How to Create Content for Blog Excellence

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I’m often asked how I get ideas to write on my blog. My answer is rather simple – I have an seemingly unquenchable thirst for knowledge, so I am constantly reading books, blogs, ebooks, listening to audios, and joining webinars and conference calls. I am always looking for a few golden nuggets of information and sometimes I am surprised by what I find… so I write about it. Other times, I take what I’ve learned and “Mikayla-ize it” so that it has my own unique twist or at least my opinions and perceptions infused throughout.

But one thing I find almost more important than what to write, is why I’m writing in the first place – the goal behind the content I’m creating. So many people overlook this part of blogging, so I wanted to share a little insight here.

This is part 1 of my 6 part series on “Creating Content for Blog Excellence” and its all about creating content that serves a purpose. Most people that read my blog are home business owners, network marketers, and WAHMs. In that case, the purpose is almost always going to be geared toward the larger goal – building your business. This is not to say you can’t have the occasional “ramblings” post (as we all do) but most of your content should be aimed at accomplishing at least one of these 5 goals:

#1 – Establishing Yourself as an Authority

Establishing yourself as an authority involves branding yourself as a leader and and expert, and then creating quality content that helps your audience in some way.

Branding is basically creating online image that reflects you, your unique personality, and your talents and skills. You want to be authentic so people will be able to connect with who you really are.  Ideally, your brand should also have a certain level of integrity behind it because it will breed a certain level of trust. Your brand can also carry components of your personality, so it can blunt, sarcastic, witty, etc.

Creating quality content that helps your audience can be blog posts, articles, video, slide shows, audios, ebooks, or anything you wish – the focus should simply be helping your audience. To accomplish this, your can educate, inform, and even entertain. You can educate your audience on how to do something by creating a video tutorial, or you can inform them about the latest events going on in your industry. You can also entertain them with stories that are relevant to them, which will also allow them to connect with you. This is not to say you can’t create content that sells a product – you are in a business and selling is an integral part of the success – you simply need to sell products that are useful to your audience!  Experts have content on the Internet, so as you grow and create content online, your authority will grow with you.

Finally, as you create content that shares your expertise and helps your audience, you will be creating value. This will automatically make others see you as a resource, which will naturally allow people to share your content with others. As you allow your personality to shine through in your writing, people will get to know you, and they’ll naturally begin to like you and, eventually, to trust you.

When you create a blog post, consider if the goal behind our content is to establish yourself as an authority. If this is your goal, stay focused on how you can help your audience, on their needs, and then create content that speaks to them.

#2 Generating Buzz

Generating buzz is all about getting people talking and sharing your content. Buzz worthy content can be funny… maybe you tell a hilarious story about something you saw or did in such a descriptive manner that people can actually picture it. Buzz worthy content can also be touching. Just like a funny story that will have your audience in stitches, you can have them in tears by revealing your personal pain or challenges and how you overcame them. Buzz worthy content can also be controversial. You don’t have to get into religion or politics to be controversial, you can simply express a very strong and unique opinion on a topic that your readers are passionate about. Another way to create buzz worthy content is to create extremely informative content. This type of content generally takes a little more time and research to create, but if you provide a wealth of information on a topic that is important to your readers they will be grateful and more likely to share it with others.

Finally, when your goal is to create buzz worthy content, be sure you make as easy as possible for your audience to engage and share. This can be as easy as engaging them into a conversation by asking for comments (i.e. “I’d love to know what you think, so be sure and leave me a comment.”). Once the conversation begins, other people’s opinions will help to continue generating the buzz. You also want to be sure you’ve made it as easy as possible for your readers to share your content, so consider using a social plugin if you have a WordPress blog (and you should). Plugins like Sociable and Share This are good ones.

Generating buzz worthy content means you’re generating traffic to your blog, which can potentially translate to new readers and sales – always good things!

#3 – Ranking in Search Engines

Ranking in the search engines means that your blog posts can be easily found by looking for a given “keyword” (i.e. a search term or phrase) when looking for information on the topic using a search engine like Google or Yahoo. By ranking well on the search engines, your blog post will be found “naturally” by Internet users, resulting in traffic to your blog! Ideally, the goal is to have your blog post ranking on the first page of Google for your chosen keyword, preferably in the top 3 spots. In order to accomplish this goal, you’ve got to focus on three things:

1. Keyword research - this can be a rather involved topic, but basically you need to find keywords that are actually being searched for and that are not too competitive.
2. On Page Optimization – this is very simple when it comes to WordPress blogs. All you have to do is make sure that you include your keyword in the post title, that you add it to your tags, and that you use it a few times throughout your blog post content.
3. Off Page Optimization – this involves building links back to your blog post (i.e.”backlinks”) from other websites. You can accomplish this by doing various types of link building, including social bookmarking, blog commenting, content marketing, and more.

Once you’ve accomplished these three goals, ranking in the search engines will get easier. This is a blogging goal that quite honestly is at the top of my list for ALL of my posts. When you have several posts ranking on the search engines than your blog will begin to generate traffic consistently.

#4 – Pre-Selling a Product or Opportunity

Did you notice that I said PRE-selling? If you’re wondering, it’s because I firmly believe you should leave the hard selling for the sales pages. So, when I say pre-sell, I mean that you want to be more subtle in your selling efforts. Your to pre-sell your blog reader on whatever product or opportunity you’re promoting by building rapport and giving them the information they’re looking for.

A pre-sell blog post should start with an introduction that builds rapport. In order to do that, you’ll need to think about what the blog reader is looking for and what they want. If they’re like most people, they’re probably searching for honest, reliable information on the product. So, you may say something like, “You may have found it challenging to find honest, reliable information on [product name/opportunity name].” This acknowledges what they’re going through and kind of puts you on their level.

Then you want to tell them what they’ll find in the article, so that they stay on that page and continue reading. Something like, “In this blog post, I’m going to tell you the pros and cons of [product name/opportunity name].” You may even say you words like “the good, the bad, and the ugly” because most people trying to sell something do not give the cons and they certainly don’t reveal the ugly!

From there, you’ll want to break down the article up into sections with headings that focus on the things your reader will want to know. Such as what it is, the cost, what makes it different, etc. Throughout the article, be sure and use words like apparently, according to reviewers, and the company claims because it appears more neutral. Be sure you include a section that explains the cons or the negative side as well, so the content still remains honest. After the negative reveal, you can always counter it with something you offer as a bonus to make up for the shortcoming or how the product or opportunity is working to correct the issue.

Then, if you can, put in some authentic testimonials or reviews that you’ve found on the web (or gathered personally). Social proof is very powerful and always makes people feel better about deciding to buy. Finally, you need to tell your reader where they can purchase the product safely and affordably. If you’re trying to get them to join an opportunity, you can tell them what they get that is unique when joining your team (i.e. added support, training, etc.). Then simply provide a call to action like “Click Here” or “Order Now” Or “Join My Team Here” and use your link to direct them to the sales page or order page. At this point, they should be ready to pull out their credit card!

#5 – Increasing your Subscriber Base

Like pre-selling, when you’re writing with the goal of increasing your subscriber base you’re going to be doing some subtle selling. However, when you’re goal is to increase your subscribers base you’re “selling” your newsletter instead of a product or opportunity. To accomplish that goal, you want to highlight the benefits and features of being on your mailing list… so in essence your pre-selling a relationship with you. You want to tell your prospective subscribers what kind of information the newsletter will include, what they’ll learn from you, and how it will make their lives better.

It is also common practice to offer a “bribe” or a “freebie” to clench the deal and get the potential subscriber to opt-in. This can be a free report, a video, an ebook, an ecourse, an online course, etc. If you offer a freebie then you’ll want to explain what they actually get for free and exactly why they want it. Finally, it is best to include your opt-in form at the bottom of the blog post, making it as easy as possible for your new subscriber to join your mailing list.

There you have it! Five fabulous goals you can focus on when creating content for blog excellence. My recommendation is that you always incorporate goal #3 – ranking in search engines – in your blog post goals. I like to choose a blog goal from the other 4 options, then do a little keyword research to find a target keyword that is the best option for ranking that content on the search engines. Then I write my blog post with both goals in mind and allow each post to pack a powerful 1-2 punch! I wish you tremendous success with your blogging endeavors and I’d love to hear what you thought of this series, so please leave me a comment below!

To Your Success and Prosperity,

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