Posts Tagged ‘7 Pillars of Blog Content’

If it isn’t easy, it won’t get done!

Efficiency is the 6th of the 7 Pillars of Blog Content for a very simple reason: the likelihood of a task’s completion goes down as complexity increases.

Blogging success is based on consistency, but consistency is difficult if it takes too much time or effort to prepare each post. Here are 4 suggestions to build efficiency into the preparation of your blog posts.

1.  Structure

Efficiency begins with choosing a structure for each of your blog posts. This involves thinking of your blog posts in terms of segments that are repeated in each post. These segments can be questions, or topics, that you answer while creating each post. For example:

1. Relevance. Begin by asking yourself, What is the relevance of this topic? Why should my target market care about it? How does this topic relate to their concerns, such as the problems they want to solve or the goals they want to achieve? What are the symptoms, or costs, of not addressing this topic?
2. Main ideas. Ask yourself, What are the 3 big ideas I want readers to remember? Limiting yourself to identify 3 (or 4) ideas focuses you on identify what’s really important and keeps your blog posts short and actionable.
3. Call to action. What do you want readers to do next? How can you use this blog to further the relationship you’re building with the readers of your blog? Do you provide additional resources for those interested in the topic to learn more? Or, do you want to direct readers to a landing page on your website containing further information–along with an offer? Perhaps, you’d like them to take an assessment.
4. Conclusion. The conclusion of your post should summarize the relevance of the topic, the content you’ve covered, and your call to action. In addition, whenever possible, add a bonus or incentive to encourage readers to immediately take action, heightening the likelihood they will act.

2. The 3 R’s–Repurpose, Recycle, Reuse

Each blog post should be written and saved in a format that permits you to easily relocate the text, so you can incorporate the post into upcoming books, speeches, or marketing materials.

Your time is valuable; it’s important that you gain maximum mileage out of everything you write. Here are some suggestions for repurposing, recycling, or reusing blog posts:

• Expand the post. Look for ways to expand what was originally a 5 or 6-paragraph blog post into an article, newsletter, or online feature. Instead of just 3 points, for example, expand the size of the list to 7, or 10. Or, keep the total at 3, but provide more details about each point.
• Divide and conquer. Having identified a relevant topic, and 3 big ideas associated with it, you can return to the post and create 3 additional blog posts- -a series of posts exploring each of the original main ideas in greater detail.
• Condense the post. Another approach is to create a downloadable tip sheet, or sign-up incentive, that includes brief summaries of the original 3 big ideas, but adds summarizes of a few additional ideas.
• Change the format. Content that originates as relevant blog posts can be easily adapted into podcasts, video podcasts, teleseminars, speeches, and presentations. Each format will appeal to individuals who prefer to learn in different ways.

The above are just a few of the ways you can leverage your time by creatively repurposing, recycling, and reusing your blog posts.

3. Write for a higher purpose

There are 2 aspects to “higher purpose.”

1. Don’t just inform your readers. Successful blogs do more than just share information, they inspire readers to take action. A dictionary or encyclopaedia, for example, has lots of information, but it’s not particularly fun to read. Move beyond the exchange of information and look at ways to engage your readers and inspire them into action by using techniques like assessments, questions, and stories
2. View blog posts as building blocks to larger projects. When choosing blog topics, look for ways that they can be reused in large projects, such as chapters in up-coming books or e-books. If you can identify what you need written for a book or e-book, you can identify topics that you can address as blog posts.

4. Create a writing system

Instead of starting to write each post from scratch, look for a way you can slowly immerse yourself into each blog post, a little at a time.

For example, before you begin to write, provide an advance deadline, or goal, for you to prepare the first draft a day, or 2, before the post is scheduled to appear. Once you get in the habit of deadlines a day or 2 before posting dates, your posts will greatly improve in quality. By leaving time for edits and reviews before publishing each post, you’ll undoubtedly discover ways to improve the titles and subheads of each post, and increase the post’s search engine optimization.

Another way to create a system is to get in the habit of creating an outline, or mind map–like the one shown above–displaying the points you intend to cover in each post. Review your post outlines or maps the night before you intend to write them, as well as the next day. This review engages your mind, so while you are driving to work, your brain is sorting ideas and searching for the right words.

Finally, commit to editing. Create a simple checklist you can use to review the quality of each of your posts. This checklist should remind you to look for problems like long, run-on sentences, new topics that are not introduced with subheads, passive verb structures, and missing words.

Conclusion

Commit to an efficient way to create blog content. Once you begin to view blog posts as a series of segments, and you write and save each blog post’s content in a way you can easily access and reuse it, you’ll be surprised at not only how quickly your writing improves in both quantity and quality, but how often you can expand and condense each post into other additional marketing opportunities and new product-development profits. With a little practice, you’ll soon be writing more in less time–and using your words over and over again.

Roger C. Parker invites you to visit Published & Profitable’s Sample Content Area and his daily writing tips blog to learn more about writing effective blog content and making your blog posts as easy to read as possible.

You can also download a PDF copy of the mind map I used to plan this series, plus links to additional writing resources, like a free report introducing mind mapping.

Roger is the author of 30 best-selling books and an experienced writing and marketing coach. His latest book is #Book Title Tweet: 140 Bite-Sized Ideas for Compelling Titles for Articles, Books, and Events.

How to get your market to look forward to your posts

You know you’re blog content is succeeding when–after you miss a day because of travel or illness– you get e-mails asking Are you all right? or What happened to your blog post this week?

Anticipation is the highest stage of level of marketing effectiveness. Here are four ways to encourage your market to look forward to your upcoming blog posts.

1. Consistency. First, you have to commit to consistency, making a personal commitment to blog a minimum number of days a week. This doesn’t mean you can’t add additional blog posts each week, when appropriate, but it does mean you have to consistently post new content at regular intervals.
2. Predictable. Not only do you have to commit to consistent posting, your posts have to appear on the same days. Predictability requires more than posting on a Monday one week, Wednesday the next week, and Thursday the next week. Pick a day, or days, and always have new content ready to appear on the same day.
3. Momentum. Anticipation involves providing information that not only stands on its own, as a helpful, relevant post, but that the posts are moving your prospects and clients towards a changed state, or conclusion. A numbered series of blog post, like this series, engages and builds anticipation because readers want to know how the “story” is going to play out. (Perhaps momentum is the blogging equivalent of daytime televised soap operas?)
4. Links. Inserting links to previous posts in a series project an image of professionalism and attention to detail. Links to previous posts in a series are especially important posts on different topics between related posts. True, interested readers could locate previous posts by searching, or using WordPress’s Categories feature, but active links make it easier for your readers to locate previous posts.

Hint: If you’re compiling an incentive or an e-book based on a series of blog posts, after you have finished the last post and created a landing page for your incentive or e-book, go back and add links from each post to the completed project.

Conclusion

Commit to consistency. Commit to a minimum number of blog posts each week, and make each post as helpful and relevant. Posting new material on the same day each week cultivates your habits of consistent writing and encourages your clients and prospect to build your blog into their weekly routine. Consistency is a win-win situation for all.

Roger C. Parker invites you to visit Published & Profitable’s Sample Content Area and his daily writing tips blog to learn more about writing effective blog content and making your blog posts as easy to read as possible.

You can also download a PDF of the mind map I used to plan this series, plus links to additional writing resources, like a free report introducing mind mapping.

Roger, the author of 30 best-selling books and an experienced writing coach, helps clients around the world organize and publish their ideas. Contact him via e-mail with your writing or blog questions.

NOTE: Did you catch it? I made 2 subtle changes between the time I created the original 7 Pillars of Blog Content mind map, and tonight, when I wrote the post. One change involved changing context to consistency, which I had originally mean, but typed context by mistake. The other change was from anticipated to anticipation. The reason I bring this up is that a blog content plan isn’t written in stone; you should always feel free to make improvements as you move forward, creating new blog content weeks after your original blog content planning session.

Blog content success requires easy reading

Readability plays a major role in the success of your blog content. Your prospects are in a hurry; anything that gets in the way of easy reading slows readers down and sabotages your message.

When visitors to your blog have trouble reading your message, they’re going to ignore it and move elsewhere where the reading is easier.

Here are 4 simple ways to make your blog as easy to read as possible.

Post titles

Your choice of title plays a make-or-break role in the success of your blog post.

Just like the headline of an advertisement, the title of a book, or an e-mail subject line, your title of each blog post must engage the prospect’s attention and promise a benefit for reading. When preparing blog post titles, ask yourself questions like:

• Who do I want to read this post? Build familiarity by identifying the types of readers who will gain the most from the information that follows by stressing the prospect’s you’re writing occupat. Stress the symptoms they’re likely experiencing, or describe the goals they may be striving for. Choose a blog post title that appears written especially for them!
• What do they want to know? Before you write, use personas to identify the characteristics and goals of the readers you’re targeting in the post. What are their problems?, What are their goals?, and What kind of information are they looking for?
  
• How can I arouse their curiosity? Look for ways to attract their attention by making a provocative statement. One of the easiest ways to do this is to incorporate opposites into your blog post title. Titles like The Wealthy Barber contain terms that are seemingly in conflict with each other. How can a barber be wealthy? Your goal is to attract attention and compel readers to ask themselves, How can that be?
• How can I add specificity to my title? You can increase the engagement-factor of ablog post titles by using numbers to add specificity. There more “magnetism” to titles like 7 Ways to Search for a New Job than How to Search for a New Job. Likewise, How to Choose a Computer is not as powerful as 8 Things to Look For When Choosing a Computer.
  

Subheads

Use subheads to chunk, or break-up, your blog posts into into shorter, bite-sized elements.

Subheads can break your message into a series of shorter, bite-sized chunks. It’s easier to read a blog post broken into a couple of 2 or 3-paragraph “mini-articles” than it is to read a blog post with 7 uninterrupted paragraphs. Each subhead provides an additional entry point into your blog post and adveritses the message that follows.

Remember that your blog visitors quickly skim your blog posts, searching for topics of interest to them. Without subheads, there arent any clues to the topics covered.

Formatting

The formatting of your blog plays an important role its readability. Here are some ways that formatting can advance, or interfere with, the readability of your message.

• Avoid setting titles entirely in upper-case type. Blog post titles set entirely in upper-case, i.e., capital characters, are significantly harder to read that blog post titles set in a combination of upper and lower case characters. Reading involves instant recognition of word shapes, and words set entirely in capital letters lack distinct shapes needed for easy reading.
• Avoid reversed text. Never set the body, or paragraphs, of your blog post in white against a black, or darkly-colored, background. Black text against a white background is the easy to read because of the strong foreground/background contrast. White text against a dark background slows word recognition and is especially troublesome at small text sizes.
• Avoid underlining. Use text style variations, like bold or italics, instead of underlining. Underlining makes words harder to recognize because the underscore interferes with the instant recognition of word shapes. In addition, never depend on underlining to make your blog’s subheads stand out; bold-faced text, or a change from a serif to a sans-serif typeface, is the best way to make subheads stand out.
• Use lists to organize information. Whenever possible, take ideas out of sentences and place them in bullet or numbered lists. The bullets or numbers emphasize the key words and surrounds them with white space.

Be brief

Strive for brevity.

1. Choose the shortest words possible that express your message.
2. Make your sentences short and to the point. Avoid sentences containing two, or more, ideas. Replace passive verbs, (The ball was hit by John), with active verbs, (John hit the ball).
3. Keep your paragraphs short. Short paragraphs are easier to read than long paragraphs.  This is especially true for online reading. Vary paragraph length, inserting shorter paragraphs following a couple of longer paragraphs.

Always remember: Your blog will not be graded on the basis of academic rules or  grammatical perfection. Your message will go unread, however, if it looks like it’s going to be hard to read.

Avoid the temptation to tell everything you know in a single blog post. When you find your blog posts becoming more like articles, consider breaking the post into a series or shorter blog posts. A series of short blog posts will attract more search engine visibility, and be easier to read, than a single long post.

Conclusion

The effectiveness of your blog content is not going to be judged by the number of words you write, or by how completely you cover your topic. Instead, the success of your blog content will be determined by how easy it is for visitors to read, understand, and act on your words. It’s no long enough to originate good ideas, you have to “package” them into blog posts that are as easy-to-read as possible.

Roger C. Parker invites you to visit Published & Profitable’s Sample Content Area and his daily writing tips blog to learn more about writing effective blog content and making your blog posts as easy to read as possible.

You can also download a PDF of the mind map I used to plan this series, plus links to additional writing resources, like a free report introducing mind mapping.

Roger, the author of 30 best-selling books and an experienced writing coach, helps clients around the world organize and publish their ideas. Contact him via e-mail with your biggest writing or blog content question.

Your blog must attract & maintain your market’s attention

Engagement is the third pillar of successful blog content; your blog posts must engage your readers attention and keep them reading.

Resonance

Each blog post must resonate with your readers; they must be able to immediately recognize the relevance of the post and think to themselves, “That’s me!” or “I have that problem, too!”

Blog posts that resonate originate with personas that describe the characteristics and goals of your ideal blog readers. Once you understand who you’re writing for, and what their “hot buttons” are, it will be easy for you to choose an appropriate, and desired, topic:

• Who should read the post
• Why they should read it
• What they will learn
• How they will benefit
• When should they read it, i.e., “Right now!”
  

After that, all that remains is to review what you’ve written and distill the relevance of the post down to a concise, magnetic, SEO-friendly title for the post.

Perspective

Successful blog content is written from a helpful, as opposed to a judgmental, or theoretical, point of view. Forget what you were taught about writing critical, or analytical, point of views. Forget about entertaining your readers with a penetrating  analysis of current events.

In most cases, as a subject area expert or a self-employed business owner writing to promote their book or their products and services, your goal is not international acclaim for your penetrating views or razor-sharp wit.

Instead, you want to attract results-oriented readers who share the problems and goals of your most profitable clients. These are typically clients who are looking for quick fixes and help solving their problems or achieving their goals.

Write to your best market! Help them the same way you help your best and most profitable clients. This will help your blog posts attract more “ideal clients.”

Context

Information without context is useless. Always describe the context of the problem you’re helping your readers solve or the goal you’re helping readers achieve. Context refers to descriptions of the symptoms your blog readers should be on the look-out for or the costs associated with not achieving a goal.

Context sells the value of the information you’re providing in your blog post and establishes the urgency of reading the post and taking action.

Solution

Successful blogs offer content that doesn’t disappoint the readers. The promised information must outline how you, or your book, can help blog readers solve a problem or achieve a goal. If you don’t provide the benefit promised in the blog post title, you’re shooting yourself in the foot, reducing the chances of attracting new prospects and repeat business.

Some business owners worry about “giving too much information away for free.” That’s yesterday’s thinking! Authors and businesses who share helpful, relevant, and valued information far outshines the results of others who hide their expertise under a basket, or just hint at it.

There’s a big difference between describing a solution and implementing a solution!

In addition, no matter how long your blog post turns out, you’re unlikely to have enough space to tell everything you know about your topic. At best, a bulleted list of steps just hints at the assistance you’re able to offer on a 1-to-1 coaching or consulting basis.

Other engagement ideas

Other ways to create successful blog content by engaging your readers involve classic techniques like:

• Curiosity. One of the best ways to create “magnetic” blog post titles is to arouse the reader’s curiosity by making an unexpected statement. One of my favorite book titles, for example, is David Chilton’s The Wealthy Barber. Why? Because the title begs the question, “How can a barber become wealthy?”
• Story. Story is a classic communications technique, best-described in Anne Lamont’s Bird-by-Bird. Readers are voyeurs, interested in how others solve their problems or achieve their goals. Make your writing more interesting by including anecdotes, case studies, and specific incidents.
• Specificity. Include details in your blog posts. Notice how much more interesting the previous two bullet points were, because they included the names of specific authors and book titles.

Good information, by itself, is no guarantee that your blog content will attract, engage, and maintain the attention of your blog readers. Good information, after all, can be presented in a boring and non-compelling way. It’s up to you to not just share information in your blog posts, but “package” your information as engagingly as possible. What do you think? What’s your favorite engagement tool for your blog posts? Do you notice more comments and ReTweets when your blog posts have engaging titles?

Roger C. Parker helps clients succeed by asking the right questions and focusing on the right issues before they write.

The  Sample Contents area of his Published & Profitable subscription website contains examples of the hundreds of articles, interviews, and worksheets available to members.

You can download a PDF of the mind plan I used to plan this series, plus links to additional resources you can explore without registration.

Blogs must have a purpose based on reader’s needs

The 2nd of the 7 pillars of blog content involves creating content that fulfills a meaningful purpose.

Unless you’re a Hollywood celebrity blogger or a political analyst, the best way you can establish an on-going relationship with your market is by providing useful information on a consistent basis.

The information you provide in each post must be:

1. Needed. Remember, it’s not about you! Instead, success is all about your market and their information needs. So, ask yourself questions like What’s troubling my market? What are their goals? and What information do they need need to achieve them? After you’ve engaged them by discussing challenges and issues they’re interested in, you can provide information that highlights your experience, competence, and professionalism. Let the urgency of the information you provide speak for itself.
2. Actionable. Replace theory with practical, specific advice. Avoid unnecessary background, details, and embellishment. Avoid the temptation to spend time and energy setting the stage. Instead, define the problem, or goal, and get right down to business with an organized, properly sequenced, and easy-to-follow list of easily-implemented steps. Focus on the basics, and avoid unnecessary detail addressing exceptions or special circumstances. Instead of “selling” your market, leave them empowered to take action on their own. This will generate far more clients and prospects that overtly proclaiming your greatness or showcasing your talents.
3. Premise-based. Simplify your blog posts so you can blog more often. The easiest way to do this is to begin with a single empowering idea, How to help homeowners deal with water in their basement, or How to help self-employed professionals avoid destructive price competition. Once you’ve identified the premise, or “big idea” behind each blog post, it will b easy to complete the post. Think of each blog post as a mini self-help book. Remember that consistency cannot be achieved without an efficient underlying process, or system.
4. Easy and efficient. The information you provide must be easily understood and easily implemented. The easiest way to do this is to organize your task-oriented message into logical steps that guide your blog reader as they accomplish a goal, master a skill, or solve a problem. This requires planning each topic from a “big picture” point of view and identifying the necessary steps.

Hints

Here are some suggestions for efficient blogging:

• Keep the numbers low. Avoid posts containing a large number of steps, i.e., 27 Steps to a Better Garden. Instead, group the tasks into a few key categories, i.e., 3 Steps to a Better Garden: Planning, Planting, & Fertilizing.
• Never fear simplicity. Never feel your writing is simplistic or lacks eloquence. You’re not writing fiction intended to be read for pleasure, and you’re not an imposing figure speaking from a pulpit or before Congress. You’re goal is to come across as a approachable, knowledgeable, problem-solving professional who respects your market’s time by providing as much information as possible in as few words as possible.
• Provide links for more information. Create a synergy between your blog posts and resources available on your website. This will eliminate the need to communicate every detail in each blog post. Look for opportunities where you have content available on your website that provides additional information. Think of your blog post as a net, or fishing line, reaching out as often as possible to prospects whom you can further engage on your website.

Watch the stress go away!

Notice how the stress typically involved in writing disappears when you focus on your message rather than your style. Start with your knowledge of your market’s and goals and problems, choose one specific problem or goal, and provide a concise overview of the steps needed to successfully address each goal or problem.

Then, move on to planning your the next post, based on helping your market address another problem or goal. Use mind maps and worksheets to identify upcoming topics, so that your mind is constantly engaged as you drive, sleep, or work on other projects.

Roger C. Parker is a pragmatist who helps clients succeed by asking the right questions and focusing on the right issues.

His Published & Profitable member website contains hundreds of author interviews and teleseminars and contains hundreds of assessments, audios, checklists, templates, and worksheets, many of which are available in the  Sample Contents area.

Note: You can download a PDF of the mind plan I used to plan this series. It contains space for you to take notes and jot down ideas sparked by each post. The page contains links to numerous additional resources for you to explore without registration.

Now that you have a blog, what about the content?

What are you going to write about?

Most blogs fail to achieve their potential because posts are often infrequently updated, lack relevance, and take too much time to prepare.

It doesn’t have to be that way!

In this 7-part series, I’m going to describe 7 practical & proven ways you can prepare the content you need to create a blog that acts like a magnet, attracting prospects and search engines to your site, building your opt-in e-mail list, and helping you write a book that establishes you as the “go to” authority in your field.

I want to help you become a proactive blogger!

Let’s step back for a second. Most blogs fail to achieve their potential–no matter how attractive they are–because their content is reactive. Blog posts are typically prepared at the last minute, on a time-available basis, usually under deadline conditions when several weeks have gone by without adding any new post. Sound familiar?

Writing without a plan just doesn’t work! Without a system, or a content plan, you’ll never develop your “voice” or create the thought leadership and written equity needed to become a respected brand in your field.

More important, you’ll never discover how easy it is to write a book a little at a time, instead of just dreaming about getting published.

I’m going to share the system I’ve used to blog 5 days a week without sacrificing client time, personal time, or family time. It’s the same system I use to help my clients keep their blogs current and relevant, paving the way for upcoming books and information products.

Blog content plans at a glance

A blog content plan is, basically, very simple; it’s a way of scheduling blog posts in advance, based on identifying categories of information based on your target market’s concerns, problems, and unachieved goals. It’s a way of creating relevant content, one step at a time.

Advantages
With a blog content plan, you’re never at a loss for what to write about or when to begin preparing your posts.

A properly constructed content plan builds your blog into your weekly routine, the habit of consistent blogging.

One of my favorite books is Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Les Hewitt’s The Power of Focus: How to Hit Your Business, Personal, and Professional Targets with Absolute Certainty. 

For me, everything fell into place with their statement, “Your Habits Determine Your Success.”

Most people simply haven’t developed the habit of consistent blogging! Without a blogging plan, or habit, writing is harder to do and easier to put off.

When you create a content plan, however, writing becomes easier and easier, leading the way to greater and greater results and–if you desire it–more and more content for your brand building book.

Plans are not prisons
A blog content plan doesn’t limit you, or restrict the number of posts you can add each week or each month.

A blog content plan simply provides the baseline, or “minimum,” you’re committing to and promising to your clients, your prospects, your readers, and—most important–yourself.

You can always add additional posts when something important occurs, like an event in the news, a new book you’re reading, an upcoming product or service you’re offering, or a link to a provocative post you read on someone else’s blog.

Content is my passion

My goal in writing these posts is to share my enthusiasm for planning before writing. I’m a recent convert.

Before creating Published & Profitable andbeginning my daily writing tips blog, I wrote over 30 nonfiction books which sold over 1.6 million copies around the world.

And, like many, I used to pride myself on my ability to “write to deadline.” (The way our friends taught us to write term papers in college.)

Lately, however, I’ve discovered an easier and less stressful way to write, and I’ve had a lot of success sharing my ideas with my coaching clients. Many have called my system “transformational.” During the next few weeks, I’m going to share it with you, “one post at a time.”

Note: You can download a PDF of the content plan I created for this series. It contains additional information plus space to take notes and jot down ideas as your read each post.