So you’ve started a blog, (or you’re planning on it). What’s the first thing you need to do? You may think making your theme look amazing or some other technical backend task. But you’d be wrong! The first thing you need is to create blog content!
(If you haven’t started your blog yet, you can start one right here! Plus I’ll walk you through the steps on how to set up your new blog!)
If you’ve heard the phrase content is king, there’s a reason for that. Because obviously that’s what’s gonna bring people to your site! And if you want email subscribers or to monetize your site, you need to create blog content to do those things.
But how do you make sure you’re writing content that will intrigue people to read what you’ve written or to keep them coming back?
Or what if you have started writing content for your blog, but you aren’t getting the traffic you’d hoped for?
Or what if you’re feeling stuck or unmotivated when you sit down to write your posts?
Check out these 9 tips to help you create blog content that will keep your readers coming back for more!
No Fluff
-Don’t feel like you have to write a certain amount of words because everyone else tells you google likes long posts or readers like short posts. Google generally does like long content because it signifies that you’ve gone into depth on the topic. If you can expand on a topic, (especially tutorials, step-by-step instructions, or just a very thorough explanation) then go for it!
But to try to sit and write an exact amount of words can sometimes do a disservice to you because you may feel like you have to add extra words just to get to a certain word count. Or you may think your post with 600 words will never do well on Google so you hold off on publishing it or promoting it.
Your content should contain the amount of words you need to solve your audiences problem. Don’t fluff up your posts just to reach a certain amount of words. Your readers will be happier to have their problem solved clearly rather than having to wade through a bunch of extra fluff to find their answer.
Stick To One Topic
-In your post make sure you are talking about one main topic. If you find yourself with several main topics, choose the one that you can go the most in depth about. If you find yourself with several big main topics, (that you can really elaborate on) you can turn it into a blog series!
Write To One Person
-When writing, don’t try to include everyone because it won’t resonate with anyone. I made this mistake when I first started blogging and thankfully I didn’t publish any before I learned this trick! When I went back to fix those posts, they were so generic that no one would think, oh yea I totally relate to that!
No one will feel connected to what you wrote because you were too broad. When you are talking to a specific person, that person will connect with you on a deeper level because you get them. Don’t worry about being too inclusive with who you’re writing to because you want the people who read your content to be raving fans! If they love what you wrote, they will very likely come back to read more or sign up to be on your email list or buy what you are selling because they trust you.
Also other people who relate to that topic will find you too, even if you gear it towards one specific person. For example, my blog is geared towards single moms raising biracial kids. However not every single mom who reads my blog is raising biracial kids and not every mom with biracial kids who reads my blog is a single mom. Yet they can relate to specific topics I write about and it keeps them coming back to my site, or to sign up for my newsletter.
Break It Up
-Break up your content into small digestible chunks. Since so many people read content on their phones, short paragraphs work best. Long paragraphs are visually challenging on cell phones and also most people skim articles. If they see a bunch of big paragraphs that aren’t broken up at all, they probably won’t make the effort to read it. You can also use headings, bullet points, or numbers to help break up your content as well.
Research
-You’ll want to do some research to figure out what people want to read about. Some new bloggers think they want to be different so they are going to write about more unique topics. That approach might get you traffic, but it might not.
You want a clear cut plan for what to write about that you know people are already interested in! Now I’m not talking about copying anyone’s post! (Don’t do that!!) But you can get an idea based on the titles you see during your search and put your own spin on it.
An easy way to do this is through Pinterest. You can type a subject in the search bar and look at the keywords that come up. Those keywords are what people search the most for under that subject. You can also use Google’s predictive text to see what people search the most for.
Keep It Evergreen
-Seasonal content is great and you can definitely include it because it can give you a nice boost of traffic during that specific season. However, you want to make sure most of your stuff is evergreen, (content that is useful at any time of the year) especially when you’re first starting out.
Make Your Content About Them
-If you’re worried about getting too personal, don’t be! I was really worried about this initially because I’m such a private person. But then I realized that you don’t even want to make yourself the center of your post! Actually it’s the opposite. You want to make sure you are making your reader the focus of the post. Of course sprinkling in a little bit of your story is good for allowing your audience to connect with you, but keep it about them.
Stay True To You
-You want to write your posts how you talk. Initially that can be hard because a lot of people are used to writing like how they wrote papers in school. Don’t feel like you have to write “big” words, write scholarly articles, or be grammatically correct. Writing how you talk is what gets people to come back and read more because your personality resonates with them.
Engage Your Readers
-One way to keep readers engaged from the start, is by asking a compelling question or telling a compelling story at the beginning of your post. They are more likely to keep reading because you’ve sucked them in!
It’s Time To Take Your Content Creation Skills To The Next Level!
-Now that you have those tips you are off to a great start with writing your content! But what if you could learn how to write quality content, really fast? My course, Create Quality Content Quickly, is designed to help you get your content written fast while showing you how to alleviate writers block, frustration, and lack of motivation in your writing process.
No more taking hours to complete a post, or sitting in front of a blank screen because you can’t figure out what to write or how to continue writing!
Think about what you’ll gain by writing your content quickly?
You can complete more posts in a shorter time, which means more traffic to your site.
More content means you can earn more money with your ad and affiliate revenue.
More content means more ways to make sales on your products.
More content means more ways to get people onto your email list.
Less time spent writing content means more time you can spend on other aspects of your business, with your family or on your personal life!
You can check out the course here!
