How to write a blog post in 15 minutes

The other day I spoke to an attorney who wanted some help with his marketing and made sure to tell me he didn’t have a lot of time to do it. As you know, I advocate doing things in short increments and often say, “You can market your law practice in just 15 minutes a day.” And you can. To prove it to you, I’m writing this blog post in just 15 minutes.

There are three parts to the post. The beginning captures the attention of the reader and introduces the topic.

The middle provides the meat and potatoes. This can be done in paragraph form, like this post, or with bullet points. Three points is enough, and that’s what this post includes, but you can certainly do more.

The last part is the summary and call to action. Review what you want the reader to remember and tell them what to do next.

Write quickly, not just because you have allocated only 15 minutes but because writing quickly usually results in better writing. Don’t try to be brilliant, just say what you want to say.

Obviously, things are much easier if you know what you want to say before you start writing. If you can write down three points about your subject in advance, the writing should go more quickly.

If it helps, pretend you’re speaking, not writing, and imagine you’re speaking to someone you know who is seated across the desk from you. Or, write your post like an email.

Include at least one story. This could be about you and your work, a client story, another lawyer’s case you are familiar with, or anything else. A story adds the human element, allows you to illustrate one or more points, and makes your post more memorable.

At the beginning of this post, I told you about the attorney I spoke with who said he didn’t have a lot of time for marketing. Does that qualify as a story? Sure, and it’s about someone you can probably relate to. An attorney has a desire but his lack of time is keeping him from getting what he wants. The solution is to work in 15 minute increments, which I am demonstrating with this post.

By the way, the opening of your post is a good place to tell your story. It sets the stage for what is to come. You can come back to it towards the end, as I am doing here.

So, there you have it. How to write a blog post in 15 minutes, written in 15 minutes. A beginning, three points, a summary, one story, and you’re done.

I’ll take another five minutes to email this to you and post links on social media. And that’s it for marketing for the day. I’m off to do other things.

I challenge you to write a blog post today and see for yourself how easy it is. It might take you a bit longer the first time you do it, but the more you write, the faster you will get. Send me a link to your finished post. Or post in the comments.

For more help with writing blog posts and marketing online, get this