Questions That You Need to Ask Before You Write a Blog
There are millions of blogs on the Internet. With that volume of content, the competition is extraordinary. With that in mind, there are some questions that you should ask yourself before you put any pen to paper, so to speak.
Whether you are a new blogger or you are an experienced blogger who wants to get to a deeper level with your content, the important point is to stay with it no matter what. From a strategic perspective, it is important that you don’t leave your business’s success to chance. If you achieve success, it has to be as a result of all of the time and effort that you have put into writing the content. Before you start writing, there are several questions that you need to ask yourself. The answers to those questions will help you tremendously when it comes to getting business as a result of your content.
- What should you do once you have established your blog?
- What will your blog do for you and your business?
- Are you trying to increase brand awareness?
- Are you trying to sell something?
- Are you trying to build business relationships?
All of the questions above are legitimate reasons for having a blog. However, they are all very different reasons in terms of how your blog is created, written, analyzed and judged. You should focus on one main objective.
- Why do people want to read your blog?
- How is your blog contributing positively to people’s lives?
- Is your blog leading them to valuable resources?
- Does your blog answer their nagging questions?
- Does your blog cause them to think?
- Specifically who are your readers?
- What do they want and need?
- Which other blogs do they read?
Remember that the more you know about your target audience, the more effectively and successfully you can help them.
- What is your call-to-action?
If your blog fits into your social media strategy objectives very effectively, you may want your audience to download longer content from you, subscribe to your blog, or leave a comment for you.
- How will you get people to tell their friends about your blog?
Remember, it is critical that you optimize your blog for the search engines. In addition to the search engines, how else will you get people to talk about your blog to their friends? Your plan should start with basic things such as promoting your blog on your website’s home page and promoting your most popular blog posts in your Email newsletter.
- How many blog posts will you create a month and who will you involve in your social media efforts?
When you first build your blog site, it takes a concerted effort (sometimes by several people) to get it to run successfully. You will need good writers and excellent editors. Your editors will make sure that your content flows, is consistent and captivates your readers. It is also an excellent idea to have a person who devotes their time to your analytics. Regarding the actual creation of the content, the more you do, the better it will be for the success of your blog. You should blog frequently and consistently (at least once or twice a week).
- What are you going to blog about? There are several ways to make sure that the blogs that you write are compelling and interesting. 1. Read a lot of other people’s blogs. 2. Arm yourself with a list of interesting blog topics. 3. Don’t write long articles. 4. Write headlines that grab your readers.
- Once you have written the blog article, what do you do with it? Writing the content is the first step. The second step is syndicating (or sharing) it with as many people as possible. If you have enough blog articles that are related in some way, you can turn a bunch of them into eBooks, Slideshare presentations, podcasts, eNewsletters, etc.
- How will you measure your blog success? The measure of your success is based on your business objectives that you set from the beginning. One tangible metric is your volume of traffic. If you start with a certain volume of traffic and you see that the volume has increased because of changes that you have instituted, that is a measurable success. Another metric is the number of comments you receive from your readers. If the number increases over time, that is a definite measure of success.
Conclusion
It is very important to put the foundation of your social media strategy in place before you do any content creation. If you can answer the questions that were posed in this article, you will be able to build upon them and your direction will be strong and unwavering. It is critical that you have a strong sense of the path before you can achieve all of the goals that you have in mind. Make sure that all of the elements of your writing are highly effective and make the writer feel as though he or she can’t turn away from the content. Planning ahead with ideas that you have worked out to perfection is an incredible approach to take when it comes to your content.
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Excellent post Michael, another way to measure the success of your blog is to survey incoming clients as to how they went about selecting your company. We have found our blog gave the right messages to prospects as to our thought leadership and digital savviness – essential prerequisites for a successful PR consultancy.
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Group: Creative Designers and Writers
Discussion: Questions That You Need to Ask Before You Write a Blog
Your information on creating a blog is most helpful. I intend to use it as a guide when I build the blog for my novel Within the Walls of Santo Tomas. Posted by Betty Byron
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Discussion: Questions That You Need to Ask Before You Write a Blog
There was an excellent article about this I was reading this morning.
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/when-it%E2%80%99s-time-to-kill-your-blog/
I love blogging but it is very hard to maintain. As the writer of the linked article said, you must have a passion for your topic and it should be very focused….unless you simply want to blog as a journal and aren't looking to get a following of any size. Most blogs get a few loyal followers.
Posted by Rahma Krambo
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Discussion: Questions That You Need to Ask Before You Write a Blog
Why am I doing this? Who is going to want to read it? What are they going to get out of it? Can I mainatain a steady stream of good content? How will I cope when the muse deserts me? And many more… The more blogs there are out thre the more you need to ask yourself such questions.
Posted by Jonathan Kinghorn
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Well.. this is a very good topic…keep posting. I haven't start mine so this will be useful.
Posted by Adriana Carrera
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Discussion: Questions That You Need to Ask Before You Write a Blog
well there are two answers of this question. first is about loving something and second answer is about making money.
first when you have something to write about you do it without thinking any specific research. You just lessen your soul burden by writing about anything.
Second: you can check in Google search specific results for a Keyword, and knowing the competition you can write on that thing, This will help pay you in form of google adsense, affiliated marketing or other monetizing mediums.
Posted by Zamir Anjum
Michael,
Thanks for this useful information! I'm about to start a blog which will tie in with my new business so your data is very helpful. I think it's essential to be timely, interesting and constant while writing blogs!
Debbie
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Thanks Carolyn, all your posts are really useful. My own blog started as a purely creative venture and doesn't fit into any nice niche categories. It exists to entertain but also to build my own online footprint. That said I am going to aim to take your advice on board in a bid to spread the word and increase readers!
Posted by Natasha Smith
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Your questions make a lot of sense. I write a blog on Idenity Management, which I am passionate about. It has been visited 2500 times with an average of 30 reads a day. Does that make it a worthwhile effort? I don't know. What do you think? A single comment from a professor who asks for permission o use an article in his lecture to students can be immensely rewarding. Unfortunately not many people press the comment button, which is a shame.
Posted by Marcus Lasance
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Discussion: Questions That You Need to Ask Before You Write a Blog
Excellent piece, Michael. A really good pre-blogging assessment rundown.
Posted by Sharon (Grazioso) Katz
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Discussion: Questions That You Need to Ask Before You Write a Blog
Good article. It seems somewhat obvious from the blogs that are out there, that many do not ask the most basic question, what do I have of value to share? If this isn't settled in one's own mind, won't he confuse those that he wants to help?
Posted by Charles Duke
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Really enjoyed this – even as someone who's just beginning to write a professional blog, the information is cogent and pertinent scaled down, as well.
Posted by Lisa C. Hannon
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Discussion: Questions That You Need to Ask Before You Write a Blog
This was detailed and knowledgeable. Thanks.
Posted by Kristina Price
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Discussion: Questions That You Need to Ask Before You Write a Blog
Great article on all the facets of blogging. It's important to know your goals and audience, and have a syndication plan. This makes an excellent book outline!
Jayna
Posted by Jayna Locke
Hi Michael, Great post. I teach Internet marketing at a career college in Toronto. I am going to share it with our students.
Mary,
Before you share the article with anybody, make sure you read our guidleines for content reuse https://www.compukol.com/blog/article-reprint-and-content-reuse-guidelines/ and comply with that guideline.
Thanks,
Michael
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In terms of impacting search (improving your page rankings) it is better to get your feet wet and build the blog organically. These questions are excellent for getting a feel of the road ahead, but if they keep you from getting started, then you need to understand the value of traction over time on the Web. Get in the slow lane first, but get on with it.
Posted by Ruth Ann Barrett
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Thanks for this. I'm a freelance copywriter, but have not had the opportunity to write a blog (most of my b2b clients don't have the resources/desire to start one). About to start my own, so this came just in time!
Posted by Hsuan-min Chou
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Discussion: Questions That You Need to Ask Before You Write a Blog
This is a good post, Marco, and I think it could be helpful to many in starting their blogs. I was triggered at one point to think about whether waiting until your content is "perfect" you miss the opportunity that social media provides for learning.
Setting some simple ground rules, some ethics or standards of conduct, could be enough to prevent negative incidents while leaving freedom and encouraging Human Business to produce a better social identity for the blogger(s) and their company.
With respect to content, I ask whether a potential blogger can sit down in the space of 15 minutes and write out maybe 40 or 50 ideas for posts… just headlines. Then as they write, can they keep that list growing ahead of them or not? Using the questions presented in this article to help produce the theme for a blog and the purposes for the blog help to frame the tone and the text for the actual posts.
–Ken
Posted by Ken Faw
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Great suggestions Michael! I blog regularly for my company and I'd like to get more leads or people going to our website as a result of the blog.
Posted by Ken Fisher
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Discussion: Questions That You Need to Ask Before You Write a Blog
Just as with any business plan, you have to have a vision and goals/objectives in mind. Your article/post gets right to the point and is very clear – well done, Michael.
Posted by Stephen Flick
Thank you for a very interesting article, hopefully I have been doing at least some of the above as the traffic is really growing on my blog. Thank you 🙂