How to Use Design Thinking to Your WordPress Blog Writing

Making your WordPress blog writing stand out can be difficult, especially with such fierce competition to worry about. According to published reports by 99firms, over 76 million blogs are powered by WordPress CMS, with posts being viewed over 20 billion times per month. Additional data indicates that over 70 million new posts are created each month, with 52 million comments appearing in their comment sections as a result.

This makes the use of design thinking and good online resources a must if you want to make your WordPress blog more competitive in 2021. But how do you apply design thinking, which is inherently based on visual content creation, to writing? Let’s discuss the topic in greater detail.

Set up Clear Writing Goals Upfront

Even though design thinking is primarily focused on the visual aspect of content creation, graphic and web designers also have to plan their moves carefully. Design thinking in blog writing can be applied by setting up objective goals for your blogging activities before you actually write anything.

The easiest way to do so is through the so-called SMART methodology, which revolves around setting up systematic, time-limited and attainable goals. Such goals can help you whether you blog for personal pleasure, eCommerce marketing, or brand advertisement, so make sure to set them up before writing.

Brainstorm Topics through Mind-Mapping

In order to make good use of design thinking in your writing process, you should brainstorm new ideas through mind-mapping. This is a deceptively simple yet effective method of creating new ideas and terms based on basic keywords. Grab a piece of paper and write down a keyword related to your blog’s niche or area of expertise.

Start branching out from that keyword and connect related words and phrases into new topic ideas for future blogging. You can also use online thesis writing service to turn your brainstorming ideas into quality writing if you are in need of an editor. With mind-mapping at your disposal, you will never run out of ideas to cover.

Color-Code your Writing Based on Type/Topic

Whether you use a traditional text editor such as Microsoft Office or use tools such as Evernote, you can color different segments of your writing. Once you come up with several different topics to cover in your WordPress blog, you should color-code them based on category.

For example, lifestyle articles can be colored green, personal development blue and household hack articles can be orange. Using color psychology to identify certain hues with specific words and phrases will significantly improve the emotional appeal of your WordPress website. Likewise, it will make your own writing and organizational tasks easier since you will automatically associate topics with their respective colors without a second thought.

Start Writing with an Outline

Graphic and web designers often rely on sketches and rough outlines of what they will illustrate or design soon thereafter. The same principle can be used in blog writing, and you should take the time to outline each article before you go into full production.

Start with a simple intro/body/conclusion format and add different subheadings to your article before you write anything. Adding bullet points or numbered lists to your outline will also help make your writing more scannable and easier on the readers’ eyes. This will significantly improve the flow of information and visual appeal of your blog posts compared to ad hoc writing. Moreover, it will help you gauge how long your posts will be and how much visual content and SEO optimization you will need after writing.

Make Smart use of Content Tools

Just as visual designers use tools such as Adobe Photoshop and Affinity, you should rely on writing tools to improve your blog posts. Making good use of writing tools and resources will enable you to transform your writing into visually impressive, SEO-friendly blog posts.

This is a far cry from relying solely on local text editors which may be outdated and lack modern, digital publishing-related optimization features. Some of the tools you can use to apply design thinking to your WordPress blog writing include:

Grammarly – used for legibility and text flow improvements before publishing

Canva – platform which can help you create professional visuals for your blog posts

Milanote – a visual management tool that you can use to put your writing plans in order

Google Docs – a set of cloud-based writing tools which can help keep your files organized

Format your Writing for Easier Scanning

Lastly, once you’ve written enough content for a blog post, you should take the time to review and format the writing before publishing it. Graphic and web designers spend a good chunk of their production time in the editing bay and you should do the same with your writing.

Read through what you’ve written to spot any tonal or informational inconsistencies before using grammar tools to check for technical errors. Add quality visuals to your writing to break up the text and format it with proper headings and a short paragraph structure. The way you “pack” your writing for publishing is just as important as the factual information you’ve written down.

The Benefits of Applying Design Thinking to your WordPress Blog Writing

Now that we’ve established how you can use design thinking in blog writing, let’s briefly tackle the “why” behind it. Based on recent reports, 76% of marketers prefer to focus on quality over quantity in blogging, with 71% making good use of visual design assets. With smart formatting and proper design tools on your side, your WordPress blog can become much more visually-appealing and original compared to your competitors.

Design thinking can enable you to appeal to readers’ emotional triggers far better than overly technical writing ever could. Coupled with a helpful academic writing site for editing and formatting (check hirewriters review), your blog writing can transform into a more creative and approachable source of content. Before we wrap up, the most important benefits you can gain from applying design thinking to your WordPress blog writing include:

• Build a reputation of a unique, engaging and original blog writing platform
• Higher emphasis on iteration and creativity compared to traditional blog writing
• Immerse your readers in the content more vividly and emotionally
• Improved motivation and “fun factor” in terms of creating new blog content
• More opportunities to innovate in terms of content types and topics

Writing Blog Content with a Designer’s Mindset (Conclusion)

Adopting a designer’s mindset in WordPress blog writing can be a bit tricky if you don’t have prior design experience. The most important takeaway is that you should start thinking visually rather than textually. If your content is easy and interesting to look at, people will be more inclined to read it. Experiment with different formatting and topic ideas as they come to you and the design thinking you’ve adopted will pay off in spades.