Article Writing Made Easy With Outlines

As an entrepreneur building your presence online, you know the value of content. It boosts results in the search engines and thus drives targeted traffic to your website. Highly relevant content provides a benefit to your visitor and keeps them on your website reading your information and diving further into the depths of your site – hopefully to your product page. It also connects you to the reader in a personal way, forging a relationship that will hopefully be long-lasting.

So it stands to reason that you want to not simply create content, but you want to write great articles that inspire and motivate action. One of the keys to writing great content isn’t to take a journalism or creative non-fiction writing course; it’s to plan your content before you write it. A predefined structure can turn a muddled article into an easy to read, benefit-driven masterpiece.  And having your outline ahead of time, you will focus more and complete your article quickly and easily.

Of course, when people hear the word “outline” shivers run up their spine and they see their school teacher standing over them forcing structure upon them. If the word “outline” makes you cringe, then call it a blueprint or a plan. You like to plan, right? You must; you’re an entrepreneur and they’re master planners.

So what is included in an article outline or plan?

Initially you’ll want to start with the topic of your article. What is it going to be about? You’ll also want to consider the purpose of your article. If you’re writing an article about the skydiving, is the purpose going to be to motivate someone to learn how to skydive for fun or are you going to actually tell them how to do it?

Keep the purpose simple for an article. You’re only looking for one main idea; you’re not writing a book. Though if you are inspired to write a book, then that’s great too.

So now you have your topic and your article’s purpose, right? Let’s say you’re going to tell someone how to plan for their first time at skydiving. This is a “how to” article, then.  How to articles usually involve a series of steps. Step one, Wear warm fitted clothing (it get’s pretty cold up there). Step two, Eat at least an hour prior to jumping  and so on.

If you’re writing a tips article, then that will have a different structure and so too will an article that lists things. If you’re writing an article to motivate or inspire, then you’ll want to support your topic with at least three main points. This brings us to the third phase of your article writing outline.

What’s your point? In this step you’ll start creating the skeleton of your article – the bones. You can mind map your article at this point, you can simply list the points you want to cover, the tips, the steps and so forth or you can write out a sentence or two describing each point.

Before you start putting it all together, you’ll want to go back to the beginning and plan your first paragraph. This paragraph is potentially the most important paragraph of your article because if it doesn’t compel readers to continue reading, well…

Your first paragraph only need be a few sentences and it should essentially tell your readers what you’re going to tell them. Continuing with the how to skydive example, your first paragraph might read something like this:

“Jumping out of a plane isn’t just for extreme adventure seekers anymore. Today there are more than 1,000 skydiving clubs nationwide and thousands of people are learning to enjoy this fun new way to have an adrenaline rush. Whether you’re jumping for the first time, or you’re a veteran, the steps to learn to skydive safely and comfortably are the same.“

Okay, at this point you have your article’s topic, its purpose, your points and your first paragraph outlined. Now what?

Well, now you have a few choices. You can set it aside to write later. This is good if you need some time to contemplate some areas of your article. Alternatively, you can write your article, or you can write your headline. Sometimes it’s easier to write a compelling headline after the article is written and sometimes you’ll have your headline right away, once you’ve created your topic and purpose.

When you’re ready to write, simply write your content without editing (save the editing for the end). Avoid trying to put in your keywords. Don’t edit yourself for spelling and grammar; just write using the plan you’ve created.

Finally, once all your ideas and writing your article is complete, it’s now time to edit your content. Check spelling and grammar and make sure it all makes sense. You can then add your keywords and various forms of your keywords in where they feel and sound natural and you’re done.

Congratulations, you’ve just written a great article and provided terrific value for your readers! And the good news is that with practice, this outlining and writing process will get faster and easier.

Outlining your articles will ensure your information is shared in the best possible way for your readers, visitors and targeted traffic.