Ever struggled to start (or finish) a blog post?

We’ve all been there: you’re alone with the dreaded blank page and the blinking cursor seems to be mocking you.

Or maybe you’ve been tasked with a writing assignment, but you just keep putting it off (because you’re so overwhelmed you’re not sure where to start!)

This cycle of dread and decision paralysis plagues every writer…until you find a way to break free from it.

With a simple framework, you can become more efficient and produce better-quality writing than ever before. Here’s a step-by-step framework for creating a solid blog post in just one hour.

1. Get your writing brief together

Whether you’re writing on an idea of your own or working on a client piece, you always need a detailed writing brief to work from.

A writing brief is simply a list of the core objective, requirements, and the major story points the author needs to cover in the article. And it should always be a properly structured and documented list, not some rough scribbles.

Having all the important information about the details of your assignment in one place makes a world of difference to your writing efficiency and accuracy (while also ensuring greater relevancy to the target audience.)

Having a clear brief prevents you from missing any must-have points in your piece, thus preventing frustration down the line and lengthy rewrites. It also comes in handy for getting any suggestions and approvals from your client before you begin your draft.

Your writing brief should include key project details like:
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• Objective: What is the core purpose behind the piece you’re writing? Why should it exist? What exactly do you want your readers to know and feel? Narrow down the exact goal of your post and what differentiates it from existing pieces on the internet.
• Voice and style: Does the piece require an authoritative tone or a casual one? Do you have to follow a style guide (and if so, what preferences do you need to keep top of mind?) If you’re writing for yourself, choose a tone based on the platform and ideal readers you’re writing for.
• Length and formatting: Do you have a handle on the target length of the piece? How should the piece be formatted with headers and subheaders? These are all important to know upfront to save a heavy lift during the editing phase.
• Deadlines: Have you given yourself (or been assigned) a target date for the outline, draft, and final edited version of your piece? If not, jot those down (and stick to them.)

Ideally, your writing brief will be as comprehensive as possible so you have all the essential info you need to guide the overall direction of the piece. The more detail, the better.

Once you have this complete, plop it right at the top of your outline document so it’s always just a quick scroll away.

2. Create an outline. Always.

Let your brief guide your research and the most useful step of the process—the outline.

Outlining is what makes writing easy once it comes the time to start drafting, as it’s the map that’ll break what could be a daunting task into simple piecework.

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If you want to learn to build a great outline, watch this video where I break down every step with my personal approach to building an outline.

Your outline should flow from your ‘thesis statement’ – the central idea or argument you want to make with your piece. It informs your reader, in a nutshell, about what to expect from the article.

Example of a thesis statement: SEO best practices are indispensable for brands looking to capitalize on modern content marketing strategies.

Without an outline to structure your piece, you’re dangerously close to falling into three major writing traps:

• Missing important points because you lack focus.
• Wasting time because you keep researching without clear direction.
• Creating stress because you’re intimidated by the blank page.

An outline is extremely important for any piece you write because of the following additional benefits:

• It helps you stay motivated as you always have a clear structure and flow to look at whenever the task seems too daunting
• An outline is useful for narrowing down the specific ideas you want to cover about the topic at hand. Writing a great piece takes precedence over dumping an encyclopedia on the reader.
• Finally, an outline helps you stick to a schedule and not spend countless hours writing on and on, without an end in sight.

Keep in mind these four steps as you create an outline:

1. Start in the middle: Skip the daunting parts (like the introduction) and save those for later. Oftentimes, trying to start with the introduction without a clear picture of the overall post theme is an easy way to get stuck. Instead, start creating sections with bullet points including info (like research to reference, quotes to include, and points to make) for each subhead.

2. Start the research: Based on what you find in the top-ranking articles and Google’s “people also ask” results, shortlist a few ideas for sections to include. Doing this is good for SEO, plus it provides an idea of what your audience is looking for topic-wise around the article theme.

3. Do a brain dump: After you’ve created working sections and headings, it’s time to start building those out with a brain dump. Start dropping in relevant research, statistics, quotes from expert sources, and interesting points that you came across in sections where they make the most sense.

4. Get to the intro and conclusion: These should be the bookending sections of your article. By this point, you’ll have an idea of what the article covers, and you’ll be able to write better hooks. This is still a part of your outline, so you don’t have to create polished sections; bullet points of the main ideas will do.

NOTE: I’ve got in-depth insight on how to write strong intros and closings in my book here.

3. Write your first (ugly) draft

Once you have a well-researched outline complete, it gets much easier to start writing your first draft. You’re really just fleshing out the sections you’ve made notes on.

When writing the ugly first draft, this is the time to put your thoughts down without editing or rethinking every sentence. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

Ann Handley says in her book Everybody Writes, "Producing The Ugly First Draft is basically where you show up and throw up. Write badly. Write as if no one will ever read it.”

Just like in the outlining phase, start at the middle of your blog post—the real meat of the piece. Leave the introduction and conclusion for later. You can write them down easily once you’ve finished the main body.

Expand on the main points you’ve listed in your outline. As you already have the important points, statistics, and research to include, create sentences that tie them together.

Important note: DO NOT edit during this phase at all. Editing will bring out your self–criticism self and you’ll risk being stuck at a single sentence for hours.

Remember the goal—done, not perfect…during this step.

4. Fill in the gaps and build out your intro and conclusion

When you’ve written the main body of your piece, you’re in a position to take a look at the whole and discover the introduction and conclusion it demands.

The intro should tease the big idea or question you’re writing about, your thesis statement, and lead the reader slowly into the main body.

Ask yourself: What is it that your reader should know before they get into the heavier ideas? That’s your intro right there.

However, you can only do this when you understand the main ideas of the article. That's one reason to leave the introduction for the last.

Use short, conversational sentences with enough pauses to lure the reader in and entice them to spend their limited time reading the rest of the post. Include a mix of storytelling, emotional cues, specific details, and answering questions to hook the reader. Here’s an example:

As for the conclusion, it should do more than simply summarize the post—leave the readers with one major takeaway or actionable next step as the call-to-action (CTA).

You can now work on your title as well, in case you don’t have one already. It’s best to use hard facts, questions, or outcome-related teasers in the title.

5. Time to edit

Remember the ugly draft we wrote? It’s time to polish it.

While self-editing, spruce up your title and headings into more natural-sounding, easy-to-grasp versions. Don’t dumb it down too much. The intent is to keep the reader engaged.

Keep asking: But, why? to every point you’re making in the post. If you don’t get an answer, either expand on the point or remove it if it doesn't belong there. Use this step to spot any long, windy sentences. Imagine you’re trying to strike up a conversation with your audience. Write the way you would speak to them in person.

​Grammarly and Hemingway app are great tools to determine how your writing sounds to the reader. Check them out.

You also have the time to organize the points to eliminate non-sequiturs—these are the conclusions or inferences that don’t flow organically from what’s written. Check if the piece flows naturally from one idea to the next. Are you leaving the reader stranded with something that comes out of left field?

By becoming a better self-editor, you can create an almost publish-ready piece.

6. Fact check

This is the part that seems obvious, but one that’s still easy to miss out on.

It’s always great to have a second set of eyes to review your finished post. We tend to be too involved to spot glaring errors or areas of improvement.

You need to look at your finished post with journalist’s eye and a fresh perspective, trying to spot areas that can be quickly tweaked to make the piece better. For example, spot wordy sentences that slipped during editing and replace complex words with easier synonyms.

What’s more important is the second scan. Interestingly, if you have a hard copy of the article you just wrote, spotting inconsistencies becomes easier.

So, go ahead and take a printout of the article and go over it with a set of highlighters. Mix up the color to highlight the points that need context or supporting facts.

The second scan with the printed copy will help you find any out-of-place ideas and information without context.

Once you’re on the screen again, verify facts, claims, ages, numbers, superlatives, etc. Start with the names of the sources you’re citing, recheck every outbound link, and then dig into any quotes, numbers, and figures.

Find context or statistics for the highlighted points. Don’t drag out this step – follow your highlights from the printed copy strictly.

Get rid of things you have no way of verifying. Just like before, add extra context and hard facts wherever possible.

7. Publish. Share. Repeat.

It’s time to let your post out into the world. It’s possible you might still feel your finished piece is not perfect. That’s okay. It’ll never seem perfect.

Don’t forget to notify the brands or experts you’ve quoted once the piece goes live. It may help you boost your organic distribution and get more eyeballs.

Here’s how you can conduct this outreach post-publish: Create a spreadsheet with the experts you worked with, and once the post is live, you can email them a brief update, like this:

Hi {firstname],

Just wanted to give you a heads up that my piece [post name + link to it] is live today, and you were included! Take a look and feel free to share if you're so inclined. Appreciate your insight on this and will be in touch again soon.

Now...you can also repurpose the blog post into other content formats (think Twitter thread, social media graphic, a LinkedIn post). The point is to repackage (not repost) the piece across different platforms.

Remember how the piece never seems perfect? With time and evolving trends, make it a point to return to top-performing past pieces to update them. Instead of starting another piece from scratch, make the existing pieces better, more in-depth, and evergreen.

Practice makes perfect

Writing any blog post can seem like a daunting task. No matter how many posts you’ve written, it’s never a cakewalk to create a half-decent post from scratch.

But with a proper structure, you can give method to the madness and make your writing process easier and more enjoyable.

Need more tips on how to write better with efficiency?

My eBook Write Better Right Now is full of actionable tips, how-to lessons, and exercises (with a workbook!) that’ll not only help you become a better writer, but do it efficiently, too.

P.S. New episodes of Off The Clock (the podcast I co-host with two fellow marketers where we talk about ANYTHING but work, has new episodes out--are you caught up?!) It's audio-based, but here's a quick video clip from our most recent episode to give you a taste of what it's like.

Happy writing,