1.) Use Canva for Image Creation
I love Canva. There’s an excellent free version. It enables you to create all the images you need and sizes them correctly for the social media platform you use. There are templates for different social media platforms that you can adapt, so you don’t even need to be brilliant at creating images. It can take minutes to create a post for Facebook or Pinterest using the templates.
Once you’ve tested out the free version, I highly recommend moving onto the pro version. It costs about $12.95 per month or only $9.95 if paid annually. The main reason I love it is the resize tool. It allows you to create just one image and then resize it for different social medial platforms instantly. The pro version also gives you access to a wide range of photos, graphics, and pictures that you can have copyright free. It is an excellent source for stock photos for your blog, saving you time scanning the Internet for stock photos. Overall, the Canva pro version is outstanding value for money for the features and the amount of time it will save you.
2.) Learn WordPress Keyboard Shortcuts
There are lots of WordPress keyboard shortcuts that can make writing articles quicker. They can be used in the visual editor and mean you have to reach less for the mouse or trackpad. I quite often use shortcuts for tasks such as adding a link, aligning text and changing the header size.
Keyboard shortcuts are enabled on a per-user setting, and can be turned on by visiting the Profile panel in Administration Screens > Users > Your Profile. Check the Keyboard Shortcuts checkbox to enable keyboard shortcuts for comment moderation.
It’s quite easy to forget when the keyboard shortcuts are, so while you are learning them, it’s worth using the WordPress extension shortcut which has been developed by techwyse. I use it in my chrome browser, so I always have a reminder of what the keyboard shortcuts are.
2) Use Keywords Everywhere for Keyword Research
Keywords Everywhere is outstanding value for money.
For approximately $10 you can get 100 000 credits which last for ages. 1 credit = 1 keyword.
You install the keywords everywhere app in your browser. When you use it with google.co.uk, it will give you extra ideas of keywords that people search for which are related to the search term you have used.
I use it with Google keyword planner. As you can see, it gives an exact figure as to the number of keyword searches, so you have a vague value.
4.) Use Convertkit for Building an Email List
If you want to build an email list for your blog, Convertkit is the quickest and easiest way to do it. Convertkit is designed to be as easy to use as possible so that you spend less time on email marketing and more time on creating.
It offers customisable sign-up forms and landing pages. There are free alternatives such as Mailchimp, but they aren’t as quick or as easy to use.
5.) Google Docs is Your Friend
Google docs is free and there are some excellent time-saving tools on there which you can use if you write blog posts.
Under the tools menu, check out the voice typing function. You can write articles using your voice instead of typing, which can be a lot quicker, especially if you don’t touch type. It isn’t perfect, but overall it is pretty good.
Another cool option under the Tools menu is the Explore tab.
It enables you to search the web while you’re writing a post. This is great if you need to find quotes, statistics or any other information you need. You can do an image search for images, charts or infographics that may be useful for your article (make sure you have any copyright permissions required first!)
7.) Work Smarter Instead of Harder When Creating Content
One of the most time consuming parts of blogging is creating good content and publishing regularly. However, it pays to think of smarter ways to get content out there. You can put together high quality blog posts with less effort if you think outside the box. Here are some ideas:
1.) Repurpose old content. You could use information from presentations, previous blog posts and past social media posts for a new article.
2.) Consider user-generated content. You have to be careful not to plagiarise other people’s work, but you can put together articles using other people’s suggestions. Is there feedback on your social media posts that could inspire material? Perhaps you can find a selection of useful comments to make a listicle article. Or you could ask your social media followers for tips and tricks to contribute to a piece. For example, tweet a question – tell your followers you will use the answers to compile a blog post and get people’s advice tips and tricks. Another idea is to talk to people you know and ask if you can pick their brains and for article ideas.
There may have been a time recently when somebody asked for your advice. Could your answer make a good blog article? Look for everyday opportunities and how they can easily lead to content creation.
3.) Think of other places where you record information. Do you write a journal? Have you sent advice by email? Perhaps you made a video with the kids. There are all kinds of ways we record information that we can later use as a blog post. By the way, if you record videos you can transcribe them by using a tool such as rev.com
4.) Write about how to solve your own problems. If you’re going to solve a problem anyway, why not write about it. This blog post is in part written by me to solve the problem of how I can best maximise my time when writing a blog post. I have elaborated and drilled down into what I do when I need to save time, so in the future, I can apply these techniques to the majority of blog posts I write (hopefully decreasing the time I need to spend blogging).
8.) Use an Editorial Calendar
An editorial calendar makes planning your work quick and easy.
I use the WordPress editorial calendar, which is free. use the WordPress editorial calendar.
At the beginning of the month or the week you can sit down and plan out your monthly blogging content.
As soon as you start a post in the calendar, it automatically creates an actual post that you can edit at a later date. The title and the text that you type into the calendar entry are automatically put into a new post for you. So this saves times straight away. If you wanted to you could start 30 posts in under an hour, if you ave 30 ideas.
The editorial calendar also gives you an overview of your blog and when each post will be published. You can drag and drop to move posts, edit posts right in the calendar, and manage your entire blog.
At the beginning of the month or the week you can sit down and plan out your monthly blogging content.
As soon as you make an entry in the calendar, it automatically creates the title and the text in a blog post that you can edit at a later date. This saves times straight away. If you want you could start 30 posts in under an hour if you have 30 ideas.
The editorial calendar also gives you an overview of your blog and when each post will be published. You can drag and drop to move posts, edit posts right in the calendar, and manage your entire blog from the calendar page.
9.) Use a Good Old Fashioned Notebook
I write a lot of my posts directly into WordPress. However, sometimes you work more quickly by taking yourself away from the screen. One way I often write blog posts is to note them down in a notebook. The great thing about a notebook is that there is no need for an Internet connection and quite often you can handwrite more quickly than typing.
Notebooks are incredibly portable. They allow you to work outside in the sunshine in the summer or where there is no Internet connection. I take mine everywhere with me.
Once you have your ideas down, read out what you have written and use a transcribe tool to convert it into text.
10.) Batch Tasks
Batching tasks can make blogging much quicker.
Here are the tasks I batch together monthly:
Keyword research for 30 articles using keyword planner
Put 30 article titles into the editorial calendar.
Batch research any similar articles using google docs. Find statistics, images that support your research.
Batch write any similar articles together. This works well if you’re writing a series.
Once the articles are written, go to Canva and start making images for each article.
The articles will be published according to the word editorial calendar.
Promote articles on each social media platform.
This is just an example of some of the tasks you can batch. You may find others that you batch together. Or you may prefer to work on each article individually. The main aim is to find a system that works for you.
