If you’re running your own blog, the first thing to you need to know is that the competition is huge. Enormous, in fact. Just check this out.
And if you plan to stand out by dealing with topics nobody has covered yet, think again, because there’s probably no such topic.
Whatever you had in mind, just Google it and you’ll see that tons of online material on the subject already exist.
The only way to get noticed is simply to make better content than the others. And, if you’re pretty sure that your content is awesome, a very good way to check if this is actually true is to ask yourself these few questions.
For obvious reasons, your expertise on the matter you write about is crucial.
Having a flashy writing style isn’t enough – all the linguistic flamboyance in the world doesn’t mean much if you’re simply not knowledgeable and experienced enough in the niche you’re dealing with.
Therefore, choose your topics carefully. Don’t worry, you don’t have to have a PhD on a particular subject to be able to write about it, especially given that you’re expected to do some research prior to writing your blog anyway.
But having at least a decent understanding of the matter will help you direct your research and come up with ideas that will be relevant and interesting to your potential audience.
There are not only countless ways to organize a blog post, there are countless good ways to organize a blog post.
There’s no specific formula – there are certain people that claim to have discovered a rough outline that normally works, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that will work for you too.
The way you structure your posts depends on your niche, your target audience, your goals, and, at the end of the day, your writing style.
A rigid, monotonous and predictable structure won’t do much good for a funny article about a comedy show.
On the other hand, a spontaneous and nonchalant approach to structuring your text is not the best idea if you’re writing about liquidity management for businesses.
You have to adapt and to know what you’re doing in advance. The most important thing is that your article has a flow, that there’s a logical succession of thoughts and ideas in its core.
This means that no matter what you write about, you’ll have to have some sort of a plan and some sort of idea what the blog post will look like in the end. But the way you organize your blogs is up to you, really.
[clickToTweet tweet="Here are 8 questions to ask yourself to check whether your blog content is as awesome as you think." quote="Here are 8 questions to ask yourself to check whether your blog content is as awesome as you think."]
We live in the horrible era of clickbait and flashy and aggressive headlines.
The awful truth is that you will have to adapt to this to a certain extent.
This doesn’t mean surpassing the limits of good taste, but it does mean you have to pay attention not just to the usefulness or relevance of a headline, but also to its appeal to the wider audience.
Of course, you should make sure that the title is actually related to the content if you want to protect the credibility of your blog, but in general, try thinking outside the box and put in that little extra effort when coming up with provoking and engaging headlines for your posts.
This clearly depends largely on the subject matter of your blog.
It’s easier to be understandable if you’re writing about yesterday’s basketball game than if you run a blog on quantum electrodynamics.
However, whatever your article is about, at least try to make it sound as intelligible as possible for the laymen.
You don’t have to sacrifice the accuracy or depth of your insights, but making a bit of a balance by adding a real-life feeling to them with real-life examples and real-life illustrations could attract people other than experts in the field to read and appreciate the content.
If you don’t, you should start doing it. Really, it’s as simple as that.
The way the word “relevant” is used here is basically “relevant for the people”, so this question is about how many people see your topics or your ideas as interesting and important.
A certain post or a subject can be relevant to yourself or to a certain population or can even have relevant real-life consequences but, in the world of blogging, being relevant comes down to being relatable and significant for a certain number of people.
Try connecting what you write about to current events and important ongoing debates and discussions. If you’re unsure about what’s relevant, there are ways to check the public opinion on this issue.
It’s not difficult to find people who get paid to take surveys online and who can help you – just ask them what they think about the relevance of your article or topics you want to write about and you’ll get the answer in no time.
Remember that, most of the time, it’s absolutely enough to state something just once.
Naturally, if the point you’re trying to prove or explain is especially tricky or important, rephrasing it once or twice in order to make it more comprehensible is just fine. But don’t repeat the same thing over and over again, since that’s very tiring to read and your audience will start losing patience.
When you read an article, you expect it to guide you somewhere and to always bring you to new points, so if you just repeat the same thoughts without adding any new value, people won’t continue to read it because they’ll see it as a waste of time.
Avoid all kinds of repetitions, both in phrases you use and in ideas you explore.
[clickToTweet tweet="So, you think you have awesome content on your blog? Read this post to find out if you really do." quote="So, you think you have awesome content on your blog? Read this post to find out if you really do."]
No matter how self-confident you are about your writing, double-checking what you wrote is an absolute must.
The process of writing normally absorbs you completely, and you need to read your article from a certain distance and from a kind of a third-person perspective in order to be able to judge it properly.
When it comes to spelling, simple spell checkers will usually do the trick, but you still have to stay alert because a spell checker can’t predict whether you confused some words or misused them.
Carefully read your post in one go, from beginning to the end, to check for all sorts of errors and to check whether it has a natural flow in terms of logic and language, as well as to verify if your points are clear enough. There’s no excuse for being sloppy and lazy when it comes to this.
All in all, there’s definitely no recipe for creating perfect content – just a very loose set of strategies that can help you write a decent blog post when used wisely.
Adapt the content to your niche, as well as your desired audience and try building and developing your own style.
Read other successful bloggers in your field regularly, not in order to copy them, but simply to get some ideas and perhaps pick up a few tricks that you can implement in your own way.
Keep yourself well-informed and up-to-date with current events, try new things, experiment, and be ready to learn every single day.
The best of luck.
About the author
My name is Alex Williams. I am a journalism graduate and a rookie blogger trying to find my luck. Blogs are the perfect opportunity for presenting yourself to a wider audience, getting the chance to showcase my expertise and receiving recognition. I am a regular contributor to Bizzmark Blog. You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.
