Publishing blog posts is a superb way to provide helpful information to customers and potential customers, develop relationships and position your business as an expert source.
But you won’t get those sought-after Google rankings if your blog posts recycle the same information used in hundreds of other blog posts. Over 2 million blog posts are published each day, so you need to provide some truly valuable, unique insights to stand out.
Getting Expert Tips
One way to get truly unique content is to interview a renowned expert in your field. If you’re the expert – say, a veterinarian writing your own blog – you could still get quotes from colleagues or experts in adjacent businesses to inspire your writing.
Use a resource like Help A Reporter Out to find experts. You can also use industry-specific Facebook groups, your LinkedIn network, or local industry experts in your city. If you know anyone who is publishing a book or course, they’ll be especially open to interviews if you promise to promote their new project in exchange for their advice.
Some of your blog posts could take on a Q&A format. These are easy to write. Just list your questions, then write your expert’s responses, word for word, under each question.
You could also weave quotes into an existing article. You’ll find great examples of this style in magazines.
Writing Posts Isn’t Hard… When You Have A Library Card!
I recently moved back to my hometown and signed up for a library card. I had forgotten how useful that little piece of plastic could be. By simply signing in with my account number, I can get free access to Rosetta Stone, local business information, career resources and research search engines like EBSCOHost.
It’s easy for me to find peer-reviewed, scientific research studies to back up my points. Few bloggers take the time to truly research their topic. In just a few minutes, you can find tons of information that will make your blog post the very best available on your subject, and you’ll stand out amongst hundreds of others with similar headlines.
Be A Better Googler
Most amateur bloggers run a Google search for their exact topic… then grab info from the first few links and regurgitate the information in their own posts.
Why would Google send your post to the top of the results page? They already have older, original sources to prioritize.
You should definitely check out those first few links… but only to gleam some inspiration and build upon what is already there. If the top result is a 600-word blog post with one picture, you could potentially take over the top rank by writing a longer, more detailed post with more images.
Don’t fluff, though. Make sure your expanded, extra-long post contains more useful, skimmable information than the existing Numero Uno.
Also try filtering search results that were published within the past month or year. You might be able to find newer, fresher data.
Check out Google Books, Google Scholar and Google News for citable, relevant and fresh research materials.
Cite A Video
When I’m having trouble writing about a new, complex topic, I watch a few YouTube videos instead of reading a bunch of articles that I might find difficult to understand. A decent video lecturer will get straight to the point to avoid making their video too long. So, you’ll get the most important information from just a few minutes of listening. You can just as easily pull a quote from a video and cite the source.
Few blog posts cite videos, so you’ll also have a unique point of view to make your blog post even better.
Sound Like A Lot Of Work?
Writing well-researched blog posts is what I live for! Contact me to learn more about my writing services so you can publish the very best content on the topic – while you work on your pet business.
