Are you struggling to get your content seen?
Wonder how top marketers write blog content people want to read and share?
I was honored to join Atomic Chat, a Twitter chat hosted by Atomic Reach.
The topic was based on my article, “7 Simple Tactics to Create Blog Content That Spreads Like Wildfire,” and created a lively discussion around blog content, engagement and what makes it readable, shareable, exciting and compelling.
Below are the question and answers between Atomic Chat and myself, including the many incredible shared nuggets of wisdom throughout this chat.
How to Write Blog Content People Want to Read and Share
Q1: How important is it to pick a niche when blogging?
Extremely! Focus on your area of expertise and get clear on your target market. Otherwise, you’ll get lost in the noise. Define your professional expertise; what you’re passionate about and who it is you want to serve.
Break down your target market into smaller niches for maximum potential to be a thought leader #AtomicChat
— Atomic Reach (@Atomic_Reach) October 1, 2013
Once you define your niche and target market, you can create content specifically designed with their needs in mind.
The best kind of content is the kind that seeks to help your audience. #atomicchat
— Cendrine Marrouat (@cendrinemedia) October 1, 2013
Q2: How do you optimize your blog posts as much as possible? What should you consider?
Always review and tidy it up before publishing. Remove any unnecessary words/phrases. Look to your adjectives and adverbs!
Pay attention to your keyword density – the percentage of keywords used based on the number of words in your post.
Also deep linking to relevant pages helps search & social discovery for your audience & makes content evergreen. #atomicchat
— The Middle Child (@LindsayFultz) October 1, 2013
Don’t neglect your images! Your image title and alt attribute effect SEO and your ranking, so be clear in your description.
Q3: How frequently should you post content?
There are many who say once per day while others say once a week. To me the answer can be found in a few key questions.
If you write high quality content, you don’t have to worry about SEO. #AtomicChat
— Atomic Reach (@Atomic_Reach) October 1, 2013
What are your goals, time commitment, and reader appetite? There is no one size fits all answer.
To me it always comes down to quality over quantity. How much can you commit to without quality suffering?
A3: To me it always comes down to quality over quantity. How much can you commit to without quality suffering? #atomicchat
— Rebekah Radice (@RebekahRadice) October 1, 2013
Remember: writing your latest blog post and hitting publish is just the beginning. Always make time for promotion!
Remember: writing your latest blog post and hitting publish is just the beginning. Always make time for promotion! #atomicchat
— Rebekah Radice (@RebekahRadice) October 1, 2013
Q4: How do you write catchy headlines/ blog titles?
The goal is to create short, effective headlines. Start with your main keyword and then work it into your title and post.
Content posting should mirror marketing efforts, brand goals & #custserv capacity. Sell when you can support #atomicchat
— Brandon Harig (@BH_Social) October 1, 2013
That doesn’t mean stuffing the keyword in to an awkward post title. Make it natural, organic and relatable.
A5 Making sure your reader can digest your content. Proper grammar and spelling are keys and subtitles help. #atomicchat
— Emily (@emkslone) October 1, 2013
You want your post title to stimulate curiosity, generate a response or action and summon emotions.
+1 RT @RebekahRadice: A4: You want your post title to stimulate curiosity, generate a response or action and summon emotions. #atomicchat
— Jodi Okun (@JodiOkun) October 1, 2013
Q5: What does readability mean, and how does it help bloggers?
Readability is what your reader will feel as they read through your post. What emotions are you eliciting?
I also read each of my posts out loud to get a better feel for flow and how it will sound to my reader.
RT @BH_Social Knowing what your blog voice is and giving readers that tone, quality every time also helps boost readership #Atomicchat
— Clifton Webb (@CliftonW21) October 1, 2013
If I’m tripping over words, I’m positive they will as well. I edit my posts ruthlessly!
Q6: “Apply the Rule of One” – what does this mean?
The ‘rule of one’ is applying one writing rule to each of your posts.
Do you offer a solution, show how-to, encourage through facts or entertain? Know your posts end goal.
Yep! You won’t connect w/your readers if you don’t have an end point in mind. MT @RebekahRadice Know your posts end goal. #atomicchat
— Sandy S Harris (@SandySHarris) October 1, 2013
Then ask: How does this article make the lives of my readers better or easier?
RT@RebekahRadice: Always ask: How does this article make the lives of my readers better or easier? #atomicchat [sensational advice♥]
— MyOfficebooks (@MyOfficeBooks) October 1, 2013
Q7: You get a lot of shares and comments on all of your articles, how do YOU create content that spreads? What have you learned?
My goal is to create content that’s relatable and easily digestible. I do this by staying focused on topic and consistent.
I maintain an annual calendar and map out my content month-by-month. Google/keyword search is all a part of identifying topics. #atomicchat
— Rebekah Radice (@RebekahRadice) October 1, 2013
I want my readers to feel that the complex just became simple and easy to implement.
Take your time.
@Atomic_Reach It took me a year before I really felt I’d hit my stride. Finding your voice takes time, but it sure is fun! #atomicchat
— Rebekah Radice (@RebekahRadice) October 1, 2013
I’m also looking to generate and maintain meaningful relationships. Great relationships sprout opportunity!
RT @Atomic_Reach Huge thanks to @RebekahRadice for taking the time to share her blogging tips tonight! It’s a wrap! #AtomicChat #atomicchat
— Steve Cassady (@SteveCassady) October 1, 2013
Good Pointers on how to create shareable blog content…
Good Read!
Hello! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering
which blog platform are you using for this website?
I’m getting fed up of WordPress because I’ve had issues with hackers
and I’m looking at alternatives for another platform.
I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
I’d have to disagree with it being extremely important to find your niche. The comments I received on the post below showed how incredibly liberating it was for them to not have the pressure of defining a niche, much less creating enough engaging, quality content.
So much of this “You must have a niche in order to be successful!” is drilled into blogger’s heads even though for many they’ve been able to find success without one, myself included. What I strongly recommend for bloggers is to do what works best for you and avoid feeling pressured into a niche.
Every blogger, in my opinion, has a chance to be successful and get quality engagement on their blogs with or without a niche. It’s time we stop telling bloggers it’s crucial to have one if they expect to be noticed.
Hi Kim! I appreciate your thoughts and those of your commenters. I know blogging and creating content can be terribly overwhelming. However, it’s a commitment, just like anything else in our business. My focus is business bloggers. To those professionals that have decided to add blogging to their marketing plan, but dislike blogging or can’t find the time, then I say give it away to a VA or assistant. It should never be a burden.
As far as a niche, not having one is certainly an option. That is, if you’re not interested in reaching a select group of people truly interested in your product or service. If it’s simply a hobby, then speaking to everyone and anyone is perfectly fine. However, “everyone” should never be anyone’s answer to the question – “who is your target market?” If you’re marketing to everyone, you’re speaking to no one.
Hello Mrs. Radice,
This was a concise and dense interview. I do agree that everything begins with finding the right niche for you.
When you find a niche that really resonates with you and it is profitable, you will succeed no matter how many mistakes you make. When you don’t find that niche, you will fail no matter how good your strategies and tactics are.
My question to you is:
What methods to find the right niche do you recommend?
Have a wonderful day
That is so true Silviu. As the sayings goes, do what you love and you never have to work a day again!
As far as niche, that’s a great question. I would say first look to your passions and your hobbies. What do you love doing in your spare time or would love to do more of? Then begin the research phase to identify whether it’s a viable niche. Meaning…is there money to be made? It’s one thing to love something and another to actually be able to make a living at it.
Thanks for the share. Very helpful to know what has worked for others and what has not. I agree that you should blog about what you have passion for and what you are good at.
Nice collection of tips, thanks for the post it will help me in improving my content as high quality content is the best way to get the real traffic from the internet.
I didn’t know you wrote a blog post about our #AtomicChat, this is awesome! This recap is perfect, all great tips! How to write blog content that people want to read and share is something we obsess over as we built a platform that helps writers do exactly that. If anyone’s interested, take a gander at http://www.atomicreach.com where we analyze your blog, readers and social networks to assess the quality of your content and tell you if it’s a match for your target audience. We’ll also show you how to improve it so that it’s a hit every time.
Thanks for being our guest Rebekah, it was a ton of fun and hope we can do another one together in the future!!
I forgot to notify you Summer? Shame on me! I had so much fun and appreciate the opportunity. Great topic and one that has obviously generated a lot of conversation.
Improving content by knowing who our audience is and how to feed them exactly what they’re looking for every single time is crucial. Your tool is essential to doing just that!
Loved your post – lots of great tips! Being concise and to the point is important. I often find myself going off on a tangent and when I proof, I have to delete a paragraph or two. Thanks for sharing!
Ah Rebekah, so many awesome points in there! Finding my voice is still a factor for me, but I am only 6 months in so I will give it a little time :> But staying on topic, in your niche, being useful and making things simpler for your reader – I am with you there 100%
For only 6 months Ashley, you’re doing an amazing job! Finding your voice isn’t as hard as people thing. Just be yourself and let that shine through in all that you do online. Seems simplistic I know, but building a great personal brand and building meaningful relationships really does start with authenticity.
Great information. I am new to blogging after starting my personal blog last year. I didn’t touch it again till July this year and I am having a ball with it ever since. I’ve already improved my writing skills and it will only get better. It will be interesting to see how my blog progresses over time as I have lots to learn. It’s become a habit to blog daily for me. I use lots of my own photograhy mainly of nature, animals and family. I focus on my life in the tropics – the beach, family, the great outdoors, food and life. It’s a constant journey and I find the blogging community is exciting, fascinating, inspiring and informative. Thanks for sharing this info, it really helps.
All of these answers are spot on and what I’ve been blogging about for years. Its great to see that others got it!
Once a week is too little… 2-3 times a week if you’re not blogging once a day. 1 time a week won’t keep your traffic up if you’ve been regularly doing once a day or 2-3 times in a week.
If you’re blog is in a competitive niche and you want to rank above, blogging frequently does help.
Yes it does and you’re a testament to that Nile! Consistency is key, no matter if it’s once a week or once per day.
The biggest mistake I see many make is not sticking to a schedule. Then you leave your readers always guessing. Not a good way to establish credibility or earn subscribers.
Relatable, digestable, focused and consistent – these were my big takeaways from your article – I do think that an editorial calendar helps with that a lot – especially if you’ve identified keywords and related them to topics – makes it much easier to stay on track
You’re absolutely right Marty. I live and die by my editorial calendar. It’s the only way to stay focused and on track!
I love your tips. I need your tips. I use your tips. I am still learning and improving every week due to the efforts of wonderful people like you, Rebekah who are so willing to share.
I appreciate your work.
I do know my niche, extended family issues. Engagement is on the upswing from fro fellow bloggers. I am normally found via search engines by people searching for an answer to a family related issue. those wonderful people are not in the habit of commenting as, yet. I don’t think they feel comfortable chatting with a stranger. I could use more suggestions getting those people to feel comfortable in engaging.
What an incredibly important niche Malika. I can see how it might be difficult to get them engaged, but hooray for fellow bloggers supporting your efforts! That’s what building a community is all about. 🙂
Hello Rebekah,
It was awesome to see you on AtomicChat last week. You shared some great nuggets with us!
Thank you for the mention, by the way!
It was great to see you too Cendrine! You had fantastic takeaways. In fact, you made it hard to decide which one to choose for my article.
I love how engaged you and everyone on AtomicChat was. Makes it so much fun!
Sorry for responding so late! I only saw this today.
You are very kind, thank you! You also had great things to contribute yourself.
AtomicChat is one of my all-time favorite Twitter chats. I don’t always have time to attend, but when I do, I always learn a lot!
Hi Rebekah,
Excellent tips! Find your voice by practicing. Write and write some more. Also I love the idea of having an end point in mind. I shot a video on my deck here in Pondicherry; India. I worked in the travel/internet lifestyle angle as well as signing up for my free money making tips.
Do not start unless you see an end.
Thanks!
Exactly Ryan! There’s no use diving in and expending all of that energy if you don’t have an end goal in mind.