When I first started blogging, I had so many ideas that I eagerly typed away on my keyboard until I had written a small book!
Proud of how many words I could churn out, I came to the sad conclusion that my writing was too long and I was covering many topics.
And even though I spent many hours working, I desperately needed a process to help me write better posts faster.
So I learned a few tricks to help set myself up for success!
And if you’re new to blogging, these tips will help you too before you even start writing.
Instead of covering a breadth of topics in one post and staring at a screen full of paragraph, after paragraph, after paragraph…
Youโll be using that same good information your audience needs to write an exciting post that they will love.
In this post, you’ll learn four pre-writing essentials to upgrade your post quality and speed up your writing process.
1) Choosing a topic for your blog post
Choosing a good topic before you start writing is important because:
- Your post will be easily discoverable and read by your target audience.
- You will stay focused in your writing and save time down the road.
Follow these steps to find your topic:
- Brainstorm: Start with a good ole pen and scribble down whatever comes to mind. Just get it out of your head! And you can research and organize your list later.
- Research popular topics in your niche. Many great articles online have tons of topic ideas for your niche, like: “100+ Popular And Trending Lifestyle Blog Post Ideas (2023) That Your Readers Will Enjoy.โ You can also use an AI tool like Canva Magic Writes to populate topic ideas.
- Find what’s popular: See what topics other people are searching online by investigating Google autocomplete or using a tool like Answer the Public.
After you’ve got your list of topics in order, you can organize them in your notes, spreadsheet, or content planner.
2) Finding your unique angle
Now that you have your topic, it is time to pick an angle!
Your angle is your unique perspective, twist, or take on your topic.
Having a unique angle keeps your readers engaged and keeps you from rambling or covering too many ideas in one post, which can get confusing.
Your personal point of view gives your readers valuable advice and helps them envision themselves in your content.
To find your unique angle, take inspiration from Ann Handley’s advice: Tell stories only you can tell.
By drawing from your knowledge and experiences, you can add insight into your topic that makes your post original and unique. Helpful and valuable.
Your angle does not always have to be personal, just narrow enough to showcase a rare perspective.
For example, if your target audience struggles with procrastination, start with that topic and write about one specific idea that addresses their needs, such as “how to stay focused on your daily tasks.”
Check out “3 Steps to a unique angle for your story” for more advice on finding a unique angle.
“Start telling the stories that only you can tell because there’ll always be better writers than you, and there’ll always be smarter writers than you. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing thatโbut you are the only you.”
-Ann Handley
3) Writing a good headline
Writing a compelling headline is critical for your blog post’s success.
It is your post’s first impression, and a poorly written headline can discourage readers from clicking.
According to Neil Patel, your headline can affect your traffic by up to 500%.
Additionally, research shows that 59% of people share articles without reading them first.
Not only is your headline important for your readers to find and click but your headline also helps you stay focused on your topic and guides your writing.
Not to mention, writing an exciting headline should be easier once you know your topic and angle.
There are various ways to create headlines for your post:
- One option is to jot down your ideas and brainstorm potential headlines.
- Another is to use a headline generator tool such as Ryan Robinson’s blog title generator or CoSchedule’s headline analyzer.
- CoSchedules also offers an AI headline writer to craft clickable headlines in the paid version.
Personally, I like to begin by writing down several headlines and using Canva’s Magic Write feature to help with the wording.
Depending on the post I’m writing, I may also use the world-class headline formula: something the user wants + timeframe + objection handled.
Once I have a few headlines that I like, I use CoSchedule to check for keywords, SEO, and a well-balanced headline.
Overall a good headline will help guide your writing as well as help people find your post.
4) Writing your outline
Now that you have your topic, angle, and headline, the last step before writing your blog post is to create an outline.
Writing an outline is a great way to ensure that your post is coherent and easy to follow for your readers.
An outline will help you plan your subtopics and ensure they all relate to your main topic and headline.
It can be overwhelming to tackle everything at once when trying to cover a lot of information.
Hence, you get those paragraph blocks starting back at you, and wonder where your train of thought was heading.
Breaking it down into smaller subtopics can make it easier to approach and help you avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Creating a detailed outline before you start drafting your post can save you time and make the writing process much smoother.
Remember to keep your main message and key points front and center, and use your outline as a roadmap to guide your writing.
Before, you spend hours and hours typing a way to end up later baffled at the vast amount of words on your screen.
Following the pre-writing steps outlined above, so you can write your amazing blog posts faster!
Choose a strong topic and unique angle, craft a compelling headline, and create a structured outline to save time and stay on track while writing.
Ultimately, these pre-writing steps will improve your posts’ quality and help you become a more efficient and effective writer.
So, give these steps a try, and happy writing!
Get to know Katie the lady behind these words!
Would you like to see how Katie’s Content Writing can help you with blog content? Check out my services page.
