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Sail the 7 C’s to Better Blogging- C #4- Content is King
Today we are going to talk about C#4 – Content is King.
This is a continuation of a series that started with “Sail the 7 Cs to Better Blogging”. (This post was also featured in Ann Sieg’s TheRenegadeBlog.com)
Some of the seven topics have been covered. C#1 was Find Your Core , C#2 in Consistent Blogging, C#3 is Congruent Blogging and C#7 – “Connect with your Audience” was covered in a series of seven posts (it started as four and kinda grew )
Creating blog traffic has four distinct phases –
- Things you do before you start posting in your blog – covered in a post about Phase 1,
- Things you do while you are writing a post (SEO and HOC) – covered in a post about On-Page Blog Traffic
- Things you do after you write a post and press Publish Blog Traffic After Publish 1 and, Blog Traffic – What the Experts Do
- Checking the results on your efforts. There have been several posts on this and more to come.
Note: My mission is to help Network Marketers who are struggling to move online, especially those buried by overwhelm. You will find information that will HELP you find leads and access to the finest mentoring system on the Internet today (Ann Sieg’s Renegade Team and Inner Circle). You will learn how to avoid the bright shiny things, effectively use blogging, Facebook and LinkedIn, A free 30 minute coaching call is yours for the asking. Take action today! When you are ready Join the Team
C #4 – Content is King
I’m going to talk briefly about three different aspects of Content and the phrase Content is King
- Quality Content is King from the Readers point of view.
- Content is King – Keywords to get readers to you.
- Quality Content from the Search Engine’s point of view
Quality Content is King from the Readers Point of View.
The word “quality” is one of those words that has so many personal meanings that it is hard get a good grasp on it. We can all look up a dictionary definition, but in practical terms tour definition of quality may differ from mine. Some people are looking for entertainment, some for answers, some for inspiration and on and on. When we are blogging we have to think really understand our niche, our Avatar and what our starving crowd is looking for. If they want a laugh – that’s what you have to give them. If they want How-To, then that is what you have to give them. The better you understand what you people are looking for and the better you supply that, the more people will agree that your blog supplies Quality Content.
From their Point of View
One skill that writers and marketers MUST develop is getting into the shoes of the reader. Several examples come to mind. One involved a dentist, his online ads where getting no results at all until a better marketer pointed out that the dentist was using words like “gingivitis” and his customers talked about “bleeding gums.” I also love marketers talking about “anti-aging”, where women Google for “Look Younger.” The trick is to find something you know will be useful to your readers and then switch to their point of view and vocabulary to write about it. Not always the easiest thing to do.
Stories Sell
We have all heard the marketing nugget that says “Fact tell and stories sell.” I’ve seen people use this over and over and forget one basic thing. The reader has to SEE early on where the story is going and it is relative to them.
WIIFM – What’s In It For Me
I’ve heard this phrase over and over and over and yet when I arrive on many sites I can’t tell that there is anything there for me. Regardless of how technically correct the information is, if it doesn’t meet my needs it is not quality content.
The Human Point of View is MOST IMPORTANT
It doesn’t take a mad scientist to look at the trends over the last few years and see that what Google and Bing are telling us is true. Their job is to deliver pages to their users that give the implied need behind the user’s search.
Sources for Content
There are dozens of articles on finding content topics. I think I’ll save that one for another day. Here are a couple of thoughts. You always start with “what do MY readers need?”, but it is possible to run out of ideas. There are lots of posts on where to find ideas. My three favorites are 1) Go to a book store and pull books about your passion. Look for bullet lists. Give credit where credit is due and argue, agree, add to, or subtract. There is usually something there to talk about. 2) Pull books on your topic off your shelf and ask yourself “Why did I buy this book?” and then “Did it give me what I wanted?” and 3) Look at the titles of past posts on blogs about your topic. The titles themselves will spark ideas.
Content is King – the Phrase
“Content is King!” I’ll have to admit, this phrase annoys me. It is 100% accurate and if you know what it means it make perfect sense. On the other hand, if you don’t know what it means, you get nothing but a feeling of “I need to write well.” Writing well is important, but it is not the whole story by a long shot. Here is my take on what the phrase means. The search engines (Google, Bing and Yahoo) are in the business of feeding their users the absolute best answers to the implied questions the users are asking when they search. For example, if I search for a specific network marketing company, I DO NOT want to see 6,000 entries that are exactly the same. This would be a bad user experience. The result is that the programmers for the search engines go through some contortions to try to deliver the best content to the searchers. This means that as a blogger, it is your job to give content that would meet the current definition of “best content for the searchers” – in other words Content is King. Key words and SEO are far beyond this short post, but it is critical to remember that your first job is to provide content that someone will find useful when they read it. Useful may mean “how to” or “that was interesting” or “That was funny” or “now I know that writer better and I like them more”. It can mean lots of things, but somehow the content must be useful. In addition to being useful, readers expect multi-media today. Readers expect and demand to see Videos, Pictures,or Infographics.
Content is King – Keywords to get readers to you.
Most of the experts suggest that part of your exercise when you identify your niche is to identify 4 to 7 categories and then pick 4 or 5 keywords for each category. You should research these carefully and look for long tail keywords (phrases that your readers commonly search for.
Content is King – Long Tail Keywords
There is another point of view. Bill Tancer in his highly respected article on “Sizing Up the Long Tail of Search” found that sites were being found using thousands of little keywords (long tail phrases) instead of the “top ten” hitters. Here is a quote that says it well: “If search were represented by a tiny lizard with a one-inch head, the tail of that lizard would stretch for 221 miles.” There are often hundreds or even thousands of phrases that are common to a particular niche. Think about writing articles with lots of synonyms and lots of different keyword phrases in them.
I’ll talk more about this later.
Quality Content from the Search Engine’s point of view
The programmers who work for the search engines have established their own definition of Quality Content and they are very serious about Content is King. Here are some common sense rules that they are putting into the search algorithm code.
- If people are talking about a page on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, it must be Quality Content.
- If people come to a page and leave immediately, it must be poor content.
- If people come to a page and stay and then go to other pages in the same web site, the content must be high quality.
- If articles use a page as a reference for their own writing, it must be quality content.
- If the same basic content shows up on dozens of sites, it is poor quality.
There are other rules, but these give you the basic idea. It doesn’t matter why the reader thinks it is high quality, if they stay and read it and if they share it and if they talk about it – then it must be high quality. This is a totally different definition of Content is King.
There you have 3 different points of view, but they all agree – Content is King!
Until next time, you have a Great Day!
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Hale Pringle – Hale Yes!
Skype hale.pringle
Email: HaleYes@HalePringle.com
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Enjoyed your post… content truly continues to be king! Great tips on how to tell if content is quality content!
Nicole recently posted..Top 5 Web Design Mistakes Most Small Business Owners Make and How To Avoid Them
Thank you for commenting Nicole.
Glad I could give you something you enjoyed.
Regards,
Hale
I must give you a great big Thank You Hale!
Your advice on Content Is King is exactly what I am currently working on. My blog needs more direction and I’ve noticed I have been flip flopping with my content. My readers needed advice on the Social Media Platform and also Personal Development.
My blog content seems to be all over the place and I am determined to regiment myself to be consistent this new year.
I have decided to write on the Personal Development niche because I am working on my own product to be launched in the coming months.
As I read your post on content, SEO factors and so on, it has helped me so much to clarify my niche and be consistent!
This is what I love most about being a blogger. I learn something new every day.
I thank you for the help you have given me in this post.
Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted..The Inner Marketer Day 1
Donna,
You do realize that you just made my day! It’s not often we can do that for someone.
Thank you VERY much!!!
Hale
Hi Hale,
What a great way to really get to the heart of content. It’s so true – content is more than just “write well”. In fact, it’s so overused as a marketing cliche that I’m sure many people have no idea what it means or how to implement it. You put this into perspective – three perspectives to be exact! – in a way that someone can really use.
I love the idea of looking at books and other posts/articles for ideas. I do this all the time. Sometimes I read a headline that intrigues me, or a story I get involved in and I make a note to use something about it in a post. Ideas are everywhere and people are writing great content all the time, so why not look around a bit for inspiration?
Carol Lynn recently posted..Content Marketing Trends For 2013: 5 Questions With Joe Pulizzi, CEO Of The Content Marketing Institute
Thank You Carol. That is such a thoughtful comment. I really do appreciate it.
Regards,
Hale
Wow! What a comprehensively written post Hale! Just when I thought you had said it all – there was more! Great value read. Thanks!
Hi Hale,
I like your example about the words that some bloggers use. One of the things that I see a lot of people always writing about is changing their mindset. Besides that phrase being thrown around all over the web, people don’t really talk like that. That is one example that continues to stand out for me (had to thrown that one in).
I’ve written about this topic myself several times but it’s really true. Content is the number one thing we have to put out or how can we even start to help someone. But just writing a post like an instructional manual won’t help that person connect with you which is really what our main goal should be.
This was a well thought out post and I have no doubt your entire series is spot on. I’ll have to go back and check out the ones before this and will look forward to what you still have to share.
Thank you Hale and enjoy your weekend.
~Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted..2013 Here I Come
Hi Hale. Nice article, very detailed with definite information how what we need to think about in terms of content and what we need to write about. I know for myself, I struggle with the same thing,. I feel like my articles are all over the place. Finding your niche is critical and then your content becomes a little bit easier. Thanks for a great share.
Barbara
Barbara Charles recently posted..Happy New Year 2013 – Dare To Dream!
Hi Hale,
Wow, finally making it here. It’s been one of those crazy weeks!
Content is king and i’s also one of my main niches. I love to write about content and the quality of it, because I love to write and read both. And it’s also part of my work.
Nowadays, if our content is not pretty darn good we have no chance of keeping someone long enough on our blog to keep them interested and wanting to come back. There is so much choice out there and lots of good stuff too.
Thank you for your great content and nice meeting you on your blog.
Sylviane Nuccio (@SylvianeNuccio) recently posted..Words Are Powerful Are You Taking Advantage Of Them?
Thanks Sylviane,
I think I visited your blog recently. Your post talked about having to walk before the words would flow. A new thought for me for sure.
Thanks again,
Dr. Hale
Dr Hale, this is a great post about content from different points of view. Thank you for your insight.
Sigrid McNab recently posted..The Five Financial Goals-Saving Money
Thanks a bunch Sigrid,
I hope to see your EOD’s soon 🙂 🙂 🙂
I’m enjoying this even though it can be a lot of work on top of otherwise full days.
See you soon (online that is)
Dr. Hale
Here is an excerpt from my new novel: “I stood for a moment, surveying my immaculately clean, and meticulously modern bedroom, and allowed my mind a chance to catch up with my movements. My girlfriend managed to stay sound asleep through this fiasco, and looked peaceful as ever. I glanced at the clock, and like many other mornings before this one, realized my scramble to wake up and get going was fruitless. I was up early, and there was no need to rush. The real urgency was coming from my own personal rush to break away from my horribly mundane existence.” To read more, please visit my website. Regards, Justin
I pay a visit every day a few blogs and information sites to read content, except this weblog offers feature based content.
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