that there is no minimum word count that is best for SEO, it’s literally in their SEO Starter Guide under Things we believe you shouldn’t focus on.

Now. I constantly recommend Google as the main source of info on what Google wants, but when it comes to this tip – Google isn’t the most helpful.

In practicality – sure, Google doesn’t care about word count. But, it does care about thoroughness and helpfulness – and it’s just hard to be the maximum amount of thorough and helpful in ~500 words.

Which often means that those 500-word blog posts are beaten out in the rankings by their more thorough 1,500-word competitors.

But, if you’re struggling to get blogs onto your website, I want you to treat yourself to a shorty 300-600-word blog, or even five of them.

Why? A short blog might just be better than no blog – especially if your article doesn’t have many competitors. Plus it’ll start strengthening those writing muscles, and get some stats that might help future-you understand what your audience loves to hear.

 

3. Stick to listicles

Ah the listicle, my favourite type of blog post. Listicles (list-based articles) get a bad rap and sure, they are the go-to format for a lot of low-quality content sources – but they’re also highly clickable, well-structured, repeatable, and (my favourite quality/benefit) listicles are formulaic.

Now, we’ve written a few articles on listicles already (you’ll find the links at the bottom of this section), but for the most part, I want you to structure them like this:

• Introduction
• Entry (repeat as necessary)
  • Describe the entry
  • Tell the reader why you included it
  • A nugget of insight just from you
  • Where to find out more
• Conclusion

I find that when it comes to writing blogs quicker, this formulaic, rigid structure makes it a lot easier to keep yourself flowing forward and minimising time-sucking tangents – even though I LOVE a tangent.

Here are more of our articles about listicles if you’d also love a tangent:

• 6 reasons to write listicles; the easiest blogs for your small business
• 6 simple steps to writing a banging listicle blog for your small business website
• Blog SEO: 41 content ideas for your listicle 

 

4. Cap the number of entries in your listicle blog

Oftentimes I’ll write a blog post because I have one brain-itchingly good nugget I really want to hammer into you, ya lovely reader. For this blog post, and for you – the person struggling to write their blogs quickly – this is that nugget.

I want you to pop a somewhat arbitrary cap on the number of entries in your blog. Or to put it another way, I want you to choose your finish line before you start.

Capping the number of entries you’re going to write about prevents you from getting stuck in the cycle of writing until you just run out of steam for a topic, and then starting a new article because the old one wasn’t reaching it’s conclusion.

I usually start with 5 entries as a good ballpark, but for new bloggers maybe go somewhere between 4 and 10.

Now, I know you probably have more ideas, more tips, more recommendations, more insights – but you are BANNED from writing them because our goal is to finish.

After you’ve hit publish? You can totally head back and add more entries. Heck, I’d even ruddy love it if you could follow up with a classic “part two” or “5 more…”.

And if you’re wondering why I’ve not capped this article – well, it’s because I’m somewhat consistent at finishing my blogs. When you reach consistency too, you can definitely ditch the cap.

 

5. Add a degree of specificity to that blog topic

“But Aime, I’m an interior designer who wants to share tips on how to make your home more beautiful – how can I limit myself to 5 entries?!”

Well matey, here’s another potentially mind-blowing tip. If you can’t reduce the number of entries in your blog, reduce the size of the topic which will naturally tighten up your writing avenues.

Using that interior design example, we could:

• Limit it to a specific room, e.g. 5 interior design tips for making your downstairs loo more beautiful
• Limit it to a specific style, e.g. 5 interior design tips for creating a beautiful, tuscan-inspired home
• Limit it to a specific task or project, e.g. 5 interior design tips for choosing paint colours for your beautiful home
• Limit it to a specific time, e.g. 5 interior design tips for making your home more beautiful in time for Christmas
• Limit it to a specific challenge, e.g. 5 interior design tips for making your new build home more beautiful

Not only can this reduce the scope or your blog and keep you more focused, but these specific articles are generally waayyyyyy better for your SEO than their generic umbrella counterparts.

 

 

6. Pick low hanging fruit topics

Low hanging fruit blogs are articles that are just the straightforward and often the most obvious to write. Think about rundowns like:

• 5 events for people in your industry
• 5 tools for doing the thing you do
• 5 tips for beginners who want to do the thing you do
• 5 gift ideas for people who like the things you sell
• 5 places to visit in the location that you’re based
• 5 people who have nice Instagram content about the stuff you talk about
• 5 other professionals who offer services to the same people you offer your services to

These articles can sometimes be unsatisfying as a blogger – they’re not very glamorous or particularly creative – but by golly gosh can they pay off.

About 18 months ago our content producer Lyzi and I rounded up our favourite cool cafés and coffee shops for client meetings in Bristol – and guess how many search impressions it’s racked up since then…

…I’ll wait…

…But not that long…

…Over 175,000.

 

7. Choose blog articles that don’t need much research

Research can be a big part of blogging for a business, and it’s also why outsourcing your blog posts to a ghost writer or copywriter can become pretty darn spenny.

I just asked our content writer Lyzi how long she’d want to research a how-to blog post on a niche topic she’d never written about before where she couldn’t get any input from the client, and her answer was at least 2 hours.

However, not every article needs a tonne of research – like those that are based on your own individual opinions, experiences, and expertise.

For example, the entries in that coffee shop article are all favourites of my team, so the only research required was grabbing addresses and postcodes.

Much like Ultimate guides to, highly researched articles and those with original insights from surveys and evaluations can be incredible for SEO, like a theoretical solid 8.5/10.

However, I’d much rather you take a finished and published 7/10 than an 8.5 that languishes forever in your drafts pile.

 

8. Create a dump doc of blog ideas

Coming up with ideas for blogs and actually writing blogs are two different activities. The first often requires inspiration and imagination, the second can sometimes be more about time and perseverance.

That’s why I like to separate the tasks, and create a dump doc where I can literally dump all of my blogging ideas into a trusty ol’ Google doc for when I have the time to actually write.

Other options include your notes app, a project management system like Notion or Clickup, or some old-school post-its.

The idea is that you can schedule an idea dump session to get pish out of your brain for future-you, and also add to it add-hoc in those moments when inspiration strikes (or when someone asks you a question and you think, “actually that’d make for a great blog”).

Then when you do get to your writing time, open that blogging dump doc and handpick the article that past-you planned.

 

9. Prioritise blog articles that you personally wanna write & share

This tip for writing your blogs quicker is largely based on my own experience as a prolific blogger. I personally really struggle to write and finish articles when I just don’t have a heap of zeal and passion for the subject.

A good example is that I think it would be really helpful for me to write a blog post about how to use headings correctly on a website. It’s something I chat about in every SEO workshop I’ve ever run, and probably the most common website mistake that really fluffs up SEO for a lot of business websites.

The reason why I haven’t?

I just don’t fancy it. And if I don’t fancy it, I’m incredibly unlikely to write with any degree of energy or enthusiasm, which means I’ll be slow and probably won’t even finish.

 

10. Scour your own social media for blog content

What’s better than a blog post you’re already passionate about writing that fits neatly into that digestible listicle format? One where past-you has already started writing it.

Nabbing ideas, images and blocks of text from your old social media posts can seriously speed up the blog-writing process. I’m always grabbing tidbits from previous Instagram carousels, and if you’re a LinkedIn lover, I bet you’ve got a thought-provoking post that would make the bones of a brilliant blog.

If you’re already blogging, I bet you’re also sharing those articles across your social platforms (and if not, here are 13 smart ways to promote that totally brilliant blog post that you’ve just published), so this is your nudge to let your content flow the other way, too.

 

11. Block out 2-3 hours to write (and nothing else)

I prefer to write blog articles in one sitting wherever possible, and recommend the same to you too – even though right now I *think* I’m on the third flurry of typing this fella up, and I started maybe 10 days ago too.

Writing your article in one go helps you to retain focus, and also means you probably remember what jokes you dropped into entry number one, so you can callback in entry number 10 – or maybe even avoid repeating yourself.

Writing can also be a lot like running – where that initial start is clunky and clumsy and maybe painful, but then you hit 15 minutes in and your muscles/brain just kinda start to work.

If you write your whole article in 20 minute sprints, you might just be at your rustiest, and rusty writing isn’t quick.

 

12. Go blog in a café

Since I started my current writing flurry, our client manager Cai has stopped me 3 times to ask 6 questions, our technical director/my husband Alex has stopped me once with 2 questions, two deliveries have come in, and our freelance web designer Hannah arrived, and then we’ve been chatting about my new pond for 15 minutes.

These interruptions are totally expected working in a small business – but they have probably added another 40 minutes onto my blog writing time and popped me back in clunky time a few times too.

And this is why I tend to save my blogging time for Friday mornings, sat in a premium café, and writing over a fancy latte*. A change of scenery not only creates a barrier between you and your very lovely colleagues/clients/family/couriers – but it can also create a literal zone for you to get in the zone.

Oh, and pop your devices on Do Not Disturb too.

*Now you know why that cool cafés and coffee shops for client meetings in Bristol article is one of my favourites 😉

 

13. Don’t design your blog posts

Ya know how every time you open an new article on BBC News or Refinery29 or Architectural Digest or Medium, it’s a totally different layout and design?

Well, no, they’re not. They’re almost all totally uniform – with a single column of text and images, often with a sidebar and almost always with an email sign up for at the end.

Now I have no idea why, but small business owners love to go to town on creatively designing their blog posts. Not only can this create some serious UX reductions, accessibility challenges, and mobile snafus, but it just takes freakin’ ages.

Earlier, I said I wanted you to separate blog idea generation and blog writing into 2 different tasks. Well, I also want you to move over blog web design into it’s own category. Or just pop it straight into the bin.

Keep your blogs to that single simple column, and pop the creative layouts on hold until you’re a more consistent blogger.

 

 

14. Leave photos until the end

I am a massive proponent for investing in your brand photography, and working with a photographer to create a bank of brand imagery to use across your website, blog, social media, emails, catalogues and beyond.

And I also know that sometimes you’ll write a blog about beaches or slugs or pond aggregates, and you just won’t have the right picture.

Sometimes this means digging through stock photo libraries (like my free favourites Pexels and Unsplash), and sometimes it’s liaising with brands and businesses you’ve blogged about to get their official pics.

This takes time, and if you are continually pausing your writing to go on a picture quest, you’ll be adding valuable time that could be saved by bundling up the activity to the end of your blogging project.

And on that note – no, you don’t need photos in every blog.

 

15. Hit publish before you proofread and optimise

This is another very Aime-tip. As I’m rounding off this blog post, I am going to hit that gorgeous blue publish button before I’ve scrolled back up to the top and given the article one final read. Why?

It’s quicker.

Firstly, I’m in a lucky position to have a few team members who can proofread my posts and fix all the inevitable typos and that thing where I just write a totally incorrect word because it was stored near the correct word in my messy brain storage system.

But even if you are self-proofreading, you’ll find yourself to be far more efficient and quick when you do so with fresh cold eyes.

Ya know, the eyes you haven’t use to stare at the exact same screen and keyboard for 3 hours.

Google will likely take a few days or weeks to start showing your post in its search results, so you have plenty of wiggle room to circle back and fixed what past-you missed.

 

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So you want to write more blogs faster? Well, now you have 15 epic tips that’ll help you write blogs quicker and actually get them published on your website.

Now ya just need to sit back, relax, and check in on Search Console to make sure they’re picking up impressions and clicks, and also create graphics and posts to share them on social media, and then do your day job, and then write another blog article.

Easy peasy.

In the meantime, check out more blogs on blogging from me and my team, and head over to @studio.cotton on Instagram if bitesize business & website advice is your thang. See ya next time.