Decide the one question the post answers, outline it from what the current top results cover plus what they miss, draft the whole thing without editing, then cut ten to twenty percent. The edit is where the quality comes from, and skipping it is why most posts read as first drafts.
The sequence matters more than any writing technique.
Pick one question, not one topic
A topic produces a sprawl. A question produces a post with a beginning and an end.
Write the question at the top of your document and delete anything that does not help answer it. This single constraint removes most of what makes posts feel long and go nowhere.
If you find two questions fighting each other, you have two posts, and forcing them together weakens both.
Outline from the results page
Before writing, search the question and read the top results properly rather than skimming.
Note what all of them cover, which is the minimum a reader expects. Note what none of them cover, which is your reason for existing. Note the follow-up questions in the related questions box, because those are the gaps a reader will otherwise leave to fill.
Your outline is the shared coverage plus your addition. That is the entire method and it takes twenty minutes.
Draft without stopping
Write the whole thing badly and quickly. Editing while drafting is the most common reason a post takes a week and still is not finished.
Skip the introduction and write it last, once you know what the piece actually says. Almost every weak opening was written before the writer knew where they were going.
If you get stuck on a sentence, write a placeholder in brackets and move on. Momentum is worth more than any individual sentence at this stage.
The edit that matters
Leave it overnight if you can, then cut.
- Delete the first paragraph. It is usually throat-clearing and the second paragraph is the real opening
- Read only the headings top to bottom. If two promise the same thing, merge them
- Find every sentence that says the topic is important and cut it. The reader searched for it
- Replace vague claims with specifics: a number, a name, an example
- Read it aloud. Anything you stumble on is a sentence a reader will stumble on
Structure for people who scroll
Most readers scan first and read second, so the structure has to survive being skimmed.
Headings that state the point rather than tease it. Short paragraphs. The answer to each heading in the first sentence beneath it. Lists where the content is genuinely a list and prose where it is not.
A post that can be understood from its headings alone will be read more thoroughly, not less.
Before you publish
Write the title tag with the words people search rather than the clever phrase. Write the meta description as a reason to click. Add three internal links from older posts to this one, and two from this one to older posts.
Then read the first two sentences one more time. That is what most people will judge the whole piece on, and it is the part most often written while tired.
Common questions
- What is the fastest way to write a blog post?
- Decide the one question it answers, outline from what the top results cover plus what they miss, draft the whole thing without editing, then cut ten to twenty percent. Editing while drafting is why posts take a week.
- How do I structure a blog post?
- Headings that state the point rather than tease it, the answer to each heading in the first sentence beneath it, short paragraphs, and lists only where the content is genuinely a list. A post understandable from its headings alone gets read more thoroughly, not less.
- Should I write the introduction first?
- No. Write it last, once you know what the piece actually says. Almost every weak opening was written before the writer knew where they were going.
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