Hourglass Blog Structure: How to Write a Blog 101

In the world of writing there’s about a thousand rules, and a trillion approaches to the medium. Everyone has their preferred structures and favorite ways to break the rules (my favorite book about this). I’m no different; there are definitely a few things that make more sense to me than others. Something I’ve always liked—even for blogs—is the essay writing method. For this how-to-write-a-blog 101 guide I’m going to ask you to hearken back to the days of essay writing and structure. Way back in middle school and high school, you were asked to construct an essay using the inverted triangle method. But she’s all grown up now, and when it comes to blogs—with only a handful of exceptions—the hourglass blog structure reigns supreme.

Inverted Triangle Writing Structure

This commonly-taught approach to writing an essay is easy to follow and makes perfect sense. In an essay, you are attempting to inform your audience, answer some questions, and/or pose a hypothesis and defend your position. A blog is very similar, but you want to tell more of a story.

For essays, you are told to start with general information, forming the wider top of the inverted triangle. Then you are asked to narrow it down, getting into the nitty gritty and your research. Finally, to bring it all to a finer point, you craft your conclusion, summarizing everything you’ve already talked about and make your final point. 

Blogs can stop there, too. It would be no problem to stick to this informational structure. However, I would like to propose that we then mirror the inverted triangle to create the hourglass blog structure.

Hourglass Blog Structure

This hourglass structure would look something like this:

Starting very similarly to essays, you’ll want to have a fun, eye-catching introduction that starts fairly broad. From there, you’re going to use the same essay parts; narrow the body of the essay into more specific areas until you reach the reason (or primary topic) for the blog. From there, invert the inverted triangle and work backwards.

Dive a little deeper into the primary topic,  exploring a few more niche aspects of it, then work back out into broader information. Some things you’ll want to touch on are your own expertise, why this topic/product/service is important, how the reader can implement the advice/product/service into their own life, specific recommendations, and other related areas.

Then you’ll bring the whole thing back around to the broader introduction, talking about how the narrower info relates to the grander scheme of things.

Implementing the Hourglass

It may seem like you need double the information and research to build out this larger, more grown up, writing format. But that’s not necessarily true. Just like the essay, you can make these individual sections as large or as small as you need or want. 

In my almost five years of professional writing, I’ve used this structure to varying degrees. Sometimes, a topic really lends itself to building it out into more complex or niched areas. Other times, it’s harder to find a lot of information, or I’ve wanted to keep the blog concise to optimize readability or to make important information easy to find. Regardless, following this simple guide has made breaking the blogs down into parts easy, therefore making writing them easy, too!

Use the Structure for SEO

One thing SEO loves is headings. The hourglass format makes it easier to break your blog into various parts, giving each a header, and organizing your ideas into a coherent and easy-to-follow flow. 

Additionally, when your writing is broken up into clear sections, it’s easier to spread out your keywords, reinforce ideas, hit your word-count goals, and leave space for photos. 

Conclusion

Ultimately, you are hoping for a blog that is, dare I say it, fun to read, informative, and easy to follow. These blogs are the ones that establish you as an expert in your field and bring readers back time and again. The inverted triangle structure is a fantastic place to start. But if you’re looking to up your blogging game, try the hourglass blog structure!

Love what you’re reading and want this for your own blog? Let’s work together!

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