Harshit Singhal – HellBound Bloggers (HBB)

5 Effective Ways To Save Time While Writing Blog Posts

Ever since Blogging has transformed into a source of revenue, it has become a really tedious activity, with bloggers having to do a lot more than just writing content for their blog. The multitude of tasks that each blogger has to manage on a day to day basis nowadays can end up eating a large chunk of time, so it’s imperative for us to look for ways that can help us save time while writing blog posts.

While writing shorter articles is one way of doing it, there are much better ways that you can make use of to ensure that you finish writing articles sooner. Here are some tips that will help you out with that:

1. Remove All Distractions

Well, this is a no-brainer, yet most bloggers tend to ignore it and continue writing despite distractions of all kinds, which ultimately leads to a delay in the writing time as well as compromise on the quality of the article.

If you want to write your blog posts faster and more effectively, then you need to remove these distractions and just focus on the task at hand. Stop multitasking – switch off your TV, close that Facebook tab and log out from your email account. Now you will feel the difference while writing since you would be able to fully concentrate one one and only one thing, i.e. writing.

2. Prepare Your Topic Beforehand

Just like in essay writing, you should prepare your topic in advance to write more effectively and quickly. If you suddenly decide to start writing an article for your blog, you would spend a few minutes just to think about which topic to write on, and then a lot more time to think of the content to be written on the topic you’ve chosen.

This means you’ve already lost precious time even before you’ve started. A much better way is to research and decide the topic of your posts beforehand so that when you start writing you would already have a number of ideas in your subconscious mind which you make it much easier for you to write the post since the ideas would naturally flow.

3. Jot down the points first

We learned this in school yet we always try to rush while writing, ignoring this highly effective method of improving our speeds and presenting our ideas coherently. Before starting to write the post, spend a couple of minutes jotting down the points on which you would expand upon in your article.

Doing this will help you increase your speed while writing as you won’t have to think about what to write when you are half way through the article. Your points would also be structured in a much better manner, and you will be able to write in one go, rather than writing in parts and compromising on the flow of ideas in your article.

4. Set a Time Limit

Whenever I start procrastinating, I make it a point to set a time limit (usually around 30 minutes) in which to complete the article. This generally puts me in the action mode and I end up finishing the post much sooner than I intended to.

This also helps me avoid the so called “writer’s block” as my mind is entirely committed to writing the post in the specified time limit and not worrying about any other things that would have normally diverted my attention while writing.

5. Don’t Worry about the Introduction

The biggest advantage of writing posts on your computer is that you can edit them as many times as you want. This can help you save time as you can start by writing the points first, then expanding on them and then finishing the introduction at last.

Though this method is usually not encouraged by most people, the reason I recommended is that this works really wonderful for saving time as writing the introduction can be a big stumbling block for most of us. So why not finish the rest of the post first and then come up with an appropriate introduction based on the content of the article!

TIP: You can also Save Time by Improving Your Typing Speed.

5 Smart Ways To Improve Your Writing Skills

Blogging is all about writing, for the content you create is going to be read by thousands of readers worldwide and no matter what anyone says, even the first few lines of your post can make or break the deal for you. If your writing is weak and full of errors, then you would never be able to build that connection with your readers.

I have seen a number of bloggers who claim to own successful blogs but it’s only when you go through some of their posts that you get to know how limited their writing skills are. Trust me, you do not want to be in that position, so you should make it a point to keep improving your writing skills on a regular basis. Using these simple yet effective tips, you can improve your writing significantly which will help you not just in the near term but for years to come:

1. Get Rid of Grammatical Mistakes

If you plan to become a better writer, then you need to avoid making any grammatical mistakes, for it can ruin your credibility as a writer. When you are not sure if a particular phrase can be used or not, then it’s better to avoid using it altogether, instead of repenting later on when your readers comment about your mistakes.

If you are having trouble getting to terms with grammatical rules, then you need to work on your grammar by going through various websites that give free english lessons. You could even refer to the grammar books which you were assigned in school but you never bothered about them. Remember, don’t forget to proofread your blog posts.

2. Learn Some Idioms

Many a times, it so happens that we aren’t able to recall the right word which we need to use in a particular sentence. Not only does this happen to amateur writers but also to seasoned writers who write for a living.

If you know a few idioms, then they can come in handy at such times and bail you out of trouble. Again internet is the best resource for learning them but you shouldn’t go overboard in trying to learn too many of them, or you’ll most probably forget them when you need to use them somewhere!

3. Know Synonyms for Different Words

You will be in a much better position to write non-repetitive and interesting posts once you know the synonyms for a variety of words which are used on a daily basis. Nearly every word has various variations which you can then use while writing.

This especially comes handy when you’ve used a particular word a couple of times already but need to use it again. If you know the synonym for that word, you can easily replace that word with its synonym, instead of using the same word again and again.

4. Break Down Your Points

Many amateur writers make the mistake of writing long paragraphs which make their writing seem dull and uninteresting. On the other hand, breaking down your points and then elaborating on them one by one will make it easy for the reader to read your post and your writing will appear crisper & much more interesting.

Even if you don’t have a lot of points to discuss, you can break your main point into three-four paragraphs instead of congesting all your sentences in one single paragraph.

5. Edit Your Post

Last but not the least, you should make it a habit to read what you’ve written. This serves dual purpose – first, you’ll be able to know if you’ve made a mistake somewhere and secondly when you read as a reader, you can assess your post better to see if the flow of ideas is correct and the points make sense. Then you can edit it and fine-tune it to make it more engaging & useful for your readers.

IMAGE CREDIT: ISTOCKPHOTO

MOST RELATED: 5 Blogs That Will Help You To Improve Your Writing Skills

5 Reasons Why Most Bloggers Quit Blogging Within 6 Months

Although Blogging is definitely lucrative and there are thousands of successful bloggers who make a lot of money every month, the bitter truth is that a large majority of bloggers fail and quit blogging just within 6 months of starting their blog. In fact out of every 100 newbie bloggers, around 90 hang up their boots even before enjoying a trivial amount of success.

Why does this happen? Why do newbie bloggers find it hard to stand out in this ever expanding blogosphere? In this post I’ll discuss some reasons why this happens and hopefully you can learn some lessons from it too.

1. Looking for quick money

As it often happens, when people read about the success stories of others they get motivated by the desire to earn quick money and replicate their success. As making a blog requires only a small investment initially, and some bloggers regularly post huge monthly incomes, newbie bloggers tend to think they can also do the same with ease.

However it generally doesn’t happen that way since they look at blogging like an easy way of making money overnight, which is the reason why they don’t bother about putting in long hours in their blogging pursuits. However just like any other Business, blogging also requires a lot of hard work initially, which most newbie bloggers don’t seem to understand, leading to lack of results and disappointment. Check the 3 Rules you should follow before you make money blogging.

2. Not passionate about writing

Though I may sound rude but it’s always better to crush unrealistic expectations. The fact is that blogging is not just for anyone and one can only succeed if he has a penchant for writing, which is not the case with most new bloggers out there. Thus those newbie bloggers who don’t have a knack for writing or don’t enjoy writing find themselves slacking off after a while and they are unable to come up with good content on a regular basis, which makes them shy away from posting frequently on their blogs. Always remember, don’t get bogged down when Blogging.

3. Lack of Motivation

Though most bloggers start out with a bang and are extremely motivated in the beginning, adding content regularly in the first month or so, this motivation starts fading away with each passing month, and the period between the third and sixth month involves the maximum struggle since it is a make or break time for the blogger. Those who quit are generally the ones who don’t have the motivation left to continue their blogging pursuits, while the ones that manage to overcome this period generally end up on the winning side. If you are tired of writing, here are 7 tips to overcome that.

4. Not enough topics

While starting out every blogger thinks that adding content should be a piece of cake and they would somehow be able to add lots of quality content to their blog. As a matter of fact, adding content involves as much research as the writing part, which these bloggers don’t realize and they either end up copying other bloggers’ articles or not writing at all, both of which are extremely harmful for the growth of the blog. Here are some useful posts to get inspiration:

5 Ways You Can Get Fresh Content Inspiration
4 Tips to Find Unlimited Blog Post Ideas

5. The Unavoidable renewal

Though this may sound strange, but I personally know many bloggers who invested in setting up their blogs, thinking that they would recover the money in no time and then renew their hosting accounts with the same. However when they don’t earn much in the first few months and the renewal time for their blog is up, they are unwilling to invest any more money as they are skeptical whether blogging can make them any money at all and they end up abandoning their blogs as a result.

I hope that any new bloggers reading this post currently will be able to learn from these common mistakes committed by most bloggers, and remain dedicated and focused on their goal to become a better blogger.

IMAGE CREDIT: ISTOCKPHOTO

This article is written by Harshit Singhal. He is a blogger, tech enthusiast and freelance writer. He gives blogging tips on his blog Exceptional Blogger. If you wish to write for HBB, kindly check this.