The problem with most blogs nowadays is that they create content for the sake of it.
They reach into the galaxy (their head) and pick a topic on a whim. They may deliver a thorough piece of content but it is what they want not what their audience wants.
This leads to poor traffic, engagement and sales.
This is easy to fix nowadays. You have social media groups, blog comments, and customer… reviews these are all ways to find out what your audience is really looking for. You can also see how other brands create content to connect with your audience.
When you find out this vital information you can create a content plan that will increase traffic, engagement, and sales.
Just remember that promotion is as important as the actual creation.
Understand Your Audience To Create Content That Gets Them Fired Up
If you want to create content that connects with your audience you need to know exactly what they want.
You need to know what content makes them tick.
The best way to do this is to create an avatar.
This is one member of your audience that craves your content and products more than anyone else. This task actually confuses some folk though, because they tend to think it means demographics.
An avatar is more than just saying male, 26-30, married and employed.
This is only the beginning!
What exactly does that tell you about the person?
Very little, an avatar will give you a much clearer picture of your audience.
Start by browsing blogs that your audience would visit, then scroll down to the comments. These are a goldmine because these are the actual people you are trying to bring to your blog.
Look at the way they talk, what they disclose and what questions they ask…
Here is an example…
James is 43 and works in a corporate job. For the last few years, he has been looking for a change in career as he finds the corporate world mind numbing. He has been dabbling in web design but has never actually sold his work because he is struggling to build his portfolio.
He would love to start designing more websites as a full-time job so he can escape the cubicle life. At home, though he has bills and a family to support which makes him scared to pursue this new career path.
Now this tells you a lot more about your audience. You know the pain he is feeling and you know what he wants to accomplish.
Help Readers Smash Their Goals To Make Them Love You
Once you have developed your reader avatar you are armed with a great deal of information. It is a lot easier to construct a content plan.
Before you take a nose dive into content research though you should try and plot your readers expected journey.
You know what they want to accomplish. This is their end goal.
So if they wanted to knit a scarf, then the goal would be a finished scarf. When they first land on your blog though they are scarfless and don’t have the knowledge to change this.
This is point A!
Your job is to take them from here to their end goal.
The problem you have is that they are skeptical. There is a lot of crap out there and they are unsure if you can actually deliver results.
This is where you should develop content to give them quick wins. When they have these little quick wins their brain fires a trust signal. They will want to stay with you more and spend more money.
So you could create a piece of content that helps them choose the best type of wool. You could even give them a quick tutorial teaching them how to do a certain stitch.
Create a journey that you expect the reader to take.
The milestones on the way to the end goal will be the quick wins that will help you build trust with your audience.
This journey is the foundation of your content strategy.
Strive To Deliver Top Quality Content That Is The Best On The Topic
I mentioned in the last part about how much crap floats around the internet. Even though it makes your reader skeptical of your ability it also gives you the perfect opportunity.
If what exists is crap then you can create epic shit easily.
Unfortunately, every topic out there has been covered a hundred times before. There are still plenty of ways for you to make your article stand out. The first thing is the angle you take, by attacking the subject differently you give your post a unique selling point.
Right of the bat, you have two unique angles. You can take a different angle and inject your personality.
If the content out there is mainly text then you could consider adding more imagery. Video is actually one of the strongest types of content as the internet becomes a much more visual medium.
It also helps build a strong connection with your audience.
Are there any knitting gurus that could give you some tips to include, this would add more value to your post.
Think outside the box and look at ways how you can deliver a high-quality piece of content. Infuse the benefits of doing things your way to encourage your readers to take action.
If you drive them to success… your job is nearly done!
Promotion Is The Most Important Part Of Your Strategy
Have you heard of the ‘publish and pray’ mentality?
This is where you launch a piece of content into the interwebs and leave it to gain traction on its own. It may have worked 10 years ago but nowadays you have to get off your butt and hustle.
I always say start with the low hanging fruit methods. This will give you that some traction but it will also give your content some social proof in the form of comments and social shares.
Who would share your content without much effort?
Your friends and family.
Even if they don’t have any interest… their share still builds your share count but also puts your content in front of their friends. Their friends may be interested in knitting or whatever your niche is.
Next look at influencers that you have connected with in the past… would they be interested in your awesome piece. These people have a larger audience to help you spread your content. Creating a simple outreach email could lead to a share from them and that could really push your content far.
Sharing your content on your own social profiles is a must but posting to niche groups is a great way to increase the reach. Facebook, for example, has really reduced the organic reach.
One thing you can do to spread your content is to create a video, Facebook is really pushing this type of media. Mike Allton at The Social Media Hat done an experiment and found that a video post delivered the most organic reach.
Conclusion
Take pride in your work and invest in your training. By learning the expert secrets you can see how you can emulate their success.
Once you have learned these tricks then spend time getting to know your audience. Then you can create content that will get them all fired up. Give them a quick win feeling that makes them trust what you say and make them a true fan.
This will allow you to create epic content that connects with your audience. By striving to create that true best piece of content you stand a higher chance of ranking your content.
Lastly, spend more time promoting your content. Spend 20% of the time creating your content and then 80% promoting it to get amazing content marketing results.