Speed is money. If one article can make you, say a $5 income, then it makes a huge difference whether you write 1 article per hour or 5. So how can you write your articles faster?
In many ways, in fact.
- Know your topic. If you know the stuff you write about, you don’t have to spend time on research.
- Know how to do research fast. In case, you don’t know your topic, or need some extra information, knowing how to obtain this makes a huge difference.
- Type fast.
Yes, typing speed matters! If you write 40 words per minute, a 400 word article cannot be written in less than 10 minutes, even if you write without interruption. It’s technically impossible. And 40 words per minute isn’t bad at all. 80 is better, though. That means that you can spit out articles in 5 minutes, if you don’t have to do any research at all. That means 20 articles per hour.
Right! I need to boast about this. I have to get it out of my system, and onto my blog. Here it comes:
Typing Test — Read on, when you’ve done the test.
Now, I learned how to type blind when I was 12 or something like that. I haven’t used this all my life, because for many years (10 actually) I worked in a supermarket, and the only typing I did was on the cash register.
But many years ago, I started as a lawyer’s secretary, and began writing a lot again, and since I quit my day job in 1996, I’ve been writing daily, and more and more.
It has improved my writing speed.
If you want to type faster, you should learn to type blind, and you should use it. Daily!
When I’m not writing e-books, articles or blog posts, I’m playing World of Warcraft, and guess what? When I chat with my WoW-pals, I write. And sometimes, we don’t have much time for communication. No need to write: Look out! Rogue behind you! if the rogue has already killed your friend during the time it took you to find the right keys.
Challenge yourself to writing faster and faster. Always make sure to correct mistakes. Ay, there’s the rub! When I learned typewriting, it was on an old-fashioned type-writer. You couldn’t just go back and correct a word later. You had to make it right the first time. This could be a disadvantage, now, for me to have learned that, because with computer technology, it’s easy to go back and correct errors later. And if it breaks your writing stream, don’t correct the words on the fly. I do it, but it’s been a habit for me the last 38 years. Not easy to change then.
I’m still far worse than you so I’m not going to share my final count :p
Increasing typing speed is definitely something to take a closer look at. I write a lot, but obviously not as much as you.
-Mike
I admire your speed! And I can admit that the quality of your articles doesn’t suffer from it. I wish I could write so fast! When I just began writing articles it took me several days to complete one, but now I work a bit faster 😀 I guess practice makes better, and if I write more I’ll be able to achieve the figures you talk about in several years)
Thank you for your kind words 🙂
Practice does make better, yes, and faster. However, it could also be that you’re trying too hard to make your article perfect?
I’ll give you a challenge. Set aside 15 minutes from now, and write the most horrible article, you can come up with on any topic, you like. Dish washing could be a topic. Yelling at the dog could be one. Just pick a topic, write, and make it awful 🙂
Will you do that for me, please? You only have 15 minutes, and write at least 250 words.
First off I want to say wonderful post! I had a quick question that I’d like to ask if you do not mind. I was interested to find out how you center yourself and clear your head prior to writing. I have had a difficult time clearing my mind in getting my ideas out. I do enjoy writing however it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes tend to be lost simply just trying to figure out how to begin. Any suggestions or hints? Thanks!
That’s a great question!
Are you sure you need to clear your mind? If you have too much on your mind, maybe it’s because of a lack of focus?
One way of clearing your mind and figuring out where to start is by jotting down all of the thoughts that appear. Do you have a clear idea about your topic when this happens? Or do you just sit down, thinking: I’ve heard that article marketing is a great thing. I’ll write an article. Now, what should I write about?
If that is the case, you have some preparations to do, before you even start thinking about writing.
Now, before you start, close down all applications you don’t need and which only serve to distract you: Facebook, browsers, email clients, Twitter… If you want to write on your computer, only keep your notepad or whatever program you plan to use open.
First of all, you should decide on your niche or a few niches. Brainstorm all of the things you would like to write about, and pick one of them to start with. Decide that THIS is the one you’re going to write about, and put the others aside.
Then write down everything you sooner or later plan to put on paper regarding that niche. You can add more later, as well as remove some of the things you come up with now. Don’t worry. Just write what comes to mind, and don’t judge yourself or your ideas as neither neither good nor bad.
When you have a list, yes, you guessed it, pick one of the topics and decide that this is the one, you’re going to write about this time. Put the others aside for later.
Now you have one topic written on a piece of virtual paper on your computer. Write three – five related things about that topic. Let these things form your article parts.
Let’s say that you had found a lot of things you want to write about, like Rift, WordPress, chess, holidays, dog training, golf, getting your ex back, and knitting.
You pick one of them to start with, let’s say you chose WordPress.
What things what you like to write about WordPress? Again, you jot down some ideas:
toolbars on the dashboard, plugins, SEO, comment moderating, themes, menus, widgets…
When you’ve exhausted the list for this time, choose a topic that you’re familiar with and passionate about.
Got the topic?
Great! Again, let’s pretend that you chose SEO. What would be the purpose of your article? In other words: What do you want people to do after they’ve read your article? Do you want them to click on your AdSense ads, buy one of your products, or check the sales page for a product you’re affiliate for.
With that in mind, find three related things about WordPress SEO. It could be:
h1-tags, no-follow links, keyword density.
You might want to sell a nice plugin that will help people with checking how the SEO is done, or a Premium Theme that has H1-tags around the headlines.
All this work shouldn’t take you long. Half an hour maybe? Maybe an hour. Now it’s time to write, and you probably work the best when you’re under pressure, by a deadline or something like that, so put yourself under pressure.
Use a simple timer to put up the pressure.
Give yourself a specific amount of time, and then take a break. According to the Pomodoro Technique, you should work for 20 minutes and then take 5 minutes break. You’re not allowed to do anything else but writing, while the clock is ticking. If you don’t know what to write, just write anything, stupid things, it doesn’t matter.
But you already have the sub-topics for your article, so it shouldn’t be necessary.
Write!
If there’s something you don’t know and that you have to look up, make a note of it, and continue writing. Wait with the research till you’re done with your article. If you do research right away, you risk spending time on researching for things you end up not having room for in your article.
When your 20 minutes are up, take a break, stretch your legs, get a cup of tea, and then start writing again afterwards.
If you cannot work for 20 minutes in one stretch, start out with shorter periods. That’s okay. I had to do that as well, since I couldn’t focus for that long at a time. After some training, I can manage, now, without problems.
Let me know if this helps you. This is more or less how I work myself, when I need to focus.