While there might be many different aspects when it comes to
creating a successful blog (and becoming a successful blogger), content remains
one of the most important.
Content is central to your blog success; it is the
difference between a successful and an unsuccessful blog. Good content can
propel your blog towards unprecedented success, but a blog which fails to
produce quality content will not only lose its traffic, it will not be able to
attract any new loyal followers and will ultimately end up falling flat on its
face.
So then, the question really is, how can you (or what can
you do to) produce, create, craft and market great content for your blog on a
consistent basis – that provides value to, and engages a large group of visitors,
successfully building a large, loyal traffic base?
Here’s how:
1. Know Your Audience
Every good marketing campaign begins with identifying your
target audience, and determining your niche. As someone who will be marketing
his content on a regular basis, you should know who exactly it is to whom
you’ll be marketing it to.
Knowing your target audience is essential, especially in the
beginning. Doing this will allow you to know who exactly you’re writing for, letting
you tailor your content accordingly.
The ability to tailor your content for your potential and
existing readers will be crucial when it comes to attracting targeted traffic
to your blog!
2. Quality over Quantity, Always!
When it comes to writing, remember that quality always takes
precedence over quantity. How much (or how little) you write is irrelevant, but
what really counts is how well you write. A well-written 500 word article will
always be better than an badly-written 2000 word piece. That’s not to say that
you shouldn’t write long articles, however the amount of words in an article
should never be a priority.
Write quality, write well and get your point across without
worrying about writing long or short posts.
3. Provide Readers with Value
Using your writing to provide your readers with value is one
of the best things you can do with your blog to ensure that you end up creating
the best possible content for it. For instance think how you can write content
that is valuable to the readers in your niche or industry. What can you do that
no one else is doing, how can you be different, how can stand out from the
crowd?
Maybe you can give advice, provide statistics, provide your
readers with breaking news and be the first one to do so, or something else.
Remember that the purpose of your blogging effort is to make
the lives of people easier on some way or the other. How you go about doing
that depends on you!
4. Use Words and Terms that People Can Relate To
Your writing should reflect that you know about, and are
aware of the trends, buzz-words and jargon that is commonly used in the
industry. Use words, phrases and terms that people who will be most interested
in reading your content can actually relate to. Speak their language!
Doing so will allow you to be able to differentiate yourself
from the competition, sound fresh and of course, compete for less-competitive
keywords/phrases or maybe even newer keywords that no one else in industry
might be using.
5. Be Consistent
Consistent in terms of (a) the theme of your content, and
(b) the frequency at which you churn out content. Lets look at both
individually:
The general theme of your posts needs to be consistent. If
you write on politics, avoid writing on sports or technology – it is irrelevant
to the theme of your blog, your posts and will probably be useless information
for readers.
Secondly, be consistent in actually how frequently you write
your posts. I know that it is easier said than done, and most people
(especially those who single-handedly manage their own blogs) might not be able
to produce content on a daily basis due to certain constraints. However the
good news is that you don’t need to. Do your blogging on the weekends, or try
putting up a new post twice a week by working on it a little bit every day
before going to sleep. However make sure that you write well and produce the
best that you possibly can.
6. Write Compelling Titles
Your post title or headline should be so compelling, it
should draw people in to read what you have to say. Be creative when coming up
with a title. For instance you could quantify your post (e.g. 10 Ideas for
Interesting Post Titles) or try using adjectives to hype it up (15 Outstanding Strategies
to Create Mind-Blowingly Good Content for your Blog).
Don’t forget to back it up with actually delivering what
your promised through your content.
7. Stay on Top of Industry News
Creating great content involves a lot of know-how,
information and knowledge about whatever it is that you’re writing. Keeping on
top of industry trends, news and the happenings is essential; without this
knowledge you’ll essentially have nothing to write about.
By keeping yourself updated and on top of what happens in
your niche, you get material to work with, stuff to write about, and create
some truly great articles.
Subscribe to the RSS and email alerts of any and all of the best
websites in your niche. Follow and subscribe to the industry leaders. Watch trending
hashtags. Use Google Alerts to subscribe for alerts for keywords relevant to
your niche.
8. Do Interviews
People want access to industry leaders. They want to know
their opinions, thoughts and what they might have to say about things happening
within the industry. You can use your blog to do precisely this.
Try getting access to someone who’s seen as an authority in
your niche. Send out a well-written email, with the objective of setting up
time for an appointment, and requesting him or her for an interview. Come up
with a list of questions you’d want to ask during the interview (ask your
Facebook/Twitter/blog followers if they would want to ask something too!) and
record your session on camera.
Remember that if you cannot physically meet up with the said
person, you don’t need to. You can go for a Skype-based interview, over the
phone, text-chat or simply send in your list of questions via email.
Alternatively, you can also ask people in your niche to use
your product (or service) and ask for their opinion on what they think of your
product and your brand. An endorsement for someone who’s an established,
authority player in the field would do your sales wonders!
9. Use Images and Videos
Pretty self-explanatory. Long walls of text without any
images are boring. Add images (relevant images) to spice things up.
Avoid adding excessive amounts of pictures or images though;
it’ll only take attention off your write-up and make your post look like an untidy
mess. Use images moderately, and only where needed. A picture speaks a thousand
words, as they say!
In a similar way, embed Youtube videos to your posts where
required. For instance if you’re doing a tutorial post, add videos off Youtube
where required.
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