6. Identify Your Audience and What They Want
▰ Follow the social media pages of competitors
▰ Follow the industry/competitors blogs
▰ Check out case study reports your competitors publish on their audiences
▰ What does your audience want/need? (basic information vs detailed tutorials)
▰ What questions are your readers asking and what topics would they like to see
covered?
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7. Topic Research
You can’t really create high quality content unless your content is well researched and
well supported. Start your research by running through some basic steps:
▰ Identify and develop your topic: Once you evaluate what your readers want and need,
narrow down the specific topic you wish to cover and flesh out the finer points.
▰ Review what’s already been said: Delve into what industry experts say on this topic--
which will provide you with the backbone of your research.
▰ Identify gaps: Once you figure out what’s already been said on the topic, identify what
hasn’t been said. Great content is useful and unique. If you want to contribute something
unique, then you need to make sure what you’re writing hasn’t already been said.
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9. Write on Your Own Voice
Don't try to copy someone else. Your content should have an individual style that is
unique to your personality or brand.
How to Find Your Voice
No matter what content you produce, it needs to be in your own voice, or style. It
should never seem like a copycat of someone else.
Typically, creative professionals go through three stages of development: imitation,
mastery and, finally, innovation.
You start out reading and studying the styles of writers you admire. Then you use
what you learn to develop your own style.
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11. Focus On Creating Strong Headlines
A good headline sparks interest and invites readers.
▰ 80% of people will read your headlines.
▰ But only 20% of those people will read the rest of your content!
And that is why the headline is as important as the article or post itself.
People have an average attention span of just 8 seconds and no matter how intriguing your
blog post is, no one will read it if they are not convinced that it is worth their time within the
first few seconds.
So, you have to make your headlines or titles so smart that they just cast a spell on your
readers.
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12. 10 Types of Titles That Tend To Perform Well
▰ # of [Something Useful or Interesting]
▰ Top # [List]
▰ How to [Do Something Useful or Interesting]
▰ How [Brand Name or Celebrity] [Does Something the Reader Wants to Do]
▰ Best of [Category or Type]
▰ Why [Something] Is [the Way It Is]
▰ Interview with [Celebrity]: [Interesting Topic or Title]
▰ Newsjacking
▰ Breaking News
▰ Secrets of [Something We're Dying to Know]
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14. Make Your Content Actionable
Here are a few ways to make your content scannable:
▰ Use short paragraphs (between 1-4 sentences is a good range to aim for)
▰ Bullet point lists are much easier to read and scan than are traditional essay articles
▰ Use bold or italics to emphasize points
▰ Use subheadings to guide your readers through the article. Readers should be able to
skim subheadings to get an idea of what your main points are
▰ Get to the point; don’t include a lot of fluff and useless content
▰ Keep your main points front and center (for example, make each main point a
subheading or bolded)
▰ Keep your content long enough to thoroughly cover the subject, but don’t drag it out
(hint: if you feel like you’re done writing, you probably are)
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15. Extra Bites
▰ Be Able to Provide Answers
▰ Be Accurate in Your Reporting and Sourcing of Information
▰ Create Engaging and Thought Provoking Content
▰ Leave readers with questions.
▰ Have an important and promising introduction.
▰ Write Short and Pointed Content
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16. Extra Bites (Cont..)
When you reread your post, ask yourself:
▰ Are there any words I can take out?
▰ Have I given the readers the best information I possibly can?
▰ Is it complete?
▰ Keep your content long enough to thoroughly cover the subject, but don’t drag it out
( if you feel like you’re done writing, you probably are)
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18. Key Takeaways
We don’t need to be a scientist to write great researched posts. Our aim should be to
provide value to the readers.
▰ Determining who your audience is and what they want to read
▰ Research your work well and identify gaps in available information you can fill in
▰ Make your writing actionable and useful
▰ Use a conversational style and standard grammar
▰ Make your content easy to scan
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