WRITING
Why ‘Mapping’ Your Stories Will Increase Productivity
What is ‘mapping’ and how can it help your writing?
One of my freelancing clients gives me a list of directives for the blog posts they order from me. The list includes where to get the photos to be used, what long-tail keywords to use, SEO directives, and topics. There are two separate calls to action with separate links to be used. In short, I have to be sure to have all the correct pieces in place for their orders.
I do this by a process I call “mapping.” Without this mapping technique, it would take me much longer to do each blog post, one by one, and fulfill my client’s order in a timely manner.
What is mapping?
Mapping is a technique I created to plan out my articles, and it can make you a more productive writer if implemented. Here’s how it works.
To begin with, the mapping technique is very similar to outlining, but not quite the same thing.
How is mapping different from outlining?
In outlining, a very useful technique, you plan the basic structure of a story by outlining the main points and what structure the story will take via a hierarchy of concise statements or sentences that sum up each point. Similarly, with mapping you will arrange the headings, but with a little different approach.
Mapping means that you will build the bones of the article and put the “must haves” in place, leaving only the text paragraphs, the “writing” portion to be done. Putting these pieces in place before you write will help to save you a lot of time. It will also narrow the scope of your research to only what you need to know to flesh out the article. Mapping is laying out the “bones” of the article and doing all the prep-work ahead of the actual writing.
I do this because this is the portion of the article I will type and the portion I will do likely prior to any research. I use Dragon software to dictate the body of the article after the mapping is completed.
This way, when I begin writing the article, thoughts and sentences can flow much more freely and the article takes shape very quickly. I often map the day before, write the article the next day.
Mapping 101
Step one: Open your pages
Open your writing editor (for whatever site or program you’ll use). In other tabs, open the client website or page with the order directives (if it is a freelance article), a headline analyzer page (this is the one I use), a public use photo hosting site page like Unsplash or Pixabay, and a plagiarism checker if you use one (this is the one I use). If you use a tool for searching for keywords, go ahead and make a tab for that. Get all the pages you need to be opened up and ready, in tabs that are ordered in the order by which you will use them.
Step two: Choose your keyword(s) and write a good SEO title
Select your keywords and get your title squared away — put this in the editor and go ahead and format it as needed. Structure #1 is now in place.
Step three: Choose your image
Select your image and put this in the article where it will be used (usually at the top but if there are more pics, go ahead and put them on the article with credit so you have it there already.) Structure #2 is now in place.
Step four: Calls to action, bio, and footnotes
Under the photo, type INTRO and hit enter a few times. (Later, when you write the article, you will delete the word INTRO and replace it with the actual introductory paragraph.) Put an early call to action if you use one. Hit enter a few more times and put anything you usually put at the bottom — another CTA, an author bio, and any footnotes you normally use. Do it exactly as you would normally do in an article so this part is finished.
Step five: Plan your headings in a reader-centric manner
Here is the fun part. If you’re with me until now, you have the top portion and bottom portion of the article done, along with any photos you intend to use— these areas tend to be the same kind of thing over and over in articles. The framework and the necessary elements are there.
Sidenote: If this will be a research-heavy article, you can research the sources you want to use and put the links in a section called “resources” right in your article. That way when you go to write the next day, you already have the sources you need to open.
Now — think.
You have your topic, title, and keyword (or long-tail keyword) — WHAT questions does your reader have about this topic? What will they Google about this topic? Ask yourself what your reader will want to know and put tentative headings in order with space between to be filled in later.
Plan your headings and run them through the headline analyzer to make sure they are good headings. Or I often just put a series of questions as placeholders. Also, be sure to include your keyword as comfortable in a heading or two.
Here is where mapping and outlining diverge.
An example:
(TITLE) How Can I Learn to Crochet?
(SUBTITLE) A quick guide for the beginner (PICTURE)
INTRO
(This is your early call to action.)
What is crochet?
Is it easy to learn?
What supplies do I need to get started?
How to learn crochet: 5 tips to get started
- bullet point 1
- bullet point 2
- bullet point 3
- bullet point 4
- bullet point 5
Crochet resources:
LINK HERE LINK HERE LINK HERE
CONCLUSION
(Bio and footnote info)
As you can see, the method is a bit different than outlining, because the readers’ interests and needs are at the foremost purpose of your mapping. You are also prioritizing any directives from your client or any special considerations for the platform/publication/magazine for which you plan to submit your work.
One more tip: You usually have a preconceived word count in mind. Go ahead and divvy up the word count for each section and put a note next to the section (INTRO: 150 words) so that you can write each section more efficiently and pace your article.
The mapping technique works well for people who:
- Have multiple articles to write that are similar. You can even make a template to make future orders or future articles go more efficiently.
- Need to be “in the mood” or “in the zone” to do their writing. Mapping can be done as busy work ahead of time.
- Have multiple ideas but aren’t ready to write the “meat” of the article. This preserves enough of the idea for the writing to take shape later.
Conclusion
Once your mapping is completed you can save your document and return to it later when you are ready to fully devote your attention to fleshing out the body of your article. When you come back you should have a good idea of what your original plan was and you have a roadmap that tells you exactly where to go to get what you need to write your article.
You can focus on the quality of your writing rather than all of the bits and pieces that you need to have in place. You can write out a beautiful intro, well-versed sections, and a powerful conclusion. Sometimes writing can be very tedious when you’re thinking about SEO and calls to action and having all of the correct information in place. Hopefully, this technique will help you to do the busy work ahead of time and thereby avoid that feeling of burnout that happens when you try to force your writing.
Thank you for reading. For additional informative writing articles, you can follow the Fiddleheads & Floss “On Writing” tab or Christina's work in The Writing Cooperative and Better Marketing.