If you ever wondered why so many blog posts and newsletters are uninspiring, you only need to examine the mindset of some content writers.
Someone sent me a link to a tweet yesterday. The tweet went something like this;
“I wonder how many articles and posts I can write before 6 o’clock?”
This gave that person about 2 hours to write ‘a number’ of blog posts and articles.
Whilst some blog posts and articles do come quicker than others, to deliberately set off with the mindset of speed over quality, is unlikely to help us create something worth reading.
Content is judged by it’s value – not how fast it is written. Once that article or post is out there with our name on it, it represents us – It showcases our thoughts and insights. In a day or a week or a year; no one will care that we managed to crack that post out in just 5 minutes!
Depending on the context, both factors come into play. As a freelance writer, I have to write quality content and meet a deadline. Learning how to produce great articles faster is not necessarily a bad thing.
It’s true that many who are inexperienced often go for quantity just to fill up their blogs, but we should not dissuade them from learning techniques to produce highly valuable content at a faster pace.
This post is not saying you should procrastinate, it’s saying quality comes first.
If anyone genuinely believes that they have to write ’stuff’ quickly, and sacrifice quality for speed, they are charging waaaaaay too little for their work.
I never mentioned procrastination. I’m talking about speeding up the process, not elements that slow it down. So, if a blogger can currently write one or two quality posts a week given the other tasks that await them, what could they do to cut down on it?
A great example is that I’ve started outsourcing some of my minor design work and as a result I can now finish work faster. That’s a design example, but the principle is the same.
Efficiency and value need not be separate.
Coreys not really selling her skills as a writer very well here as far as I can see. Do you want the fast guy to fix your trucks breaks or the thorough guy?!? Quality, quality, quality.
I write fast. I don’t use that as my selling point, but it’s just a fact. I can and do write quality articles in just a few hours. It’s a focus thing. I optimize my own writing process so that I can gather information effectively, combine it, revise it, and get it to the client. Just because I go through the steps efficiently does not mean I am not a good writer…
Would you rather have a high quality article delivered in a matter of hours or in a week? Do not mistake my points.
Corey’s a good writer. Her point was to get QUALITY content out there without hanging around – not to produce low grade work.
Check out http://www.writerseven.com and take a look for yourself
Thanks for the plug. =) I work very hard.
If you want to see FAST writing, look at the times on your comments!!!
And I talk in paragraphs! Hah!
Here’s the point –>.
Here’s the case [___]
Point in case [_._]
I think I’m done here.
Ha, loving the conversation taking place around the comments!
There are definitely some people (probably Corey is a great example) where speed and quality can work hand-in-hand. A typist with 120 words-per-minute could probably put out three to four times the stuff I do, for example.
But I definitely agree that more often than not, speed cancels out quality (and lacks the same proofing). And once it’s out there, sure, you can make edits, but then that’s just stopping you from doing other things, no?
Thanks for the feedback Mr Brown!
The thing that amazed me about the tweet that sparked this post, was that the writer’s number one aim was volume – rather than quality. She never asked how many GREAT pieces of work she could produce – she just wanted numbers.
If someone can do both, great. If not, I think quality’s the one to focus on and then learn how to be more prolific. Quality has to be the primary aim though or why bother.
It’s not like there’s a lack of bad content already ‘out there.’
I loved this conversation, Jim! From my career side, professional resume writers also talk about the same thing. Corey has it right, you can be a great writer and still be efficient. It has to do with honing your craft, working on building your skills, sometimes just applying your skills more frequently, and studying other writers.
I’m known in the career community as one of the few people who practice a “Write while you’re here” kind of practice. I offer both Face-to-face and virtual services. Some of my colleagues go crazy that I write when someone is actually sitting in my office. I call in collaborative resume writing. But in many ways, it takes less time because I can interview directly and get interaction.
However, I can’t do 5 resumes a day that way nor would I try to do that with my virtual clients because quality would suffer. Corey’s comments of efficiency versus speed play into effect here. Same thing with blog posts, you can be more efficient, but to pump them out for the sake of pumping them out will probably result in bad copy. Content counts, quality counts… ok, we’re in agreement! Have a great Saturday!
I think that if we reframe the question as efficiency vs effectiveness rather than speed vs quality, it’s easier to conceptualize. Efficiency is important, but if you’re being efficiently ineffective, you don’t realize any benefit from the efficiency. To be truly efficient, you first have to become effective. Likewise, if you can write with a high level of quality, you can then work on speeding up the process.