Start with the Main Header

Google favors posts with a clear hierarchy which means subpoints need to be nested inside of main points. The post title is the first header (H1), and that’s the most important text in a post. Make sure that you do your keyword research ahead of time and use the exact keyword in the H1.

You’ll also want to use the exact target keyword in the H2. We usually change the H2 a little from the post title (H1), just so it isn’t repetitive on the page. Here, the H2 is the first header in the body of the post, and we’ve altered it slightly from the H1, “How to Write a Winning Blog Post Outline.”

There should only be one H2 in each post. This single dominant header is a signal to Google that these are the words that this post is about, and, because it’s an echo of the title, Google knows exactly what people will get when reading this post.

How To Write A Blog Post Outline In 7 Steps:

⭐ Related Blog Post: What Is A Target Audience?

You must know exactly what actions you want people to take with your content. Then you want to know what steps you want them to take after they engage with that piece of content — you want to take them for a ride down the buyers journey.

You can create blog posts or other pieces of content to meet your audience at each stage of the customer journey. Make sure you are using the #R3MAT Method to reach them where they are.

If you need help finding your ideal reader or help discovering your customer avatar make sure you fill out our worksheet. This worksheet will help you define exactly who your dream customer is.

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Step 1: Perform Keyword Research

We use each one every time we create a blog post. This helps us determine what our audience is searching for and gives us an idea for what type of context the blog should have as well as the length.

Once you type in a word or question, Google will show you the top searched questions right away. Each one of those listed are potential blog titles. You could write a blog post on each question if you wanted.

You want to get a feel for the main points and subtopic headings (H1, H2, H3 headings) that these blogs use and take note of the length of the blog. This is something the algorithm leans heavy on.

MarketMuse uses AI and machine learning to help you build content strategies, accelerate content creation, and inform content decisions. They specifically help you see what keywords and phrases you should add into your blog to get the highest possible rankings.

Step 2: Identify What You Want To Accomplish With Your Blog Post

For this step I like to create a Google document that includes everything we want to accomplish for this blog post — this puts all of our important metrics and goals in one organized place.

We document this information because we evaluated what metrics and data was relevant for our audience and business. Which also makes it helpful for your team because they can see exactly what is going on at any point and time.

Step 3: Organize Ideas And Research

I use the post it notes because I can write down any important subtopic information and move it around until I find a place where it fits in perfectly in my blog outline. This makes it easy to get the right flow in your content so your blog is easy to read.

Google pulls the text from headings and if your headings are also highly searched key terms then you have more opportunities to rank for multiple topics for that one blog post.

When I have conversations with my team I record them and upload them into Searchie.io where it fully transcribes every one of my conversations. This means I never have to waste time going back and listening to hours of conversation to find one key point.

Step 4: Put It All Together

Asana allows our writers and teammates to communicate in one place. And our teammates can also see what stage someone is at with a task without ever having to ask for an update!

Step 5: Get Writing!

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Resource:

https://www.lean-labs.com/blog/how-to-write-a-blog-post-outline
https://www.digitalmarketing.org/blog/how-to-write-a-blog-post-outline