How much time are you spending writing blog posts? Do you have enough ideas about the content to write your posts in one sitting? Are you focused enough to write your blog entries in one sitting? Now, not every blogger is able to sit still and finish an article in one sitting, but I think it definitely helps to increase blogging productivity. I have tried writing posts with distractions and it is very less productive! At the beginning of my blogging career, I would constantly check my emails to see if I got a new e-mail pertaining my blog, or was qualified for a new affiliate program to help make my blog money. I would also have another browser tab open ready to write a forum post, other tabs open to check out another blog, and my cell phone sitting next to my computer monitor. Yes, I eventually did finish my posts [with distractions], but I do not think they were of the same caliber as my more “concentrated articles.” By “concentrated articles” I mean that I eliminated all distractions and wrote each of my newest blog posts in one sitting. Every blogger learns new lessons, and mine was that in order to make the best use of my time, I must allot a period specifically for blogging and eliminate all distractions while blogging. I have three main guidelines that I use when writing a new blog post. I encourage you to check them out and test them on your own blog to see if you are able to benefit.

My 3 “concentrated writing” rules:

1.) Set aside 60 minutes - Some posts may take longer, some may be shorter, but I feel that 60 minutes set aside for good, hard pecking away at the keyboard allows enough time to write a quality post. To increase my productivity, I always aim to write a quality post in under 60 minutes. Sure sometimes I’ll go over the 60 minute time limit. Especially if I write a nice, lengthy article that still needs to be edited! Just let that 60 minute time period be a blog productivity session and eliminate all potential distractions.

2.) Stay self-disciplined - Don’t make exceptions to answer the phone or check out a sports game. You can plan your blogging time so it doesn’t interfere. If you can agree with yourself that the 60 minute time period was set aside strictly for blogging purposes, you should definitely be able to stay self-disciplined. Turn off that cell phone, exit out of all other browser windows, and put on those noise canceling headphones (do what you’ve gotta do). By staying self-disciplined, I’ve found that my work productivity to significantly increases and I actually spend much less time blogging than I would with some distractions . Not that I intentionally spend less time blogging, but when I stay focused on each entry [in one sitting], I create more time for blog promotion, marketing, and reading the latest Shoemoney post.

3.) Eliminate distractions - The elimination of distractions can be a huge tip for people that aren’t already eliminating them. You may currently be able to blog while listening to music or hearing others talk, but did you ever try blogging without those distractions? I used to blog with the T.V. on and check Sports Center’s Top Plays in between writing sentences… Now I could still write, but until I actually tried blogging without the T.V. on and without my phone on did I realize that a lot more was getting accomplished in a shorter period of time. If you are currently blogging with the radio on, give yourself a chance at least to try to write an entry without listening to music and instead listening to only your thoughts. If it helps, you will be able to successfully apply a newly learned blogging productivity tip. If it doesn’t help, well, at least you know that you work better with the tunes on. I understand that there can potentially be many distractions while blogging, but you should learn to deal with those distractions or find a place free of distractions when writing your blog articles. There are several reasons that writing concentrated articles and getting all writing done “in one-sitting” increases my overall blogging efficiency.

Here are the reasons that you should write “concentrated articles” :

• Loss of Time - The time it takes to write a full article in one-sitting happens to take much less time than writing part of an article, leaving to go eat, then coming back and finishing the article. Just think: It’s highly inefficient to start writing a blog entry, stop, go eat, come back, write another paragraph, then watch a quarter of the football game, and finally finish your article. If you are able to build up the discipline to write your articles in a concentrated manner (i.e. in one sitting), you will save yourself a lot of time!

• Lack of Focus - I find it much more helpful to sit at my computer and keep branching off of ideas that I begin writing about. What I recommend to help you stay focused is making a list of the key points you’re going to include in your article [before it is written]. If I cannot write my article in one session, I become unfocused, forgetful, and cannot seem to find the same “train of thought” as when starting the article. By not being able to find the same train of thought, my article sentences become less coherent and do not seem to connect.

• Procrastination - When stepping away from the computer to do something else, I am literally procrastinating and promoting procrastination. You may be in the procrastination pattern and not even realize it. When I first began blogging and buddies stopped by or something “came up,” I left to have some fun instead of finishing my latest blog entry. Friends are great and I would definitely give up blogging [if necessary to be with friends], but there’s no excuse not to finish that new post. If you keep procrastinating, “until tomorrow,” or “until after the weekend,” before finishing that blog entry, you are wasting too much energy.

• Lack of Coherency - Writing ability naturally suffers a bit and sentences will naturally be less organized if you are unable to finish an entry in one session. Articles just will not make as much sense and be as organized [if you take breaks] as they would if if you kept your butt glued to that computer chair. Lack of coherency is a huge turn-off when reading through blog posts. Being able to flowing with your thoughts and ideas all in one session, you will be able to successfully organize and implement them into one well-structured post.

Though everyone may have a different blogging styles, I highly recommend putting my blogging style to the test to see if you benefit. Writing “concentrated articles” may not fit everyone’s personal blogging style, but for those that find it helpful, it could potentially shave off a lot of time and unnecessary efforts.

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