3 Tips on How to Write a Blog from a Compelling Outline

With these 3 tips on how to write a blog from a compelling outline, you’ll be able to write blogs with quality without giving up your life.

For way too long, I counted only on my inspiration to produce blogs.

It is not a bad idea if you blog only just, without any particular goal. In this case, you like writing and discovered in blogging a way to express yourself and share your ideas with the world and, that is it. Things, like building a community, or creating a brand, are not in your concern. From the moment you decide it is time to take things to the next level, this nonchalant attitude might get in the way, though.

As your website/blog grows, so do the expectations of your readers.

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Read also these posts about blogging:

• How To Be A Blogger Everybody Respects
• How to Write a Blog that Will Reach Many Readers
• How To Be A Blogger Everybody Loves

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Depending on your niche, things like a new season, some sports event, a concert or yearly sales may become THE subject(s) your public is dying to read about. And of course, as someone connected to your community, you want to give it back and share insights and tips.

But what if:

• You aren’ in your most productive moment?
• You are overloaded with work or other private responsibilities and your time to sit down and let inspiration come is little?!?

That is when building up a compelling outline can save you a lot of time, pain, and frustration.

If you feel guilty after reading it, please don’t!

Believe me; you are not alone. I only incorporated outlines to my writing habits after years blogging. Before that, I thought it was something only pros did and that someone like me had to count exclusively on the moment to get things done. 

Building up a compelling outline can save you a lot of time, pain, and frustration. #blogging Click To Tweet

You may write great content without using outlines for a long time. You may be successful this way. But it doesn’t mean you can’t take a step further into turning your writing more professional.

And the best side effect will be saving a lot of time in the production of top quality articles.

Check my 3 tips on how to make your compelling outline become your best ally.

1. Choose the topic

On a regular basis, I like to join “link parties“. They are an awesome way to get in contact with other bloggers with similar interests as your and expand your reach. Some link parties, however, are around predefined prompts or events.

If you are joining one on ‘Organization‘, posting about your latest workout is (mostly) not allowed. In other words: you must produce a blog that fits in their topic.

The same goes for celebrations, seasons, events, etc.

No matter how well you might write a blog, writing about snow in the middle of the summer will attract much less interest than if you were sharing something about outdoors activities or hydration, for example.

Once you have the topic defined in your head, write an introductory sentence or paragraph that will be your guideline moving forward:

• We all love warmer days, the sunshine and the endless outdoor possibilities. With those great changes in temperature, we need to be more careful with hydration.
• You do not have to blog every single day to be successful. It helps a lot but, even if you like me struggle with the numbers, there is no reason for giving up on writing even if you got a tight schedule.
• I am not going to lie to you, for me it (a healthy lifestyle) all started because I wanted to “look good naked” (if you know what I mean…). All I wanted was to get rid of the fat that had taken over my body and feel proud of my body the same way I was proud of myself. But then…

2. Develop your idea

Are you going to write a ‘how-to,’ a recipe or share tips on a subject? Then, gather enough images to a guide to your writing.

If your topic involves an event, create subtopics related to the venue, parking tips, where to eat, public, etc.

When you are sharing knowledge on a subject, there is no better way to explain yourself by presenting examples.

Each and every topic should be a bullet point. Depending on your expertise, count from 50 up to 200 words average per item. So the deeper you go, the more material you will have.

If you realize that your article is growing too long, you may feel like dividing it into two entries or making a series out of it.

3. Wrap-up your content

Your last paragraph(s) can be:

• your personal experience of the event
• final presentation tips
• review of the topics shared
• an open question to be replied by your readers.

One of the things  I like to do is adding a pinnable image at the end of the blog.

You can also create one that includes a quote or the summary of the suggestions shared in the article.

Remember that unless you plan on writing a part 2 of the same topic, this section should be the closure of the subject.

Open endings might work for TV series, but it is rarely a good idea for a blog. Leaving your personal input is the best way to wrap things up. It helps strengthen the connection with your readers.

Writing a blog outline is not only for pros. Any writer can take advantage of it. #blogging Click To Tweet

Takeaway

If you haven’t tried starting a blog from an outline, you should give it a try.

Even if you already have most of the text in your head, before putting it on ‘paper’, sketch how the outline should look like. It’ll be a great exercise to understand the mechanisms around organizing your thoughts first within a structure.

While you may not feel that confident at first, remember that practice makes perfect also here.

The more outlines you write, the better they will become.

Another way to get things going is by bringing back a subject you have already written about before but that you would like to add some new perspective. You already have a basic context to work on. Now it is time to expand from it without being repetitive.

Finally, check some templates available on the internet and experiment.

Add your personal touch to examples and play around with its structure.

Bullet points are the best way to make it concise and easy to edit.

Don’t be afraid of thinking out of the box since chances are your compelling outline will be as unique as your writing.

Do you use outlines when writing your blogs? Got suggestions yourself? What is your favorite tip on how to write a blog?

Please check the list of link parties I join here.