It is evident that over the years, everything on the web has evolved. This has allowed the population of bloggers creating content to flourish even more, prompting tougher competition. If you find that your output gets low views and conversions, fret not, as this is a common challenge, especially for those who run out of original ideas. There are many ways to develop an effective content creation strategy nonetheless.
Related: How to Develop a Winning Content Strategy
Applying a personal approach would surely make a difference. Most search engines help websites by getting more exposure. It does not only make your page better but also helps you rank higher.
To get your website optimized, note that your blog posts must be of quality, uniqueness, and relevance. Getting it right would help your content surface amongst the noise of several digital platforms. It doesn’t matter which niche you want to write for. So how do you actually create unique content? Read further to know more.
Know your competition
A quick Google search about your niche topic will help you find if your idea is original and how you would give it a different approach.
Marketing tools: Some helpful tools you can use are Google Trends and Buzzsumo to find out contents that are performing best among your competitors.
Find an angle on how you could give more flare to the subject you have researched. You may consider adding more visual articles or see what further questions were left unanswered. That entails extra work for you, but adding more to your content will boost your niche’s credibility and authority.
Another helpful tool is Portent. This tool gives a whole variety of ideas according to the words you entered so that you can discover tired ideas in a new light.
Consider your audience and understand your niche
If you are having a difficult time thinking of ideas that no one else has written about yet, let those ideas flow or come from the audience themselves.
Find answers to the questions like: What do they need? What do they ought to know? What are they looking for? This is a great way to expand ideas for your blog posts.
Look into your competitors’ social media comments section. You can even directly seek your audience’s ideas by asking them what kind of output they want to read and see. Not only will you find answers, but you will also create a deeper relationship with them by hearing them out.
Solve problems.
Guarantee to produce a piece that provides solutions.
People utilize search engines because they want to address something that concerns them by getting specific answers. Thus, the ultimate goal is to increase your site’s traffic so your content would appear on top.
A piece of advice is to answer in a way that readers can easily digest. People want to learn the answer as fast as possible. If you want to get ahead of your competitors, make sure to give them that.
Check your tone and be engaging
People tend to read more on blog posts that are non-fiction. Why? It is because they look forward to learning and becoming better individuals. Putting that in mind is a great way to get started with your content.
Thus, when writing a blog, you should not merely capture the interest of your readers. You should be able to keep them. You can achieve this by writing in a way that is engaging and relatable.
Your introduction should be interesting, but more than that, your content’s flow should be a pleasure to read. You can achieve this by becoming a good storyteller. People are always inclined to follow a good story, so your blog posts would benefit from a writing style.
Moreover, do not shy away from sharing your opinions! This is your blog, after all. Your opinions would also help you have unique content since it is yours and not something you have read elsewhere.
Finally, it would be helpful if you can leave your readers with thought-provoking questions. Your blog should be able to stimulate your readers so that they will keep coming up for more.
Be credible by researching
Should you have already figured what topic to write, fact-checking is necessary not only to supplement your content but rather to avoid providing false information. Build your credibility by offering articles that are based on facts.
Start by researching your blog idea or title on Google. The results will allow you to see the existing competition on the same idea. Consider the following when researching:
- Dates of publication of the posts. Newer posts significantly appear more relevant. Updating a topic with more recent facts and data would also be a good strategy.
- Clarity and flow. Observe the tone of the article and how it was written so you could further improve what’s missing.
Marketing tools: You can also rely on apps, such as Evernote, to help you organize your research. This platform allows you to pin or bookmark articles, videos, and even images and relocate them online.
Note that accuracy is one of the most important aspects to consider in writing quality content. Once published, thousands of people will be able to read your article. You would want to post something that provides solutions that are reliable and correct.
Expect that products promoted through content marketing containing wrong information could raise doubts and can be misleading. The consumer’s trust is everything about any business, so you do not want to lose that in a single blog post.
Instead, build and nourish that trust from consumers by working towards content pieces that are credible, accurate, and transparent. When citing statistics, direct and link your target audience to the source. Make sure that the source is credible, too.
Determine the relevant keywords.
Keywords are paramount in developing content that brings in traffic. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps in determining relevant keywords in a particular topic. It promotes competition against website giants like Wikipedia, Microsoft, and WikiHow because smaller bloggers can now write a blog that incorporates words relevant to search engine results.
Marketing tools: Go back to your niche topic and see what people are searching for. Useful tools for keyword research are Moz, Google Keyword Planner, Ahref’s Keyword Explorer, Soovle, and Jaaxy. You can enter specific keywords. These tools will present you with several related keywords and topics to help you find the searches’ volume and the people’s demographics and online activities. You can incorporate these keywords into your write-up to increase your potential for more views.
Create a strong headline
It’s true how headlines can make you or break you. Readers take a look at the headline first and decide right away whether to read the rest of the article or not. Hence, the goal is that the headline should be concise, catchy, and well-written.
Take time in writing your headline. Make sure to put in mind the keywords when writing your headline to help readers know what your post is all about right away.
Ensure to write topics in a specific way that addresses the particular needs or interests of readers. Bloggers who write about general topics tend to have a site that generates low traffic. Note that readers look for specificity.
Content should also not depart from their headlines. The body of the content should be true to what the headline promises to give.
For example, writing an overview of parenting skills may be followed by future blog posts about different parenting styles. That way, readers will not get confused about what you want to share with them.
Make your content easy to read
Creating a readable output will immediately help you gain your target audience. To achieve this, you have to ensure that you keep your statements brief and concise. This way, it wouldn’t be difficult for your readers to get your message across.
Marketing tools:Some of the top tools you can use to avoid grammatical errors are Grammarly and Hemingway. These are the ideal platforms in helping you produce blogs that are balanced, accurate, and effective.
Make your content impactful with images and videos.
With the growing number of media platforms, people are more drawn into digestible forms in videos and images as they tend to remember the message through visual presentations. It also saves them from reading lengthy articles.
Marketing tool: Canva is one of the many friendly sites you can visit for editing. It doesn’t require people to be experts in the field as it already provides templates that are easy to use and navigate.
Engage your audience with diversified blog content through quality Images and videos. It is important that you strategically place these on your blog posts that it compliments your written articles.
Invest in learning how to take pictures and create videos yourself!
Update your blog regularly.
Consistency is key. Do not be discouraged if your first post only had a handful of engagements at first. Many of the best sites regularly update with content to keep readers with the impression that your blog is active. Search engines also favor sites that have consistent publishing.
It would be helpful to keep a publishing calendar. Plot into your schedule your target publishing dates to overview your content creation progress, deadlines, and commit to it.
While you keep up with your content, you may also consider keeping a journal. This is ideal as great ideas come in unexpectedly, and you would not want to miss that. Even on the most mundane of our daily activities, we may come across a thought that sparks creativity when we least expect it.
Thoughts you generate from browsing through your social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram can also help you start figuring out what specific topic to work on.
Taking notes of these ideas as they come would give you a reference when you need them in developing content.
Furthermore, see how you’re doing. Keep track of your site’s performance to determine which particular post got more engagement. Refer to your analytics, and it would be helpful in your content strategy to see how your competitors are doing. Find which topics or long-tail keywords were most popular.
Related: How to use Long Tail Keywords in a Blog
Marketing tool: We recommend trying out SEO Quake for an analysis of keywords, page rank, and content date.
Bonus Tips
- Act Quickly. Always keep on schedule and do not get behind on trends and issues. Strike while it’s hot.
- Plan Ahead. It is crucial to have a detailed plan on the content that you will post on your site. Developing quality and unique content requires time and creativity, so it is better to plot things ahead of time to make room for revisions and brainstorming.
- Maintain Consistent Effort. The importance of consistency could not be overstated. Consistent posts will keep your followers and increase your level of authority in your niche.
- Expand your Network. It will be easier to succeed if you collaborate with others. Find or build a community in your niche, as this will help you increase your readership and popularity.
Final Thoughts
No matter what content you are developing, it should always be created with sincerity, creativity, and honesty. Even with the sea of blogs accessible online, it is still possible to create unique content that impacts your readers. Keep in mind to produce quality over quantity, as this will drive equally quality traffic to your site.
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