How Long Does It Take to Write a Blog Post? Not Long With This Secret

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Every expert out there is talking about publishing as many blogs as possible. And they're all right. Blogging has brought phenomenal success to countless businesses and entrepreneurs. So why not? But, the real question here revolves around commitmentーCommitment of time!

Blogging isn’t just about writing some paragraphs on a topic. A blog requires in-depth research, great articulation, and endless editing. Moreover, different kinds of blogs may take different amounts of time to write. Some may get finished earlier than expected, and others could take days.

If you've been asking yourself, "How long will it take me to write a blog post?" for a while now, we understand where you're coming from. It's completely fair to ask that question. After all, there are a lot of marketers and bloggers out there with limited resources. Knowing how long others spend on a single post can help you benchmark your blogging efforts.

To aid you and every other blogger on the internet, we've created a detailed guide that follows all the steps of a blog writing process focused on how much time each step will take. Read on to know more about what studies say and how much time you need to commit to writing one excellent piece of content. And a helpful tip towards the end to increase the speed of your blog writing process.

What studies say: How long should it take to write a blog post?

Orbit Media solutions did a survey and calculated the average answer from 1000 bloggers to see how much time they were spending on blogging- and the results were astounding. They averaged 67% more time per post in 2021 than in 2014, which is a lot of hours spent writing!

How long should it take to write a blog post?

How Long Does It Take to Write a Blog Post?

In continuation with the above survey results, here's what we've seen so far.

Writing content for your blog post can take anywhere from two to five hours, depending on how much research is involved. The actual writing part might only take an hour, but the research and editing can take up to four.

Some blog posts require more research than others. For example, if you're writing on a technical topic that you don't know much about, it may take several hours or even days to gather enough information to write a useful post.

On the other hand, if you already know what you want to say and don't need to do any additional research (like, answering questions), it might only take you an hour or less.

Here's a quick guide on how much time each stage of the writing process generally takes:

Brainstorming

Before you start writing, think about what you want to say. The more valuable your content is, the better your chances are of ranking well in search engine results. And the more readers engage with it, the more likely they'll share it on social media.

Brainstorming means deciding the topic, your unique angle, and conducting initial research around it. You can create a strong foundation for your blog post with solid research and brainstorming. Spending about 30-45 minutes doing direct and indirect research can help you gain enough insights.

Quick tip - Look at some similar blogs online and identify the information gaps you can fill in with your blog.

SEO Strategizing

It's no secret what SEO can do for your blog, and without it, your blog is just a piece of information on the internet waiting to be found. A good blog strategy involves spending at least 15-20 minutes researching keywords and figuring out which ones will perform best. Bloggers usually spend a reasonable amount of time strategizing their SEO. Well, who doesn't want to rank on the first page of search engines?!

Quick tip - Do keyword research to find out what people are searching for. Using tools like Semrush can help fasten your keyword research.

Blog outline

Creating a proper structure for your post is no doubt a necessity. After all, you can't build up a writing piece without the pillars to support it. Crafting a flow, jotting down sections, assigning H tags, and positioning keywords can take another 20-30 minutes of your time on average. This phase also involves deciding the type of blog post you want to write.

Quick tip - With good planning, you can increase your writing speed. Read more about how to write a blog outline.

First draft

The first draft of any blog post is the most difficult to write, and this step takes a massive part of your time. Given there are no distractions, it can take around 3-4 hours to write. The first draft consists of a lot of information. One basically dumps all their research and opinions in this first piece.

Starting with the introduction, you can use the blog outline you've set earlier as a roadmap and go further, filling in content in every section and subsection. The time you spend writing the first draft can increase or decrease based on the length of your writing piece. Make sure the keywords you include relate directly to your business and the post's content — don't just stuff them in there!

Quick tip - Block a slot for writing your first draft. Make sure there are no distractions. You can also keep your phone out of sight for better focus.

Editing

There's always a difference between what you intended to write and what you actually ended up writing in your first draft. Editing makes sure to eliminate that difference. Just after you've finished writing the draft, re-reading it, figuring out what doesn't sound good, and correcting it can occupy about an hour or so of your time. Again, it depends on the length of your blog post as well.

Quick tip - Tighten up the introduction, body, and conclusion. Make sure to weed out irrelevant information.

Creating images

Any good piece of writing is incomplete without matching graphics or pictures. Designing images and creative logos that properly align with what your blog post is saying can take 30-45 minutes on average. This time can increase or decrease based on the number of images you're planning to include or the type of blog post you're writing.

Quick tip - You can use free tools like Colorcinch, Canva and Brandcrowd to design your graphics quickly.

Designing images for blog: how long does it take to write a blog post

Formatting

Formatting makes your blog eye-friendly, thus increasing its readability. It involves taking care of headlines, breaking paragraphs, positioning the designs accurately in the blog, including external and internal links, etc. This can occupy almost 30-45 minutes. So make sure you have an excellent blog format that humans and search engines love.

Quick tip - Have a look at this ultimate guide to format your blog post to perfection.

Grammar and plagiarism check

Here comes the critical part—checking if your writing stands up to the rules of grammar and plagiarism checking tools. The process may take roughly 20-45 minutes, depending on the length of your blog post and the edits you need to do after. This step helps you improve the quality of your writing and eliminates the chances of duplication in your text.

Quick tip - Online tools such as Copyscape can help you speed up this process.

Quality Vs. Quantity

There's a difference between writing something quickly and writing something well. A long blog post may take 3 hours to write. But a really good one can take twice as long. Because the value of a piece of content is in the quality, not the quantity, try to create content that teaches your readers something new or helps them somehow. Will your readers find value in what you're saying? Will they enjoy reading it? Never compromise on the quality!

How long will it take me to write a blog post?

We recommend starting slow and writing one post per week if you're just getting started with blogging. This gives you plenty of time to learn and build up your authority. Plus, you'll have more time to focus on creating quality content that engages readers.

You can write quickly and still produce high-quality content if you:

  • Focus on one topic at a time.
  • Do your research before you start writing.
  • Outline your main points and arguments before you write your first sentence.
  • Write in short paragraphs.
  • Edit and proofread after you're done.


FAQs

How long does it take to write a 1,000-word blog post?

The short answer: the average time it takes to write a 1000-word blog post is 2 hours.

The long answer: this depends on a number of factors, such as your writing speed, how much research you have to do, and how well you know the topic. For an average blogger who writes about 500 words per hour, it would take about 2 hours to write a 1000-word blog. If you are a super-fast writer and can crank out fantastic content in 1 hour, great! But if you are not, it may take 3 hours or more for you to create quality content.

How long does it take to write a 1000-word blog post?

How long does it take to write a 500-word blog post?

Some people can turn out a 500-word blog post in 30 minutes — and some people can't even do it in hours. It depends on the writer and how familiar they are with the topic. Freelance writers working in the industry can write a 500-word article in less than 1 hour. For someone who has just started writing, it will take much longer.

Also, it really is based on how much research you've done beforehand. If you've done your research and read books or articles on the subject, then it can be as short as 30 minutes. However, if you haven't, then it might take up to 2 hours or more because you'll have to spend ample time researching before you can even start writing!

Here's How to Write Blog Posts Faster

For establishing a successful blog, you need to write fresh and exciting content that will keep people coming back for more. However, after you've written your latest blog post, it's not always possible to sit down and write another one straight away. It may take hours to rejuvenate.

There are faster ways to write and time-consuming ones too. The quickest way would be to type something out without overthinking about it, but that would produce some pretty horrible content no one wants to read (or can even find). If you're writing for yourself (not trying to get traffic), that doesn't matter. But if you're attempting to post blogs with the intent of growing your business through it, then quality is what matters most!

We have another faster yet more effective way for you…

How long does it take to write a 500-word blog post?

Our team has been writing all our blogs with this one tool, and no matter what research says, this tool can write your blog 100x faster. From blog ideas to outlines to the entire content, Article Writer 3.0 eliminates all your hard work and gives you your first draft in seconds.

This means no more basic research or wasting time creating the perfect outline. You can even generate parts of your blog separately using other AI writing tools. Curious to know more? Discover more here.

Shrutika Joshi

Senior Content & Growth Marketer @ Writesonic

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Discover what writing with AI feels like. See for yourself with a free trial -- we assure you'll save 20+ hours every week.
Try for FREE