Keeping a timer and log is always a good idea, if only because you can look back and point out your own mistakes for next time. Personally, I’ve found physical sticky notes get the job done just fine. The most important thing is to make sure you’re spending a reasonable amount of time on each individual task involved with content writing.
From my own experience, I’ve found that about 40 percent of my time goes to researching a topic. This includes keyword research as well as gathering appropriate sources and statistics. Often times, research is the make or break for my content: if there’s no data to back up your content, you should probably choose a different topic. The majority of my remaining time goes to writing the piece and promoting it through social media marketing and building back links. Here’s my generic timeline: