What’s your niche?
If you haven’t already, spend some time identifying the objectives and purpose of writing your blog. Also consider the topics you have experience and expertise in. Your niche lies at the intersection of these areas.
While it can be tempting to try to be all things to all people, niching your blog content will help you develop a loyal readership base.
As people come to learn that they’ll receive relevant information when they visit your site, your community will start to grow, and the interaction between you and your readers via feedback and comments will start to bear fruit.
Solve their problems
You want people to come back to your blog regularly, and they’ll do that if they value your content.
In many cases people will become regular visitors if your blog posts provide them with answers, results, benefits or food for thought about the problems and challenges they face.
What benefits will your clients receive from reading your blog? What will keep them coming back day after day to learn from you?
For example, if you’re a boat trailer company your readers may look at your blog to find out how they can maintain their trailers outside of the boating season. Other relevant topics may include where the best local boat ramps are, safety considerations when taking boats away on holidays, and how to keep the kids happy when you’re out boating or fishing. The key here is to provide information that your competitors aren’t bothering to share or explore with their clients.
Mix things up
While sticking to your niche, aim to keep your blog topics as varied as you can. Building a successful blog won’t happen overnight, so you’ll want to make sure that as the author, you have enough blog content within you to really explore your area of interest. If you feel you might not, then consider other sources you can use to glean content and inspiration from.
While it’s true that readers are looking for great, relevant content when scanning blogs, bear in mind that the specific content that meets their needs will vary from reader to reader, and will also depend on what they’re looking for at that specific time.
It’s similar to a film review; a movie you think is fantastic may not be appealing at all to the person sitting beside you – or perhaps they’re just not in the mood for it.
Don’t think of this as an obstacle. Instead consider it permission to start blogging today, rather than holding back waiting for inspiration about the perfect blog content or ideas to appear.
Test, test and re-test
Blogging is about creating a community that wants to communicate with you. If readers aren’t commenting regularly on your blog, then you need to take some time to identify what isn’t hitting the spot.
What do you need to do to engage with those who are following you and your blog and encourage them to participate in the conversation?
Even if you don't get a response after your first, fifth, or tenth post, remember that every post is a new day! Don't get caught up in trying to be the next literary genius, or trying to make it perfect. Just be natural, in the chosen voice of your business.
Identifying what works for your readers takes research, some experimentation, time, and plenty of testing and measuring. With every new insight you gain, you’ll be able to evaluate your blog and tweak your approach. Over time, you’ll become more and more skilled at hitting your target.
How’s your blogging going? What blog content is working for you? Please share your experiences with us below.
“ Even if you don't get a response after your first, fifth, or tenth post, remember that every post is a new day! ”
Deb Pilgrim works specifically with woman entrepreneurs who want to take their business from ordinary to extraordinary. She does this by taking them through a step-by-step process that teaches them how to consistently grow their business.
