I am asked a number of questions several times a year about Blogging! They range from the basic question concerning “Why Should I Blog” to the more technical questions on “What blog platform and theme produces better SEO?”
However…the question I am asked that has the most impact on whether a person pursues blogging has to do with “How Long Does it Take to Write a Blog?”
For me, I average a total of 10 hours per blog. Some I rip out in a couple of hours and others may take me a week to finish.
Naturally, how fast you can type or write is a factor on how long it takes to write a blog. However, there is much more that goes into writing a blog that takes much more time than the actual function of typing the words into the computer.
I wish I could say exactly how long it should take to write a blog, but I can’t since it takes too many other factors to consider that would take much more time.
Let me break down how blogs should be created.
The composition of a blog has three fundamental processes.
- Idea Development
- Research
- Production
Idea Development
The development of what you are going to blog about is centered on why you are blogging. If your reason for blogging is to pass on your experience on playing the guitar, then your blog should be on something about playing the guitar. If you are just a generalist and blog about whatever pops int your head, then what you blog about could become more of a challenge.
Even for the veteran bloggers like me, developing an idea for a blog to write can be a daunting task especially when all of the ideas on a blog start running together with other blogs you have already written.
Nonetheless, there is no way to write a blog unless you have an idea on what your are going to blog about.
Research
Even if you are the only person in the world how is an expert in what you blog about it smart to do some research on the subject or idea you are going to write about. You would be surprised to find who else is writing on the same idea..or has stated a point on the subject you agree or disagree with.
When I research this question I found where HubSpot reports it takes on average 2 hours to produce a 500 word blog. I would agree if I knew exactly what I was going to say and the subject was clearly outlined in my head. But as a whole I feel 2 hours for 500 words is a ‘Speed Write’.
Adding to the blog what you found in your research does take additional time but helps to give your blog credibility. Research also supports the community of people who share or support your idea but providing them other people’s thoughts on the subject..or stats to support the issue being discussed.
For the blogs that need statistics to back up the point you are making in your blog, researching the statistics could also develop into some interesting findings.
So, always add research time into every blog you write.
Production
This is where the rubber hits the road and is where many bloggers start. There is nothing wrong with starting with the production of the blog. Just don’t make the production part be all you do. Make sure to touch on the other processes of blogging before hitting the publishing button. You will find it produces a better produced blog.
Yes, there are times when what you are blogging about is a reaction to something and once you become an experience blogger could become a faster approach to producing a blog. Unfortunately, throwing out a blog…or “Phoning it in”… as it is referred to in the blogging community, sends out a message to your regular readers you don’t care about your core supporters.
Proofing the blog is part of the production many bloggers over look or do not spend time doing. Back in the early days of by blogging I had confidence in what I was type was what I was thinking. But it took some very embarrassing conversation with the thousands of ‘Grammar Nazis’ roaming the internet to find out I had developed some sort of typographical dyslexia. This is where what I typed was not exactly what I was thinking.
Then I went through a spell where WordPress..the blogging platform I have been using for over 15 years…was placing old versions of ‘Auto Saves’ back in the blog after I hit the publishing button. Those older autosaved updates usually had tons of un-proofed paragraphs.
Proofing does add time to blogging but it is time well spent.
Conclusion:
I timed this blog. From start to this point I have typed 995 words in one hour, spent 30 minutes researching the articles I have linked, took 20 minutes to post the photo and feature image, 10 minutes to choose the tags and category, 10 minutes to optimize the SEO and have over 30 minutes of proofing so far. That made for a total of over 2 and half hours for this blog.
From all this, I’ll leave it up to you on if that amount of time is something you can afford to spend. For me, I never go into writing a blog feeling I only have a specific amount of time to write a blog. I write until I feel I need to stop, save a draft of the blog and move to doing soemthing else. I’ll come back later to writing the blog with a fresh outlook which from time to time improves the quality of the blog I write.
I wouldn’t worry about how long it should take to write a blog. If you have something you feel is important enough you need to pass on to others, then get after it. We are waiting to hear from you.
Let me know how I can help.
