When it comes to creating content to have on your blog, it’s important that you always do the proper research. As a content writer, it’s important that you’re able to educate your readers with the most up-to-date and factual information available on your chosen topic.
Here are some great techniques to follow as you begin brainstorming and, eventually, writing your first post and the many posts to follow.
Record Your Notes
Have a way to write down your notes as you research, even if you find yourself writing random fragments or snippets that make sense to no one but yourself. If you’re a bit lost on where you should be recording your notes, there are numerous options that you can choose from: If you prefer to take your take your blogging research notes on a computer, you have the option of Evernote, Microsoft Onenote, Google Docs, and the many other resources that are constantly popping up each day. If you prefer the more traditional way of recording your notes, pen and paper is always a great choice!
When doing your research, be sure to take special note of:
- links to outside sources you will use
- the title of the content
- any keyword phrase(s)
- related keywords
- any backlinks
Keyword Selection
Having the right keywords in mind when creating your content is very important when it comes to the ranking of your content within search engine results. Be sure to use keyword search tools, such as the ones provided by Google and other websites. You also have to be certain that the keyword phrase is in line with what your business does or the audience you’d like to target.
Validate Your Blogging Idea
Before you get too excited and wrapped up in creating your chosen blog post, you need to ask yourself…is my blog post idea actually all that interesting? To confirm that you’ve chosen the best topic possible, you want to start off looking at the blogs of other businesses in your same market. Are they posting about similar topics and if so, are those posts generating the type of traffic you consider positive? You want to ensure that your post is able to improve on the content already posted or provide a different point of view for your readers to consider.
Mine Your Content!
At this point in your research procedure, you should find yourself with relevant keywords as well as content you can add into your post. Now, it’s up to you to make your post stand out from existing posts that may cover the same topic. You can do this by writing a more detailed post or simply making sure you are able to provide different types of content within your post. This can include statistical data, infographics, videos, quotes, downloads, podcasts, and other numerous of types of content that you feel will provide the best information for your readers.
Quality = Quality
It’s easy to write quality blogging posts when you have quality research notes to refer back to. You’ll find that writing your posts will become easier as time goes on and your method of recording your research will become second nature.
– Marissa Katz
Sources:
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2013/01/keyword-selection-content-marketing-seo/
http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/research-blog-topics