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How do you go about getting content for blogs?
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5:32 pm
April 12, 2010
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rd7765
| | New England | |
| Member | posts 10 |
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I think the key here is understanding your audience. Why do they come to your blog? What information are they seeking? What can you give them that will help them in some way? It's all about relevant, useful content. Top 10 lists, tips and advice, and up to date news that affects them are always good for drawing traffic and do well in search engines.
It's also healthy to know your competition, and peek in on what they're doing. I'm not suggesting that you copy content, but understanding what is bringing their readers in can help you keep your competitive edge and maybe give you ideas on how you can do things even better on your site.
Guest blog posts are awesome because they offer a new and fresh perspective on whatever topic is being covered. Tap into other industry experts or bloggers to see if they'd be interested. It'll give you a little break as well and lend credibility to your blog.
And, lastly, staying on top of whatever industry you're in can provide you with plenty of quality content. Use newsfeeds, or set up Google alerts with the keywords that relate to what your blog is about. Your audience will appreciate getting a variety of up-to-date and relevant news in one place, rather than having to surf a bunch of different sites.
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@rd7765
Yes.
And, also, i think to look for content outside the internet. Obviously, humans like fresh content, but so do search engines. So thinking about finding (obviously not copying ..) content in, for example, books, local newspapers, journals and so on.
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7:12 pm
May 8, 2010
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Stacy
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| Member | posts 17 |
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I'd have to agree that knowing the audience is key. I know that there are popular techniques for drawing blog content from alerts or newsfeeds, but honestly–I'm not crazy about it. Drawing on that content when you have something relevant to say about it makes sense, but there are techniques being pushed to "set and forget" a blog by using feeds. Just seems like "cheating" to me. I'm far more appreciative of blogs that are informative and personal.
A blog should provide information of interest and use to the reader–and can be a great marketing tool as well. Tips and newsbits are useful and can provide the keyword-rich content that helps with search engines. There's nothing wrong with recycling and updating popular past blog posts either. If those top 10 tips for WordPress were popular a year ago, why not update them with the top 10 tips for this year, and talk about that new plugin?
For technical blogs, which I have the most experience with, one technique is to have a longer tutorial–for example, how to set up Joomla with your favorite extensions–but break that into a series. The tutorial you wrote with 5 steps to setting up Joomla now becomes 5 blog posts in your Joomla series. It's a good way to keep a fresh content flow.
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5:29 pm
May 10, 2010
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Julie
| | Cincinnati, OH USA | |
| Member | posts 15 |
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I am best inspired by current topics and events, and by new things I have learned that solve a problem in the category I am writing about.
Basic information on a topic is almost universal– it is your particular take, your view, your opinion, your new discoveries, your tips and tricks that make your blog really shine, so it's ok to use what you learn in your blog, so your followers can learn as you do.
And recent developments, new products, new discoveries, new materials and current events as they relate to your topic will likely be on the minds of your readers and will engage them, so it only makes sense to include that kind of information on your blog. It's just taking advantage of the "water cooler" phenomenon – a lot of times, what we focus on is what has changed since yesterday, and that's what gets our attention.
Finally, though you may not necessarily agree with a controversial finding or point of view, it's ok to quote someone else's point of view and see how your followers feel about it. Part of the beauty of blogging is it gives everyone the opportunity to really think about and develop their own opinion on their topic of choice, and every opinion is just as valid as any other. It's a great way to see where your followers stand on issues compared to the general public, which may help you better engage them with your writing in the future.
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