How to Blog When You Don’t Have Time

5 Ways to Create Blog Posts Fast

Help, I don’t have time to blog! This problem differs from Blank-Post-Syndrome because it’s about the lack of time not the lack of inspiration (To help that problem, here are 125 blog topics for inspiration.) While some bloggers can sit at a Starbucks and knock out a week’s worth of posts in a few hours, I can’t. Further, once the post is written, it still needs editing and other technical additions before it’s ready to publish.

So how can a blogger maximize their writing time? Answer: Utilize other forms of content and resources for new blog posts while maintaining your blog voice and editorial perspective.

5 Blog post suggestions to create engaging content fast

To combat the I-Don’t-Have Time-to-Blog-Blues, here are five blog post suggestions to help minimize your content creation time.

  1. Make a video. Online videos are a great medium for storytelling. Leverage this strength while adding another content format to your blog. The video can be a talking head of your insights in lieu of a written post or a demonstration. Chris Brogan does this a lot to mix up his blog offering. Benefit: Videos tend to be short so that they’re less time consuming to produce. Further, videos are useful for search optimization but don’t forget to add text for the search engines.
  2. Use photographs to make your point.  Including photographs, illustrations and infographics can help to make a point more powerful. The visuals can be the entire post or you can add a short commentary to explain the content to your audience. The Satorialist presents a collection of breath-taking fashion-oriented photographs on city streets around the world. Of if you want a laugh, check out Cake Wrecks, photographs of professional cakes gone wrong.
  3. Interview high profile experts, bloggers or customers in your niche. While this can be done in a variety of ways, such as in-person and Skype, use email because the person being interviewed can express themselves in their own words. Further, it eliminates the need to transcribe the information. Let the person check their input after you’ve edited it and before you publish it to reduce the chance of misrepresentation.
  4. Curate information. Highlight the top ten news items or insights of the week in your category. This type of post must have value for your readers. Therefore, to be more than just a collection of links, add your perspective on the posts. Beth Harte does this type of post well. Subtext: Give your readers a reason to check your links versus going directly to these bloggers and news sites.
  5. Invite bloggers to help you. Ask bloggers to contribute to your blog; this is commonly known as guest blogging. Give them notice and put their name in lights on your blog along with links back to their blog, website or social media. It helps if your blog has traction since most bloggers want to expand their reach.

While you can’t rely solely on these tips to keep your blog going, they do add interest to your blog offering. Just like most people can’t eat the same thing every day, the same holds for your content. Even if you’re a prolific writer, it’s useful to change up your mix to add some spice to your offering.

Do you have any suggestions for readers who are time pressed to create new content? If so, what are they?

Happy marketing,
Heidi Cohen


Want some more blogging resources to give your blog a boost? Then check these articles out:

Photo credit:  Mike@Bensalem via Flickr

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