No, this is not the title of my upcoming writing tutorial, but it’s still worth a read!
No matter how many new cool tools come out, and how much people like to watch videos or even enjoy looking at infographic; written content creation will always be needed for a very, very long time. And that’s a good thing I might add, since it’s the type of content that I’m the best at.
Today, I had the idea of writing an ultimate written content creation guide for those of you who’d love to know the basis to start creating great written content in order to get noticed.
Writing may take work, but it’s all about how you go about it that will make it tougher or smoother. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather go for the smooth option.
So, without further ado, let start…
Rules # 1 – Understand the Differences between Mediocre Content and Good Content
For the most part, good content comes from two sources; knowledge and research. Either you have a lot of knowledge about your niche or topic (and we know that knowledge can also run out at times), or you have to do a lot of research to polish your knowledge and add to it.
Good content, usually teaches the reader how to do something or inform them about something. The more you will have to post on your blog, the harder it will be to keep up with it, because it takes time to really dig out some new or worthy information and putting them on paper, or own your screen.
– Good content is well thought out, researched, studied, analyzed and edited over and over.
– Mediocre content is written on the split moment, while hoping it will be good enough.
Rule #2 – Always Choose Quality over Quantity
How many times have you heard that in order to attract more traffic you should post every day on your blog? Are you one of those who took this advice to heart, and started posting on your blog like a mad person each day?
How did that go for you? Are you able to write blasting content each day?
My guess is that the answer is no. Believe me, I’ve read some of those blogs where they post every day, and if you ask me, I can tell that they post every day. Not a good sign, and not a good content creation strategy at all.
Quality and quantity are two very different things.
If you feel obligated to post every single day, chances are that your posts won’t be of high quality every time, because you simply won’t have enough time to do all the necessary research to do so. And I’m not even talking about the fact that you’re not giving enough time to your readers to discover you post before you’re on the next one.
Everything will suffer if you post daily, your content, your interaction with your readers, and YOU. Even your false impression that at least Google will notice is wrong, because, Google is also looking for quality over quantity.
And what about your comments? If you had as much traffic and comments as you’d hoped for, could you possibly follow up with them all, if you posted every day?
But don’t worry, you don’t have to put yourself through all of that, because one or two quality posts a week is way better and way more efficient in the long run than one mediocre post every day.
If you were told to post every day, my advice to you is don’t!
Write two posts a week instead while you’re making sure that they are of superior quality. Do your research, edit, polish, add references, quotes, and images. And make sure that your post looks perfect.
This is my first written content creation advice.
Rules # 3 – Dig for Inspiration
No matter what else you do in order to come up with great content, reading will always be the back bone of your writing. Read, read and read some more for inspiration.
- Read other blogs (in your own niche as well as other niches)
- Read blog post’s comments (they can be a great source of inspiration at times)
- Read forum threads in your niche (they have many questions you can answer in a post)
- Read free eBooks (you can find them just about everywhere you look on the web)
- Subscribe to free e-Courses (Many bloggers offer free e-Courses. They’re not hard to find)
As my blogger friend, Sue Neal says in her own free eBook about finding blog post ideas, that I’d like to recommend to you, “become an obsessional scavenger” and you will get the inspiration that you need to write epic content.
Remember that those out there who write superior quality content don’t have anything you don’t have, they just do a lot of research and increase their knowledge databank.
Rules # 4 – Write your Post in 3 Days
Now, I do write posts in just a day or two, because I’m often pressed for time, but my posts come out much better when I spread my work over 3 days. 3 days seems to be the magic number for me.
So, let me tell you how it works.
Day one
Jot down your first draft. Whether you have lots of idea or very little, just write, write, write. Do not look back to edit anywhere at all. Nothing needs to be perfect at that point.
Write down a title (subject to be changed), and your subheadings which are the backbones of your post. While the subheadings are subject to be changed as well, they’ll guide your writing at that point.
Once you’re done, do not try to edit your post right away. Resist the urge. Just leave it alone until the next day. It will ripe overnight like a good apple. Trust me!
Day two
Revisit your post and read it with fresh eyes. This is the time where you can do all the editing that you want. Chop off whole sentences, add new ones, change words, edit title, edit subheads, and the whole nine yard.
This is the time I make sure my post makes much more sense than it did in the first draft, and that I am saying what I want to say in the best possible way.
This is what you really need to understand. You wouldn’t have to same editing power if you had edited your post yesterday. This is what I meant by letting your post ripe overnight.
Then, again I leave it alone to ripe some more until the next day.
Day three
On the last day, read your post again. This time make sure to catch all the typos and errors you might have missed the day before. Take care of the punctuation and make sure your paragraphs are user friendly, meaning no longer than 3 to 4 sentences.
Please, do not believe those who are saying that you have to write one paragraph per thought, that’s wrong! You can cut a paragraph in the middle of a thought. It words great, and readers will thank you for it. Believe me on that one.
This is the time to put all the final touches that’s needed.
Once everything looks good, it’s time to transfer your post to your blog, add your picture or pictures, highlight your subheadings, and create all the anchor texts that you need.
Once you’re done, click on the preview button and read your post one more time to make sure that you haven’t missed anything. If everything looks great, you’re done. You can click that publish button whenever you’re ready.
Conclusion
There you have it!
This is my ultimate written content creation guide that will help you write super duper content that people will love every time.
Remember that in the long run quality will ALWAYS win over quantity. Don’t waste your time posting each and every day; use that precious time to dig further in order to come up with good content that people will me happy to read!
Over to you now, what do you have to say?
I hope you enjoyed this post, and will start applying those tips now. Please, let me know what you think and add your thoughts down below in the comments.
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Hi Sylviane,
I really enjoyed reading your article. I really agree with your regarding the point of “quality over quantity”. A blog that just throws our quantity has a tendency to turn into a spam machine.
Hi Amiti,
Yes, you’re right. Just posting for the sake of posting can turn out to be just as bad as spamming.
Thanks for your input.
Okay Sylviane, I was shaking my head after reading this one. Want to know why?
First off this is excellent advice for those who really need more direction with writing. This is a fabulous lesson everyone can learn. I can say that because I know what happened to me when I started doing this and I could have used your advice back then. I eventually fell into my writing pattern and trust me, I don’t do a lot of what you shared here.
I don’t plan my posts out which is why I don’t write them ahead of time… I don’t mainly because things are happening all the time and I’m stumbling upon information that I decide my readers need to know about now. Google is having updates, something’s going on right now or my readers are asking me questions about something else.
But as you know I prefer to write about things that I know and have done myself so a lot of times the research is my own experience.
I almost never write a post and let it sit overnight. I rarely do that, only if I wrote it really quickly a few days a head of time and want to go back over it. I normally will write my post the day before it’s published and I’ll read it several times over which is why it takes me longer but that’s it. I know, I should plan ahead and I know this!
I also have never written a post every single day. I know so many people recommend doing this to get your content built up but I can’t write that much stuff in that short a period of time. Those 30 challenges blow my mind. I can’t do those or shall I say I’ve never wanted to attempt them. I agree with not being able to keep the quality up to par when you write that much.
Okay, I know you wrote this as a guide and like I said this can help a lot of people because I think had I known this early on I would have done better from the start so thank you for this Sylviane. You always are so spot on with your advice.
Have a great week and see you later.
~Adrienne
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Hi Adrienne,
Yes, this post was written as a guide to help people understand some basic things when it comes to write their blog posts.
I’ve grown pretty tired of people telling newbies to write a post a day, that is just BS. It’s TOO much and it’s useless. their content is rarely truly valuable because at some point, all they are doing is filling that blank page. That’s not how you build credibility and authority with your blog. If anyone don’t believe me they should check successful bloggers and see what they think about that.
I understand what you mean, Adrienne, about blogging on the spare of the moment according to the needs, and that goes especially for your niche and a few others as well. But even though, this is the case, you could still plan your post if you wanted to. not weeks in advance but just a few days. Believe me I do not have a queue of posts either. Not by any mean.
Thank you for your comment Adrienne, and have a great week ahead!
Hi Sylviane,
What a great post – I have to agree, wholeheartedly, with all the advice you offer here. As you say, high quality content takes time, effort and research – it’s a shame more bloggers weren’t encouraged to write fewer good quality posts. I think there’s far too much emphasis on the need to post frequently and to fill your blog with content, rather than stressing the importance of quality, as you do here.
I also love your advice about letting a post brew for a few days before you publish it. I always like to leave at least one “sleep” between drafting and editing a post – I find it’s amazing what a difference that makes. As you say, you can then read it with new eyes and often spot ways in which it can be improved.
A brilliant post, Sylviane – and thanks very much for the mention and link – greatly appreciated 🙂
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Hi Sue,
Well, thank you for your feedback which I always value very much since you’re a writer and really know what good content is.
Like you were saying over at your blog, some advice is bad advice, and posting everyday is one junk advice that is preached like Gospel, but which is really no good, and even plain wrong. The worst thing is that most people falling for it are newbies.
No problem, it was my pleasure to mention your quote, which sicked with me, and your eBook is really great 🙂
Thanks for coming.
Hi Sylviane;This is great advice! People need time to read and comment on posts before the next one comes along. It usually takes several days to write mine. My bad habit is editing as I write, which so far, I haven\’t been able to break. Wish I could just write in one fell swoop without looking back and making changes, but, it\’s hard to \”teach an old dog new tricks\”, as they say.Thanks for mentioning Sue\’s ebook (Hi Sue! 🙂 ). Must check that out. Missed a lot when I was away.Cheers,Debbie
Hi Debbie,
I apologize again for the tech issue you were running into, but it should be fixed now. Gosh finally. I’ve been in a tech nightmare for over a week. It will be my next post topic for sure.
Now to your comment. Unless we have dozens and dozens of people wanting to comment on our blog, which we know it’s not exactly the case for most of us, we DO need to give them some time to come to our post. People come to me post all throughout the week and some. I can’t imagine having 5-6 posts there instead of one. NO way!
Writing is a creating thing and it happens in the right side of our brain. On the other end, editing which is not a creative activity, but an analytic one, happens in the left side or our brain. So when we chop our writing back and forth with editing we mess up our creativity.
I know it’s hard to teach new tricks to an old dog, but I’ve taught new stuff to my old cat up to now and she’s 13 🙂 LOL! So, what I mean is you must try. Try to hide your content as you write if you can, or put a reminder that’s staring at you will you write. Reward yourself when you succeed. Over time you can kill the old habit.
Thanks for your input, and thanks for coming.
You may have a point about editing interrupting the creative flow Sylviane, although I’ve never really felt that my creativity has suffered at all. I think it would be rather torturous to try what you suggested, (as I’m a total control freak and perfectionist LOL), but, I will give it a try. 😀 Thanks for your thoughtful advice.
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Oops; something went awry as I posted my comment. Shows strange punctuation now…….
Sorry about that Debbie. I know my blogs are acting weird these days, but it will be all fixed up hopefully soon.
Hi Sylviane,
Great tips. Good content is always great but as you said above to keep our consistency in producing such contents is challenging. I will take much of our time but it also explain why the point number two is also important for blog. It’s not a matter of how many contents we can produce in the end, it’s about quality we offer to our audiences.
Thanks for this post
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Hi Okto,
Yes, quantity is not the most important, but quality is. As a matter of fact, we can see some of those giant bloggers who don’t care at all how often they post anymore, but when they do it’s excellent, top notch content. Something to remember, isn’t it?
Thanks for including your comment here 🙂
Great way to structure writing posts Sylvianne!
I like writing ideas down on a notebook on my computer. I may write some passion, or something I have learned. Sort of an outline.
Then I go back and pick one, start writing from the heart. Of course that will make no sense at all, so I then go brush it up a bit.
Finally, it is proof read by my husband each time. (He has the know how) He will ask me questions like “where are you going with this paragraph” and I’ll re-do it. Then, most of all he checks and makes sure everything is correct.
So, I’m kind of a lucky gal having my proof reader by my side. If I had to do it alone, Oh boy it would take me a longer time.
Thanks again for the tips!
-Donna
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Hi Donna,
You’re so lucky to have a proof reader. I which I had one. My best proof reader was my mother, she could spot every little typo or error, but of course that was in French anyway 🙂 As for English, I’ve never had one, so in a way it made me push myself harder. Sometimes safety can be a handicap.
Thanks for coming Donna, I’m on my way to see what you have on your side now 🙂
Hi Sylviane,
I agree that beginner bloggers should take the steps you mentioned above to get to the point where they provide good content consistently. It gives them something to focus on so that they can it accomplished and done right.
However, experienced writers will probably not follow this as it takes too much time. I think an experienced writer can do what they need to do in one day (at least writing the blog). Mainly because they have the experience they may not have to do
I’m very much like Adrienne. I don’t plan what I’m going to write about. I plan the days that I’m going to write. Like I know I need to get a post out on Monday and Thursday. I may also have a list of topics, but I don’t know *which* topic I am going to write about *and* when I pick one topic, I may switch up at the last minute.
Many experienced bloggers write from the heart and what they feel and they can provide great content because of their experience.
These are great tips for the beginner bloggers. Great job at passes on this to newbies. I needed that when I started. 😉
Barbara
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Hi Barbara,
As a matter of fact, I know from having read from experienced writers that they do just as much, so I don’t think that this is only for beginners.
Actually experienced writers are those who edit themselves the most. William Zinsser said, I edit, edit and edit some more. He’s an experience writer if any.
Now I know about writing in the spare of the moment and rushing so much that I don’t have nearly as much time as I’d like to have, but if I do have the time I will take those 3 days to come up with a finished product. When I write for others I ALWAYS do, when I write for me I don’t.
My point is, it’s not because we can still write something descent in less time, that this technique if for beginners only. It’s for anyone wanting to perfect their writing.
Thank, for your input.
Hello Sylviane
I love this article.
You have so many great advice for all bloggers.
Even though I am a new blogger, I create a draft with the thoughts that have been coming to me probably one week before I post it.
I find myself changing titles, searching for images, and research.
At this present time I am posting one day a week. My purpose is to let my readers know that I have experience and the education to support my posts.
My goal is to create great content, even if it’s once a week.
Again, cannot wait for your tutorial.
Thank you for your expertise as a writer and sharing your gift with the world.
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Hi Gladys,
Thank you for your complements.
As I’ve been following your blog from the beginnings, I can tell that you’ve made some good progress in your writing, and as you know it will keep on getting better 🙂
When I started writing I sucked compared to now, even though some people were already giving me compliments. I still think that it sucked.
I am only starting to feel better about my writing now, so it does take time to really feel comfortable with ourselves, but practice is the best thing one can do.
Thank you for our input.
Sylviane, got to your site through Adrienne share.
And what I picked out from your splendid article is that creation of solid content takes time.
Sometimes I wonder why people go the way to write article on how to write quality content in 28 minutes.
When ever, I see such am kinda pissed off-because its so obvious a lie-perhaps some people dont consider it that.
But then one thing that begs for an answer is how long does it take to ones research, edit perhaps they super editors-my english aint perfect.
That was even why I asked Adrienne how long she takes to write.
I think of Wade said about 2days reserach included, Neil Patel 2-6 hours while Ana Hoffman said 3-8hours.
So I guess these people write quality and it should take you about that period of time.
~Peter
Hi Peter,
I’m so glad you found me here through Adrienne 🙂
Thank you for mentioning the name of those big bloggers who have admitted how long it takes them to do research and all.
I know some people like to say that it doesn’t take them that much time, but there is no mystery here, the more your blog will be deep, the more time it will take you, for both the writing and researching.
Thank you for adding this very important detail, and hope to see you here again soon 🙂
Hi Sylviane!
Wow, this is a great guide for anyone who is starting out in their blogging career and even for seasoned bloggers who need to get back to basics.
I love your suggestion to take at least three days to prepare a post. I’m always pressed for time too but I make it a point to stay only focused on my post and no other task to make sure it’s just right.
Thanks for this awesome guide Sylviane! Happy Wednesday!
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Hi Corina,
Well, this technique is not only for newbies, because if you think of it, I didn’t mentioned about hours and hours, but spreading the work throughout 3 days so the post won’t actually blind you because of having seeing it too much in one day.
Actually this is the trick, the more you spread your editing sessions apart the less you have to edit again.
I noticed that some people who have read this post, haven’t actually got that point at all 🙂 What I mean is unless you don’t edit at all, you’re going to edit anyway right? So spreading it this way really works better.
I’m glad you enjoyed this, Corina, and thanks for your input 🙂
Hi Sylviane,
Yes, you are so absolutely right! Quantity is definitely not the most important thing as much as quality is.
However, speaking of giant bloggers, I’ve seen Michael Hyatt blogging everyday for years and his quality never came down (at least so did his following thought). Earlier this year, he scaled down a bit and started to post 3 times a day instead of posting every single day. But he did that because he couldn’t keep his commitment to blogging at that frequency due to other commitments.
But many others such as Neil Patel or Derek Halpern blog twice a week. And they are doing awesome as well.
Regards,
Kumar
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I Kumar,
Sure, but we know that cases like this one are rare. If you want to post each day and your quality is excellent, then by any mean do it, but the point here was that most people just can’t keep up. Some people that I know who are trying to post each day, just because they were told to, don’t deliver the type of content that someone like Micheal Hyatt does.
Thanks for your input.
Your guide has really inspired me and helped me write better posts. You are right when you say quality over quantity. It is more important that you write meaningful posts than posts that go on forever but do not have substance. Thanks for the tips!
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HI Lynne,
Yes, that’s a good thing to always remember. Quality is ALWAYS better than quantity. Unless you can produce both, stick the the first.
Sylviane, these are excellent ideas. I really like quality over quantity. I have often thought about writing in the same fashion you suggest.
I think allowing 3 days is a perfect way to clear the head.
Hi Michael,
There is not need to concentrate on quantity when we can’t produce quality first.
When we take time to write a post it’s always better for quality of course.
Thanks for coming.
Content creation is a very vital aspect of blogging that must be handle with uttermost care, good content-good blog, bad content-bad blog. Thanks for sharing this tips.
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Hello there,
Yes, indeed. Content quality is what can make or break use. It is very important indeed.
Hello Sylviane,
This is indeed a nice post and one worth reading :).
Writing your blog post with style is the best way to go. I find it hard to write a post 3day before publication because of my time. Many of my post is based on request and i normally write them a day to my publication…
Your ideas are great and spot on. it is indeed useful to all.
Thanks and do have a brilliant weekend
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Hi Babanature,
Thanks for coming and sharing your input.
3 day preparation is actually not that long even for hot topics. For example, if you plan on posting on Monday, you could start your post on Saturday, and therefore you’ll have your 3 days. That’s what I do with my Monday post for the most part.
Thanks for your input and have a wonderful week too 🙂
Hey Sylviane,
Your tips on content writing are always worth following. I completely believe in the rules you have put forward and specially ‘choosing quality over quantity’.
The three days writing tips seems promising will surely try it out to make my contents more accurate and interesting!
Thanks for sharing such a great post. 🙂
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Hello Debasmita,
Yes, quality is ALWAYS better than quantity. Every time!
I hope you try those post writing tips and let me know how it goes 🙂
Hi Sylviane,
Great writing tips! I also thought that publishing 3 or 4 posts per week will bring me more traffic, visitors etc but non of these happened. So I definitely agree with you, quality over quantity is always a winner in a long run.
I like that particular #4 guide, writing the post in 3 days. In the beginning I was writing the post in one day thinking how all my inspiration in that moment is all I can say. Somehow the other day I would regret seeing things I could write and express myself different so sleeping on it for a day or two is an excellent tip.
Thanks Sylviane for sharing this useful post.
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Hi Dragan, and nice meeting you as I don’t think you’ve been here before.
What you’re saying happened to a lot of people. It’s not because you’re going to post daily that traffic will come anyway. Unfortunately it takes much more than that to bring traffic in.
Taking your time when writing a post, really helps the post, indeed. And that goes for any level of writer new or not so new 🙂
Thank you for sharing your experience.
All great points Sylviane, but I love that you said great content writers don’t have anything we don’t have, they just put more time, research and the knowledge they’ve gained into their writings.
I think that’s why good writers also read a lot. There’s so much to be gained from reading other’s writings. This is where you get ideas and inspiration. Reading makes you think and helps you form your own conclusions about things which is what adds uniqueness to your writing.
As for writing blog posts, I’ve always had a hard time getting a blog post out in one day. I’ve done it but it’s never as up to par as those I’ve spent 2 or more days on.
I don’t have trouble with the actual content or the things I want to say, I just want to make sure my writing flows and that I’m not making obvious mistakes in spelling and sentence structure, and putting it aside for a few hours helps because when I let my post sit overnight and go back to it in the morning I almost always change it, and for the better I might add.
Have an awesome week Sylviane and see you later:-)
Blessings,
Liz
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Hi Liiz,
I’m so glad you added such a valuable comment.
To start with, yes, reading is so important for writers. There’s no way around it. It just makes us writer better when read other people’s stuff.
Yes, you’re right, many of us can write a blog post in one day, but it’s so much better when we take more time. Sleeping on a post will do wonders, no matter how good we may be. Like you the next day I change many things on my posts or article for the better.
Thanks for you input, Liz 🙂
Hi Sylviane,
Here is what I think it is important and I can take away from your post:
1. Always research, study, analyze and edit your content
As you said, there will be times when you write your post in a day or in an hour or so. Time presses us, sometimes. However, you cannot create value, if you work fast.
2. Two quality posts a week are better than 7 mediocre posts per week
It was a time when I thought it is a better idea to post every day. I had a blog where I tried this tactic. Sometimes, I wrote even 5 posts a day. Those days are long gone. Now, when I write three posts a week I consider this a performance.
About research
Personally, I don’t think free ebooks are so great. My experience tells me that free ebooks are rather low quality. Many of them, much too many are thin, with little content but a lot of pictures and graphical elements and affiliate links.
This raises the problem of valuable sources of content and ideas. Where can we find them? I am not so satisfied with blogs either. Many of them are just full of generic content and you can hardly learn something from there.
One idea would be paid ebooks and another one, membership sites content. If you pay for the content, there is a chance to get more quality. This will make your journey longer and more difficult but the results will be higher.
Have a wonderful day
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Hi Silviu,
Yes, I agree with you, indeed, except on the low quality of free eBooks. I have to tell you that I have a collections of GOOD free eBooks. I really do. And I hope that my upcoming free eBook won’t be of low quality 🙂
Thanks for your valuable input and have a great weekend!