How long does it take to write a blog post?

Blogging has changed quite a bit since the advent of AI tools, but some things have never changed. Budding bloggers are still curious about that magic question: “how long does it take to write a blog post?”

The common answer to this question is that it depends on each blogger’s writing process. It’s not fair to fixate on the duration of blog post writing. Sure, speed is the mark of a professional blogger, but there’s more to this.

Almost every seasoned blogger goes through multiple stages of blog post creation to complete a worth-reading piece.

In this post, we’ll explore what the experts say, share some studies, and then break down how long it should take to write a blog post, plus how tools like Contentpen can help speed things up without compromising quality.

What do studies say about average blog writing time?

The duration of the blog post writing can be influenced by niche, the blogger’s experience, the subject matter, and the article’s size.

However, a lot of bloggers still want to get into this rabbit hole. So, let’s take a look at some of the studies about average blog writing time:

Nina from SheKnowsSEO ran a poll across different all of these social media channels asking followers about this very question. She found out that 40.3% followers said 5-6 hours and 32.2% followers said 3-4 hours.

Neil Patel also shared his statistics about how long it takes to write a blog post that ranks in Google, even in the AI-generated content era. He revealed the average blog writing time from 2015 to 2025. In 2015, it took 2 hours and 10 minutes to write a blog post on average, whereas in 2025, it took 2 hours and 59 minutes to write a blog post.

These studies tell us that it usually takes 3 to 5 hours to write a blog post, but this can vary depending on different factors.

How long does it take to write a blog post, and how much time does each stage take?

Here are the stages involved, from finding the idea to hitting the publish button in your content management system:

i. Ideation

Ideation is the earliest stage in the process. It’s the time when you start brainstorming ideas for blog posts. You can draw inspiration from trending topics, frequently asked questions, your personal experiences, or competitor content. A good blog idea should be relevant to your target audience, timely, and capable of delivering value.

ii. Keyword research

Several keyword research tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and Google Keyword Planner help bloggers and SEOs find keywords people are actively searching for. Striking a balance between high search volume and low competition is the way to go.

iii. Blog outline

Before starting to write the article, create an outline to organize your thoughts. It’s best to break your topic into main sections using H2, H3, and H4 subheadings. Add bullet points or short notes under each section to stay focused while writing. A clear outline improves the article structure and helps deliver the right message.

iv. First draft

The first draft is crucial to writing an impactful piece. Write your first draft based on the blog outline as soon as possible. Focus on getting your ideas down without worrying too much about structure, formatting, and grammar. Use a conversational tone, support your points with examples or data, and aim to keep your readers engaged throughout.

v. Editing phase

After finishing the first draft, revise your content for clarity, structure, grammar, and engagement. Remove unnecessary words, improve sentence flow, and ensure smooth transitions between sections. Don’t hesitate to go through several times during the editing phase to refine your message.

vi. Image creation

Images make your blog post more engaging and easier to understand. Blog post images include screenshots, infographics, featured images, and other example images that support the message. Try tools like Canva or VistaCreate to design custom images, and don’t forget to optimize image size and file names for SEO.

vii. Grammar check

Run your content through grammar checking tools like Grammarly or Quillbot to catch spelling and grammar issues. Also, check for sentence clarity, passive voice, and wordiness. A well-polished blog post builds trust with readers and reflects professionalism. So, don’t rush to hit publish after the editing phase. Instead, take your time to improve the article.

viii. Formatting

Formatting is a critical phase in the blog writing process. Format your blog post to enhance readability, attract eyeballs, and improve engagement. Use headings, bullet points, short paragraphs, and bold text for emphasis. Make sure all links work correctly, and the article contains the basic sections, such as the intro, body, and conclusion.

ix. Publishing/scheduling

Once everything is perfectly done, it’s time to upload your blog post to your blogging platform and add essential elements like SEO metadata, images, internal links, and external links. After completing this process, you can publish the blog post immediately or schedule it according to your blog content calendar.

How to write blog posts faster without losing quality?

Speeding up your content creation process doesn’t have to mean compromising on quality. The key is to use a smart AI-powered writing assistant like Contentpen — a powerful AI blog writer designed to help you generate content, expand on ideas, and overcome writer’s block while maintaining a consistent tone and structure.

1. Pick your topic and define a clear angle

Start by narrowing down your topic. Instead of writing about broad subjects like “digital marketing,” choose specific angles such as “how small businesses can use email marketing to boost repeat sales.” A focused topic gives your blog a clear direction, improves reader engagement, and speeds up the writing process.

2. Set up your content preset in Contentpen

This is where Contentpen truly sets itself apart. It allows you to create a customized content preset to match your brand voice and style.

• Tone of voice: Choose from options like clear and helpful, professional and friendly, or confident but concise to keep your tone consistent across every blog post.
  
• Target audience: Specify exactly who you’re writing for—be it marketers, SaaS founders, freelancers, or product teams.
• Formatting preferences: Automate how key ideas are styled—use bold for emphasis, bullet points for easy scanning, and tables or quotes where needed.
• Article structure: Set your ideal post length and enable optional sections like FAQs, takeaways, or a conclusion to make every post reader-friendly.
• Linking strategy: Configure how internal and external links are handled to ensure SEO-friendliness and maintain trustworthiness.

With all these presets in place, Contentpen handles the structure, tone, and formatting while you focus on the actual content.

3. Write without distractions

Now that your preset is in place, you can dive straight into writing. Contentpen ensures formatting and style consistency in the background, so you don’t need to switch between writing and editing modes.

This lets you put all your energy into explaining ideas clearly, building arguments, and adding value. Writers often find that this workflow leads to better writing in less time.

4. Add visuals seamlessly

Visuals make blog posts more engaging, but manually handling them can eat up time. With Contentpen:

• Featured images are automatically sized and placed
  
• In-content visuals retain a consistent style
  
• Tables are formatted neatly
  
• The overall visual hierarchy stays intact
  

You simply choose the right images—Contentpen ensures they look great and don’t disrupt your workflow.

5. Review and schedule with ease

With structure and formatting already handled, your review can focus purely on content quality. Look over the main takeaways, flow, grammar, and headline effectiveness. Once you’re happy, either publish it right away or schedule it for later.

Factors that affect the duration of writing a blog post

Before we discuss the debate about how long it takes to write a blog post, it’s essential to discuss the factors that determine that time.

1. Time constraints

Time constraints refer to the hurdles that limit the amount of time available to complete a task. Each individual has different time constraints depending on their day job, working hours, or part-time gigs.

2. Writer’s block

Writer’s block is a condition in which writers fail to think and write on the topic they want to write about. It freezes their creative thinking, resulting in frustration and demotivation.

3. Clarity of thoughts

Clarity of thoughts means the person is mentally ready to take the challenge head-on. It shows that the person is pretty clear about the pathway and prepared to move forward with confidence.

4. Mental and physical health

Both mental and physical health are crucial to the creative writing process and surely impact the duration of writing a blog post.

5. Workload or multiple jobs

One of the factors that affects quite a lot of bloggers is the workload or juggling multiple jobs at once. When someone is buried under a lot of work or managing multiple projects, this person might not be able to complete the tasks on time.

Now, let’s discuss various stages of blog post writing and publishing just to clear the context.

Conclusion

Due to time constraints and obligations, bloggers optimize their processes to make the most of their time.

While it shouldn’t matter how long it takes to write a blog post, it’s important to keep track of the time as we’re on the clock. Therefore, we learned that it takes somewhere between 3 to 6 hours to write a blog post.

However, make sure that the content is helpful, valuable, and worth sharing. At the end of the day, nobody cares how long it took you to write that blog post. All that matters is what “value” it delivers.

So, be mindful of that and put out blog posts that make an impact!

FAQs about blog post writing duration

How long does it take to write a 1000-word blog post?

A 1000-word blog post shouldn’t take any longer than 2 hours. However, there are always exceptions to the rule.

Is a 500-word blog post too short?

Usually, a 500-word blog post is considered concise unless it completely answers the query and satisfies the readers.  

How long should SEO blogs be?

There are no hard and fast rules for the length of SEO blog posts. However, it’s best to write slightly longer yet relevant articles than competitors in the SERP.

How many words should a blog post be for SEO 2025?

SEO has changed siginificantly in 2025, and will continue to do so going forward. However, the blog post length should be somewhere between 3,000 to 4,000 words.