How To Do Quality Research For Your Blog Content

Have you ever been stuck when writing a blog post?

That feeling of frustration and unease looming over as the publishing deadline approaches.

You head over to Google with the intention of doing research but all you seem to find is just the same information written hundreds and thousands time over with different words, colors, and fonts.

That’s not what you want for your post.

You want to be different and unique.

You want to help someone that is looking for an answer.

You want to provide the best advice possible not just a different version of what’s already there.

So, what do you do?

You ask yourself: how to do quality research for your blog content?

Learning From My Mistakes

“Mistakes have the power to turn you into something better than you were before.” – Anonymous

I was very naive when I first started blogging. I love writing, doing research, looking for answers and sharing them with the world. This is my passion but I just assumed that I will wake up every day with a brand new idea in my head and the post will pour out of my head like a flood.

Well, that was true for the firs few weeks and then the stress of maintaining a frequent publishing schedule got to me. With the stress, I was not able to concentrate and focus my attention on what I loved doing the most.

I wish I knew enough to come up with a structured process right from the start.

The transition would have been much easier.

If you can learn from my mistake and have your process in place, this will be a very enjoyable journey for you.

How To Do Quality Research For Your Blog Content? – The Process

“Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.” – Brian Clark

There is a research process that if followed properly and diligently will allow you to research and then create quality content for your posts.

Let’s take a look at the process:

Step #1 – Pick an idea or a topic

“If you want to continually grow your blog, you need to learn to blog on a consistent basis.” – Neil Patel

Sometimes this is the hard part. Even if you are an established writer and you enjoy sharing with your readers, there are times when inspiration is just not there and the creativity is lacking.

This happened to me on multiple occasions and it caused some major stress that I decided to do something about it.

I did not like how my passion all of a sudden turned into a burden because I wasn’t ready.

I created a content calendar. I decided on the frequency that I was going to publish my posts and created an actual calendar.

Then I researched my topics and keywords ahead of time and plugged it in into the schedule.

Yes, this took a lot of time but now I have a plan.

Never again I have to feel panicky because my creativity is temporally not there.

I keep my content calendar flexible, if I think of something else to write about I will swap the idea with the planned one.

This allows me to keep blogging as my passion and not as a job that I hate at times.

But how do we find the ideas or topics for our posts?

“A blog is only as interesting as the interest shown in others.” – Lee Odden

Brilliant ideas usually come to me when I’m relaxing and not thinking about blogging at all. When I’m just chilling in the backyard or going for a nice walk in the forest, really good ideas come to my head.

But we cannot relay on that because that does not always happen.

What do we do instead?

This is my process:

1. Quora is a great resource for me. I am also a subscriber so I get regular emails regarding questions being asked in my interest groups.
2. I keep somewhat current with what is happening in the world and see if I can link that somehow to my niche. For example, during the pandemic I wrote posts about what people might be going through because of it: job loss, working from home, generating income online, etc.
3. Once I have a general idea I head over to Google and use the auto-suggestion feature. Just start typing the words of your idea and Google will start generating what people are searching for.
4. I also use Jaaxy, a really great keywords research and ideas generating tool.
5. I use Answer Socrates to find out what kind of questions people are asking on Google.

Step #2 – Find SEO keywords for your idea/ topic

Now that we know the topic we need to find related keywords that will ensure that our post in ranked in Google and other search engines.

My favorite choice of SEO keyword search tool is Jaaxy.

I head over to Jaaxy and use the keyword search feature to come up with a list of high traffic, low competition keywords.

Once I have my main keyword and a few secondary related keywords, I am ready to work on a captivating, click-worthy title.

Step #3 – Create a title using a keyword

Finding the right title can sometimes be tricky. The title is first thing that your readers will see. The title should convey what the reader will be reading about but at the same time it must grab the readers attention. A catchy title that includes your main keyword is crucial.

I don’t always write the title as step 3. If nothing interesting comes to mind, I put the keyword as a place holder and I move on with the next step. Sometimes the tile is the last thing that gets created – and that is ok too.

Step #4 – write an outline with headings and subheadings

This is the part where research my competition.

Jaaxy is an excellent tool to help with this as it will show you the competing websites for your main keyword. But I also use Google and other search engines to dig really deep. I will gather my information, note any quotes and citations that I will want to use and start working on a general outline.

Once I have searched through the competition I take my time to come up with a different approach, a fresh perspective just to make my post different from everyone else. Or if different is not possible due to the nature of the topic, at the very least I will take a different spin on it.

Step #5 write content aimed to help the reader

“The first thing you need to decide when you build your blog is what you want to accomplish with it, and what it can do if successful.” – Ron Dawson

This is the part where you can make a difference.

When you write the content keep your reader in mind.

Don’t tell – show. Showing illustrates, while telling merely states.

Don’t just express what you want to say, keep in mind the questions that the reader might ask or the solutions that you might be providing to the readers’ problems.

Be useful, if you don’t have anything useful to say, say nothing.

Step #6 SEO ready

In this step we need to make sure that our content is SEO ready. Make sure the below is completed to ensure high search engines ranking.

• Title tag
• Heading tags
• Alt tags
• Meta Description

It is also important to mention that proper spelling adn grammar will play a significant role in ranking.

Step #8 pictures, images, graphs, info graphs, screenshots

Have you ever come a cross a post that was just blocks of text?

I have, and I did not stay there for long.

People like pictures, images and other visual aid.

Visuals are very useful when you are describing a process but they also break up the text to make it easier to read.

Step #9 Internal links

Interlinking is very important for Google ranking. Make sure that, where appropriate, you link to other posts on your website. When you do internal linking the right way you will be able to bring more traffic to your keywords and make a bigger impact on your readers. Most people appreciate additional references when they are reading something of interest to them.

Related: Are Blogs Still Popular? – Should I Start Blogging?

How To Make Your Blog Unique?

“There’s a lot of information out there for free, so you’ve got to figure out what makes your information different.” – Matt Wolfe

The above is the standard research process. Everyone has to follow it so some extent to cover the basics and for your post to rank.

But you want to be different and provide value to your readers.

How can we achieve that?

Answering the below questions will help you do that?

Why are you writing this post?

“The currency of blogging is authenticity and trust.” – Jason Calacanis

Never lose your focus on why are you writing this post? The reason should always be one of the following:

– to teach something

– to answer a question

– to provide a solution

– to provide guidance

– to entertain

If we want our readers to want to read what we have to say we have to wrap it in a nice and attractive package. We have to find a way to make it relevant and applicable. We have to be able to fulfill a need that a reader has at the time. Before writing the post, decide what need are you going to fulfill for the reader and focus your attention on attaining that.

Who are you talking to

Your specific target market should always be kept in mind. Who are you talking to in your article? What is the appropriate tone and style of writing for this specific target reader.

What problem are you solving

A lot of people search the internet to find solutions to problems that they might have. If you can present your readers with solutions to your problems they will appreciate your blogs and come back for more.

Do you have a unique approach

Don’t just repeat what all the other articles about this specific keyword are saying. Try to find a unique approach or different angle.

What questions will your readers have

If you can put yourself in your readers shoes and anticipate questions that they might have, you could provide answer to them in your post.

Get personal

It is very intimidating putting yourself out there with your personal posts but that is what the readers are looking for. They want to feel the authenticity and feel the connection. I know, you feel very exposed and vulnerable to judgment when you get personal in your posts but that is what will get the readers to keep coming to read your posts.

Keep an open mind

When doing your research, keep and open mind. Look for angles that were not explored yet. Try to find different approaches and unique solutions.

Dig Deeper

“Where the Internet is about availability of information, blogging is about making information creation available to anyone.” – George Siemens

That means do a deeper research but also dig deeper into your heart to find unique aspects of the ideas that you are exploring.

Now that you know how to do quality research for your blog content and write a unique post, you should get to work.

Go ahead, put what you have learned to use and write that brilliant post and many more after that.

Related: How To Start A Business Online? -The First Step That Most People Skip

 

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I hope you have enjoyed this article. I truly hope I was able to show you that writing amazing blog posts can be a very structured process that will remove the feeling of frustration. I hope I have reminded you why you started to blog in the first place and that if you follow the process you will go back to writing with passion.

Please share your comments, questions, suggestions, opinions below. I would love to hear what works for you.