How to Create a Blog Post Outline: A Practical Guide to Awesome Contents
A Blog post outline creates the foundation for your article. This guide will discuss creating a great blog post outline while being a complete beginner (newbie).
Rishabh Ravindran
Creating a blog post outline is one of the most important steps that you need to do as a content writer or a blogger.
Why?
Because having a good content outline is like having a google map while traveling. You won’t waste your time and fuel by taking the wrong direction.
A proper content outline will help you create a great piece of article in a short period of time.
So what is a Blog post outline? Let’s see.
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What is Content Outline?
A content outline is the skeleton of the article that you are going to write about. It serves as a blueprint of the solution or information that you plan to provide with your blog post.
An article outline will give you a clear idea of the article you are going to write about. It will include your article’s title, your subheadings, different sections, main keywords, and other things that will make your work much more comfortable.
A content outline will walk you through your article so that you never get lost and start writing about some random things.
Why is a Blog Post Outline Important?
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax."
Abraham Lincoln.
A blog post or an article is a solution to a particular problem that your user is facing.
You will have to provide a clear and specific answer to that problem when writing your article.
A Blog post outline creates the foundation for your article. Without it, there are chances that you provide less or more information than what is actually needed.
When I was starting out, I just kept writing and writing. I would write about random things that weren’t necessary for my article.
Later I would have to rewrite all those paragraphs again. This was really frustrating because I had to spend more time trimming my content and rewriting it.
So, if you are doing the same, then it’s time to change. Otherwise, you will waste a lot of time and effort.
How to create an informative blog post outline? Let’s see.
How to Create a Proper Blog Post Outline
Step #1: Research your topic
Spend at least 15 minutes to research the topic that you are going to write about. Read some articles, watch some videos, and if you have some time, read some books.
If you don’t have time, go through the table of contents of some of these books.
Go to Amazon and search your main keyword, and you will see the list of currently available books.
Now select one of those books with a kindle edition, and check whether it has a look inside option available. If yes, click on that image and scroll down to the table of contents page.
If it is not available, then choose some other books. Why should you check the table of contents of a book?
Unlike other blog posts and articles, authors of a book usually spend months researching the topic.
Unlike other blog posts and articles, authors of a book usually spend months researching the topic.
They would know the important subjects they need to address while writing about that topic.
Step #2: Write it down and Organize your Content
Take a piece of paper or a new word document. Write down all those headings and subheadings that you just saw.
Write down the table of contents from the book. Now, after writing it down, read through all of it.
There will be sections that may be similar in all those articles, and there might be something unique that isn’t that common.
Now, create a new page and note down the important sections you need in your article.
Now you have a rough draft of your blog post outline.
Step #3: Add Your Magic
This is the step that will make you stand apart from the rest of your competition. After spending some time researching your topic, you might know what information is widely available and what isn’t.
You might know what content is missing and what content needs to be updated.
Take the column that you just wrote in the above section and start refining it. Add new sections that will make your content more useful and remove those sections that you feel unnecessary.
But before doing this process, you should know who your target audience is!
A target audience is a group of people that share the same age, problems, demographics, etc.
Your writing should change depending on the people that you are targeting.
For example, if I’m writing an article about VPN for complete beginners, I can’t randomly use the words like Double VPN, Geo-Blocks, and Bandwidth Throttling.
I will have to walk them by defining these technical words first before using them in my article. Similarly, if you are writing for an audience well known in that subject, you cannot provide definitions for each word you use.
They will find it irritating and will leave your site in an instant. So know who your target audience is, and then start refining your blog post outline.
Step #4 Create your Final Blog Post Outline
Now create a final blog post outline with all the main headings and subheadings. Remember that no one will see your blog post outline, so you can add anything that will be beneficial to you.
You can add some quotes, main keywords, some definitions, or anything else. Let it be messy, but make sure that it is useful for you to create a great blog post.
Want to know how professional bloggers and content writers create a blog engaging blog post? Download our free Content outline template now!
Free Content Outline Template
Don’t know how to create an excellent content outline that will make your audience go in awe of your content?
Download our free content outline guide now!
A great blog post outline will make your work better and easier to do. As a content writer or a blogger, it’s your duty to provide valuable information to your audience.
See your traffic as real human beings, and it is your responsibility to solve the problems that your audience are facing in their lives.
To create an excellent outline for a blog post, research your topic first, write down the headings, organize your content, and finally, make the final draft of your blog post outline.
So, what are you waiting for? Create your awesome blog post now!
