I've just recently started blogging and it's a task to come up with new ideas each and every day. This has led me to wonder why some bloggers seem to turn out fresh material all the time while others struggle to come up with anything new. So here are 11 tips that help me and I am sure they will help you as well generate more blog content that will produce traffic.
1. Write about topics that interest you.
If you're not sure whether you'll be able to keep up the enthusiasm for whatever topic you choose, start out by thinking about topics that interest you most. If you don't enjoy what you're currently writing, then consider thinking up some new ideas for things you would really love to write about.
Here are some basic questions you can ask when considering whether to pursue an online business idea:
- What are your goals for your blog content?
- What topics will you discuss in your blog, what's your blog's purpose?
- What specific type of person do you want to reach out to?
If you answer these simple questions before you start any piece of content, you'll be able to focus on narrowing in on your style instead of squandering precious time deciding where and what topic to start your blog on.
2. Don’t write about things you don’t care about.
If you find yourself writing about something that doesn’t interest you, it could be difficult getting it into the hands of a potential reader who is passionate and you may not generate the amount of traffic you expected or desired to get.
You want to create content for the people who share the same passions as you. A general rule of thumb to keep is if you would not want to read what you wrote, then why would someone else?
3. Set yourself weekly goals.
Come up with a game plan to write a certain number of words per week. Basically, write down a list of things you need to accomplish each day or each week. Then break them into smaller tasks. You may not be able to get everything done in one sitting, so set yourself small achievable daily goals (e.g., 500 words per day) or weekly goals.
Another example is if you want to write 1,000 words every week, then come up with several ways to achieve that goal. One way might be writing for 30 minutes three times a week. You could consider writing a couple of articles during your lunch a few times a week. The key is to do whatever fits into your schedule and do whatever works best for you.
Writing goals set you up for success by keeping you focused and motivated throughout the entire writing process.
Some examples of goals include:
- Write one blog post per week
- Write two blog posts per month
- Write 30 blog posts in a year
These are just some examples. You can make your own goals depending on what you want to achieve.
4. Find a niche you are passionate about.
As an example, if you’re interested in healthy food or nutrition, start a blog about healthy recipes. Start slow. Writing is hard; we all know this. That’s why most people give up. But it takes time to build a good blog, and you can’t expect to put out great posts right away. A lot of blogs experience a lull period where they write nothing at all due to writer's block. The real challenge lies in sticking with it when times are tough.
Write. Write. Write. Writing requires patience, practice, and discipline. If you don't have the time or energy to sit down and write, then at least try typing or creating a list so that you can think through your ideas before writing them out. There is no such thing as a perfect writer. However, the more and more you write your writing will have major improvements.
5. Read. Read. Read.
Reading is essential for learning how to write. It's important to read before writing. One crucial and very important part of writing is reading. Being skilled as a person who can read well is an important part of becoming the best and most creative writer.
Reading gives you an idea of the way words are used; it helps you develop your vocabulary and learn about language, grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphs, chapters, etc.
It provides insight into the way people use language and allows you to improve your writing skills and understand better how others communicate and think. And as for whether it is worth doing, I think so.
6. Brainstorm ideas.
Brainstorm the list of potential solutions and pick one or two to research in more detail. You can then investigate and explore this idea even further.
While you're brainstorming, jot down anything that comes into your mind. You may find this technique helps when you've got too much information stored up in your head, so it's difficult to remember it all.
Take detailed notes and document all ideas. Choose some ideas to investigate further. Which do you want to study first? Remember to keep things simple at the beginning; use just one word or phrase. It can be quite hard to decide which is best until you get started.
As soon as you start thinking about something, write it down right away. Writing it down can help if your memory if you have issues remembering what to write.
For example, write down 'I think something good could come from...', or 'If I had an idea like this before, would it work?' Later on and make sure these notes are written down somewhere safe because they'll be useful when it comes time to choose what idea(s) to carry forward.
Try asking yourself questions because it helps you think. You'll want to ask yourself as many questions as you can about the topic you are writing about. And if answers start flooding into your head, write them down and any other thoughts you come across so you don't forget anything important!
I use two key apps which assist me in generating questions and topics. I use these all my copywriting and content creation. They are Frase and Rytr. These two SAAS's are very beneficial in any writing endeavor.
Use as many resources as possible, such as online databases (for example thefreedictionary.com or dictionary.com) and a dictionary, for definitions of words you don't know. Don't worry about your spelling being perfect – it's not! That doesn't matter because the point isn't to get everything right. It's just important to understand the basics so you're able to communicate effectively. Your key is to make sure each sentence in your blog makes sense.
After choosing your final topic, try making sure it’s one that people know something about already so they won't be surprised by anything new you say. As long as most people are already familiar, it’s likely that they will find it easier to understand than if it was completely new.
7. Create a schedule for your blog.
Be consistent with the time you spend on your blog posts. Consistency is key when writing for any audience. Being consistent with your posting times keeps readers interested in your content and it ensures you have regular readers. Your engagement and your consistency are equivalent. More than likely if you show me a blog that is consistent and posting regularly the blog will have high engagement.
If you post at the same time every day, then readers know when they can expect to see new content. Regular posting means people will know exactly when they will be able to read your content. This is also one of the fastest ways your community will be informed about any updates you perform to your blog. Accomplishing this not only assist with people returning to your blog, but it also generates new blog readers as well.
If you post frequently, then search engines like Google will be able to see which posts get the most views and thus rank them better than others. In other words, posting multiple times per day is also good for SEO – for ALL search engines because they like to keep track of what gets popular so they can rank those pages higher in search results.
Don't get too carried away by trying by going overboard and trying to be excessive. Remember to always keep things as simple as possible.
Don't rush your entries. You want to give yourself enough time between each entry to make sure that everything you write is high quality. Remember, if there are too many posts, some may end up being subpar and below-average and the others might get marked as spam by Google.
8. Use social media.
You can utilize social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google+ are great places to promote your blogs. It's one of the easiest ways to increase your blog traffic. These platforms allow users to follow other people who share their interests and create groups based on specific topics. Engaging in these platforms can be very beneficial. You can post messages about related topics, as well as invite others to chime in on the discussion as well.
And you can also get other people to share your links on their own websites, Facebook pages, Instagram Profiles, Twitter accounts, or any Social media profiles. You pretty much just have people link back to your content. The method of sharing links is defined as “link sharing” and it's called “link sharing” for a certain reason. It is the practice of linking to another website in order to increase traffic to your own site. When people share your content, it helps give them some link juice — or reputational boost — which makes them more likely to share your future content in return.
You can also ask readers to sign up for automatic and regular updates from your blog by offering an RSS feed at its URL. The same goes for tweets: ask followers to follow you via @reply and give them a quick summary of what you're writing about. When tweeting, don't just tweet; reply to people who retweet you. Give them a short summary of what you wrote. To learn how to create great titles for your articles, check out our guide to publishing on websites like Medium and Quora.
In summary, you shouldn't just rely on one source for trying to reach a new audience and gain more blog readers. You should use multiple methods to spread the word about your blog. This will increase the credibility and the reputation of your blog.
9. Start a contest for your blog.
Running contests on your blog is an excellent way to get more people to read your content. A blog contest is a great way to increase your blog traffic and get more people on your blog. It also helps you to generate more content for your website.
It’s great when a visitor wins because they now have something fun to share with their friends and family. They are reminded of you and your blog when they use the prize they won from the contest.
There are many different types of contests and various ways of organizing them so it is important to be creative and use your imagination. One of the most popular contests is the giveaway contest. Start a giveaway contest for your blog or company by asking your followers to submit their ideas for a given topic and the winner will receive a prize.
Alternatively, you can ask people to comment, post shares or tweets on social media, subscribe/like the post and so on. You could also have your readers enter by commenting on a specific blog post or suggesting a particular task they want to be completed. Something else you could do would be to ask your followers to vote on which blog post they like best and the winner will receive a prize as well.
You could promote the contest on your own social media, by sending an email to your own personal email list, or both to get more submissions and votes.
Contests are an excellent way to get more followers, who will share your content on social media and spread the word about you.
10. Join an affiliate program.
When you find ways to grow your audience, you will make money as a blogger. One way to make money even with a smaller audience is through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing involves partnering with brands to promote their products using paid advertising spaces on your website—an example of this would be to put an image that links to an affiliate product on any page on your blog site. When visitors click on the ad, you'll receive a commission percentage of the total cost of the purchase. Usually, this strategy takes a while to build before you can generate a substantial income. However, there’s no cap on how much you could earn, especially since affiliates generally receive 25% commissions on sales.
There are two main types of commissions affiliate programs offer. One-time commissions and/or recurring commissions? With one-time commissions, you only get paid one time for sending a customer to a product. On the other hand with recurring commissions, some programs like membership sites require you to become an active member (which is where the real money comes in). Some companies will compensate you based on the number of e-books you sell.
If you are unsure of what type of blog to start you might want to consider creating one around affiliate marketing. You can then make money from advertising other people's products and also make money from people promoting your own personal products. As mentioned before there are various ways you can promote affiliate products, directly through the blog itself, or by getting visitors to click on links that lead them directly to an affiliate product page.
To learn more about affiliate marketing check out this article.
11. The Art of Commenting
Remember to leave comments on others' blog posts and request them to comment on yours. The blog commenting section is one of the most popular aspects of blogging. When it comes to blog commenting, there are some good practices that you should follow. First of all, do not spend too much time on a single blog post. The more you comment on others' blogs and provide feedback for them, the better your post will look in the eyes of search engine crawlers. When you make a comment, make sure you add your personal opinion and not just facts or links to other posts.
An example comment you could leave about this blog would be---I like how this section is about blogging without focusing only on blogging platforms like WordPress.com and Blogger.com. It focuses more broadly on writing blogs in general and gives some good tips about what we should keep in mind when we're commenting on others' blogs.
Commenting on other blogs allows you to share your thoughts and opinions with another community, but it also gives you the opportunity to strengthen your network of like-minded readers. This will help you become more familiar with blogging and how to write comments. You’ll also discover the mentality of and understand their thought process, which in return will make your blog posts even better.
Some professionals don't like commenting because they feel that it takes too much time away from their writing; here are some guidelines to follow so that you can get the most out of commenting and effectively engage with writers and readers alike:
-Comment in moderation.
-Find a relevant blog post
-Read the post completely
-Understand the author's point by reading between lines and analyzing the structure of what was written
-Leave a meaningful comment
-Stay away from spam
-Use a name not easily found online
After you've commented on a few different blogs, you'll realize that not everyone appreciates criticism—and that's okay! Sometimes people see things differently and that's just fine. But at least try to give constructive criticism instead of simply blasting someone down. While you can't always change someone else's mind, you can help them improve by giving suggestions and offering alternatives.
Blog comments are a critical part of blogging. They help to establish credibility and authority on the blogosphere. Bloggers get feedback from their readers on what they should be talking about or doing more of and get free content ideas or inspiration for their next blog post.
Conclusion
Before you start writing, it’s important to know what you’re going to talk about. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of creating a new blog. But before you dive into it, you need to figure out what you actually care about. What things drive you and what are you truly passionate about. Do you love dogs? Are you a fan of science fiction? Or maybe you just enjoy reading about personal finance? Whatever your interests are, chances are someone else has the same too.
The topic you choose to write about does not necessarily need to be super specific, but it needs to be something you feel passionate about. There are plenty of resources online to help you get started. So if you're looking to only share your thoughts with friends and family or you want to generate passive income by sharing your expertise with others, blogging is a great way to go.
After deciding on a topic, you'll want to find a niche for your blog. After that, you need to identify a blogging platform. In which there are a plethora of options. A few you might want to consider are WordPress.com, Wix.com, and Clickfunnels. Each of them has its own benefits so you can pick one based on how you like using the site.
To create a successful blog, you'll also need to find a good domain name. You'll likely want to choose a short URL that's not taken already, as well as a keyword-rich subdomain such as "blog.yoursite.com". If you've decided you'd like people to come to your blog through a search engine, you will probably want a ".com" address. If you don't mind paying a little more, think about purchasing a ".net" address as well.
If you follow these steps it will ensure you are off on the right path with your blog creation.
Are there any bloggers reading this? Leave me a comment below.