The following is a guest post by Lorelle VanFossen of Lorelle on WordPress and an excerpt from her popular book, Blogging Tips, Tips Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging.
Writing with keyword-rich content helps your blog be found and readers to fully understand what you are writing about. Write consistent and purposeful content.
The more inline your content is with your blog’s purpose, the more concentrated your use of keywords will be throughout the entire blog, not just on a per-post basis. The more diverse your blog’s content, the more diffused your keyword usage will be across all of your blog.
Make a plan for your content. Make lists of the topics you will write about in keeping with your blog’s purpose. Stick to those subjects as much as possible to build your blog’s reputation as the place to come for answers on those subjects.
What Are The Benefits Of A Focused Blog?
- Content is synonymous with the subject.
- Links are synonymous with the subject.
- It builds a reputation.
- It builds authority.
- It becomes a destination.
- It becomes a source.
Your Blog’s Content Labels Your Blog
If your blog tells more stories about your life than reports on the news and world around you, then it’s a personal journal or memoir. If your blog reports and comments on politics, it’s a political blog. If it has more reviews of products and services than other content, it’s a review blog. If it has more photographs than text, it’s a photoblog. If it has more music than text and pictures, then it’s a music blog. If it has more video than music, text, and pictures, then it’s a video blog, vid-blog or v-blog. If your blog has more ads than content, it’s in the business of blogging.
The majority of the content on your blog indicates the purpose of your blog. When labeling your blog, take a serious look at its content. As your blog evolves, the value of your blog comes from the content you build over time.
Readers Thrive On Consistency And Continuity
If you create an expectation of content on your blog, readers return expecting to find similar content. If you switch one week from blogging about grooming pets to blogging about grooming horses, you have set an expectation that your blog is about grooming animals. If you switch from grooming dogs to racing cars, readers are thrown off and their expectations aren’t met. The odds are they will not return for more.
It used to be said that predictability was boring. In blogging, predictability builds return customers. They know you are the expert on this subject and that you are the source for information. Meet their expectations when they return.
Lorelle VanFossen blogs about blogging and WordPress on Lorelle on WordPress and the Blog Herald, and is the author of Blogging Tips, Tips Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging.
[…] Blogging Tips: Writing Purposeful ContentThe more inline your content is with yourblog s purpose, the more concentrated your use of keywords will be throughout the entireblog, not just on a per-post basis. The more diverse yourblog s content, the more diffused your keyword… […]
Great advice! Sometimes it’s easy to get sidetracked from your original prupose.
Lorelle,
While writing focused content is important, it is far more important to figure out whether this focused content is of interest to your readers.
Taking my website as an example, I used to use it just as a place to translate articles and hope that people would find the information of use & that it would draw decent search traffic. The truth is it hasn’t gotten me anywhere, mainly because even though the content was focused, it wasn’t what readers really want to see.
Good post and point, though. It’s important to stay on subject to become any kind of authority in that subject.
Lorelle,
Great article. One of the most difficult objectives I found when I first started my blog was how to write passionately about my subject matter, but at the same time keeping it focused.
Also, my earlier articles were hit or miss as I tried to establish a rhythm and depth of content.
One thing I would like to add, especially for those of us who are in a consulting role and are using our blog to build our brand, is that it is extremely important to be generous with information. I have seen some who only give a shallow level of content, only to add an upsell for a premium product at the end of every post. This is ok, but the real value add for readers is to walk away with actionable information for free. This helps build the expecation, and will bring them back for more actionable information.
Having extremely high quality content is important also. In the long term, there is no problem with offering a premium product, but you better make sure the value is above and beyond what they can get for free in your blog.
Its a constant battle. Great post.
-Susan
http://www.eggmarketingblog.com
Regarding foucs, a problem I see on a lot of blogs is that they’re mainly about a certain topic, but every third or fourth post is about how they’re doing as a blogger:
-“This is how to get dugg”
-“This is how to get traffic”
-“This is how to write good blog posts”
-“This is how much I made this month”
I guess a lot of readers like this stuff because they have blogs themselves, but when you come to the blog to read mostly about a particular topic, all the self-referential stuff gets annoying.
it’s sunday. i found your post. it meets my goal for the day. i thought writing a post about offering hawaii related content topics my site visitors want to read about, plus promoting more the ‘subscribe’ to my RSS feed button (need to move it to top of blog).
the label issue is not as easy in blogger as in wordpress but i guess it’s all a question about skillful categorizing blog topics. thanks problogger. pua
p.s.
if you are are interested in hawaii vacation, please, subsribe to my feed. i will return the favor if your blog is of interest for me.
I totally agree with the “Benefits of A Focused Bog” points. I have had to sit down a couple of times and will continue to do so to brainstorm about what good content for my blog is. It’s a good exercise, sort of like revisting your business’ mission statement.
There are a lot of blogs out there where people write about the goings on in their lives and where being inconsistent and/or dippy is par and acceptable. My blog is a fun review/informative blog with a little bit of my life thrown in. Being willy nilly with my content is NOT acceptable.
Thanks for the post!
This is the single best post I’ve read that explains why you should keep to a niche… yet so Zen, and almost “duh-ish.” Strange combo.
Thanks.
Oh, and I’ll be buying your book.
[…] Writing Purposeful Content: Lorelle, guest blogging over Problogger, has an interesting post covering the importance or purposeful and consistent content. […]
Darren, your post is right on time. A friend of mine asked me why was I creating and developing so many, websites and blogs. My first response was I didn’t consider it so many. My second response was because I wanted each blog or website to be very specific. For instance, I have three separate blogs about the music business, but each one focuses on a particular niche within the music business.
I wrote a post about you on my make money online goldmine blog. Thank you for sharing.
Jeremy: You are right, to a point. If your purpose and focused content is fulfilling your needs, your audience will find you and it won’t matter if there are 2 or 2000 readers. It serves your need. However, if you desire traffic and growth in readership, then obviously, writing things that people need matters.
And I do hope that you are getting permission from those who want their content translated. Not all do, as translated content does come under copyright protections. :D
Chris: The need for attention often exceeds common sense. :D Yes, people think these topics will bring in new readers, and yes, they have, but I don’t expect this trend to continue as there is now a glut in that market topic. I say leave blogging tips to bloggers who consistently write blogging tips. I don’t take my car to be worked on by my gynecologist, nor would I expect my mechanic to know much about plastic surgery. Go to the right expert for the right information.
Jason: Thanks, um, duh, well, sorta, kinda, well, wow, cool, awesome. :D
Good common sense, but then most good advice is. I wonder whether sometimes less is more, in the sense that no post is better than an off topic post?
it even puts you out differently from others. since some niches are saturated over the internet by specifically writing useful content can actually get you more readers because it is different from what others will normally write.
As I only started a few months ago I’m, in a sense still searching for my subject. That is, the purpose of my blog is to have a place where I can show my drawing.
The text is something of a search engine trap. If Google could index pictures I wouldn’t have to write an article.
As it is I’m planning to write articles about an array of subjects. Every post will start with a drawing followed by a story.
Hopefully the name of my blog “See me draw” will convey to people that that is the purpose of the blog.
That’s exactly what I believe the first step to blogging is.
I write a how-to blog aimed at women who want to start a successful blog and navigate all the options available to them.
The first thing a blogger has to understand when they’re starting up is that their blog has to have some sort of purpose and a well-defined area of expertise. Otherwise they won’t get very far and they won’t have authority with any search rankings or, more importantly, any readers.
“Jason: Thanks, um, duh, well, sorta, kinda, well, wow, cool, awesome. :D”
You’re welcome, so, what?, great, grand, uh, wonderful, rockin’, gravy. =)
Great article, although I am left wondering what the hell I am doing! I am a fairly new blogger who has transitioned from blogging just to keep in contact with far away loved ones to blogging for possible dollars. Like Kamika, my blog seems to be a “fun review/informative blog with a little bit of my life thrown in”. The only thing predictable about my blog is the profanity and disgust for GWB! Other than that, my blog posts are all over the place and I’m not quite sure how to be consistent and predictable.
Good comment, April. How does a blogger become consistent and predictable?
But then, how do you accomplish anything in life without a plan? How did you buy your first car? Get through school? Buy a house or find a rental? How did you get a job or change jobs?
We don’t float through our lives like leaves in the wind – at least, I hope we don’t most of the time. We make plans and we follow those plans, changing the direction when the plan needs changing.
So you plan for your blog’s content, if you want your audience to return for more and return because they know you are the source.
There is nothing wrong with babble blogging. That’s where blogging began. I love online diaries and journals. It’s a fabulous way of expressing yourself, your creativity, and your dreams. But if you want to blog seriously, for money or reputation, then you have to become known for something.
It’s up to you to decide what that something is. And part of your plan.
Well thanks for the reply! I definitely have some things in mind that I’d like to try out. I just need to find the time to do it all! :o)
My website is a real estate site, but I live in a resort area with lots of recreational opportunities, so I blog about real estate, rentals and lifestyle. I do find myself getting carried away with the lifestyle stuff occasionally. It is an important part of what we have to offer, so I don’t want to eliminate it, just tone it down a bit. Lately I have been trying to concentrate on getting keywords in the title, even if the post is more lifestyle than real estate. Hopefully that will help!
I have found that off topic posts bring me off topic traffic, and although I like traffic, it is no good if they are looking for something I don’t offer.
Joanne, you’ve made a very good point.
Blogging on off-topic subjects can attract new readers, but honestly, does it?
Sometimes, sometimes not. If you are writing about the free-wheeling singles lifestyle in your area, trying to motivate people to the social activities there, you may be attracting traffic looking for a more “intimate” experience, shall we say, than you intend. Once they arrive, attracted by “social” keywords, they find out you don’t have what they want, how long do you think they are going to stick around? Hmmm?
You want to attract serious potential customers and readers, not those looking for what you don’t really offer. Besides, the attraction of these visitors due to keywords not really associated with your purpose skews your statistics. Boosts them, but skews them.
It’s a fine line, searching for new readers, keeping the ones you have happy, and helping your blog grow while staying true to its purpose, but a truly successful blog and blogger stays on track.
It’s definitely less stress when you stay on a focused topic. :D
I wonder if I should just stick to one subject or create another blog for it. The two subjects are personal finance and making money online. They’re closely related but I don’t want to dilute the topics on my finance blog too much.
If you can interrelate the two, then keep them together. If you can’t, then separate them. Some can do this successfully, creating a great niche, and others can’t.
Darren, Lorelle…thanks.
I’ve been struggling a bit lately with content. Part of that has to do with a huge shift in my business and a refocusing of my blog that’s not yet complete. I’ve not wanted to waste my reader’s time with posts that aren’t up to par, so I’ve not been posting as much lately.
But reading this post, things somehow came together and I’m ready to write again. Not sure how it happened, but thanks Lorelle.
Wow! Thanks for the kind words and I’m so glad to have helped.
Lorelle, you’re constantly a help. I’m just happy to know you.
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