SEO | Internet Marketing | ToolsDuring the time I’ve been developing my new blog (yet to be revealed), I’ve been wondering how I can copy what blog content is 
working well for those successful in my new blog’s niche area while simultaneously trying to differentiate myself in order to create my own audience. In this post (a follow on post from last weeks how to get people to read your blog content) I share some of the excellent tips that I’ve uncovered around generating top notch blog content that gets read and keeps people coming back for more. You’ll be glad you’ve taken the time to read this post as you could significantly enhance your blog content.
Darren Rowse, more famously known as Problogger (probably the most successful bloggers on the planet) has crafted a useful review of how to write great blog content. What caught my eye in Darren’s review is the section on the Principles of Successful Content Creation. Here Darren links to a number of useful articles on how to make your blog stand out from the crowd and how to make your content unique.
Blog Content is KING
I have taken two key take aways from reading through these articles this morning with my cuppa tea. The first is a need to step outside of your regular sources for blog post content (e.g. newsfeeds, feeds from favourite bloggers or social media sites etc) and create your own position on a subject or create something useful for your niche. The other is just a confirmation of what I already know around blog content. Leo Babauta from Zen Habits produced a post on www.problogger.net site where he shares his secret of how he attracted 12,000 readers for his blog, Zen Habits, and made it into the Technorati Top 500 in 5 months. Here is Leo’s secret:
“…create valuable content and good writing, and the readers will come. Content is king, as they say, and that should be the focus of all your efforts…”
Blog content is KING! A blog without content is like an electrical cable without a power source. Want readers and traffic? Then pay attention to your blog content. For me blog content does not, like others have come to understand, mean a post a day about what’s on my mind. I take time to consider what will be useful for my target audience and I pay some attention to what Google might want to see on my page (e.g. relevant keywords, appropriate keyword density, links to authoritative sites and links back to my page – because people want to link to your blog content if it has value and is useful).
Length and Frequency of Blog Posts
Something that many bloggers swear by is having the length of post between 500-800 words long, that the frequency of posting is 4-5 times a week, and to have not only a blog author but also several guest authors. In order to make a decision on these areas you need to look at what others are doing in your niche and consider how you can be both different and the same. I tend to write posts that are more comprehensive and less frequent as I believe that this marks me out in the niches that I post in. Also I take time to do research and carefully select who I want to link out to. This generally means that 8 times out of 10 I get to the first page in Google for at least one of my keywords. Whilst I can’t yet reveal the exact nature of my new blog here, I can tell you that I know what the site structure will look like which is a stepped change for me as I have in past developed blogs from a perspective of lets wait and see and grow a blog organically on impulse rather than upfront research.
Use Your Personal Voice To Differentiate Yourself In Your Niche
Aside from blog content there are a number of other ways which can help you to differentiate yourself. For instance Brian Klems has written an excellent article for www.writersdigest.com where he outlines 12 dos and don’ts of writing a blog . Here Brian suggests that we can differentiate ourselves by including personal voice, we can make our blog post easier to read by breaking up text into shorter paragraphs, adding sub headings and including images. We can add value by adding useful links and be more engaging by responding to blog comments (something I’m getting better at). In terms of increasing traffic we can post to a variety of social media sites.
Whilst it is tempting to emulating exactly what those who rank well for my target keywords are saying and doing, this is not a good long term goal for your or my blog because by doing this we’ll never stand out – especially in a packed niche. However, you need to strike a balance as there are certain things that successful blogs are doing that you should learn and integrate into your own blog.
Create Blog Titles And 1st Paragraphs That Are Exciting
In a thought provoking article entitled learn how to write great blog content on www.wpsite.net/ The author points out that visitors are likely to make judgements on our blog content in a matter of seconds. In the modern eWorld people don’t have time to read everything in order to make a judgement – they scan and either read further or move on. So it is important to have a great title and to have a first paragraph that is exciting and fresh to entice your reader to read on.
Make Your Blog Content Interesting
James Gurd has written an excellent article called How do you write good copy for your website . It is well worth reading the whole article. For me James highlights the importance for relevancy of content, the accuracy of content, the freshness of content and also importance of us making our content interesting – as the more interesting your content is, the more likely your customers will read it and absorb it. Furthermore James suggests:
“…using subtle techniques to keep people engaged with the content, such as using questions in the copy to increase engagement e.g. “Did you know that by using leather protector you extend the life of your leather furniture by at least 12 months?” and then following up with hard hitting copy and strong calls to action.”
So make sure that you build some time into your blog content writing process that gives you space to consider how you can grab your readers attention.
Encourage Debate On Your Blog
Ok, so we’ve established that it’s your content that will attract people to your blog. But once people do come what should you do to keep them coming back for more? In an article entitled 10 tips for writing good content and attracting readers on www.blogohblog.com there were two suggestions that rung true for me. Firstly, treat your readers like you care by acknowledging their presence and contributions and secondly use readers’ comments to continue and extend topic discussions. Your readers will appreciate you responding to their views, opinions and needs and have a reason to engage.
So what do you think? Are there qualities of good copy that you think I have not covered? Please drop by and share your comments and experiences – I am always picking up new techniques from my fellow bloggers and I’d encourage you to share examples of great blog content. Hopefully this blog has helped explain how you can enhance your blog content.
To Your Success
Howard Clemence
Professional Internet Marketing Coach
Author of How You Can Generate 50-100 Leads Per Day
http://tinyurl.com/3okcd9z
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