Blogging 101: The Benefits of Using an Outline in Writing

Blogging is may be difficult for people who aren’t used to speedy writing. As a blogger, you may have hundreds of ideas in mind but what if you don’t know how to arrange your thoughts? The solution: a blog outline.

In blogging, if you don’t have a structure of how your blog will look like, you’re dead. Writing freely may be efficient for some people but not for everyone. Using an outline, on the other hand, will give you more rooms for shorter but concise content.

Did you know that a number of your readers will not read kilometric paragraphs. Unless of course you have that kind readers, you should consider a better way to arrange your thoughts.

With using an outline, here are the advantages you will enjoy:

1. Get to the point in a just few words.

Do you enjoy reading a wordy blog with no new ideas shared to you? What if reading a 1000-word blog with oversimplifying a simple idea but all the points raised can still be summarized in a more meaningful but shorter means? That is what outlining is trying to solve. It’s an avenue for you to simplify your thoughts.

2. Understand the scope of your article.

With outlining, you will be able to understand what you should write and where shall be the limitation of your blog post. While blogging can be freely done, it is advisable to keep a reasonable length of your content to make it more interesting and less time consuming.

3. Divide your content into bullets or a more readable format.

This is the best way to deal with blogs nowadays, if you ask me. Having a blog with no highlighted points is daunting and less attractive to the eyes. In using bullets, make sure that you’re not just adding them to add SEO value with no relevance to the flow of the content. 

4. Update your ideas while writing, as necessary.

While writing, you will continue to think if what’s on your mind is what should be written down. Take time to re-read your article and consider revising of the thoughts you wrote before publishing it.

If you’re struggling with outlining, here is an article I want to share with you. This is a guide on how to write blog post outline from Hubspot that I use from time to time.

I’m sold to using an outline in writing. Oftentimes, using bullets works best for me. I can easily keep track of my thoughts and move on to the next idea if I have already explained what I wanted to relay to my audience.

Should you start blogging today? Yes, you should.

(Note: This is my entry for Day 5 of 30 Day Blogging Challenge organized by Cebu Blogging Community from October 1-30, 2015. #iBlogforCBC #CBCLevelUp #CBC30DayChallenge)