How To Research For Articles That Are Effective

By | April 12, 2015

Research papersIf you own a blog or are just starting a blog, you need to write articles. That begs the question “How to do you do research for articles?”  I will show you how to research for articles and I won’t stop there.  I will also show you how to write for a blog.  It really is not that difficult.  First keep an eye on your niche.  Make sure you are an expert in the area.  Find out common problems people have and solve those problems with your posts.

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First thing is First


Find keywords will be the first step you want to utilize.  There are several ways to do keyword research I went over many in a previous post here.  I almost always start with the “google alphabet soup” method.  This is where you take your main keyword and add a space then a letter starting with “a”.  Google will give you terms that are searched.  You keep going through the alphabet.  I write down several of the ideas that I get from doing that for keywords.

I also look at sites like Yahoo Answers and EHow.  When you are on those sites just type in your keyword and see subjects that come up.  From there you grab additional keywords that would be long tail keywords.  While you are doing this you then go into your keyword tool and input those keywords looking for keywords that have low competition.  My favorite is Jaaxy but I have some others listed here that I have used.  You can also use Google Alerts and Yahoo Pipes, but more on that later.Yahoo Answers

Once you find those low competition keywords that people are searching for, you then have some ammunition to start writing.  If you need to do a little more research on those topics you found, that is fine.  Do a search on Google, Yahoo, or Bing.  Read some article and jot some notes down.  Visit forums and do the same thing.  Notice I said notes and read not copy the article.

 

Time It


All it takes is time and effortThen what I like to do is read through those notes one last time.  Put them away.  Set a timer for 30 minutes.  One important note, do this when you won’t be distracted. Then write like a demon until the timer goes off.  Don’t worry about grammar, spelling punctuation or anything.  Don’t stop to look something up.  Just get it all out as fast as you can.  Then save it for a day.

The next day come back to what you wrote.  Now it is time to edit your work.  This process normally takes an additional 15 minutes.  That is okay, because, you have to make it look pretty and readable.  Put the polish on the article.

 

Google Alerts


Okay I mentioned Google alerts, but that was all I did is mention it.  So now it is time to revisit that comment.  Google Alerts is a great way to stay current within your niche.  You can set all kinds of quarries to send you email notifications about your niche.  This will help you keep current of the trends happening in the market.  These emails will show you what is current in your niche.  Then you can do a bit more research and write an article on what you found out.  Again new article do not copy the article.  Instead add more information from your knowledge and personalize your article.  It is your work not someone else’s.

 

Yahoo Pipes


This one is a bit different than Google Alerts.  While Google Alerts sends you email updates on trends, Yahoo Pipes is a RSS feed.  This feed shows you current posts and such, under the system you set up.  It does take a while to set up a Yahoo Pipe but once it is done it is a very useful system to get ideas.  You can see my write up on how to set up Yahoo Pipes here. Once again these are to generate ideas on what to write about not to copy what someone else has or is doing.you can use yahoo pipes to research ideas

 

Original Content


Do not use the RSS feeds as a source of content on your website.  You will quickly get penalized from Google and other search engines for duplicate content.  When this happens you will lose rankings with them and your traffic will go away very, very quickly.  That is the opposite of what you want to have happen.

The idea is to do your research, put it out of site and then write your content.  This will ensure that your content is original.  You can clean up your facts as you edit the post the following day.  That is another reason I say to just write it all out and not to worry about the spelling, grammar or other aspects of the post.  It will not be the final product.Take a day off then come back and edit

I have to be honest at first I used to just try to blast through content and make it as quickly as I could.  I would post it and there would be way to many errors.  Give it the day.  You will be happy you did.  If you blast through a power writing session then immediately try to edit it you will miss so many things.  The fact is you will read what you meant to say not what you actually wrote.  What you meant to say and what you wrote can vary greatly.  I have had friends comment on those articles I tried to do in one day without a break,  saying there were errors in the post.  Then I need to go back and find the errors and correct them.

So now I give that extra day to let it rest and clear my mind.  When I come back to the content, edit it, and post it, I then can be comfortable that I caught most of the errors and probably will not need to edit again.  That does not mean that I will never read the content again.  In fact, after a few months, I go back and take a look at some of my older content. I see what questions people have been asking and then add sections to my article to answer those questions.  I will have already answered those comments but it will help future readers, who may have those same questions.  Eventually those comments may be buried in other’s comments.  So it just makes it easier for the readers.  They don’t have to search for the answer to the question it is just right there.

So that is the basics of how I research, write and rewrite articles.  Please let me know how you do your research and writing of articles below; or if you have any questions or additional comments please leave them below.

 

8 thoughts on “How To Research For Articles That Are Effective

  1. Adrian

    I really like how you break down the sections and make it very simple to understand. I feel like you’ve just handled one of my considerations about getting new content. I especially like how you emphasize jotting down notes and then compiling the data rather than copying it – that is the key datum I got out of your post.

    Reply
    1. Marc Pintar Post author

      Adrian,
      Thanks for the comment and I am glad it helped you. Yes you never want to copy someone else’s work. If you take a few notes, digest it all and move on to more research by the time you are done you will have a great original article that is useful to many people.
      Let me know if you have any questions I will be happy to help.
      Marc

      Reply
  2. Teresa

    Great article. I’ve never really thought about writing content that way. Normally I don’t set a time limit to write whatever comes to my mind. I should set a timer like you do and see how it goes. I havent tried Yahoo Pipes yet. But have used Google Alerts though. Quite a good tool to use. Thanks for sharing your own method of writing content.

    Reply
    1. Marc Pintar Post author

      Teresa,

      I will write an article shortly on how to set up Yahoo pipes and how to use it. I will try to have it done by next week. It really just depends on what else happens this week. Thank you for the kind words. You really should try the time limit. The main thing is to not worry about what is written, just let it come out. Then the next day edit it. Please let me know how it worked out for you when you try it.
      Marc

      Reply
  3. Emily

    hi Marc
    such good ideas here! I have Google Alerts set up and do use some of what I receive as inspiration for posts or I copy links to articles to my site’s FB page. I think that when you have your own website you have to be seen as a sort of authority in the field. You need to stay current in your niche and yes it does require time. Researching a post does take some time for sure. But in order to write quality content you have to do your research. And really use your own words. I like the idea of just letting your writing sit for it before you come back to it. I did just that today! I will look for your upcoming post on Yahoo Pipes as I do not know anything about it 🙂

    Reply
    1. Marc Pintar Post author

      Emily,
      Thank you for your kind comments. As I have recently said, I will try to get that post up within the week. I have had a few people ask about it here already and I have received a few emails on it. How did that work out for you when you let it set? I find it much easier to edit.
      Marc

      Reply
  4. Jason Thomas

    Hi Marc, I’ve been in a real rut lately struggling to come up with ideas for my site. But all the ideas and techniques you’ve mentioned here have given me inspiration. I’ll be putting this information to action tomorrow, thanks a lot & good luck with your site 🙂

    Reply
    1. Marc Pintar Post author

      Jason,
      I am very glad you found the information useful. Please let me know how it all works for you and if you have any further questions.
      Regards,
      Marc

      Reply

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