There are over 600 million blogs in the world today. Competition in the industry is getting more and more intense.
If you want to make your blog stand out from the crowd, you need to find a way to create the unique content of the highest quality.
Do you want to learn the secret of writing a blog post that drives traffic from day one? Keep on reading.
Choose the Right Topic to Discuss
Let’s clarify one important thing. If you want to increase your blog traffic, you can’t just choose any random topic related to your niche. You need to conduct research and find the topic that resonates with your target audience, and that is relevant to today’s events.
You need to discuss the issue users want to read about, not the issue you want to write about.
Here are five ways on how to figure out the topics your target audience wants to learn more about.
Conduct Keyword Research
One of the easiest ways to understand what type of content the target audience is looking for is to check keywords using tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, or Ahrefs.
Here is an example of how it works.
Let’s say you run a blog about homeschooling. You’re using Ubersuggest to check relevant keywords. The system provides you with the following results.
The keyword “homeschooling vs public school” is a high-traffic word with low competition, and it’s a great blog topic to cover. Use it to create a high-quality article. It will help you to get your blog to the top of Google search results and get the traffic you crave.
Analyze Social Media Trends
Another simple way to know what topics are trending on the web is to check social media. All you need to do is to click the “top” tab on Twitter or “explore” tab on Instagram. You will immediately see the posts people discuss and share the most.
Use BuzzSumo
Have you ever used BuzzSumo? You should definitely check out this online tool! It’s easy to use: enter your keyword, click the search button, and you will see the web’s most popular articles on the chosen topic. BuzzSumo will help you understand what topics are worth discussing and will motivate you to keep your blog running.
Take a look at the following screenshot. The best article related to homeschooling was shared more than 2 million times! Isn’t that inspiring?
Run a Survey
Do you have time and money to run a survey? That’s great. Design a simple survey to get to know what exactly your audience wants to read about.
You can use a survey platform or collect feedback on social media platforms. It’s up to you.
Review Frequently Asked Questions and Comments
Your readers ask you questions in comments, in direct messages, and via emails. You should analyze those questions meticulously to figure out what content your audience is looking for.
Is there any question that different people have asked you a bunch of times? This question is a perfect topic to cover.
Brainstorm Subtopic Ideas
There are two types of blog posts: the first one discusses the topic in general, the second one discusses a specific aspect of a chosen topic. General topics work only for big companies and the most popular blogs in the niche. Topic-specific posts work for all types of blogs, including the new ones.
Dozens of different bloggers have already discussed generalized topics. For this reason, competition between new and old blog posts is extremely high. And if you have just started your blog, you have little chance to get your article to the top of search results.
But if you choose a very specific topic, you increase your chances to succeed. You will compete with fewer blogs, and it means your article will more likely appear on the first page of Google.
Let’s take a look at the following example. If you cover the topic of “homeschooling” in general, you will have to compete with Wikipedia, Parents.com, well-known education institutions, and 96 million more websites.
Is there an outside chance that you will drive traffic to your blog? Nope. That will be nearly impossible.
But how will the situation change if you be more specific and compare the benefits of homeschooling with public school? Your article will compete with ordinary blogs similar to yours – you will get a real opportunity to get your blog to the top.
The rule of thumb is to choose specific topics, not the general ones. That’s the only right way to take your blog to the next level.
When creating content, aim for specific topics, not general ones. That's the best way to take your blog to the next level. Share on XTrigger the Reader’s Emotional Response
Whether you write about homeschooling, Bitcoin, or COVID-19, you need to add emotional appeal to your article. You should intrigue the readers, make them smile, get them angry, or trigger any other emotional response. By doing so, you will increase engagement and get people to read the entire post.
What is the best tactic to influence emotional response? It’s storytelling. Stories make any information interesting to read and easy to remember. By telling stories on your blog, you can connect to the readers’ background and feelings.
Sharing stories is a fundamental part of any existing culture. So whether you target a local or global audience, storytelling is a perfect writing tactic to use.
The vast majority of bloggers associate a story with a plot, characters, events, a theme, and a setting. However, a story is much more than that. Memory, value, dream, desire, or anything that holds meaning to the reader can be considered a story.
Improve Readability
You have chosen a good topic and written a captivating text. What should you do next? Now you should check the readability score and find out whether your article is easy to read. You can use the Hemingway App or any other app designed for this purpose.
Your task is to define the issues that worsen the text’s readability and fix them:
- Rewrite passive voice sentences
- Simplify or rewrite hard to read sentences
- Replace sophisticated words
- Eliminate wordy phrases
- Avoid excessive use of adverbs
Fix Bad Grammar
Do you proofread every article twice before publishing it only? That’s a must task for you.
Google doesn’t tolerate bad grammar, so you should be very careful with how you write. You should use proofreading services like TrustMyPaper or grammar checkers like Grammarly to ensure that your blog post is free from errors and typos.
Poor grammar may scare away not only Google crawlers, but also your blog visitors. So please, take proofreading seriously.
Write a Perfect Headline
Don’t underestimate the power of a well-written headline. If you choose the wrong headline, no one will want to visit your blog. But if you select an ideal title, the effect will be the opposite – you will attract readers to your blog even if the post itself will be not-that-perfect.
How to choose the right title? Here are four basic rules to follow:
- Avoid uncommon words
- Add one powerful word
- Keep the length of the headline around 55 characters or six words
- Use a keyword
If you want to boost your efforts, you can use a headline analyzer like CoSchedule – it will allow you to come up with a good title quicker.
Refresh Old Content
If you run your blog for a while, you likely have already published a few outstanding articles. Now you can reuse old articles to drive even more traffic to your blog.
Imagine the following situation. In 2019, you wrote a blog post titled “What is IGTV and how to use it.” That was one of the best posts you have ever published.
How can you take advantage of this piece of content in 2020? You can add a few new paragraphs to the body of the article and update the title: “How to use IGTV in 2020: Brilliant content ideas from brands.” Your old article will become relevant again, and it will attract new readers.
Be Consistent
Let’s face the truth. If you create one excellent post today and don’t post any updates on your blog for a month, you will not achieve the positive results in the long run.
To become successful, you need to be consistent and publishing new content regularly. That will allow you to grow your blog traffic and monetize your writing substantially.
Next Steps
When it comes to blogging, success never happens overnight. Get ready to work on your writing skills day by day: try new techniques, take advantage of modern tools, and be attentive to details. Readers will notice your efforts, and you will increase traffic to your blog.
Once you have your content created and are starting to get traffic, be sure to follow our content creation tips to boost website conversions.
by Ahoy
