Have you ever stopped to think about how much content there is on the internet? Well, according to data from 2016, there are at least 1.6 billion websites out there. That’s a whole lot of blog content. If you’re a new blogger, trying to compete as the internet becomes more saturated by the minute may seem hopeless. I mean, how can you seriously expect to compete against billions of other websites? Well, whatever you do, don’t get discouraged. The reality is that the vast majority of the websites out there offer little value to their readers. That being said, you can succeed if you create the best blog content out there. Naturally, this is easier said than done. Creating above-average content will be a significant investment of your time. However, the rewards are well worth the effort.
Without further adieu, here are a few tips on how to create the best blog content ever.
1.) Research your topic before you start writing to create the best blog content
Before you start drafting your blog content, you need to take a look at the other content in your niche. Try to identify what is working for the thought leaders in your field. Once you have an idea of what the big dogs are doing, it’s time to develop your own gameplan.
One of the best ways to start your blog content is to conduct a keyword analysis. There are a number of tools out there that can help you figure out the best keywords to go after. One of my personal favorites is Google Keyword Planner. Wordtracker and MOZ are both solid options too if you’re willing to pay.
Once you have a list of potential keywords to go after, filter out any non-relevant keywords from your list. You’ll also want to remove any keywords that have no search volume or seem too competitive to rank. The remaining keywords on your list are the ones that you’ll want to target with your blog content. It’s important to remember that keyword research is going to take some time if you don’t employ the right tools.
You’ll start to see results for monthly volume, competition, keyword difficulty, and more after you conduct a keyword search.
Research your competition to produce the best blog content
Once you know the keywords for which you want to rank, it’s time to identify your competition. You can do so by searching with the keywords you’ve selected and then analyzing their blog content.
There are a few key elements you want to be mindful of while doing your pre-writing research:
- How detailed is the existing content in your niche? You want to look at both the length of the content and the amount of research involved.
- Do any of the other writers have professional experience in the field?
- How many resources do other writers link to?
- How long do you think they spent crafting each post?
You can use existing content as a baseline. However, you can’t expect to create the best blog content around by rehashing other posts in a 500-word post.
You’ll need to study your niche in great detail. In addition to reviewing other articles, you may want to consider connecting with actual experts.
2.) Identify the best way to provide value to your audience
It’s difficult to compete with other content leaders on their own terms. This is especially true if they have professional training or formal schooling in your niche. Whatever you do – don’t get discouraged. You can likely find a way to provide more value through an original angle for your content.
Here’s how you can accomplish this task on your way to producing the best blog content. Brainstorm the different ways that you can add value for your readers. There are likely a number of angles that you haven’t yet considered. If you need even more ideas or are simply at a loss for talking points, start searching through Google. At the bottom of every search, Google provides a wide range of ‘related’ search results that users frequently search for.
The type of content that will earn the most traction depends on the audience that you are targeting. Every demographic has different needs, so you will need to take those into consideration. For example, if you’re targeting college students, then content revolving around saving money will most likely resonate with them. A blog geared towards middle-aged parents will likely thrive with content about enhancing their financial stability and preparing for retirement.
You don’t always need to target your audience based on their age, gender, or income profiles. Instead, you can focus on their subject matter knowledge or the type of problem they face in your niche. This is why many Internet marketing blogs are dedicated to educating their audience.
You may happen to find that the audience you initially intended to write for isn’t the one you’re actually attracting. This isn’t all too common, but it isn’t unheard of. You’ll want to be mindful of this possibility and adjust your writing style as needed.
3.) Start writing the best blog content ever
At this point, you’ve researched the landscape and identified the demographic you want to target. Now it’s time to stop analyzing and start writing.
It’s not a bad idea to use your competitor’s blog posts as a general template. However, don’t limit yourself to mirroring their style. After all, doing so would mean that you’d only share the title for the best content around with your competitors. In all honesty, you should draft content that provides more value and goes into greater detail. You’ll likely find that many of your competitors rank with articles that are only a few hundred words long. This is likely due to a high domain authority or getting lucky with a few keywords.
If you really want to delve into the world of aggressive content creation & SEO, then you should try a tool like BuzzSumo. A tool such a BuzzSumo provides you with top-ranking, performing & shared content for whatever you might seek at any given moment. Furthermore, it also provides you with the tools & features to reverse engineer the process. This combination of features ultimately allows you to create the best content possible.
Dealing with the competition
In order to outrank some of the top sites online, you’ll need to seriously raise the bar. This is especially true if you’re running a younger blog and have a smaller digital footprint with Google. Brainstorm ways that you can create longer posts without watering down your site with thin content. Many bloggers are hyperfocused on rankings and forget to consider what visitors do once they’re on your site. Doing so can prove to be detrimental to your growth.
It doesn’t matter if you’re creating content or improving the overall user experience, always keep your readers’ needs in mind. Doing so is essential to the overarching growth of your site. Furthermore, this will also garner you more return visitors and earn more backlinks. It all really boils down to creating content that solves complex problems in more depth and detail than other bloggers.
Lastly, make sure your posts are properly cited with links to authoritative sources. Doing so proves that you did your research
4.) Go live and promote your fresh post!
So it’s been a few months since you launched your blog and you have a dozen, or so, stellar posts. Great! However, you’re frustrated because nobody is visiting your blog. If creating above-average content is so essential, shouldn’t your blog have taken off by now? I hate to break it to you, but the short answer here is simply – no.
Creating great content is extremely important. However, it will only become an asset if your audience can find it.
There are a number of different avenues when it comes to promoting your content. I could actually develop an entire guide on content promotion…or I could just point you to this awesome post by Buffer. I mean, why reinvent the wheel when it’s already pretty awesome? Seriously though, Buffer hit a walk-off home run with this post.
Once your content is ready for the public eye, you need to start promoting it ASAP. Share it to Facebook, Reddit, StumbleUpon & every other social network with which you have an account. You also want to make darn sure that you share your best content with your email list!
Marketing is an essential component of successful blogging. In all honesty, you’ll likely spend more time marketing your content than you do to create it. This may seem like a daunting idea, but fear not – your blog will gain traction with time.
5.) Expand your marketing with manual outreach
Social media marketing is a great first step when it comes to getting the word out about your awesome content. However, you can gain a lot more traction by collaborating with other thought leaders. Try reaching out to other bloggers via email to see if they’ll link to any of your best resources. This is a trend that many site owners & bloggers are seeing lately with 404 broken link building requests.
This method works well, but it’s very time-consuming. However, when done right and you clearly showcase your value, you can likely land a link in an upcoming post.
Guest blogging is another great way to improve your reach. In order to play with the major players, you need to act like the major players. That being said, don’t be afraid to pitch an idea to a few of the major content producing hubs. You’ll likely get a lot of rejections. However, the potential benefits far outweigh a handful of denials. The trick to landing a guest blogging invite is to produce stellar content for your own blog. The big dogs are chomping at the bit to forge a relationship with a strong blogger with a star-studded track record.
Creating great content is a BIG investment, but the payoff is even bigger!
The art of blogging is becoming harder and harder with each passing day. Part of this increased level of difficulty is due to the oversaturation of the landscape. However, the more prominent factor is Google. It seems that Google becomes pickier every day about the types of posts it will rank in the SERPs. Furthermore, readers are becoming more attuned and demand better content.
In all actuality, this is a good thing. It means that you’ll have a better chance of ranking if you focus your efforts on publishing rock-solid content. After all, strong content yields far better results than the latest black hat ranking tactics.
Stick to the steps outlined above and your blog is destined for some degree of success.
