Congratulations, you’ve started a blog. You’re officially a “blogger.” But having a WordPress site with a hand-picked theme and your bio info appearing in the sidebar is just the first step. Answer these questions:
- What is my blog about?
- Who is my audience?
- Is my topic engaging my audience?
A blog founded on an original idea will answer these questions all at once, because it intuitively knows what stories resonate with people.
If you’ve just started a blog or have had one for a while, and it doesn’t seem to be gaining momentum, you may need to reevaluate your approach. Here are some tips that can help you reanimate your blog back to life.
How Are People Speaking to Search Engines?
You don’t have to be a sophisticated SEO to find relevant and interesting topics. Use some basic keyword research methods to investigate what people are searching for. If you live in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, and would like your blog to appeal to this audience, go to Google and type in the phrase “fishtown.”
Notice how I didn’t press enter? This step is essential. After typing in the initial part of your query, Google suggests common sub-topics.
Of course, exploring the search results themselves is always a good reference for current discussions and events. Go ahead and press enter, scroll down to the end of the first page, and you’ll see more suggestions from Google:
Using search engines is a great place to start doing research that can narrow down your topics. Let’s add one more tool to our arsenal for basic keyword research. This one is called Ubersuggest, a free keyword suggestion site often used for brainstorming blog topics and optimizing PPC campaigns:
There are other similar services such as Keyword Tool, Soovle, and the Google AdWords Keyword Planner that can help you in your quest to find topics that are both specific and popular. Among the three methods we’ve discussed, there are already apparent trends. If we compile all these queries into a word cloud, we can see the most common language:
There are several conclusions that can be drawn from this. One, however, is an interest in an organization called the “Fishtown Beer Runners” among users. To verify this, Google Keyword Planner shows that this term receives approximately 480 searches per month.
You have your topic, the rest is up to you. Want to join the Fishtown Beer Runners, then write about your experience? Or maybe you’d like to interview the founder and some participants? Once you find your topic, get creative in how you approach it.
Keep Your Ear to the Ground: Explore Forums Related to Your Topic
Every topic has its forum, whether it’s on Reddit, or a site meant specifically for local residents of a community. This will give you insight into discussions that are actually taking place, and which matter to people. Forums should be relatively straightforward to find through searches on Google. If you’re looking for a local audience, there are sites such as Everyblock, where residents discuss neighborhood topics. Become a member, and start joining conversations.
Before you start promoting your blog on a forum, it may be important to first demonstrate your value to the group. Don’t jump the gun – first introduce yourself and contribute to discussions. Depending on the social dynamics of the forum, an initial gesture of self-promotion may create doubt among group members about your intentions. Trust me, it can get pretty tribal on some forums.
Using the “signature” section of your forum profile to link back to your blog is one way to begin subtly advertising it. Once you find an appropriate forum, and its members have warmed up to you, don’t be afraid to post your article and ask for feedback: “Hey, everyone. I had an interview with the founder of Fishtown Beer Runners. Let me know what you think, and who you want me to interview next!”
Social Media: Your Blog’s Supplement
Does your blog have a Facebook page, a Twitter account, an Instagram, a Pinterest? Utilizing forums is one way to expand your network. Social media is another. In fact, the two have a lot in common in their capabilities for crowdsourcing ideas, building relationships and getting your finger on the pulse of current topics.
Social media accounts will give your blog further identity and voice. Twitter is a particularly fluid medium for conversations. On Twitter, you can start following like-minded bloggers or users who release content related to your area of interest. Retweet them, reply to them, use their hashtags. When someone on Twitter sees that they’ve influenced others, they’ll feel grateful, and may be encouraged to “pay it forward” somewhere down the line. Twitter is a fruitful environment to throw yourself into and become involved in sub-communities.
In addition, social media is the perfect space for you to publish content to supplement your blog. Maybe you have an observation that isn’t quite substantial enough to be expanded into an article, but which can be distilled into a tweet or Facebook post. For instance, if you’re a community blogger, take a picture of that neat new mural on the corner and put it on Instagram. Found out about a zoning change and have an opinion on it? Tweet it and see if others feel the same way.
Say Something Different: Original Observations Are the Most Powerful Tool
In 2012, I started a blog called Fishtown Spotlights. I had no knowledge of SEO or WordPress, and very little knowledge of social media. However, I got inspiration from what I saw going on around me in the neighborhood of Fishtown in Philadelphia. New businesses were always popping up. Artisans and artists were migrating there from New York City. You could see this walking down the street. Plenty of journalists and reporters were documenting this growth, but not the way I wanted to see it. I wanted to hear the stories of Fishtown’s entrepreneurs and make a blog entirely about them.
I knew my audience, I knew my topic, and I knew had a unique idea: to create a blog featuring human interest stories on neighborhood entrepreneurs, and never deviate from this theme. The strategies above were some of the first I utilized and they helped my blog grow after each article. However, this growth would not have occurred if the idea did not resonate with people. You can spread the word all you want about your content, but if it’s not creative and it doesn’t tell a story, it won’t draw people.
Your blog must hit that special note that catches people’s attention, and make them think, “That’s different.”
