X Copywriters Guide: Five Tips To Improve Writing Speed
 

Whether you?re a professional copywriter, budding wordsmith or a Jack of all trades that produces content for their own enterprises, no one can deny that increasing efficiency without sacrificing quality is always a good idea.

1. Write professionally at all times

I?d hope that established writers would already do this automatically, but if they don?t, they really, really should. I?m not talking about your work here ? there are very few instances where you should be avoiding conventional grammar, so I expect that you have impeccable syntax, spelling and readability whenever you?re creating content for mass consumption. What I mean by being professional with your language at all times is sending emails to your grandma, text messages to your wife and snapchat messages to your mistress in the same way you would publish content online.

Wr1ten li3k dis does you absolutely no favors when you?re required to bring out the grammar big guns: the logic of persisting with something and getting better at it is true for writing too. I was lucky enough to be a little grammar whore on gaming forums well before 16 ? this meant that by the time I was a legal adult, I knew all the small issues with grammar (who vs whom, plural ownership rules, your vs you?re, etc.) and didn?t need to learn a large amount of rules and regulations that would have required research ? and therefore time ? in order to finish projects. Do your best to write professionally at all times: practice makes perfect.

2. Use templates

This is probably the biggest step you can take to shave vital minutes per hour when you?re producing a lot of similar content. Microsoft Word actually has a nifty feature where you can save any document as a template (Save as > Save as type > Word Template). This means that when you open it up, it?ll always have the same text you saved on the template as default. Here's a template example I've used for a real project. Now you can do this by just saving a normal Microsoft Word file and calling it ?Template? ? this has a few disadvantages, but the main one is that if you accidentally save the file using Ctrl+S or exiting and auto confirm save out of habit, your template is gone and you have to go back and create it again (as well as renaming the now complete document saved as ?Template?). Hotkey saving or exiting from a template forces the ?Save as? prompt box and defaults your selection as a standard Word Document, meaning that you will always have the template available. Believe me, when you have to write a title, meta tag and 50-word description for 200 actresses, having a template ready to go so you can smash them out without making mistakes is a lifesaver. When you have a project that requires one, always start with a good format template and then start creating the content. As a ninja tip ? be sure to place a space after each colon: doing it once with the example I gave saved me having to do it 2,000 times over the course of the project. I don?t know about you, but I think that?s quality time that could be spent elsewhere.

3. Manage desktop space

This applies to both physical and virtual. Firstly, make sure that you are comfortable with where your hands are. If you?re going to be writing for a few hours, having the keyboard in a location that doesn?t cause you discomfort is important. Once you get used to writing it won?t be that much of an issue, but I know for a fact that when I first started, I had my arms resting on this horrible sideboard that was the front end of a wooden desk. My forearms constantly hurt and I upgraded to a larger desk the next week. I can tell you now ? the relief of having that much space to work with did wonders for my focus and my work rate shot up. As an extension of that, I also recommend ? no, demand ? that you use two monitors. Screen real estate is so important when creating content and the more you have, the better. You should also be mindful of what you have open ? always ask yourself if you need Facebook or Reddit running on Firefox while you?re looking at the website for your project on Chrome. I run with two monitors and set them up like this:

http://www.xcopywriters.com/wp-conte...2013/09/SS.jpg

As you can see, I keep all of my business and miscellaneous programs on the left with content production files on the right. For some projects (writing paysite reviews, for example) I will also use the left-hand screen to make my process of writing run even smoother. I estimate that I increased my productivity by 25-30% by having twice the desktop space to work with. As a side note, I use a program called Display Fusion so that I can have a second taskbar running along the bottom of my monitor. If you don?t do this, it looks ugly (aesthetics are important for morale, yo.) and all of the taskbar icons for the programs on the second screen are put on the first screen. When you?re going through different programs regularly, dragging your mouse that kind of distance takes seconds, and we all know that over time, those seconds add up. Maintain your workspace effectively and I guarantee you?ll increase productivity by a significant margin.

4. Deal with distractions

As I mentioned earlier, closing stuff like Facebook and Reddit is good for maintaining a clean workshop, but it?s also really important to understand that these distractions will cut into your writing time. I do think that regular breaks are in order, but these should be after you?ve actually achieved something. Dealing with time should really have a category of its own, but I think it goes without saying that you should really know when you?re writing and when you?re doing other things. Managing your workload is a vital part of writing, and I hope that these general tips tend toward that end.

Also note that distractions aren?t just online: if you have a housemate or someone that just does not understand that when you?re working, you?re working ? make it clear. I turn my phone off so my partner can?t ring me. I get texts from time to time, but she?s starting to get the message that although I work from home, being on the phone to you for an hour means I?m losing valuable work time. You might also want to look into blocking out external noise like cars, lawnmowers or whatever others around you choose as the aural flavor of the day. I like to listen to classical music most of the time, but I do also recommend noise ? be it white, pink or, my personal favorite, brown. Avoid songs that use language as much as possible, simply because it reduces your ability to think clearly and come up with your own words when you're hearing someone talk. Save radio and such like for times when you?re dealing with clients or finishing up your project for the day ? the ability to write fluently while being distracted is incredibly taxing, and should be avoided at all costs.

5. Be healthy

People underestimate health, but it?s so important to achieving your goals. If someone eats good food, maintains a healthy body weight and abstains from alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, they perform better. If you smoke, stop doing it. It?s really stupid and the simple facts are:

? It costs you money to do it.
? It costs you the opportunity to do something else with your time.
? It costs you efficiency because you?re poisoning yourself.

You can?t rely on drugs to get you through the day, so do everything in your power to kick the habit as soon as possible. I know it?s easier said than done, but if you want to be serious about business and having it run as efficiently as possible, look for solutions. Those e-cigarettes would at least be a good temporary replacement. As far as I understand, they?re cheaper, healthier and have the added advantage of not needing to leave your PC in order to use them.

Exercise has a huge volume of scientific evidence that shows a direct correlation to concentration, happiness and productivity. You might be old, you might be fat ? no excuse. Taking a 30 minute walk at night around the block will give you time to think, clear your mind and improve your health. If it?s a terrible day outside, do some push-ups or similar physical activity to get your heart pumping. Let?s face it, you probably spend an above average time sitting down in front of a PC ? that needs to be countered with regularly strenuous activity (and no, that doesn't count).

Food affects your mood and being satiated is always good for business. I don?t want to go off on a preachy tangent, but I genuinely believe that abstaining from the consumption of animal products while getting a vast majority of your daily calorific intake from fruit is good for you. You?ll be full of energy, full of biomass (making you feel full) and best of all, empty of fat. I started by keeping apples and oranges right on my desk, so they were instantly available and instead of running to the cupboard for crisps, chocolate or whatever else, I?d have a nice piece of healthy fruit.

Mental health is also an important determining factor of your work rate. A good diet and regular exercise help with this, but maintaining a healthy attitude to life and other people should also be practiced. Avoid people that make you feel shit and embrace those that make you feel good. It?s really simple stuff, but you?d be surprised how many individuals wake up in the morning with a partner they don?t love, friends they don?t want and nothing but themselves for company and moral support. This isn?t good for you, and when things aren?t good for you, they aren?t good for business. Get healthy and you?ll become a better writer ? it?s not a simple process, but it?s one of the most intelligent things you can do for yourself, merely because of the fact that it influences so many other facets of your life.

http://www.xcopywriters.com/guides/f...writing-speed/

As a small note, I had to edit this article slightly and reduce some of the paragraphs in order to keep it within 10,000 characters. The original has slightly more information, but the overall message is basically the same.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pu...oking_3778.PNG
is this a non smoking thread ?

Smoke if ya got em.

Some good advice, mostly common sense, but i'm surprised how many people don't realise it for that.

nice tips dude!

"Common sense isn't so common"

Some bizarre advice in that primer. That and being laborious to read I would recommend that it is best to let people who can write, write. Those who cannot, hire writers who can. :2 cents:

I say bizarre in the sense that you push the generic aspect of writing to an art form. You have successfully sucked all of the elements out of what makes creative writing "good." :thumbsup

I agree that it's a much better investment for people to pay someone else to write. However, I do realize that many people in the industry don't just have $200 to drop into a website for search results in over a month's time. This blog post was primarily made as a result of one of my under writers being inefficient. He asked for some advice, so I thought - why not make it public? Draws attention, can be used as a reference and it's always a good idea to remind yourself of good steps to take toward business.



And hopefully it was transcendently clear that quality should not suffer as a result. In fact, I'd expect that proper execution of these tips would make the quality better, all while allowing it to be produced at a better rate. You're spot on with some jobs being very mundane - blog posts are a great example. I mean, you can be creative with them, but generally it means bugger all and you're much better just churning out as many as you can. As a result, I find myself having constant challenges to see how many I can produce in a set period - I get very competitive with myself, and generally keep a little sticky note tab opened with the time I started and where I began.

Other projects are actually quite fun, and I do tend to avoid going to overboard on the efficiently thing. If I'm quoting someone $150 to do the front page text of his website, you can bet I'll be as creative as possible and go through several revisions instead of pumping out the most baseline material in as shorter time as possible.

Thanks for the response.

Here is what works for me and my writers.

1) To write fast, you need to know how to read and comprehend fast.

2) Don't forget to outline. The better your outline, the better the finished product.

3) Don't edit yourself as you write. Just get everything off your chest. You can clean up later during the editing phase.

4) Write in bursts. Don't burn out by writing the complete order in one sitting.

Thanks! I really appreciate this post.

Well written and informative.

Thank you for a very kind response to a less than kind reaction.
I am hoping it was a benefit to your writer. Definitely good advice for people starting out.
:thumbsup

I quit smoking pot about two months ago not because I felt it was bad, but because I'm trying to lose a lot of weight and it was impossible for me to manage my munchies after smoking the super chronic. Since then my productivity has gone through the roof, used to be late nights like this I'd be stoned as fuck and perving over babes on social media sites. But now I'm either trying to learn new stuff or working on my websites, I don't wanna be one of those anti-pot guys but I'm not wanting to stop this trend.

Good piece of advice as well ...

Did you forget step 6? If you're being paid by the word insert as many as possible?

I'm sorry, that's a really simplistic silly guide and it's written quite poorly in the sense of being fit for purpose.

As an advertisement masquerading as content I give it an F.

I think he is member, "lock." Glad someone else thought it was spam as well.

X Industry copywriters must be hurting just like the rest of us..

I'm not being paid to write this? Also, GFY is limited to 10,000 characters. I had to reduce the size of the post just to make it fit.

Well I'm sorry you feel that way. I did my best to make the content fitting - I know a lot about being efficient when it comes to writing. It's taken me almost 3 years to get where I currently am, and I know that I'm producing material at double the rate I was when I originally started working.

You do realize that 2,000 words based entirely on "how to do my job" is not much of an advert, right? You're correct, this is a passive attempt to draw people to use my services, but it's about as non-aggressive and informative as an 'advert' can get - chances are anyone who reads this is just going to appreciate how much I know about doing my job. I'd expect 5 people to start using templates, a few to download Display Fusion Pro and maybe one to go and buy a second screen after looking at his bank balance. If I knew what I know now back when I first started doing this, I'd be a hell of a lot better off - the advice I offer is actually useful.

2,000 words about how to be a copywriter/produce text well yourself on a webmaster forum is not spam. You're being dishonest with yourself if you truly want to claim that relevant, useful information about producing text in an efficient way on an adult industry forum is out of place. If you'd like to defend your stance with any substance or logic, I'd be happy to listen.

Just as an FYI - the mere fact that someone who's qualified to talk about a subject and does so is not an indication that what they're saying is spam. In fact, it's the complete opposite.

I started this business three months ago with every month returning more revenue than the last. Starting on Monday I have a large review site project that on its own is going to beat this month's revenue alone.

I think it's fair to say that we're far from hurting. :thumbsup

Good for you. Keep up the hard work. Must take a lot of time to review all those sites and prepare honest, insightful reviews. Joking - I know most "review sites" are faked anyway. Sad really. Glad work is looking up for you though.

In what way are review sites faked?