Unlocking The Secrets Of How To Research For A Blog

By | November 4, 2015

Unlocking The Secrets Of How To Research For A BlogDoing research for blog content might be time consuming and you will find numerous details from various sources as you begin. It gets even worse if you have no idea of how to research for a blog especially since the requirements are not well spelled out for you. Consequently, you will end up with information that is either close to or irrelevant as far as the blog topic or niche is concerned.

 

There are many aspects you can consider, that will point you in the right direction when conducting such a research and this is as outlined below;

 

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Make your idea valid


Part of the etiquette of any kind of blog is that the reader that comes across it should be able to connect with it. This is drawing from the fact that sentiments are connected to the topic of discussion should be well captured in the blog post and its contents are actually relevant.

For example it does not good to write blog about dogs if your blog is about building a house. To help you validate your idea you can look for the following;

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  • Content by others that is popular – this will help you see if other people have interacted with the content, those who have back links to it, and other content related to it that has been published as well as other things.

Insert your search term of what you are looking for in the search function of BuzzSumo and you will be able to obtain all these details.

Buzzsumo research for a blog

  • Conversations that are closely related to the content – this relates to what other people are saying about the topic in question. If you lack such details on what you had opted for, you might want to switch your topic but as you do so, ensure that useful details retrieved are retained for future use in a blog post. This allows you to solve someone’s problem.  If you can do that then you will more easily connect with your audience.

You can obtain these details from industry forums, Yahoo Answers, Twitter advanced search and Google+ Communities.

  • Blogs by competitors that are related to the topic – you can check out whether your competitors have written something on the topic you have opted to use through tools such as SEMRush. If they have then it can be useful in helping you improve on the content that already exists out there. That’s right your competition, is a great place to look.

reviewing content

Come up with a recording system


Evernote, Word ,or Excel all work well with this and the system will feature such aspects as related keywords, title of the content, backlinks to the content, content link, engagements which include things like comments or social shares as well as interesting points and keyword phrases. This kind of a recording system will provide the structure required in a research.  It also makes sure you don’t forget something you ran across.

 

Search for all details available about the topic


Since there may be other content that is similar to the topic you are writing on, you should even go the extra mile by making the content much more detailed. This will entail such inclusions as;

  • Presentations from Prezi or SlideShare.
  • Podcasts and webinars from Google search or webinar and podcast directories.
  • Resource downloads, tools and widgets from Apple iTunes or Google app store, Google search or WordPress plugin directory.
  • Infographics and images from Instagram, Infographic directories, Google image search and Pinterest.
  • Videos from TED talks, YouTube, 99U and Vimeo.
  • Or even think about making your own video.

Use social media to drive traffic

Keywords selection


For the research process to be termed a success and for you to experience ease in conducting it, keywords are an essential ingredient that will come in handy in promoting this. They act as a guiding light throughout the research period and will also be included in the article for the content to remain relevant.

Let’s not forget that it is what the search engines look for in order to see if our information is relevant to the people who are searching for our terms I have written a lot here about it so I will not rehash all of that.  I do want to mention that you don’t want to overdo it with keywords when you actually sit down and write.  Pick one keyword per article and use it in the beginning of the blog and the end, then write naturally.getting started in affiliate marketing

You can find such keywords and others related to these on Google search, HubSpot keyword tool as well as KWFinder.com, and of course my favorite, Jaaxy.

At times you might want the results you obtain during the research process to be specific. To achieve this, you will need to type the keyword phrase in addition to the name of the content on the search engine. An example could be ‘flight carriers + template’ or ‘healthy diets + stats’ and so on and so forth.dig for your research

The key to achieving quality content is to dig a bit for your research and this is what will help you gain access to the hearts of various readers out there. The process discussed herein, cuts out a probability that you will just copy content but instead will be used as a guide for you on how to research for a blog.  You can find out this and more from my top recommendation or you can read about all my recommendations here.

As always please leave any comments or questions below.  Also please let me know how you do your research and what works for you.

8 thoughts on “Unlocking The Secrets Of How To Research For A Blog

  1. punish3r

    Well lately before joining wealthy affiliate i have been researching a lot of these type of sites, a variety of them actually and i saw that they mostly contain the same tips, articles just the information being presented in a different manner, but i guess that you can’t change the wheel. This doesn’t mean that i don’t find your information relevant. Anyways that article about how to get traffic to my blog will surely help me in the future

    Reply
    1. Marc Post author

      I think the reason many of these articles are similar is because they are the reality. What I mean is: you can have 100 people write an article about research, top 10 things in blah, blah, blah, or any other subject. If they are experienced they will pull from their own experiences, these experiences are similar so the articles are in general alike, but not really the same. I hope that makes sense.

      Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.

      Marc

      Reply
  2. Julian

    Hey Marc,

    First off, great post. Very easy to read and follow. I like it.

    Researching is a must when you’re blogging.

    If you don’t, you’ll have plain content with no proof or anything.

    I used to create blog posts based on some advice a “mentor” gave me. That was a mistake because it was shit advice.

    If I did the research on the topics I was writing about, my content would’ve been 10x better.

    Anyway, have a great weekend.

    Julian

    Reply
    1. Marc Post author

      Julian,

      I am very happy you found the information useful.

      Thank you for the comments.

      One thing you can do is on your past posts go back, do your research and rewrite them. This will actually help you with your SEO as Google loves updated content. This way you dont need to start all over but instead just fix some things. I think the key is adding or changing at least 10% to give your articles a boost.

      Marc

      Reply
  3. Neil

    I am just starting out in blogging and already I’m struggling with conducting research in to new topics to write about.

    Thank You very much for sharing some great blog tips, and the keyword research selection method sounds like a good aspect for me to focus on. I will look in to your Jaaxy recommendation.

    Neil

    Reply
    1. Marc Post author

      Neil,

      Thank you for the comment. I am glad this information helped you. I think one of the toughest things to do when you first start out is finding what to write about. After doing it over and over again it actually is quite easy. Please keep me posted on your progress and let me know if I can help you in any way.

      Marc

      Reply
  4. WS

    Hi Marc,

    Really enjoyed reading your post as I think that this is a very important topic. Research is so important when it comes to creating quality content and I think you nailed a lot of your points. I’ve learned the hard way especially when it comes to keyword research and it’s clear that doing the extra work to begin with saves you a ton of time down the road. The old say “measure twice cut once” certainly holds true here. Keep up the great work!

    Reply
    1. Marc Post author

      WS,

      Thanks for the comment and I am glad you found it useful.

      Please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.

      Marc

      Reply

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