Write a blog post in thirty minutes. Impossible right? Wrong! It’s actually quite easy when you get down to it.
Last week in Blog Week I posed this challenge to the Blog Week bloggers and they took it up in spectacular style. Many of them didn’t believe they could do it, but as one after the other proved to themselves and everyone else that it could be done, more and more proved it possible too.
There are three key components for a successful thirty minute post: a timer set for 3o minutes time; a simple framework on which to hang your post; and some focus. A buddy can also be helpful: you can encourage and time each other, and keep each other accountable.
Timing yourself is probably the easiest part! Set the timer on your phone, or the cooker, or download one of those timer apps for your computer. Having a simple framework makes lighter work of all your posts, whether you’re writing them in 30 minutes or not. Resolve to write about one thing, and then sketch out the three key things you have to say about that one thing. Top and tail with an intro and a call to action, and there’s your framework. Focus is easier for some than others. I get distracted easily, so I close my Facebook Window, and if I’m in my office I switch on Coffitivity or Brain.fm, both of which help me focus. The fact that I’m timing myself also helps me to focus on the task in hand!
There are certain types of post that particularly lend themselves to the 30 minute challenge. Top Tips posts, for example can be very quick and easy: for example ‘Three Ways To Ensure….’ with a few sentences about each top tip, and then a call to action. Finding and linking to a news story or blog post that your readers will find interesting, informative, or entertaining, and adding your take, can be done in 30 minutes or less if you know the best places to look. Taking part of a longer post you’ve written and writing about it in more detail, or from a different angle, would also work, plus you get to link to the longer post, giving people more to read. And Google loves a bit of internal linking. And finally, if you’ve had an idea for a post bubbling in your head, if you’ve already played with it a bit and sketched it out, that would be a prime candidate for a thirty minute posts. This is one such post. It’s been in my head for a couple of days, and it’s taken 25 minutes to write.
So now it’s over to you. Prove to yourself how easy and quick writing a blog post can be. Find a buddy, set a timer, and blog! Post a link to your 30 Minute Blog Post in the comments below and let me know how you got on 🙂