The Ultimate Free Writing Template

Did you know you can use a writing template to cut the time it takes to write a great piece of content in half?

Creating original content can be frustrating and hard work. After completing thousands of new blog posts and other pieces of content, the BlogWorks team knows this all too well.

Getting your thoughts together and organized can be tough, but there are ways to make it much easier, including using a writing template.

Today, we’re sharing one example of a writing template that will save you time and help you create better results – every time.

This template will help you create faster and better:

Blog posts
Articles
Speeches
Webinars
eBooks
Opt-in gifts for your website

How to Use This Writing Template

Before we offer up our tried-and-true writing template, here’s a handy guide to help you make the most of it.

At first, a writing template might feel overly structured, even restrictive. But it won’t take long before using the template makes your work so much easier that you can’t imagine not using it.

1. Research

If you have been creating content for some time, you will have existing research, stories, statistics, exercises, and quotes you can pull from. That’s great – it will save you time.

A word of caution: often, more research will not make your content better.

Sure, the occasional fact or example will create context or help prove your point, but loading your content with too many details will not make your presentation more memorable or give it more impact.

Consider limiting the time you spend on research. For a blog post, this could be twenty minutes. For a speech, two hours.

Using a tool like evernote.com will save you hours of time and give you a simple way to continue to collect great content for the future.

Check this article out next: How Often Should You Blog?

2. Mind dump

This is the fun part.

Give yourself one hour (less for a blog post) to write down everything you know about your topic. Don’t worry about the quality of the content, the order, or whether you will eventually use it. Just get it on paper.

This is your “ammunition” – you may use it or not. Either way, you don’t have to go back to the research stage. Now, you can move on with getting your thoughts in order.

3. Load the template

Write out your rough outline (or work from a copy of this guide), leaving lots of room to fill it in.

Then, move the content from your Mind Dump into the outline, crossing it off or deleting it from the Mind Dump as you do. You are only moving over content that seems to be a good fit. You can leave the rest behind.

Now that you have a rough start, it’s time to step back and revisit your objectives to see what’s missing.

P.S. Your content doesn’t always have to be new. Learn about how to update old blog posts next.

4. Find missing content

You have your content in the right order at this point – that’s a huge step! Blog posts and articles that don’t get this right can seem disjointed and rambling.

This is the time to stop and revisit what your blog audience needs to know, or what you want this eBook to accomplish, or what you’ve promised the event planner (for a speech).

Don’t get “lost in the trees”—the overall objective of your content is to solve some problem. Are you doing that?

This is also a great time to leave the project and revisit it the next day. When you do this, you’ll inevitably discover where you have strayed off track and gaps in your content or the lessons you’re teaching.

5. Draft your content

Now it’s time to take the next step with your outline.

You haven’t necessarily expanded your points, but your content should be well-ordered, and you should have a good idea of where to expand each point.

We like to move quickly through this phase of the creation process.

It’s easy to get held up checking spelling and facts, but we’ve learned it’s better to create a fast rough draft and enjoy seeing that part done before you start working on the little details.

Don’t miss this article next: 5 Easy Steps To Publishing Your Next Blog Post (Even If You Don’t Have Time).

6. Expand each point

Each lesson you deliver or point you want to make in your argument can follow a simple formula.

This formula will impact your content and make it easier to design your delivery:

Story/Fact: This gets the audience/reader’s attention. Audiences love a good story and always want to know how it ends.
Lesson: This is the insight or lesson you pulled from the story. The more it relates to the current “problems” the audience/reader has, the more impact you have.
Application: Don’t leave it up to the audience/reader to conclude how they can use this lesson. Give them concrete examples of how to apply the lesson at work or in their life.

For example, if you are teaching a leadership skill, give them two or three examples of how your lesson can be used and how it improves the situation.

7. Revisit your goals

Make one final check of your objectives.

Check the outline you submitted to the planning committee if this is a speech. If it’s a blog, think about your target market – what have your readers responded to in the past?

This is also a good time to check the length of the content. There is no magic formula for the number of words per minute spoken. In general, less is better.

In other words, it is always better to expand on points as you present rather than try to squeeze too much content into the allotted time.

If this is a written document (eBook, blog, article), use subheadings and bullet points to break up the text visually. This makes it easier for your reader to scan or read your content.

8. Create slides

There is a reason why “death by PowerPoint” has become a popular phrase—most slide shows are more of a distraction than an aid to the presentation.

Use a minimum number of slides, keep bullets to one line, no more than five bullets per slide, and use large unique images or graphics.

Remember, you are the show – the slides are there to help the audience stay on track with your arguments and lessons.

When in doubt, do not use a slide. Instead, switch the projector to black (on your remote or hit “B” on the keyboard) and speak to your audience.

9. Create speaking notes

Every speaker has their preference. You might want your speaking notes on index cards with you on the stage, or perhaps you want your entire script typed out and printed.

Whichever method you choose, make sure your notes are easy to read and organized in a way that makes sense for you.

Unless you have to read from your notes, keep them to a minimum and use them only to stay on track and on time (don’t read them). The more familiar you are with the content, the less you’ll refer to your notes.

What’s Next?

It might be tempting to just “wing it” by writing a speech from beginning to end.

Don’t.

A template already has the end in mind and will save you from spending hours developing an idea that eventually gets dropped.

Even though using a template may seem rigid, it can actually allow you more time to be creative.