An outline is a summary of the main points of a blog post. It helps the writer to organize their thoughts and create a structure for the article. It can also be used to help readers follow the main points of the post.
Outlines are the key to conquering the dreaded blank pages. Every writer knows the feeling of opening and staring at a blank page, which can be overwhelming.
But with a clear plan, you can overcome that feeling and produce great work. Outlines can bring you the confidence to get yourself together and deliver quality content.
Why Are Outlines Important?
The outline, as a way of organizing your thoughts and ideas, is encouraged by many writers. It is critical to creating a good blog post because it helps to sort out the main points and arguments of the article. It also ensures that the writing flows smoothly and is easy to follow.
If you have a clear outline for your blog post:
- Writing the blog will become much more manageable.
- By knowing what points you need to cover and in what order, you can focus on getting your thoughts down on paper without worrying about the overall structure.
- Outlines ensure that your argument is coherent.
- With a clear and concise outline, you can also identify any gaps in your research or areas that need further exploration.
- Additionally, an outline can help you to estimate the length of your blog post and plan accordingly.
Hence, an outline can help you to keep your writing on track. So, how can you create an outline for your blog posts? It's easy.
All you have to do is follow these simple steps and get your blog done within an hour and have a ready-to-upload article at your disposal! We bring you this post on how to create a perfect outline for your blog post with various examples to help you get started.
Steps For Creating A Blog Outline - With Examples
Creating a blog post outline is a great way to organize your thoughts and ensure that your blog post covers all the important aspects of a topic.
There are a few steps that you can follow to help you create an outline for your blog post.
1. Write Your Takeaways
Before you start writing your blog post, it's important to take a step back and think about what you want your readers to take away from the article. What are the key points you want to make?
What do you want your readers to learn? Write down all of these things before you begin. Jot down any ideas that come to mind, no matter how far-fetched they may seem.
Some people might want to read a blog to learn about new products or services, to get ideas for their projects, or to connect with others who share similar interests.
Hence, it is necessary to determine what you want to deliver to the readers. It is crucial when doing blogging for business.
For example, in the case of any tech-related blog, this step requires you to decide what main key points you need your readers to get from your post. You must be clear about the vision and scope of your blog's purpose. This is necessary because you don't want to dwell on irrelevant details and waste your time.
Once you have a solid list of ideas, you can start narrowing them down and turning them into a coherent plan.
2. Brainstorm Your Topic
Brainstorming a topic is the first and foremost thing in a blog. What are you passionate about? What do you want to share with your audience? These simple questions give you the insight to find your topic.
It is up to you how you go about finding your topic. You could use Google, Wikipedia, or any other online sources to get started. This will give you a clear understanding of your goals for the article and you can decide on a decent topic.
We further our previous example for the tech-related blog, if you are passionate about new tech introduced recently, you can just go with related topics to brainstorm ideas and pick one for an article.
3. Decide on a Topic
The next step in creating a blog outline is deciding on your topic. This can be anything that you are passionate about or have expertise in.
Once you have decided on your topic, the next step is to determine what you want to say about it. What are your thoughts and opinions? What information do you want to share?
Once you have a good understanding of what you want to say, you can start with the main points of your blog post.
To outline a blog post, you will need to first determine the scope of your article. This is a process of narrowing down the main points that you want to make in your article.
This step decides how you decide to take your blog outline. Because the choice will impact the outline and the whole writing process.
4. Define the Main Points of Your Article
After selecting a topic, you need to write the main points of your topic. By doing this, you'll be creating an outline that will make your work easy to get done.
Outlines help you to stay focused while writing, and they will help with content flow. Once you have your main points down, you can start to flesh them out a little more.
This will help you to explain your points more clearly, and it will also give you a chance to add supporting information. The outline will also work as a rough draft that you can start editing.
All you need is to keep in mind the takeaways for your selected topic and move forward with the research.
5. Do Your Research
Now that you know what to write about, next is the step where you explore and research the topic. What are other people saying about your topic? What are the latest trends? This is where you collect information.
This could be anything from news articles to blog posts to books. You want to make sure that you are including as much relevant information as possible.
Facts and figures are important, but you also want to include personal stories and experiences. People can relate to that easily.
Since blogs for businesses are mainly targeting real-life solutions, adding a shared experience creates more relevancy. This is what will make your blog unique and compelling to your audience.
For any blog, this step takes most of the time. Be sure that you surf credible sources to find valuable information that will make your blog rich. Your outline will be jammed with so much information at this point, so let's head to the next step and clear the clutter!
6. Organize the Information
Now that you have a topic and information, it is time to develop a plan. What are you going to write about? The information you have collected in the previous step needs to be sorted out and merged with relevant ideas and paragraphs.
Making a plan will help you stay focused and on track. It will also help you avoid distractions, which may lead to sloppy writing.
Keep in mind that a blog post outline will have to ensure that your article has a steady flow and it's continuous - that all your points connect to the next and converge into the ultimate goal of writing a blog.
7. Divide the Information Into Chunks
When you have a lot of information to share, it can be helpful to divide it into smaller, more manageable chunks. This will make your blog post more readable and easier to digest for your readers.
Dividing your information into sections also helps to keep your post organized and on track. Creating an outline of your post break down your main points into smaller, bite-sized pieces.
Then, add a few subpoints under each main point.
It is easy - once you have your outline, you can start filling in the details.
All the information that you organized in the previous step needs to be divided into easy and small sections so the readers can follow the flow. You need to make sure that everything is connected and that each paragraph leads to the next.
8. Choose a Catchy Headline
What will make people want to read your blog? All the meaty content can go to waste if you're unable to grab the attention of your audience. Writing an outline will tackle that problem for you. Well, in a way or two at least!
Headlines are the first impressions for your blog, and taking the time to decide on something that will sell is the key for blogs. And blog outlines tend to do just that for you. You spare time to think and search for headlines.
With a checklist to fulfill all the needs for your blog - be it for business or any other purpose - you can ace it!
Remember that your headlines need to be catchy and informative. Try to include keywords that people might be searching for related to your topic. This will help people find your blog when they are looking for information on that topic.
For instance, you can spark curiosity in your readers' minds by asking a question, or adding something new to have them click to read more. In essence, it depends on how much you work on the headline. And creating an outline puts a simple check on the list when it comes to the outline.
9. Structure The Article
Now that you have the information you want to add in order along with the supporting information, you need to format the article. This includes deciding the opening, body, and closing.
Decide how many main sections you want to include and what order you want them to be in. Then, start filling in each section's specific information.
For instance, tech blogs usually start with a catchy headline, then an introduction, references, and discussions to drive your point home. Be vigilant to check all these once finalizing the article flow.
10. Review Your Outline
Now you have a concise and clear approach to the topic! But it's still not over. You need to review your outline. Add more information that is necessary.
Give your blog outline a quick read-through to check that it is a good fit for your topic and that everything flows in a logical order. If it doesn't seem quite right, try rearranging some of the sections.
With the outline that you created, now is the time to act upon it! The sections you divided your information needs to be filled in this step. Try to be authentic in the figures you use.
Add the extra details in your headings and use subheadings to make it easy to skim through the text.
Your Hack To A Perfect Outline
Now you can create an excellent outline by following these easy steps!
With this walk-through, you will be able to produce high-quality content that will grab readers' attention. Your writing process will become less daunting, more efficient, and smoother overall. It's truly a game-changer.
Still, worried? No problem, we got you covered!
You can now make an outline before writing your article with the help of an outline builder powered by LongShot AI. It's easy, simple, and free to use!
Blog Outline Generator - Generate Outlines With LongShot AI
If you want to create blogs that clinch the top rankings at Google search engines, you're at the right spot!
LongShot AI is a powerful tool that allows you to quickly generate high-quality outlines for your blog posts. By using LongShot, you can save time by automating the process of creating catchy blog posts.
You can generate blog outlines using LongShot's Blog Outline generator.
LongShot AI helps you generate a detailed outline for your blog posts in minutes and uses AI to generate outlines based on the keywords you input. This can help you save time and effort too!
When you create a blog post using LongShot AI, you can be sure that it will be well-written and organized. You'll have everything you need to write a compelling post in minutes! With its powerful and easy-to-use interface, it is an invaluable tool for bloggers.
With killer blog outlines, you can create fantastic content that will rank at flash Gordon speeds!
So if you want to rank higher in search engines, we recommend you use LongShot AI to generate high-quality blog post outlines.
