How To Plan A Blog Post In 10 Minutes

Every website owner loves the idea of a blog. They love hearing about how adding a blog to your website is one of the fastest and easiest ways to increase traffic, improve search engine rankings, build a big email list, gain expert positioning, and attract new clients.

They love the impact it can have on their social media content strategy and they love that blogging for business is free — it doesn’t add another monthly bill. But blogging isn’t really free — it takes time, energy, focus, and commitment.

As a result, end though website owners love the idea of blogging for business, they are not using their blogs! Often nothing new has been published since the site originally went live, or it’s been three, six, or even twelve months since any new content has been added. Yikes!

In my latest article for CoSchedule, How To Plan A Blog Post In 10 Minutes So You Can Write It Better And Faster, I address the biggest hurdle business blogs face — creating content and planning posts.

In this article, I walk you through how to plan a blog post in 10 minutes or less so you can write it better and faster — without stress, frustration, or overwhelm. Plus, I know you don’t need another cookie cutter formula that doesn’t work, so I’m going to walk you through FIVE different approaches to planning and writing blog posts so you can choose the one that works best for you.

Here’s the entire article:

How To Plan A Blog Post In 10 Minutes

Every website owner loves the idea of a blog.

They love hearing about how adding a blog to your website is one of the fastest and easiest ways to increase traffic, improve search engine rankings, build a big email list, gain expert positioning, and attract new clients.

They love the impact it can have on their social media content strategy and they love that blogging for business is free — it doesn’t add another monthly bill. But blogging isn’t really free — it takes time, energy, focus, and commitment.

Blogging is a long-term strategy, so even though time is being taken away from billable work to write blog posts, there more than likely isn’t going to be an immediate return on investment. Plus, because we’re an instant gratification society, this causes frustration and makes site owners want to spend less and less time creating new blog content, because it’s a lot of work and they don’t get an immediate reward.

So, while website owners love the idea of blogging for business, they are not using their blogs! Often nothing new has been published since the site originally went live, or it’s been three, six, or even twelve months since any new content has been added. Yikes!

Can you relate?

• Do you like the idea of having a blog, but feel overwhelmed by the realities of managing a blog and creating new content regularly—good content, you can be proud of?
• Is it hard to come up with ideas for new blog posts?
• Are you struggling to come up with great headlines and find the time to write new posts?
• Wouldn’t it be great if you knew how to quickly generate new blog post ideas or have a stash of post ideas available to you at any time?
• Do you need help finding inspiration for your blog content and a guide to craft a good post?

Yes? Well, you’re in luck.

I am going to walk you through five different ways on how to plan a blog post in 10 minutes or less so you can write it better and faster — without stress, frustration, or overwhelm. I am also going to give you a tool I created for myself to help me create great headlines and map out a ton of blog post ideas at one time — and you don’t even have to opt-in or give me an email to get it.

I know everyone is not inspired the same way. Some people find inspiration in visuals, others need the headline to be perfect before they can write, some people hate to write, and still others will procrastinate until the last minute.

To make blogging for business easier and faster, you don’t need a cookie cutter formula. You need the right tactics and strategies at your fingertips to help you find your unique creative groove. Once you find that place, planning blog content will be easier and writing blog posts will happen faster.

1. Like To Plan Ahead? Keep An Idea File For Posts.

An idea for a blog post may strike at any time. An image, a tweet or Facebook post, an experience, another person’s actions, a blog post you read, a client question, a business struggle, or even a talk at an event could inspire a new idea.

Create a place to write down your blog post ideas so you have them to pull from in the future. You could do this in a multitude of software programs, in a journal, or even on your phone.

I keep a plain text file on my desktop and I use the Notes app on my phone.

But here’s the kicker: You can’t just write down the idea or the headline. You need to add context to the idea and create a mini post outline. This often takes far less than 10 minutes, and it takes all the stress out of writing the post later.

Here’s what to write down when a new blog post idea strikes:

• The topic or idea.
• Any possible headlines.
• How you came up with the idea.
• Any story that may fit with it (this is a lifesaver, as you think you’ll remember it, but you may not).
• The link to your inspiration source if appropriate.
• Inspired by a tweet or Facebook post? Snag the embed code so you don’t have to hunt for it later.
• The key message you want to communicate in the post or major bullet points.
• Any image ideas.

Don’t overthink it. Write down everything you can about the topic at that moment, and don’t worry about writing in complete sentences. Don’t edit yourself now; you can do that later when you’re writing the final blog post. This exercise is just about getting the meat of the post out of your head.

When you write down your blog ideas, you need to capture more than just your headlines.

If you do this every time you have a new idea for a blog post, you’ll build up a valuable idea file full of blog posts that are already halfway complete! Then when you need to write a post, you can grab one from your file, finish it up, and hit publish!

2. Work Better Under Pressure? Set A Timer.

I love timers. I love the feeling of the clocking ticking down, the pressure on, and a task to complete. A challenge was accepted, adrenaline kicks in, and I’m thinking “Let’s do this”. I often do my best work under pressure with a deadline. I tune out all distractions, focus, and get things done in a much shorter amount of time than normal.

Using a timer is merely a faster, more effective way of time blocking tasks. So, if you’re like me, you may benefit from using this same approach when brainstorming blog post ideas.

Here’s how it works in only 10 minutes:

• Choose one topic, set a timer for 3 minutes, and brainstorm as many headlines as you can on that single topic. Don’t edit as you go. Don’t second guess. Don’t stop or slow down. Every idea is good. Write it down no matter what. When the timer buzzes, stop.
• Set the timer for 1 minute and in that time, review each headline, circling the best ones (shoot for at least two or three).
• Set the timer for 6 minutes and in that time, quickly outline the blog post content for each headline. List what content to include, image ideas, story ideas, key messages to communicate, the problem it solves, and why someone should care. If something doesn’t come to you for a headline right away, skip it and move on.

At the end of this exercise, you’ll have at least a few great posts on your topic that are already halfway done. You just need to finish them up later.

Need help? I LOVE this exercise. I created a fill-in-the-blank headline guide with more than 200 Mad Libs style headlines to help me quickly brainstorm great headlines with little effort. I just set my timer, fill in the blanks for as many as I can, and then loop back and set my timer again to fill in the content notes for each one. You can download it free (no opt-in needed).

3. Hate Writing? Speak Your Post.

I don’t know about you, but many of my great ideas don’t come to me when I’m conveniently in front of my computer or at home with a journal nearby. And sometimes I can’t write them down—like when I’m driving or in the shower.

If you can’t write down your ideas, or you simply don’t like writing—that’s okay! You can still create blog content regularly without writing. All you need to do is speak.

Yes, you can speak your content—and often do it much faster than writing it. Everyone can talk out loud. It’s easy! When we speak, we don’t judge, delete, self edit, or criticize ourselves like we do when writing. Plus it is MUCH easier to edit and refine existing content than it is to write it from scratch.

When you’ve got a great blog post idea, simply grab your smartphone, your computer, a digital recorder, or use a service like freeconferencecall.com to record your post ideas. Then have the recording transcribed. It’s that easy — and you can do it less than 10 minutes.

4. More Of A Visual Person? Start With The Imagery.

If you’re a visual person who is inspired more by imagery, it’s okay to start there. I get great ideas for new posts when looking through stock photo sites and search for images with my brand keywords or the topic I am interested in writing about.

But be careful—this can be a huge time suck. You may start looking at images and find that hours have gone by in what seemed like minutes.

Here’s how to plan a blog post using visuals in 10 minutes:

• Set a timer for 4 minutes, visit your favorite stock photo site, and search for images on your topic. For every image you find that gives you a post idea, note the image number, and either add it to a lightbox or download it. When the timer buzzes, stop.
• Set the timer again for 6 minutes and write down the headline or post topic and all the notes, thoughts, and ideas you have for each image. (Use the same list I shared with you on #1.)

When I find an image that inspires a new blog post, I download the image, crop it, and upload to my site. I then create a new post, assign the image, and make all of my post notes in the draft. This way, I can come back to the post and finish later, and I don’t have to worry about finding the image again because it’s already done and added to the post.

5. Stumped By Technology? Grab A Pencil.

Many people are shocked to hear I brainstorm, make notes, and plan out my blog posts with a good old fashioned pencil and paper. Often I’ll write an entire article by hand, then refine and edit it when I type it up.

Some people just find that their creativity flows faster and easier on paper instead of in front of a screen. If this is true for you, own it. Get yourself a new sharp pencil or a great pen and some quality paper, or a beautifully designed journal. Then write and write some more—it doesn’t have to be full sentences or complete thoughts.

Here’s what I recommend:

• Get your pen or pencil and paper and find a comfortable, quiet, cozy spot free from distractions.
• Set a timer for ten minutes.
• Write down the topic a blog post topic at the top of your paper.
• Then write down everything you think of—possible headlines, stories, examples, bullet points, key messages, problems and solutions, resources, and more.
• Write until the timer runs out.

In this scenario, you’re focusing on really fleshing out all of your thoughts, ideas, and opinions on one single topic, instead of a few different topics. This approach is often my go-to strategy for mapping out the content for longer, more in-depth blog posts.

Create A Repeatable Process And Stick With It

If creating new blog content has been tough for you in the past, I highly recommend you give each of the five different ways to plan blog posts a try to see which one is easiest and most successful for you. Remember, the more detail you provide about your topic up front, the faster and easier it will be to write the full blog post later.

When writing down your blog post ideas, think about creating a rough outline of the content as fast as possible, and include any of the following that apply:

• The topic or idea.
• Any possible headlines.
• The problem it solves or addresses.
• Why this problem is important or why someone should care.
• How you came up with the idea.
• Any story that may fit with it.
• The link to your inspiration source if appropriate.
• The embed code of a tweet, Facebook post, or video you want to reference, so you don’t have to waste time hunting for it later.
• The key message you want to communicate in the post or major bullet points.
• Any image ideas.

If you can include as many of the above items as possible when quickly writing down your blog post ideas, you’ll be creating an outline for the post or a rough draft. You’ll be getting all of the heavy lifting done up front, so writing the final post is fast and easy.

You’ll Become A Better And Faster Writer Over Time

The first time you test one of these content development strategies, it may feel weird. You may only come up with one or two post ideas in the 10 minutes you give your self—and that is okay. If you stick with it over time, your rough outlines will get better and more complete, the quality of your content will improve, and the process will become easier and faster.

Sounds pretty awesome right?

No stress about what to write or finding a good topic. No overwhelm about filling up a blank white screen. No frustration when it’s not flowing naturally for you and it feels hard. Instead, by investing less than 10 minutes at a time up front, creating new blog post content is fast and easy — and dare I say, more fun? I think so.

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