There are so many reasons why some people succeed in blogging as a business, while others don’t – there is a secret! Good Content!!!
Yes, I know that I just said it! Content is truly the foundation of your blog and not the entire structure, but honestly speaking, the strength of your blog relies on the quality of your content, as well as the type of content you are offering.
When you are just starting out as a blogger, it’s easy to slap up content quickly, and then focus most of your time on driving traffic to your website. Far too many bloggers fail to realize that the driving force behind creating powerful traffic funnels that consist of repeat visitors relies exclusively on the quality of the content you offer.
If you focus first on building pages that feature informative, in-demand, relevant and targeted content, your blog will have stronger legs to stand on. That killer content will empower your traffic building campaigns and ensure that once you have sent a visitor to your website, they will connect with your content, respond to your content, and return to your website.
Makes sense, right?
You want your website visitor’s to be so impressed by the content on your blog that they immediately bookmark your website; so that they can return to it, again and again. You gotta hook ‘em quickly, and preferably on their very first visit.
So, what kind of content is most successful?
The kind of content that solves a problem or entertains them (your audience).
Consider your target audience, and what they are most interested in, worried about, or passionate about. Content that is designed to fulfill a need, answer a question, solve a problem or entertain a specific audience is always successful. And if you explore many established blogs in your market, you’ll find that their content always falls within one (or both) of these two “E” categories: Educational or Entertaining.
When you focus on creating content that falls into one of these categories, you’ll end up with material that is “sticky”, meaning that your readers will respond to your content and return to your website because it speaks directly to them, is engaging and on target.
In other words, BULLSEYE!
You’ll also want to make sure that your content is evergreen. What I mean by this is that your content will continue to be relevant for months, or years to come, rather than just useful or informative for a short span of time. While it’s smart to use current, buzzworthy news (that may be based on time-sensitive events) to drive in traffic, make sure that the majority your content is evergreen.
Pro Tip: Search websites like Quora.com for commonly asked questions in your niche and create blog posts that answer those burning questions! This is also a great way to come up with headlines for your articles and blog posts.
Your content also needs to be shareable. You want visitors to link to your content, share it via social media, or forward it to their friends. Consider integrating infographics or videos into your content so it stands out. Anything you can do to be different that will capture attention quickly is important.
Insider Strategy: One quick and easy way to create shareable content is by using the powerful WordPress plugin, PostGopher. I’ve used this on many websites in order to give my visitors the opportunity to create downloadable PDF’s out of my content. What better way to connect with readers and remind them of my website than by letting them download my content so they can read it later!
You can grab the plugin from http://www.PostGopher.com
Go ahead and do that now before you move on. It’s one of the easiest ways to maximize exposure and keep your blog in the front of your visitor’s mind.
You’ll also want to blog frequently. Try to post 2-3 times a week, if possible, especially when you are just starting out and your website lacks content. The major search engines love fresh content so the more often you update your website, the better.
Pro Tip: Aim for 1,000 words or more when creating blog posts. The search engines prefer longer content. 2000-2500 words are even better.
Now, I’m going to mention a dirty word and I don’t want you to throw your hands up in the air frantically, okay? The word is an important one when it comes to creating content that will pull in a ton of traffic from all of the major search engines.
You know what word I’m talking about! Keywords!
Keywords are the fundamental component of an effective search engine optimization strategy when done right. And while SEO has gotten a bad rap over recent years because of bloggers stuffing keywords into their content (to the point where it becomes virtually unreadable), if keywords are used correctly they become incredibly effective at helping your blog rank higher in the search engines, which in turn means maximum exposure.
I’ll give you the quick rundown on how to use keywords successfully in the next post, so don’t skip it! This next bit of information is caffeine for your blog.