How to Write Articles Faster and More Effectively

Earning money on the Internet as a freelance writer requires the ability to write articles containing quality content on a regular basis. For the beginner freelance writer, writing articles quickly and effectively can be a frustrating experience. Often this leads novice writers to search the Internet for writing tips, where they discover information written by expert freelance writers for experienced freelance writers. Like many other novice freelance writers, these articles left me feeling inadequate and unsuccessful as a writer.

Expert freelance writers have skills that can not be compared to those of a novice writer. They are able to write quality content quickly, effectively, and produce content on a regular basis. But how do you learn the skills as a novice to write quality articles quickly and effectively?

Don't Fall into the Hype of the Expert Freelance Writer
Experienced freelance writers will tell you a short 400 word article should only take 15 to 20 minutes to produce. In my freelance writing career, I have yet to produce a quality article that quickly. Can I produce an article that quickly? Yes - and any other freelance writer can do that too. However, as a novice freelance writer you can not produce quality content that quickly. Writing quickly and effectively is a skill that takes time to develop. Instead of setting a 15 or 20 minute goal, a beginning freelance writer should aim to complete a quality article in an hour. This will allow you time to write, proofread, and edit your article.

What to Write?
The biggest mistake made by novice freelance writers is not knowing what to write, and writing on too broad a topic. Know what your article is going to be about before you write it. Before you sit at the keyboard write down your topic on a piece of paper. Next, narrow the topic into subtopics - and each subtopic can be turned into an individual article. Once you choose what you are writing about make a few notes containing keywords for your article, introduction, key-points to be covered, conclusion, and research information.

For example, let's say you want to write an article about training your puppy. This topic is too broad to write a clear, concise, and quality freelance article about (and keep it to around 400 words.) Instead, create subtopics - how to housetrain your puppy, how to choose an obedience school, and how to teach your puppy basic obedience. Once you narrow your writing topic choose several keywords to be repeated several times in the article to maximize your SEO (search engine optimization), which makes it easier for articles to be indexed and found by search engines. Finally, research information you are not an expert in and add supporting links to your article.

Research Before Writing
Before a novice freelance writer produces an article, some research should be completed - even if you are an expert on your article topic. Research can give you a new perspective, new ideas, and gives supporting references to your article documentation. As a result a beginner freelance writer can increase their article quality and increase their authority. By doing this, a novice freelance writer indirectly increases their visitors and followers of their articles - often without their knowledge. Also, remember to document your sources completely and never plagiarize material from other articles or authors.

Take a Writing Course
Nothing will sharpen your writing skills more than taking a writing course. Evaluation by other freelance writers (novice, expert, and everything in between) can demonstrate your strong and weak points as a freelance writer. Also, this will force you write more frequently - and improved writing skills come with practice!

Prepare a Schedule
Any freelance writer looking to create an income for their writing should set a writing schedule. In other words, even as a novice freelance writer treat your article writing as a job. Your job does not give you infinite amounts of time to complete a task or project - so you should not give yourself infinite time to write an article. This is particularly true for short articles. On average, an hour should be enough time to produce a quality article by a beginner freelance writer. However, do not be discouraged if it takes slightly more time at first. A time limit may seem overwhelming - but it will force a novice writer to increase their writing abilities and skills. By setting aside a block of time, you are essentially forcing yourself to write efficiently and effectively.

Stay Focused
Disruptions can cause any freelance writer to become unfocused - and can be detrimental to novice freelance writers. When you are ready to write close all unnecessary windows on your computer, turn off the IM, don't allow yourself to surf the Internet, and even turn off the phone. By focusing on writing an article (and only try to write one article at a time unless writer's block strikes) you are able to write more effectively. Increased distractions slow your writing speed, interrupt the flow of the article, and can increase the amount of errors in each article you produce.

Edit Afterwards
Finally, save all your editing for your freelance article until after you have completed writing. Your first draft will not be perfect, and by saving the editing process until the end you are essentially saving time. As you learn to write faster, more editing may be required at first to maintain the quality and flow of the article. When you feel your article is complete read your article out-loud to ensure a smooth flow of the article, and have someone else proofread your work if possible. Having a second person read your article may save you more time than any other step, because they are going to spot missing details, interrupted flow, and editorial mistakes - often faster than you will be able too.