How Much Time Should I Spend Blogging?

Published by Ryan Paugh on January 31st, 2008 in Blogging | 18 Comments

I often wonder how much time is really appropriate to spend writing a blog post. Is it okay for me to waste two hours if I'm convinced that I'm writing something absolutely brilliant? Or should I be more regimented, ensuring that I have more time to accomplish other responsibilities?

Naturally, it's all relative. Some people only write epic tales that span on for pages, while others are only writing bits and pieces that contemplate the perplexities of life. And certainly, some bloggers are much better at writing than others. They can plow through a post with ease while the novice spends extra care not to say something he/she will regret.

So let's pretend (or accept) for a moment that you're a novice blogger. Most beginners spend way too much time thinking about a topic, and even more time writing and re-writing. Fortunately, you can train yourself to do otherwise and save a lot of valuable time in the process.

Don't think, just write

Okay, think…but not too much. Thinking too much is what brings your ego into the equation. You'll start to worry about how people will react instead of just getting some ideas down to work with. FYI: even professional writers write stupid things. That's why we edit.

Instead of thinking too much and wasting time, formulate your core topic, write down a few bullets and get to it. A good third of my ideas end up getting scrapped after a first draft, but what evolves after a round of editing is usually something much better than I originally envisioned.

Which brings me to editing…

Typically, the difference between a great post and a crappy post is careful editing. If you value what you write, you'll make this a priority during your dedicated blogging time.

A good way to save time is having a reliable editing buddy that can catch your spelling/grammar mistakes and keep you in check when you're about to say something stupid. Consider them your blogging referee. If you don't have this person in your life now, find them quick. It's a must for any good blogger. Even Penelope has a good ref.

Linking it up

Many of us take care in who/where we link to in our posts. Some people don't link at all. To be honest, I tend to link pretty erratically, but I'm trying to get better.

Linking is important because it strengthens your ties with other bloggers and it's good for community. Everyone loves to be linked to.

The problem with linking is that it takes a lot of care and a lot of time. How much effort you put into the process is all up to preference, but if you can afford to spend the time, do it.

So how much time should you really spend on a blog post? There's no clear answer, but your goal should be to maximize value while keeping some boundaries on your time.

In my life, blogging is fairly important and falls right in with the rest of my routine responsibilities. So spending more than an hour is acceptable, but when I start to push on 2-3 hours, I'm reaching my limit.

To put things further into perspective, if I were to work a typical 8-hour day, an hour and a half worth of writing would seem okay. But then again, I'm not sitting in a cubicle anymore.