AI for Bloggers & SEO8 minLesson 32 of 60
Prompting AI for Outlines and First Drafts
AI is at its best on a blog as a drafting engine that you steer, not an autopilot you trust. The reliable pattern is two steps: get the outline right first, then expand it. Fixing structure in an outline is a minute; fixing it in a finished draft is an afternoon.
Outline first, with the intent baked in
outline prompt
Target query: "how to descale an espresso machine"
Intent: informational, step-by-step tutorial.
Give an H2/H3 outline that fully answers the query,
covers what page-one results miss, and ends with a
short FAQ of related questions people also ask.Review and edit the outline as if it were the article. Reorder sections, cut the filler the model loves to add, and inject the angle only you have. Then expand section by section so each part gets real attention rather than one giant generated blob.
Feed it real inputs
Drafts get far better when you hand the model your notes, your data, or a transcript of your own experience. Without that, it writes the same generic article anyone could prompt. Your raw material is what makes the draft yours.