How many WORDS do you write per day?

How much content can you produce each day?

[shafaki]

The best AdSense sites, and those that usually make best money, are those that rely on user created content. But still there are many successful AdSense web sites whose content is written entirely by their creators.

For those who are creating content rich web sites, how many words per day in average can you produce?

The international standard for translators, not writers, is 2000 words produced per day.

I bet there are those out there that write content for their websites in a much higher rate than that. Perhaps some may write 10,000 words per day in average for their sites.

How many words per day in average do you write for your AdSense supported web sites?

[europeforvisitors]

I really don't know, though I'd say that I produce at least 500 or 600 pages of new, original material every year.

[Genuine1]

I never updated a site in many many years. So non?

Its not about how many words or pages you have. Its not about continually adding stuff for the sake of it. I wrote what I did 7 or 8 years ago for the fun of sharing useful information about a diverse bunch of stuff/hobbies etc. When I finished I had nothing else of any "real value" use to say. The stuff I wrote I did because I understood more about those subjects than anyone else did. Thats still the case.

Its about building a website that people want/find useful/offers something new/saves people money or time/shows them how to do something/shares experiences or whatever. But for it to work it needs to be a new, fresh idea or something that isnt already out there at the very least. There no point in being a "me too" because it does not work unless you have more to offer than the best of the rest. You site must be head and shoulders above the rest for it to get the natural links and PR to be a success.

Just writing more and more pages that you have no passion for to stick ads on is a recipe for mediocrity.

Your question. How much content can you produce each day? Is the wrong question. You need to think what can I offer the visitor? Less is more - quality is whats important not pages of text with ads on.

[edited by: Genuine1 at 9:19 pm (utc) on Sep. 1, 2007]

[Go60Guy]

My best output is around 1,500 words of researched, well crafted content in a day. Usually, it's more like 1,000. I'm speaking of topics which require research on my part. If I know the topic, I can do more.

Of course, I can do much more if it's just crap.

[greatstart]

Just five words a day.

[europeforvisitors]

Its not about how many words or pages you have. Its not about continually adding stuff for the sake of it.

The OP just asked a simple question. S/he didn't say anything about continually adding pages just for the sake of adding pages.

Some sites are static, or nearly so. (What's to add to a metric-converter site?) Others, such as news sites, need fresh pages all the time. And some improve their usefulness to readers every time they add new material. (For an example, if a travel site about Widgetville adds an article about the new Widgetville Eye, which just opened last month, that's an addition that readers will enjoy and learn from.)

[moTi]

people whose eanings obviously stand in sharp contradiction to their low current effort often suffer from arrogance and tend to permanently give strange unasked and inappropriate advice. combined with inferiority complexes, it makes them a plague to those around them.

they will tell you their (unproven) "success story" again and again. which really gets boring - just like if i were a return visitor to a website which wasn't updated since 7 or 8 years, lol. maybe they should go out and try to find some people they can impress with that.

only generally speaking, of course.. ;)

[edited by: moTi at 1:25 am (utc) on Sep. 2, 2007]

[BigDave]

It is so amazing to me that someone can go 7 years without learning anything worth sharing.

[dibbern2]

Just writing more and more pages that you have no passion for to stick ads on is a recipe for mediocrity.

What the heck does this have to do with the original post? Passion? Mediocrity?

Writing is work.

About 1000 words on an average day.

[callivert]

Great writers both highbrow (Graham Greene) and lowbrow (Stephen King) recommend a constant production rate of at least 1000 words a day. Writing is a bit like sport, in that (a) it requires fitness obtained through daily practice, and (b) the more you do, the better you get.
My production is currently way down due to moving from America to Australia, but before the move I was doing well over a thousand words a day. It will take a while to get back up to speed, but I'm looking forward to it. Being super-productive is a wonderful feeling.

[Jane_Doe]

Your question. How much content can you produce each day? Is the wrong question

The posters question was entirely valid and I'm sure of interest to many here, myself included. There is no reason to give a condescending reply.

On a good day I can write around 5 decent articles of 500 words or so each but I can't keep up that pace every day.

[edited by: Jane_Doe at 6:54 am (utc) on Sep. 2, 2007]

[King_Fisher]

Two good pages a day would be a lot for me. Probably 500 to 600 words a day not
counting the re-writes. Comes hard for me. I am never satisfied how it sounds or(looks?)...KF

[wyweb]

1000 - 1500 words maybe. That's a good day for me.

I'm extremely critical of my own writing, extremely picky and extremely paranoid that what I'm writing is junk and will be booed off the web by everyone who reads it. Rewrites are common.

It's a wonder I get even that much done.

[Huntster]

Some days none - others 500-1500. My brain needs to be into it and I need to feel creative at that moment. If not, I just place ads or add links here and there until I am in a writing mood.

[chikung]

This remind me again to organise myself and make a schedule to update my site with quality content. I keep on updating though does not have fixed time or the number of pages.

My site needs to be update with text along with the relevant graphics/artwork so it takes time.

I wish I should be able to add 500-600 pages like efv with new and original material per year. My site currently has just 400 pages and I wish to make it 1000 this year. I will definitely try to do this.

[Khensu]

I make pictures

picture = 1,000 words

3,000

[davec]

I make pictures

picture = 1,000 words

3,000

This answer made me smile :-)

[rogerd]

Good point, Khensu. I hope image search is kind to you. :)

My output varies a lot depending on what I've got to write about. I may go a few days with near zero output, and then have multiple days in a row with 1000+ words. While the idea of constant daily output is good, and may well be appropriate for a novelist, I'd prefer to write more when I'm creating good stuff and do nothing if I have little to say.

Brett's original advice was to add a page per day. On average, that's still good advice.

[europeforvisitors]

Brett's original advice was to add a page per day. On average, that's still good advice.

The words "on average" are important, and a publisher also needs to realize that writing is only one step in the process of adding pages.

For example, let's say that I add a 12-page illustrated travel article about Widgetville. The sequence requires:

1) Visiting Widgetville for research and photography;

2) Editing photos and organizing materials (including notes) after I get home;

3) Structuring the article, laying it out, and selecting from my collection of edited photos;

4) Writing the text (including finding, implementing, and annotating relevant links where appropriate, and changing structure or photos where necessary);

5) Tweaking, proofreading, publishing, and promoting the Widgetville coverage on my site.

Step 4--the actual writing--might take only a third of the allotted time. During that writing phase, I might write three or four pages a day, but overall publishing output might be a page per day because of the other steps required to produce the new material.

[shafaki]

Khensu, thanks for introducing a fun element to this thread, your reply made us all laugh, it has all the 'elements' of a good joke :)

Thanks Go60Guy, dibbern2, callivert, Jane_Doe, King_Fisher, wyweb, Huntster and rogerd for giving actual stats about your number-of-words output. This really helped me a lot and was the main aim of my original question. Now I feel much better when I realize that 1000 words per day is kind of average when before that post I thought 1000 words per day was very low to some and I thought that there are those who make like over 5000 words daily on average. So now I feel much better about it. I can now start aiming at some rate and be happy about it.

Thanks europeforvisitors for providing us with insight into writing for a special kind of site, which is travel sites. Sure the actual writing part for such type of sites is only part of the whole story.

As for Genuine1, who has "never updated a site in many many years," well guys, let's not be hard on him. Actually, his words were one of the finest replies I have read in this thread. Although I am not going to follow his model of writing once then sitting back there doing nothing, yet I got insight from his words about writing content that is unique and nothing similar to it on the web. His words actually gave me direction and encouraged me to aim for really original content and fetch deep inside me for stuff that can be unique and have nothing similar to it on the web. So thanks to all how have answered this post.

I wonder greatstart what kind of site could need "Just five words a day," sounds like a truly unique type of site.

[Habtom]

I wonder greatstart what kind of site could need "Just five words a day," sounds like a truly unique type of site.

I am not sure, may be something like:

I love my website 1
I love my website 2
I love my website 3
...

Are they considered unique content? :)

But seriously, I would love to know what he meant by that.

[Etonian]

Posted by greatstart:

Just five words a day.

That didn't make any sense to me either the first time I read it, but on a second reading I noticed how many words he used in making that statement and then it made me chuckle.

[HuskyPup]

Are they considered unique content? :)

But seriously, I would love to know what he meant by that.

Hehehe, I know the answer and I'm not telling.

Genuine1 has unique content since he has written about very personal subjects, although I reckon it should be about time to update some of the info, 99% of it is still entirely applicable...there, that's peaked your interest even further!

There are not many interests/hobbies/subjects/trades whereby the information needs updating infrequently, mine just happens to be one if those trades, yet I do tweak the odd page every now and then, however as for adding new content pages I'm in the fortunate position of Khensu of adding images for visitor information and I beat him hands down, probably 10 pages per day and I only have another 25,000 pages to go as of the latest trade statistics!

[shafaki]

Interesting observation Etonian :) "Just five words a day", greatstart's answer is indeed five words!

I guess that due to the so many days he has spent writing "just 5 words" he tends to speak in 5 words automatically, subconsciously without even intending to do so. Looks to me like a probably possibility.

[BillyS]

I used to write a page a day (500-700 words) part time. Now I maintain content - which is a much bigger job and add new content at about a page (1,200 words) a week.

[Khensu]

Thank

God

I

Found

Adsense

[greatstart]

I wonder greatstart what kind of site could need "Just five words a day," sounds like a truly unique type of site.

What I meant was I average 5 words per day. Every 3 months or so, I write one article which is usually 450 words in length.

My formula:

3 months = 90 days x 5 words = 450 words

[danny]

I've written 415,030 words of book reviews since 28 February 1992, which comes to about 75 words per day. And about 50 words/day of travelogues in the last eight years. And a few other pages. Allow a bit for weekends and holidays, the result is still under 500 words per day.

[FrostyMug]

I add about one page of content every week. It could be new articles, new picture updates, new site updates, SEO updates, etc. Usually, this takes a lot of research, then taking pictures, then writing content, then more research, then proofreading, then SEO the final page and then release.

[edited by: FrostyMug at 2:26 pm (utc) on Sep. 9, 2007]

[makemeinsecure]

really dont know i dont do updates on daily basis.....