Excited to write a compelling piece of content but don’t know where to start from? A blog outline is certainly the answer to all your worries.
One of the most excellent ways to make sure your blog is optimized for SEO is to create a blog outline.
Learn more about creating a blog post outline quickly in the following sections to improve your search engine ranking.
What Is A Blog Outline?
Before you begin writing any blog, it’s a good idea to build an outline first. An outline provides you with a guide to follow, so you have an idea of what content you should be working on before writing your blog.
The framework can include things such as the main points you want to emphasize in the blog, the format you’ll be using to write an article, such as a long-form or a list, and finally, how you’ll organize your thoughts to make sense to your audience.
Outlining your blog is especially helpful to writers as it allows them to list down their ideas, review them before writing to recapitulate their thoughts, help them when they are stuck during the writing process, and finally get rid of writer’s block.
Why Should I Create a Blog Outline?
Often, authors tend to write whatever comes to mind without considering the advantages of developing a blog outline. A blog outline should not be ignored because it helps writers write content without being distracted and work on their draft with greater ease.
If you’re still wondering why one should create a blog outline, here are some reasons for it:
It allows the writers to dig deeper into the subject:
By drafting an outline, authors may encourage themselves to think more logically and conduct an in-depth study on the subject to mention the key aspects they wish to discuss. They will eventually understand the infographics, images, or internal links they can incorporate to make it more engaging for their audience.
It gives a practical and logical flow to the blog:
A good outline makes it easier to plan out a path from beginning to end and offers a logical flow for writers to stick to when writing and for readers to follow while reading. In the end, it helps you understand which heading to place where and how to divide each group to organize the blog.
It helps you to be on track:
Even if you are working on a simple topic, it is still possible to forget some details, especially if you immediately start the writing portion while having multiple tabs open as sources. Building an outline for your blog can make it easier to stay on track and stay on topic while writing by noting down all the important points you plan to work on.
Gives an overview of the blog beforehand:
If you are working for a client, by creating an outline for your blog, you can give them an idea of the information they can expect in the blog.
You can use it to figure out if everyone agrees with the subheading you select, the blog’s layout and format, and the general content. Instead of providing your clients with a lengthy draft, you may offer them this brief outline for review to get their comments and feedback.
It helps you optimize your blog for SEO:
Creating a blog outline will help you determine the best keywords to use for optimizing your blogs and meet the goal of the searcher by answering their most frequent questions. When you have a blog outline planned, you can structure your blog on the specific keywords you’ve decided to target to improve its search engine and make it more visible to the audience you’re trying to reach.
Tips For Writing A Solid Outline
Building an outline is easy especially if you follow these important tips. Here, we have provided a step-by-step guide to help you learn how to write an outline of your own.
1. Choose Your Targeted Keywords
To have effective outline for your blog, make sure you pick the right keywords. In search engine optimization, content is the crowning glory, and the right choice of phrases and words can quickly elevate a business’ name. However, you must be aware of your readers wants to choose the appropriate ones.
You can use long tail keywords with more than three words and are generally detailed compared to short tail keywords, also known as head keywords. Long tails are targeted, reducing competition on search engines and increasing conversion rates.
For example, “Zumba Clubs” can be considered vague, which will produce a generic result. On the other hand, the long tail keyword “Best Zumba Clubs in America” is detailed and will show you more targeted results.
You can look up the keywords that will help you generate better traffic to the specific business using tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs to get the best one for the industry you are writing for.
Additionally, there are several free keywords research tools also that you can use such as ChatGPT, Answer The Public, and Keyword Generator.
2. Select A Topic
While beginning to write a blog you must first choose a working title before you can start writing. Things will be much easier for you if you know your niche. Simply choose the target audience and what results they would be interested in inside that category. Brainstorm topics you’re interested in and make a list of them based on the user intent of your audience.
Another option for selecting a topic is by using Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer and following a few simple steps.
Step 1: Use Ahrefs’ search bar to enter a suitable term for your niche.
Step 2: Select the Matching Terms report from the menu.
Step 3: Next, click the Questions tab to get a list of options.
Additionally, there are online AI tools that can help you in coming up with blog post topics. Hubspot Blog Topic Generator will generate top-ranking titles for your blog by assessing online data and offering title you can use to complete your topic research.
You can also make use of the People Also Ask section to know more about the other related topics you can target in your blog writing.
3. List Down The Key Points
Once you decide on a topic, you must know what to work on. You must list the key ideas you want to highlight in your blog. Choose the type of post it will be first—a list, a guide, a review, etc. It’s important because you’ll get an idea of the main idea that your blog wants to convey.
For example, if you are concentrating on the keywords “best SEO agencies,” you will realize that you need to present a list of the best agencies based on their search engine rankings, ratings, cost, and other aspects. You’ll have a better idea of how to approach your blog post if you list the subtopics you need to focus on.
4. Divide And Organize The Key Points Into Larger Sections
The next step is to group the major points into sections in your blog post after you’ve written down all the important ideas. Your list may all fall under one theme, which can be used as a subheading.
List down all the key points under one subheading to make it a larger section and make it easier for your readers to understand what your blog content contains.
Always begin with an introduction, followed by a body that includes various sections based on the type of blog you are writing, and a conclusion. Also, add images and links according to the content in the relevant sections. Adding relevant external and internal links to the content is good SEO practice of content optimization.
5. Pick A Strong Heading
The headline should be strong as it is the first thing your audience will see on the Google search result. Select a headline that will immediately draw your target audience’s attention to the blog article. A catchy title can substantially boost your chances of receiving organic traffic because the catchier the titles are, the higher the click-through rate it will generate.
6. Revise And Cleanup
Now comes the final stage, just before delving into the draft writing process. This is when you should focus on some last-minute revisions and light cleanup. Although you’ve given time to do thorough research, some of your ideas may not seamlessly be relevant or blend in with the topic.
At this stage, you can address any noticeable issues in your created outline before moving on to the writing phase. Here, you can also check what images or links you can add and where.
Revising your content at this stage is better than completely writing the article and spending more time editing.
7. Plan Out An Intro And A Conclusion
It is good to plan an introduction and a conclusion while creating a framework for your article. However, be sure that you are not doing this in the beginning. You need some relevant content to write in these sections.
It is best to begin with the body and then move on to the intro and the summing-up part. This will make it easier to know the point you should focus on initially and towards the end.
8. Go Ahead And Work On Your First Draft
You can start writing your draft once you’ve created a final outline for your blog. Start by selecting a hook or a catchy phrase, which will be the first sentence of your introduction, to draw readers in and motivate them to read the entire blog, increasing the user’s dwell time on the website. Finally, expand every point in the outline to give more detailed information, and the first draft will be over in a trice.
Blog Outline Template
Writing blog doesn’t have to be a tedious job. Understanding how to properly create a framework for writing a structured blog, can be quite confusing. To help you write an article in an easy way, we have provided a free template. Using this information will make it easier to write and arrange the information in a systematic manner.
Example Outline For A Blog
So, for example, if you’re writing a blog on a specific topic like, “Choosing an SEO agency to generate more leads,” your outlining process should roughly look like the following:
i. Introduction
• Do you want more leads and your business more noticed in the crowd?
ii. All about SEO agencies and generating leads
• What is an SEO agency?
• What does it do?
• How can SEO generate more leads for your business?
• Importance of choosing the right agency
iii. How to Choose the Right Agency to Generate More Leads?
• Define Your Lead Generation Goals
• Research potential agencies
• Check Their Experience with Lead Generation
• Evaluate Their Strategy for Lead Generation
• Ask About Their Approach to Keyword Research
• Assess Their Content Marketing Strategy
• Consider Their Experience with Your Industry
• Discuss pricing and contracts
• Ask for References and Testimonials
iv. The success of a business after hiring an agency
• What are the ways to measure the success of the business?
• Specialization of those agencies in optimizing websites
• Strategies they use to generate more leads
Tools To Get Free Blog Post Outline Templates In 30 Seconds
Whether you are just starting out as a writer or want to save some time for writing, you can use the blog post template available online to get started. In these templates, you just have to fill in the empty spaces and expand the point to write your complete blog. Some of the most effective and easily accessible ones are:
Free AI Article Outline Generator by Surfer
Writing a blog will be much simpler with the help of Surfer’s Free AI Article Outline Generator, which creates an outline with the topics that should be covered in the H1, H2, and H3 headers.
You only need to type what you want to write about into the search bar, select the location you are writing for from the drop-down list, and wait for the results. You’ll have a list of topics and subtopics ready to use in building the perfect blog.
Scalenut Blog Outline Generator
Scalenut Blog Outline Generator is a tool designed to help bloggers create structured outlines for their blog posts. By simply entering the main topic or main words of the post, the tool generates a well-organized outline with headings and subheadings that can serve as a guide for the writing process.
The generated outline can help bloggers ensure that their piece of content is well-structured, easy to navigate, and provides a clear flow of information to their readers. Additionally, it is free to use, making it accessible to bloggers of all levels.
Copy.ai outline generator:
An outline generator is an incredibly useful AI-powered tool that helps you create outlines quickly and easily. With just your rough notes and parameters, it quickly turns them into a well-structured and concise outline. This is a great resource for content creators who are short on time and have a lot of ideas to cover.
SERPninja’s Content Outline Generator
This is yet another tool that offers highly accurate results, and that too for free. You have to enter the topic or the keywords you are planning to target and click on “Generate Content.” After it analyzes the top-performing pages, you get an effective outline generated right before you. Using the points listed, you can then write your entire article.
Get Ready To Write Better By Building An Outline The Right Way!
An outline can help you save time, improve your SEO, keep your content on the topic, and make it more lucid and concise. You can create one manually or using a template, but if you want a more polished result, you can always ask a professional to handle it for you. Just be sure that whatever method you choose benefits the company you are writing for, as content is a way to draw more leads to the company.
FAQs
What are the elements that make a good blog?
Important elements for a good blog are:
Blog Title – A blog post title should be catchy and attractive enough to make the readers click on your content.
Subheadings – These segregate the topic into multiple parts making it easier for your readers to understand what you’ve discussed in your blog.
Media – Media in your blog will help readers visualise the main points you are trying to convey to your audience.
Body – The body of an article offers answers to the queries of what the target audience have. In this section you can include internal links that will allow your readers to visit other blog pages on your website.
What should you avoid while writing an outline for your blog?
Outlining is about creating a framework to give direction to your writing. Therefore, there are a few things you shouldn’t be worried about at this stage.
You shouldn’t focus much on the grammar part of your article. This can be rectified after your entire article is completed.
Outlining is about listing down the main points you’d be focusing on. So, refrain from adding your brand tone at this stage. Once you have a basic idea in your mind, you can then work on this later.
What’s the use of adding bullet points in an outline?
Creating bullet points is an effective way to organize information in a blog outline. They improve readability, make information easier to remember and help prioritize the most important information before writing the final piece.
