Being interesting, engaging or just creating the proverbial, awesome blog post is challenging. How do you define it? How do you describe it to a friend or even to yourself? You know it when you see it but what do you see and how do you recreate it? To create amazing content you need to realize that there are different types of content for different situations and purposes. Some of those purposes are for:
If you understand that there are different types of content then you can start to understand good content is based not only on the type of content, but also its purpose. When we do consulting we always talk about what makes good content for internet marketing. Remember, good marketing is not good escape or entertainment but it is still important. I don’t want to go to the movies and watch a 90 minute commercial and I am assuming you don’t want to either. And I love marketing.
For this post we are talking about great content that helps market your company and helps you get more clients through your internet marketing. So lets look at the three “Be’s” I mentioned above.
Your writing needs to be clear. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Have a beginning middle and end. Don’t wonder all over the map. You should ask the question, “does this sentence or this paragraph clearly talk about my point?” If it doesn’t then either get rid of it or write it so it does.
Choose one point or main topic for your blog post. Trying to cover too much is a trap that we all fall into. Fight it with great vigor. You will be rewarded with grateful readers. When people are done reading your post or webpage there should be one main theme that sticks out to them and it needs to be the one you intended so be clear.
Relevance goes hand in hand with clarity. You can be as clear as possible but if the reader doesn’t understand how this affects the tea in China then they will still be lost and confused. When something is relevant then we actually find it interesting.
Have you ever been talking to someone and they look at you with a puzzled look on their face and ask that fateful question, “… And what’s the point?” Most of us have and if you can recover by realizing you left out that one important sentence you can fill them in and watch the lights go on in their head. It’s that one little piece of information that makes the last few minutes, or sometimes those last few hours, make perfect sense in a minute. That is relevance and you need to start off with that and not wait till the end.
Your friends and family will be patient for a little while but a new visitor to your website or blog will not. The bounce rate for your site is measured in the first 2 seconds. If they leave in that time they bounced off. Your keyword research will help you pick the topic to write about and remembering to tell your audience what you are talking about and how each point relates to the main topic will give you that relevance factor.
People come to your site because they are looking for something specific. They want something and you might have the answer or at least part of the answer. If you do then you are helpful and if you are helpful then they will recommend you to others.
“It’s not help unless it’s perceived as help.” -Terry Walling
This quote altered my path as a business and Internet Marketing Consultant forever. I always wanted to be helpful but it is now one of my North stars. Make sure your blog is helpful to the person coming to your site. If you help move them down the path they are on in a constructive way then you both win.
That’s it. Be Clear. Be Relevant. Be Helpful. Work on improving these 3 things in your blog posts and you will go a long way toward keeping more people on your site when they visit and increasing the number of clients you earn through internet marketing. Our raving fans always answer yes to the question, “Has this been HELPFUL?” Now go out and write a clear and relevant blog and you will be helpful to someone. And that always feels good…in the heart and on the bottom line.