Note from Jennifer: I am heading on vacation for a week so I will be running guest posts from fellow writer friends. Our blog post today is courtesy of Elizabeth Hanes, a fabulous health content marketing writer. If you are interested in sharing what has worked for them as far as finding clients or their thoughts on another content marketing topic, let me know and I will be happy to schedule you for a guest blog. I pay a small honorarium for your efforts. 

By Elizabeth Hanes

A few years ago I took a webinar on how to reach six figures as a freelance writer. I learned many great strategies and tips, but the one that stood out from the rest was this: To make more money, learn how to write faster.

At first I balked at this tip. Doesn’t writing fast compromise quality? More to the point, when it comes to writing, does “fast” really equal “more money”?

I set out to test the theory over the past year. My methodology was hardly scientific. I tracked my time on every project and divided my gross annual revenue by the total number of hours spent in the office (including administrative and marketing activities) to derive an average hourly rate of return. This method is not terribly precise, but it’s simple and it does provide an intriguing snapshot of my work life.

So did working faster equal more money? I won’t keep you in suspense.

In 2015, my average rate per hour was $98. But in 2016, when I focused on working faster, I earned an average hourly rate of $160 – a whopping 61 percent increase!

And here’s the kicker: I did not work more hours in 2016 than I did in 2015. In fact, I worked a virtually identical number of hours in both years. (I did not track how many individual projects I wrote, which is unfortunate. I definitely wrote many more pieces this year than last.)

Here are four tips derived from my experience that can help you learn to write faster and make more money, too.

1.  Specialize to the Nth degree

I was already working in a pretty narrow niche, which I called “health/healthcare content writing.” In 2016 I narrowed that even further, to exclude B2B and focus exclusively on B2C. When I analyzed past years’ data, I could see that my effective hourly rate was lower on B2B pieces than on B2C items. Thus, eliminating B2B from my repertoire likely boosted my rate over the past year.

2. Use the same research process every time

Many of us produce a variety of types of content, but it’s likely there are two or three content types that comprise the bulk of your output. By taking a systematic approach to your research for those pieces, you can shave hours off the time it take you to produce them.

For instance, when writing short consumer health content that requires only secondary sources, my research always proceeds like this:

• Look up the subject matter at the National Institutes of Health website and get the basic background info
• Visit Merck Manuals website for more background info
• Move to the CDC website for statistics on incidence and prevalence, if relevant
• Check the websites of national non-profit, advocacy and professional organizations (such as the American Diabetes Association, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, etc.)
• Check Up-to-Date if additional information is needed
• Go to PubMed and look for recent research papers on the topic

For pieces that require interviews, I have developed a list of public relations contacts at major academic medical centers, non-profits, etc., whom I can contact for expert sources. This spares me from wasting time tracking down people’s contact information every time I need a source. I also can contact the authors of recent papers, which I’ve already identified from my process above.

No matter what topics you write about, you can develop a similar approach that uses reliable, unbiased secondary sources. It will save you a lot of time and allow you to maximize your hourly return.

3. Use article templates, basically

Do you remember learning the basic five-paragraph thesis structure in 8th grade English class? The one that goes: Introductory paragraph with thesis statement, followed by three paragraphs that elaborate on your key points, wrapped up with a conclusion paragraph? Would it shock you to learn that this is my go-to structure for many of the content pieces I write?

Obviously this structure won’t work for every type of content, not to mention it would be supremely lazy to use this format for everything. So I have, over the years, developed a handful of article structures that I choose based on which one will provide the best treatment for the subject matter. But what I DON’T do is try to think up a unique, creative structure for every single piece of content I write. That is a huge time-waster and takes dollars out of my pocket.

But, but, but…doesn’t writing fast sacrifice quality??

I was coming to that.

Based on feedback from my clients, the quality of my work has not suffered one whit over the past year, when I focused on writing faster. In fact, just last month a client asked if I would accept a full-time job with them. And my other clients often offer unsolicited praise for my work. This tells me that writing faster does not necessarily have a negative effect on the quality of my work.

Your mileage may vary, of course. I would suggest you should focus on becoming an excellent writer first and a speedy writer second. That’s just common sense.

Questions? Opinions? Bang ‘em out in the comments thread, and I’ll respond as best I can.

Another note from Jennifer: I could not agree with this post more. And I find that the higher earning content marketing writers are typically fast writers. Check out a post I wrote on this same topic for some more tips on writing faster.