探花精选

It's no secret that if you want to , you should be publishing blog posts on a regular basis. to drive traffic and leads, right?

But ... when it comes to writing a new blog post, how much of a time commitment are we talking? How long should it take to write a typical blog post?

That's a totally fair question. After all, a lot of marketers are creating content with limited resources. Knowing how long other marketers are spending on a single post can help you benchmark your own blogging efforts.

To help answer this question, we pulled some blogging data from our . The SOI report comprises research we collected from 4,000 marketers and salespeople around the globe. We asked how long it typically takes them -- or someone on their marketing team -- to write a 500-world blog post.

This is what we found.

How Long Should It Take You to Write a Blog Post?

According to our research, in every region of the world, most marketers spend 1-2 hours writing a 500-word blog post.

Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the only region where roughly an equal number of marketers are spending either 1-2 hours, 2-3 hours, or 4+ hours on a single blog post.

In Australia and New Zealand (ANZ): The largest number of marketers (42%) spend 1-2 hours writing a typical blog post. In the same region, 27% of marketers spend 2-3 hours per post, 17% spend 4+ hours per post, and only 5% spend less than one hour per post.

In Asia-Pacific (APAC): 27% of marketers spend 1-2 writing a typical blog post -- but not far behind them are the 26% of marketers who spend 2-3 hours per post and another 26% who spend 4+ hours per post. Only 11% of folks in Asia-Pacific spend less than an hour writing a blog post.

In Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA): The largest number of marketers (35%) spend 1-2 hours writing a typical blog post. In the same region, almost a quarter of marketers spend 2-3 hours per post, 17% spend 4+ hours per post, and 10% spend less than an hour per post.

In Latin America (LATAM): The largest number of marketers (32%) spend 1-2 hours writing a typical blog post. In the same region, 21% of marketers spend 2-3 hours per post, 18% of marketers spend under an hour per post, and 12% spend 4+ hours per post. Latin America was the only region where more marketers reported spending under an hour per post than marketers who spent 4+ hours per post.

In North America (NORTHAM): The largest number of marketers (38%) spend 1-2 hours writing a typical blog post. In the same region, 29% of marketers spend 2-3 hours writing a blog post, 29% spend 4+ hours per post, and only 8% spend less than an hour per post.

Does that mean 1-2 hours is the "right" amount of time to spend on a blog post?

The question of how long to spend writing a blog post is related to the question of . The answer? As long as it needs to be.

Blog posts should be as long as they need to be to serve their purpose -- whether that's thought leadership, driving leads, explaining a new concept, etc.

Some quick posts could take under an hour to write; others might take several hours if they require you to go really in-depth. The time to write each individual blog posts can vary, but we've found that -- on average -- marketers are spending 1-2 hours per post.

(Want more in-depth blogging tips? for more on how to write a blog post -- complete with blog post templates.)

How long does do marketers on your team spend writing a 500-word blog post? How does that compare with the marketers who responded to our survey? Share with us in the comments.