Using my proven outlining technique makes repurposing your blog posts quick and easy. 

I first learned this technique when I was training to teach writing as part of my PhD at the University of California at Davis in 2001! It transformed my writing, and I’ve seen it do the same for hundreds of students and clients over the last 23 years.

It makes the writing process as simple as asking and answering questions – something we all do all day every day.

The outlining technique

I’ll give you a quick overview here. If you want a more detailed discussion of it, read “How do you decide what to write?”

Step 1

Write your statement of argument. For this post, it is ‘Using my proven outlining technique makes repurposing your blog posts quick and easy.’ 

Step 2

List all the questions you might need to answer to convince your reader that your statement is true. Set a timer for 10 to 15 minutes for this step so you don’t let it help you waste time. For a blog post, 5 to 7 questions are enough for this step.

Step 3

Look through your list and delete any that are off topic or that you don’t want to write about in the post you're outlining, combine any that can be combined, put the remaining questions in order.

Step 4

Write your messy draft by quickly answering each question in turn. You’ll know where to put your main (H2) subheadings in your post, because you’ll need one for each question in your outline.

Example:

Here’s the outline I wrote for the post you’re reading:

Statement of argument: Using my proven outlining technique makes repurposing your blog posts quick and easy.

• What is the outlining technique?
• How was it proven?
• How does it make repurposing easy?
• CTA (all blog posts need a call to action)

How have I proven that this technique works?

As I said in the introduction, I've been teaching this outlining technique since 2001. And the lecturer who taught it to me then had been using and teaching it for years before that.

In university classrooms and for academic writers, it has been proven to:

• Reduce writer’s block
• Help writers stay focused on the topic at hand
• Save writers time and effort 

In my coaching, I’ve seen that my business clients get all of these benefits and more. The technique also helps them to:

• Write so their readers feel like they’re talking to them
• Think about their business and their content in new ways
• Make repurposing easy, which both saves time and increases their visibility

In my own writing, and I do a lot of it, I’ve seen these same benefits. 

I resisted letting my own writing be easy for decades – I taught this technique for years before I tried using it. When I became a coach, I realised I couldn’t tell other business owners their writing could be easy if mine really, really wasn’t. So I started using this outlining technique and it saves me hours every month. 

For example, before I started using this outlining technique, it used to take me a couple of days to write a blog post. Now, it takes about an hour.

The posts I wrote without this technique took ages to repurpose because I had to keep rereading them to find sections that could stand on their own. With it, it’s quick and easy, as you’ll see below.

Repurposing made easy

Posts written using my outlining technique are well structured, meaning they have

• An introduction
• Clearly defined subsections
• A call to action

This structure helps you in repurposing because you can write a short post that summarises the whole blog post and create several posts or newsletters based on individual sections of the blog post.

Here’s how I’d tweak the first subsection of this post for social media:

Use my 4-step outlining technique to make writing and repurposing your blog posts quick and easy:

1. Write your statement of argument. 
2. List all the questions you might need to answer to convince your reader that your statement is true. 
3. Look through your list and delete any that are off topic or that you don’t want to write about in the post you're outlining, combine any that can be combined, and put the remaining questions in order.
4. Write your messy draft by quickly answering each question in turn.

Using this technique will help you write well-structured posts that are engaging to read and easy to repurpose. Click this link to learn more: {{Insert link to blog post}}

I timed myself when I was repurposing that section, it took all of 90 seconds. I’ve done this a few times, so you might not be quite so quick to start out with, but you soon will be!

Repurposing on video is even easier:

1. Choose the section you want to repurpose
2. Remind yourself what the question was in your outline
3. Reread what you wrote in your post
4. Record your thoughts on the question from your outline (do not read your post to the camera; no one likes being read at)

Need some help applying this technique to your content?

I run quarterly planning workshops that are based on a more elaborate version of this outline. In the workshop, you’ll outline 3 blog posts – enough to have you posting once a month and producing 5+ value posts for social media. 

The real value for your business is in what you do after the workshop. That's why I give you a coaching session so we can make sure you're applying what you learned in the best way for you and your business. The cowriting sessions are there to support you in sticking to your content creation plans.

This won't be one of those workshops you leave with grand plans that never see the light of day!

If you’re ready to learn how to plan your content for next quarter so creating it is fast and easy, click this button:

If you’re reading this before 1 December 2024, email me at jennifer@ewc.coach for details of my early bird offer.

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