Creating a blog post outline before diving into the actual writing phase is one of the best ways to keep your posts on track. It guides you through the research phase and ensures that your blog post uncovers all information relevant to the users. So, while you prepare to write your next article, here is how to write an effective SEO blog post outline.
Why do you need a blog post outline?
An outline is a skeleton of your entire blog, guiding your writing. It helps you strategically plan and put your ideas on paper. Hence, it enables you to create a well-organized and logically flowing article.
What you want is to create a focused blog post exhausting all the relevant subtopics about a specific theme. Of course, it will burden your users if your article is trying to talk about everything.
The idea is to have an outline as a roadmap to keep you focused and organized. Besides, it can help ensure your blog post moves smoothly and effectively communicates the relevant ideas. This will make your content more specific, relevant, compelling, and informative in the long run.
5 Simple steps to creating a blog outline.
We’ve organized our blog post into short, precise steps to make it more readable. So, here are the 5 simple steps to help you on how to write a clear, informative blog post outline for your future articles:
1. Find your topic
The first step is deciding on the topic you want to cover. Of course, you must pick a popular and relevant topic in your industry. There may be no benefit in writing what people are not searching for on the internet.
There are many ways of identifying the most relevant and trending topics that will excite your users. One of the best ways is by using the Semrush topic research tool. We use it here at DIGting SEO Agency while formulating topic ideas for our client’s websites.
With a good topic, you can craft a selling heading representing the entire article on Google’s Search Engine Result Page (SERP). Also, this will help you discover clear objectives to guide your research phase.
2. Break the main topic into subtopics.
Now that you have a relevant topic in your industry, it’s essential to break it down into relevant subtopics. In other words, identify the most relevant things you want to cover under the central theme.
For instance, if your blog post is about “How Google customer reviews can help local businesses“, you will want to talk about things like:
- What Google customer reviews are
- Why Google considers them very essential
- How Google ranks local businesses using customer reviews
- When should businesses respond to customer reviews?
- Who needs to worry about Google customer reviews
- Where and how to find the previous Google customer reviews.
In other words, you are trying to answer the topic’s why, what, and how questions. Hence, please ensure you exhaust all the required information users are interested in when they visit your website. The best way to tackle this part of creating an informative blog post outline is by:
- Carrying out extra research to identify what other websites have covered on the same topic
- Identifying who your target readers are and what they might be looking for when they search for your topic (Search intent).
- Find other related topics that might be of value to your target audience when you include them in your blog post.
3. Document your research
Documenting each piece of information you find relevant to your blog post is essential. So ensure to make short notes from your research. Hence, write the main points you want to capture in your final article.
These notes will guide you as you write your content. The best idea is to take notes from different sources, compare them, and pick out the best points to make it to your final blog post outline.
4. Organize your ideas logically.
From your research, zero down to the most relevant ideas to include in your article. Of course, it’s essential to do this step from the reader’s point of view. In other words, what is the user looking for? Do the key points address the user’s question? If all these questions tick, then you have perfect ideas.
So, organize these ideas (subtopics) in a logical order. This is a foundational step in creating a well-crafted and compelling piece of content, enhancing your blog post’s overall quality and impact.
5. Format, review, and revise
Format: create a structure of how you want your blog to look. You must format the headings and subheadings under which you will include short notes about each subtopic.
Review: go through your final outline step by step. Re-edit and ensure you have included all necessary steps and points. Notes shouldn’t be vague; they should align with your goals and address your audience’s needs.
Revise: revisit your information sources. Ensure they are authoritative and reputable. Information should be up-to-date and accurate.
What to include in a typical blog post outline
A blog post outline is not any different from a table of content. Both highlight what the blog post covers. If you want to start crafting a clear, specific, and precise blog post outline, here is a template for you. Below are the main elements of a good blog post outline structure.
Introduction
The introduction is what gives the first impression to the reader, so you want to make it captivating enough and, at the same time, convey information. This will determine whether the user stays on your article or moves to another exciting blog. It should be short, precise, and makes the reader want more.
Body
This is where you pour all your knowledge from the research and convert those short points into big in-depth paragraphs. Of course, each is under a subtopic. Your content should be interesting and detailed enough to clearly explain your claims, explanations, and facts with actual sources.
Conclusion
The conclusion should be a summary of your article and your viewpoints supporting the essay. It should make the reader want to refer to the main points. Draw actionable conclusions from the article that will benefit your audience. And in case it’s a business article, remember to include your Call to Action (CTA) in the concluding paragraph.
Final Remarks
Writing a blog post outline is essential in creating focused and relevant articles readers will fall in love with. An outline will help you overcome the dreaded “writer’s block.” And also, it assists in organizing your thoughts before you put your fingers on the keyboard. We hope this guide has helped you determine the best way to write a blog post outline for your next article. In case you are interested, you can check out our guide to help you learn how to write impressive SEO-friendly blog posts.
