Blog posts made easy

For the lazy people like me here is a formula for writing quality, in-depth blog posts in an efficient manner:

Step 1: Create an Outline

If you have the time, block out 30 minutes the day before you write the post to jot down an outline for the post. Trust me, this will save you a tremendous amount of time in the long run. It will also allow you to make sure you address all of the key points you want to make in a format that is logical to readers and flows well.

Start by assigning a working title to your outline. Keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be perfect for the time being. A working title should serve as a guide for what your whole article will be about.

Next, jot down your list of takeaways that you will want your readers to have from reading your article. You will organize these takeaways into sections on your outline that you will go into further detail about. As a rule of thumb, you will generally want to offer your readers 3 to 4 takeaways; however, more in-depth articles may merit additional points worthy of discussing.

I also think it’s a great idea to include links in your outline to points of reference that you plan on citing in your article.

Step 2: Write the First Draft

Grab a cup of coffee, find a quiet work space, silence your phone, and have your outline readily available. If you prefer to save paper like me, you’ll want to have plenty of screen space on your computer to have your outline on one side of the screen and your blogging platform open on the other side.

Spend the next hour breezing through your outline and turning it into a well-written blog post. You will be shocked at how easy and fast it is to write good content when you’ve blocked out some time the day before to prepare an outline. While you’ve likely included some sources in your outline, an in-depth blog post merits a lot of research and data, so you’ll probably look up some additional information as you progress through your post. Save time by keeping Google Scholar bookmarked. You’ll find that the results are exceptional and are typically from authoritative researches, which will help make your post more credible.

Step 3: Add an Intro and Conclusion

While some people like to take this step immediately after creating the outline, I find it easier to write the meat of the content first and then write an appropriate introduction and conclusion that best fits the article. A well-written introduction should clearly state the topic you are going to address in your post, why it’s relevant and of value to your readers, and a game plan for how the post is going to flow. A strong concluding paragraph summarizes the takeaway points in the article and may add a lingering thought or two for the reader.

Step 4: Proofread and Edit

This step is absolutely necessary as an article that does not flow well or contains spelling and/or grammatical errors can cause you to immediately lose credibility with your audience. It doesn’t hurt to have a second set of eyes look over your content before hitting “publish.”

So, if your goal is to write longer, in-depth posts to deliver more value to your audience, follow this simple formula for efficiently writing more thorough content. While a 500 word count post can be knocked out in 30 minutes, your analytics tools are likely telling you that these shorter posts are not helping to drive traffic to your website. If you invest some additional time into writing a quality post with some meat to it, it will pay off in the long run.

Don’t forget to optimize your blog post for SEO too!