Outlining Your Articles – Speed Writing Tips

Writing articles can do a lot for your internet marketing efforts. It can help you get search engine traffic, get human traffic and can work out to your advantage when an article goes viral due to popularity.

The more content you write, the better. That doesn’t mean you should scrimp on quality for the sake of quantity, as you’re probably writing blog posts, writing ezine articles, creating Web 2.0 pages, writing autoresponders, and other types of content on an ongoing basis. Coming up with a technique and template can make the process much easier.

Here are some tips for writing articles – faster.

Research

The better you know your subject matter, the less research you’ll have to do. If you can assimilate information about your niche on a constant basis, you’ll find that your article writing time decreases. Keep an eye on your Google Reader where, hopefully, you’ve subscribed to blogs and news on your topic.

Jot down ideas for articles as you read. Then, when you’re ready to write, you’ll have ideas ready to be expanded on. Some internet marketers do their outlines in large batches and then fill in those blanks later. If you’re stuck when you sit down, do a Google search for the terms you want to rank for and you’ll undoubtedly get some inspiration.

Tips For Outlining An Article

An outline is a bit like a blueprint or map. When you sit down, you start with the beginning and the end and have a vague idea of how the middle will go as well. By creating an outline as a habit, you’ll find that the process of writing an article can go much smoother.

Here’s a helpful way to do it:

1. Do your research to decide what you want to talk about.
2. Write the intro.
3. Create 2-3 subheadings based on sub topics.
4. Write a conclusion / summary.
5. Go back and fill in the blanks.

An expert piece of copywriting advice is:

• Tell them what you’re going to tell them.
• Tell them.
• Tell them what you told them.

Don’t forget a call to action!

By following that advice, you’ve got your intro and your conclusion. The filling in of the blanks can now be much easier.

Hint: You can also use this strategy when you’re writing a report or an e-book as well. By outlining your articles you’ll ensure that the piece looks complete and save yourself time by having a direction and an outline first. Writing aimlessly takes longer!

An article doesn’t have to be a mile long. It also doesn’t have to cover every aspect of a topic. By deciding what the article will be about ahead of time instead of just sitting down to write, you can narrow it down to several ideas. If you find it’s getting too long or think you’re trying to say too much, then, write another one on another aspect of that topic.

Basic Format Example

Intro:
Do you want to learn more about _____.There are three elements of ____ that can help you succeed. They are: point one, point two, point three. Let’s look at each of these a little more closely.

Point one – Expand on point one

Point two – Expand on point two

Point three – Expand on point three

Conclusion: Reiteration, summary, and call to action.

This format can often be done in less than thirty minutes (sometimes less than 15!) and can easily produce a 400 word article that can be used as a blog, a how-to, or an article marketing ezine article.

Writing articles like this can also help you add SEO to your article as well. Make sure relevant keywords are in each paragraph and used in subheadings. Give outlining a try and see if it helps you shorten your article writing time.

See you at the top of Google!

Sean Rasmussen
SEO Australia Pacific
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