A 7-Step Blog Post Template To Help You Write Faster đź“ť
Increase your writing productivity and cure writer’s block.
Do you struggle to write daily? Here’s a simple template to overcome that writer’s block in 7 steps. I’ve used actionable advice from articles from the top writers around to write this, including David Perell, Zulie Rane, Sinem Günel, and Amardeep Parmar. Let’s get started.
1. Headline
Make a draft title and label it, “Draft Title”.
Write your article first and then spend time crafting a catchy headline afterwards.
2. Introduction
Write this simply and in a few short lines. Start with a hook point like “Do you struggle to write daily? Here’s a simple template to overcome that writer’s block”.
Then, briefly mention:
- The Problem: “many writers struggle with writing their blog posts.”
- The Symptom: “this leads to frustration. Many people start a writing habit only to give it up to writer’s block after a few days. This is the situation I found myself in a few days ago…”
- The Solution: “… until I stumbled upon post templates. It’s impossible to build a skyscraper without a scaffold. But with a structure to guide your work, writing becomes easy and enjoyable.”
3. Main Body
Take the main ideas from your introduction here and write a few more bullet points for each heading. Give each a draft heading for now. When you’re done writing bullet points, expand on each.
Problem
What is a problem your reader desperately wants to solve?
“starting writing is daunting — your flood of ideas reads like a stream-of-consciousness journal — difficult to pinpoint why writing’s bad — no flow to post — constantly editing to no end — no structure.”
Symptom
Expand on the symptoms.
“This leads to frustration — writing habit never really starts — false beliefs that you can’t write take hold.”
Solution
How did you discover the solution? What is it? Give a step-by-step guide.
“I realised I needed structure — found templates online that changed the way I write — here is an amalgamation from multiple articles — will make you more prolific and improve flow — better quality = more readers = more people helped and more money.”
4. Conclusion
“One of the best pieces of writing advice I ever got was that to write an essay, you tell the readers what you’re going to tell them. You tell them. And then you tell them what you’ve told them.” — Zulie Rane
If your readers remember only one thing from your article, what would that be in one line? This could be something like, “using this blog template can help you stick with your writing habit”.
You can also add a call to action after that. For example, “now I want to turn it over to you. What templates do you use? Did you find this article helpful? Let me know in the comments below”.
5. Revisit the Headline
“Writing a great headline can be the difference between a handful of reads or orders of magnitude more.” — Medium Creators
Make your headline clear and direct. Avoid clickbait and hyperbole, and deliver on your promises. What is your story about, and why does it matter now? What problem are you addressing?
As Divad Sanders observes, there are 5 main headline types you can try:
- Normal: Ways To Write A Great Blog Post
- Questioning: How Do You Write A Great Blog Post?
- The How-To: How To Write A Great Blog Post
- The Numbered List: 7 Steps To A Great Blog Post
- Addressing The Reader: Simple Ways Writers Can Write Great Blog Posts
You can use online title analysers and generators like Portent’s headline generator to help when you first start. Experts like Amardeep Parmar of Entrepreneur’s Handbook advise against relying too much on these, however.
6. Feedback
It isn’t easy to look at your own work objectively.
Get feedback from writers. Join writing groups on Facebook. The Medium Writing Academy by Sinem GĂĽnel is a great place to start.
Get feedback from readers. Send your piece to family and friends. Ask them specifically about various parts of the article’s anatomy, like the headline and conclusion.
“When asking friends for feedback, remember the CRIBS acronym. Ask them to tell you what’s (1) Confusing, (2) Repeated, (3) Insightful, (4) Boring, and (5) Surprising.“
— David Perell
7. Promotion
“Getting views is 20% about the writing and 80% about the promotion.” — Rejoice Denhere
Make sure you’re optimising for SEO (this happens automatically on Medium) so it ranks on Google searches. Then do the following:
- Make 3–5 headline variations.
- Write out short (for Twitter) and long (for everything else) social messages.
- Share your article on Pinterest, Twitter, Quora, Instagram, Flipboard, and Many Stories.
- Email your subscribers list.
- Ask popular people you know to share it on their social media.
Using this blog template can help you stick with your writing habit. Now I want to turn it over to you. What templates do you use? Did you find this article helpful? Let me know in the comments below.
(See what I did there?)
