The 10-Minute Technique to Becoming a More Productive Writer

The 10-Minute Technique to Becoming a More Productive Writer

Reader Comments (63)

  1. Personally i have built a powerfull ebook based on the rapid response from my target audience. The technique of becoming a more productive writer is by asking your target audience on what to write as this will propel your blog writing even if you dont have a clue.

    The last tip that you have discussed, is what i think is the mother of all battles. Making your audience feel part and parcel of your writing is what will make you or break you.

      • Hi Georgina, I loved this blog. I guess really good blogs are long–it seems that way for copyblogger.

        I’ve been singing this mantraa for 20+ years to help my book coaching clients write better books, blogs and promo at their sites and on email. It’s my life’s work, and I include “Why Knowing your Primary Audience for this ___ is so important to its success!” I write a chapter on this is #1 to know BEFORE you write anything or even network on social media in all my books including “Write your Ebook Fast” or “Linkedin Marketing.”

        You message is so important to the business community! Thanks again!

  2. Having a clear vision is always the way to approach not only for the direction for your blog or business, but for your life as a whole. I always feel like I think 10 steps ahead from where I currently am to where I want to be in the future. It helps relieve stress and makes you feel accomplished, even if that goal hasn’t been achieved yet. Those who see the “prize” at the end of the tunnel compared to those who stay stagnant in their efforts will turn their vision into a reality.

  3. Vision is good but I sometimes find it hard to jump from vision to execution. That’s why taking the vision and outlining the path to that vision helps me so much.

    It’s not as sexy as the vision but once I have that roadmap down (and know who the audience is) then the prose just flows.

    It also helps to write the vision and the audience on a piece of paper and hang it in my work space. That way, I can “talk directly to my audience” without having to leave my desk.

    Tremendously helpful post

    Jarie

  4. Georgina,

    “You know, that’s pretty interesting. Maybe I’ll give this a try. Man, Copyblogger.com just keeps getting better!”

    Yep – you nailed it. 😉

    I used the 10^2 x 5 technique myself: Write for ten minutes, stop for two… repeat five times. I set a Google Chrome timer so I feel “under the gun.”

    Of course, that’s only the tactical side of writing. What you’re addressing is much, much bigger… to be efficient on a strategic level.

    It’s a type of thinking usually reserved for editors. Which is a shame, because if every writer thought more like an editor we’d have more sites with the quality of Copyblogger/ProBlogger.

    Of course, it’s only a matter of time. Online publishing has grown up some, but over the next five years I’m sure we’ll see more and more sites with high-level strategy.

  5. This is an approach I am definitely going to try with a sales page and a video I have to complete today. This technique provides a valuable shortcut to writing great copy – writing for our audience not for ourselves.

    • This is great, Albert 🙂 We’d love to hear how you went implementing it if you have a chance to let us know once you’re done!

  6. On another note, when creating your new product, how did you poll your audience? Blog posts… surveys… emails?

    When we launch our new site I want to build an audience and ask them problems they have (then build products that solve those problems).

    What do you feel is the most effective way to do this?

    • I’ll let Georgina weigh in, because I know ProBlogger takes a different approach from the one Copyblogger does.

      Over on our side, we don’t do surveys and polls, rather we do a lot of observation of what people do, what they complain about, where they get stuck, what remains frustrating. We do that in comments, on social media platforms like twitter & Google+, and in our own membership community of online business owners.

      The main thing I keep watch for is frustration. Where readers are frustrated, there are opportunities to relieve that and make yourself a Big Damn Hero.

    • Hey Adam,
      Glad you liked this piece!

      ProBlogger’s similar to Copyblogger in this case. Darren did run a survey this year, and while that shaped a few of the elements of the product and the way we presented it to readers, the impetus and concept for the book came from Darren’s ongoing involvement with his readers.

  7. I think you’ve finally articulated what has been the missing link for me. I kept wondering why some posts got better responses than others and now I see that for the posts in which I incorporate this method, I get exactly the responses I’m after. I need to be more intentional about this. Thanks!

  8. Very useful to hear/read anew what has become second nature. As a long-time copywriter, I live and die by the creative brief. If you can answer just (just!) five questions–who are you talking to, what do you want them to do, what do you need to say to get them to do it, who is your competition, what is the promise that only you can make–your content (ad, brochure, video, blog post, etc) will be that much more effective.

  9. Thanks for this article!

    It is indeed a logical way to approach every writing assignment… clarity. Once the goal is clear, it is easier to find a path towards achieving it.

    Plus it saves you a heap of time second guessing yourself.

    • Yep Allan, I find this, too. If I didn’t think about how I wanted the audience to feel, I’d be groping around in the dark hoping to find some kind of magic bullet, and then wondering if the approach I’d decided on was really going to work. This technique relieves that pressure and uncertainty.

  10. I enjoyed this article. I’m a “re-beginner” (I used to write well, many moons ago.), experimental, writer, and I noticed that my tweets alone were dry. If I were a reader, I would want to fly right past them. On instinct, I went back to my basic questions of “Whose my audience?”/”Always envision someone specific that you are writing to.” and “What’s my point?”

    I switched my audience somewhat, became more human, and do not complete my tweets (as well as writings) until I know my point to the audience. “What do I want them to understand? How do I want them to feel about it? Why would they want to read this? How do I hit that?”

    I realized I wanted to become more personable, so I stepped more towards relaxed language while not appearing sloppy either. I do use more lingo, slang, and contractions, however I try not to abbreviate as I would in a text. I used to tweet mainly quotes with adjoined comments worded as though I were sending the post to a Finance Director…boring Now I attach an article or video, summarizing or quoting the part that grabbed me the most, and/or a somewhat relaxed personal note and/or exclamation. I’m not a blog, and I intentionally do not follow most friends. I am on Twitter more to follow people I can learn from and/or have more in common with, therefore I don’t have a large list of followers. However, I had a few followers that I respected who left in the beginning. They have now come back…a mini success.

    I also slip in a few personal tweets every now and then, but I try to do it only in the realm that most readers could relate to whether it’s funny, interesting, or serious.

    I am still massively experimenting with significant room to grow, but your article hit home in my tiny world of writing…Thank you for that!!!

    • Hey Debbi,
      Thanks for explaining how this technique is working for you on Twitter. This is such an important point: the technique can help across the board, to make all communications—and therefore your whole brand—more focused and relevant to your audience.

  11. I have been blogging “blindly” for years, but I finally took the time a couple months ago to make a plan for all my blogs, which included where I was, where I wanted to be and how I would get there.

    I look at this plan every day to make sure the things I’m doing directly contribute to me reach the end goals.

  12. Identifying who you’re writing for is the first thing you have to do in order to generate things that people really want to read. There are far too many words that fly around that I think give people a jaded and somewhat negative opinion of the copywriter. A lot of people feel that we’re simply trying to get people to “buy something” and while that may be true on some level – many of us just want to educate people on how or why our product benefits them.

    I also have started to use a timer in the recent weeks and have found that my productivity has nearly doubled. Things are getting checked off my to-do list, rather than just hanging on to the next day, when I start all over again.

  13. Georgina, I really like this because it’s helping me articulate what I kinda do naturally to a level. When I review a site or certain kinds of content, I do often get a “feeling” from it. Does it feel overwhelming or easy, busy or calming for example. The problem with this kind of assessment can be that it’s subjective to a point. Yet I’ve always believed it’s still a valuable thing to know and most people don’t realize it or understand how to see or create it. Your description here adds a bit more objectivity to the process, so I like that too. Great stuff! Thanks!

  14. I think this is a terrific, powerful technique. It’s very similar to one I’ve used for years developing copy for print and online, modelling user outcomes. In fact I encourage my clients to go one step further with the structure, and model two kinds of outcomes: practical and emotive. The practical outcome is what they will do afterwards (‘I’m going to try that technique right now’), while the emotive is how they feel (‘I’m confident I know how to approach it’). Ensuring that all copy meets both those needs all but guarantees your content will be valuable, provided you’ve got reasonably accurate personas and outcome statements.

  15. Great post, thanks!

    I ended up streamlining my vision after reading “The 4-Hour Workweek” last year and have made INCREDIBLE progress in the last several months.

    With my new focus, my blogs are performing much better and my mystery/thriller novel (which wasn’t selling very well) made Amazon’s bestsellers list!! There’s nothing like seeing your novel rank with heavyweights like Stephen King and Barry Eisler!

    It’s also wonderful to get much bigger Adsense and affiliate checks in the mail.

    It’s really incredible what a clear vision, some hard (& smart) work, persistence and a genuine belief in yourself can do for a career. =)

    Thanks again for the great post.

    Jennifer

  16. Great post! I work for a hypnotist who makes, among other things, relaxation, stress reduction and sleep hypnosis videos. When I tweet about his videos, I almost completely ignore the value in the content of the videos. Instead, I focus on how listening to the video will make you feel. Reading the comments from their viewers has revealed to me that people care about how they will feel after listening to Jer and not about the actual words he uses.

  17. Superb guide. Also love the fact that you have a ‘print friendly’ option. Saves a ton of paper by printing w/out comments. I store great articles in a binder for future reference.

  18. I’ve been wrestling with a mammoth writer’s block that has left me not as productive as I wanted,
    and I was drawn to this article when I opened my mail because it’s exactly what I needed. And then
    I realized, in my daily grind, how easy it is to forget something as basic:

    “Yet few online writers seems to consider it consciously, or specifically.”

    By reminding me to refocus on my audience, the burden of what “I” needed to do did not
    seem too heavy anymore. Thank you for this career-saving post. Now I can go back
    to my 12-hour day writing schedule 🙂

  19. Excellent perspective that as an emerging blogger I believe will be beneficial to myself and my readers! I automatically consider the potential needs of my readers, but appreciate the additional insight of thinking beyond the article to what the readers response will be in terms of their motivation. Thank you.

  20. “You know, that’s pretty interesting. Maybe I’ll give this a try. Man, Copyblogger.com just keeps getting better!”
    You took the words right out of my mouth! This was definitely interesting.
    I recently created a reader persona while following the SEO Bootcamp book, so now I know who I’m writing for I’m going to write every post with him in mind, great tip!

  21. Thank you, thank you, thank you! What you said in this post feels exactly like what I’ve been searching for! I will certainly be applying this method to my own writing from now on. Once again, thank you!

  22. Thank you for sharing this Georgina, I love how you connected every little thing that is being written to a bigger vision. Somehow it makes it more important and exciting!

    I’ve actually used this technique for a while – I participated in Kelly Kingman’s Contentpalooza and wrote 50k non-fiction in November. Writing that much (for someone who isn’t used to it!) forced me to think a little first, otherwise the quality would have been much lower. What did I want people to get out of it? What action did I want them to take? And yes, how did I want them to feel? That got me so much more structured and focused on the reader more than just “how much info can I get in there”.

  23. This blog post was very insightful and a technique I use in every creative breifing (and pitching ideas to clients). I struggle with “shiny cat syndrome” aka looking around at distractions, which sparks one idea and another and that makes productvity an important factor I have to consciously focus on when getting projects done.

    Thanks for taking the time to put this post together!
    Jessica

  24. As someone coming from the software industry (specifically product management and user experience), this really resonates with me. Creating personas and understanding desired outcome is part of the DNA. I never thought about applying this to writing!! Thank you for your insights. This article will be added to our “Gnome Likes” this week!

  25. This was incredibly helpful – focusing is probably one of the hardest things to do and just asking how the reader wants to feel can really help lock my writing in. Thanks!

  26. The most remarkable points that Georgina included in this article are Vision of Writing, Strategic Approach, Audience Sentiment into Practice and Creating Resonant Product. To become a good writer these noteworthy points must be followed in order to get readers attractions. Thanks to Georgina for writing such a helpful article.

  27. Very well said. Apparently, the key to a good article is knowing your goals and how to translate that goal into something that will not only catch the attention of your readers but will have them interact with you. Ending your article perhaps with questions is a good example of doing that at the same time, ensuring that you’re writing the article as a whole neat and clean.

  28. This is a great piece of work. The 1st point already added so much value to me. How do I want my reader to feel?
    That question alone direct the tone of my writing. It’s really great!

  29. Great speech.It’s really helpful for creative writings and creative thinking.When I read all these topics,I feel proud.Lots of thanks to Georgina Laidlaw from my core of heart to do nice work.

  30. Awesome tips! I often blog blindly which is probably why i don’t see to make results. I’m certainly going to implement these tips. Thanks!

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