How do you develop good content for your blog?
In this week's collaborative, we have gathered three experts to give advice on how to create and continue to create good content. Here is what they had to say:
Write with Perspective
Pierce Nahigyan is the Content Manager at Benchmark Email, an international email marketing service provider for small businesses.
The internet is a treasure house of information. The wealth of data is so vast that it is very easy to get overloaded, dismayed, delighted and distracted by the easy access to the nigh-infinite library of articles, videos and point-and-click games, among a host of other diverting miscellany that the internet provides. So bear that in mind when you create your content.
Your readers have a free ticket to the speeding bullet train of sights and sounds in their computers and smartphones. What you have is an agenda. When your reader steps up to the platform, they may have a general idea of where they’re headed, or maybe none at all. Cater your website to the readers who will benefit from your content, but do not neglect this latter segment; they will be the ones to find you in their general browsing.
The way to gain readers’ attentions in this constantly shifting panorama is by staying current with its most popular and well-traveled channels. Follow what’s trending on your social media. Subscribe to your competitors’ RSS feeds. Do not wait for the hits to happen.
You must evolve and adapt with the shifting system, use the vast resources that are available to you and contact experts for guest content, report on your industry’s breaking news, and do not for a moment forget that you are a part of a very big system that owes you nothing. Make your content worth something.
Make Your Content Easy to Read
Nate Trimmer is a Co-Founder of Omnibeat. As a social media enthusiast with a background in organizational development and computer technology, he strives to help businesses understand and embrace social media.
Is your content scannable? Can your readers easily skim through your post?
When developing and writing blog articles, ensuring your good content is scannable is hugely
important. Let’s face it, online readers are busy and they are being pulled in a few thousand directions each day. Most people read the screen by scanning the page for words and phrases that catch their eye.
Techniques to Make your Content Scannable:
Optimizing your article for easy reading will help the reader absorb your message among in the new internet full of perpetual distraction. Here are a few techniques to capture your reader:
- Formatting – Use bold, CAPTIALS, italics, and underlining to emphasize your points.
- Space – Don’t work to fill the entire screen, instead create blank space to give the reader’s eyes an opportunity to see what you want them to see.
- Photos – Readers love pictures, position them near your main points to draw the reader in.
- Lists – bullet point lists provide great information and get linked to more often than posts in essay form of similar length.
- Short Paragraphs – one or two sentence paragraphs provide succinct information and are often welcomed by article readers.
Employing these few extra steps will make your content scannable thereby ensuring your readers get more out of the post.
Understand Who Your Audience Is
Nelson Ta is the Content Editor and lead blogger for Omnibeat. As a social media enthusiast with an extensive background in writing, he strives to help businesses and people understand the latest trends in social media, technology, and marketing.
Similar to your business, your blog is here to satisfy a need and to fill a niche. You exist because someone needs your help and your expert opinion can help guide them through a specific process. The key to creating good content is to understand who your customer is and what they need from you.
It may be hard to notice, but most of what you need is right in front of you. Social Media has made it increasingly easy for businesses to understand what their customers want.
Use your Facebook or Twitter to reach out to them and ask questions. Be interactive. Be social. Facebook allows users to post polls and questions. Utilize these nifty tools to engage with your fans. The first key to success is understanding your audience.
Listen to what they have to say and address the problems. Creating content isn’t necessarily about providing constant updates within a certain field. No matter what field you are in, whether it be dentistry, insurance, or construction, there are lingering questions that consumers have that you most likely know the answer.
In a world where technology and the internet have changed the environment, the search engine is the hub for all information. Just try to get into the shoes of an average person and asks: “What kind of questions would I have? What is a common problem? How would I phrase it?
If you can answer these questions, then you can create great informative content, and also content that has SEO value.
Address the Needs
Frank Kenny is an author and leading Social Media consultant and expert for chambers. Visit him at his website to learn more about what he does.
What do you think of these tips? Are there any other content generating ideas? Leave your comments and suggestions below.
