When determining how to write an outline for a blog post, the writer needs to know their audience and focus on the goal of the story and what message they’re trying to convey.
What Is an Outline for Blog Post?
The outline for a story should display a detailed layout of the message you want to write about and where you want it to go. A title can only say so much to explain the title; you will outline an explanation.
Make sure your expectations are realistic. Once the groundwork is finished, the blog post is far easier to write since you’ll be more organized.
To do that, you must:
- Know your audience
- Identify your topic
- Know your talking points for the story
- Link to credible sources
- Remember that you will be a business talking to consumers
How to Write an Outline to Nail Web Content
Create an original headline/title that identifies the topic while capturing your targeted audience’s attention. Social media is where you get an audience, and the internet is a fickle beast with a lot of competition out there.
It would be best to decide which points you want to bring across to your readers. Once you determine that, break each point down so that the message has an even tone.
Alternatively, you can hire a professional writer.
Two Examples of Blog Posts Outlines
Let’s say we will write about the best restaurants in Raleigh, North Carolina. You will need to name a restaurant, then describe the setting, whether it’s casual or not, and what type of food they serve.
It’s similar to a listicle.
An example of what that would look like:
1. Relish Craft Kitchen & Bourbon Bar
5625 Creedmoor Rd, Raleigh, NC 27612
- Relish serves Southern comfort food in a casual setting and features a bar with specialty cocktails.
- This favorite Raleigh restaurant to the locals is not expensive, and you can sit inside or outside. Relish serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
- Writer: Check this post on Instagram to know better the business you’re going to write about.
2. Content title: How to Do Video Content Marketing
Now, let’s say we’re covering video content marketing. An example of an outline of that would be:
Main Instructions: write a blog post about video content marketing.
A. List Social Media Platforms You Can Use
- YouTube
- TikTok
B. Is Video Content Marketing Expensive?
A. Explain the costs of using a cellphone for the video clip and contrast it to a more expensive DSLR camera.
- Be sure to explain the difference between the two.
- Explain the various editing apps and how practical each one is.
B. Outline the other costs, such as background paper.
- List any ideas for making creative videos and those costs, too.
- Note the pros and cons of hiring social media influencers.
C. Write a Conclusion
This is where you bring it all home and describe how content video marketing can help expand a site’s audience by reaching a vast amount of people on social media and why that is extremely valuable.
Things to Avoid in Writing a Blog Post
Readers can be very critical, and they have every right to expect a lot when perusing the internet for information on specific topics. They are, after all, looking for someone knowledgeable to guide them.
That said, using proper grammar and sentence structure is of the utmost importance. If you want a solid post, it needs to look professionally done.
And that, of course, can happen when you outline your blog posts instead of diving straight into them without any direction or guidelines.
Also, poorly worded titles are a no-no. The title needs to capture your readers’ attention. Try to be creative and unique.
The first few sentences also need to make your readers curious about the rest of the blog post. If the first two sentences are boring, your audience will make a mad dash for the door, and that’s the exact opposite of what you want to accomplish.
A blog post outline will help you stay focused on the subject you’re writing about, and it will ensure that you have a logical flow. And that way, you can avoid any errors.
How Much Thought Should Go into a Blog Post Outline?
Once you start making blog post outlines, you’ll realize that it isn’t challenging to do. Most things in life seem difficult if you’ve never attempted to do them before.
You’ll find that writing out a quick blog post outline before writing something to be published will save you a lot of grief. The guideline will tell you what should be at the beginning of the blog post, the middle, and the end.
So, the outline will take some thought on how to write a blog post correctly. However, it’s relatively basic, and it won’t take you much time to lay out a guideline that will interest your audience for your blog post.
How Do I Know If I Did a Good Job with My Blog Post Outline?
After writing your blog post outline, make sure there is a flow that feels logical to you. It needs to make sense, and it’s OK if it doesn’t work at first.
You can rework it until it makes sense. Also, editing posts until you feel they are perfect before publishing is essential. Your reputation is on the line, after all.
Your blog post outline is a way to walk you through what you need to do when writing your article. It’s all about what you want to accomplish.
It’s your message that you want to get out there. So, you did an excellent job with your blog post outline if you feel that it has a sensible flow, your readers’ questions will be answered.
If you feel that your layout makes the subject matter more complicated, then go back, delete it, or edit it heavily. But that will likely never happen if you put just a little thought into your outline.
Remember that you’re in control, and you can dictate the direction of your blog post. The outline is where you start.
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