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In a recent comment for one of my blogs, I was asked what my writing approach was and I honestly don’t think I had previously described the way I write.  So here goes.

My approach is straightforward and very old school. My biggest problem is time to do the writing.  My three current blogs ( I have had others) are hobbies for me. I have a day (and then some) job as a Tech consultant.

The Steps of My Writing Process

Basically, I follow this pattern when writing blog articles and books:

Capture Writing Ideas

•  I capture my ideas as I have them and write one or two short line as for a frame of reference.

Organize and Schedule Articles

• Then, Organize my writing according to when I want to write them, with some lead time, of course.

Outline Article

• I outline my header levels/titles
• I never write without an outline, even the small stuff. Outlining has become second-nature for me.

Gather Materials and Research

• I gather my article research materials and load my project cart shelf with books, printed articles, and USB stick with electric materials
• Go throw the research material and bookmark any import and relevant information, which I may use.

Note: I don’t always do this step if it is something I know very well or which I have just done.

Draft Article Content

•  I write without editing or spell checking until I run out of information.
• Add relevant research, if any is being used.

Edit Article And Proof

• I edit, spell check, grammar check, and format article content
• Apply SEO Optimization for Article body
  • Add paragraph headers/titles
  • Reduce or eliminate pronouns (it, they, these, them, etc..)

Add Article Graphics

• Go get my pictures and graphics to flesh it out. This usually means taking them from my own photo repository, it sometimes means, taking additional pictures.
• Add and Size graphics
• Perform SEO optimization on graphics properties and description.

Keyword Optimization

• I check my base keyword lists
• Add additional words appropriate to the content
• Add hashtags
• Add long-tail keywords

Add Categories

• I choose my categories; paying attention to the hierarchy, so,  any parent-child relationships are not missed.

Choose Social Network Publication Channels

• choose the social network site, if any, I think it should be published to.

Add Related References

• Add internal and, if appropriate, external reference links to other articles

Related References

• The Benefits of Having a Project Cart