Automating the Boring Parts of Content Creation

I write a blog post every week. Each post needs a hero image, a social sharing image, a thumbnail, and sometimes an in-post illustration or two.

That's at least four image variations per post. Resize, crop, compress, export. Every. Single. Week.

I used to do this manually. It took 20-30 minutes per post just for images. Now it takes about 5 minutes. Here's what changed.

Batch Your Image Work

The biggest time saver wasn't a new tool — it was changing when I do the work.

Instead of processing images as I write, I batch them. Write first, collect all the images I need, then process them all at once. Context switching between writing and image editing was killing my flow.

For each image:

1. Crop to the right aspect ratio
2. Resize to the target dimensions
3. Compress for web

Three steps, same every time. Once you know your blog's image sizes (mine are 1200x630 for hero, 800x800 for social, 400x300 for thumbnails), it becomes mechanical.

Standardize Your Sizes

If you're resizing images to different dimensions every time, you're wasting mental energy making decisions that don't matter.

Pick your sizes once and stick with them:

| Use Case | Dimensions | Format | |----------|-----------|--------| | Hero/banner | 1200 x 630 | WebP or JPEG | | Social share | 1200 x 630 | JPEG (widest compatibility) | | Thumbnail | 400 x 300 | WebP or JPEG | | In-post image | 800 x auto | WebP or JPEG |

Write these down somewhere you won't lose them. I have mine on a sticky note next to my monitor.

Placeholder Content for Drafts

When I'm drafting a post and need to see how it looks with content I haven't written yet, placeholder text saves time.

Instead of typing "text goes here text goes here" over and over, I generate a few paragraphs of lorem ipsum at the right length. It gives a realistic sense of how the final layout will look without the distraction of reading actual content.

This is especially useful for:

• Testing responsive layouts
• Showing clients a draft structure
• Checking how images flow with text
• Previewing newsletter layouts

Templates Over Starting From Scratch

Every blog post I write follows the same structure:

1. Hook (personal story or surprising fact)
2. Problem statement
3. Solution sections (3-5 H2 headings)
4. Quick reference or checklist
5. Closing summary

I don't reinvent this every time. I have a template file that I duplicate and fill in. The structure is there; I just add content.

Same goes for image processing. I have a mental template:

Source image → Crop 16:9 → Resize 1200w → Compress 80% → Save

It's the same flow every time. No decisions to make.

What I Don't Automate

Some things aren't worth automating:

• Writing the actual content. Templates help with structure, but the words need to be original.
• Choosing images. Picking the right photo is a creative decision. Resizing it isn't.
• Final quality check. I always eyeball the finished post on desktop and mobile before publishing.

The goal isn't to automate everything. It's to automate the parts where you're doing the same mechanical steps over and over, so you can spend your time on the parts that actually need your brain.

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Content creation is maybe 30% creative work and 70% production work. Resize this, crop that, format this, compress that. Automating the production side doesn't make your content worse — it gives you more time to make it better.