Are you a blogger, and do you want expert tips for researching your blog? Research is one of the most essential parts of writing for an audience because it makes you an authority on the topic and credibility.
Research for blogging involves so many components, like keyword research, competitor research, and the contribution of personal knowledge. Being a blog writer is a responsibility because users are counting on you to be a reliable source. Here’s what you can do to be the best you possibly can!
1. Commit to Conducting Very Thorough Research For Your Blog
Research is so important when it comes to your blog. You want to give the most pertinent facts that express the article’s main idea. When starting with your blog, it will take longer to provide a complete piece for your blog.
The time it takes depends on your topic, how long the post is, the complexity of the subject, and how experienced you are. For the most part, you cannot put a time frame on research and writing; however, there is a formula for the long article that you can use.
The average seasoned blogger can research and complete a 1,000-word article in about 2 – 4 hours. However, it could take 5 – 6 hours if you are just beginning. Essentially, the more experience you have, the faster the work will flow.
There are many ways to research your blog; your goal is to be thorough, not redundant. Some of the reasons why good research will make your article stand out:
- Increases user engagement.
- Builds trust with your readers.
- Enhances the quality of your writing.
- Revealing current trends in your niche.
- Improves the credibility of your content.
- Allows new and fresh insights into the topic.
Quality research helps improve SEO on your blog because you are writing for a target audience interested in the facts about the subject. You will also have the appropriate information to educate your users, giving you an edge over the competition.
If you’re not going to commit the thorough research you need to, you’re better off hiring someone else.
2. Identify the Purpose of Your Blog
How you research will depend on what you’re trying to get across. Before you even start, you should figure out what you want to do with this post. Some staple purposes include:
- Increasing traffic: SEO is essential in helping you research your blog. Keywords are crucial in attracting an audience and driving traffic to your site.
- Demonstrate your expertise: You will likely write about something you were interested in or know a lot about. This gives you an edge over the competition because you have your unique perspective of the topic, and when you use your own words, it will come together naturally.
- Educating your audience: You want to write to inform on a particular topic and educate your audience. Remember to back up any facts you derive with your sources and always credit the source in your blog.
- Entertaining your readers: Almost as important as educating, learn how to engage your readers with a conversational tone that is comfortable to read and understand. You want to be a readable and relatable authority, and the best way to do that is to establish a rapport with your readers that makes them want to return.
For example, if you’re goal is to entertain the reader, you probably don’t need a million statistics and dissertation-level writing, which might mean you’ll be able to spend less time in the research stage.
If you’re super concerned about SEO, you’ll spend more time doing keyword research than someone who isn’t. If you want to be educational, you’ll need more sources than if you’re just showing off your own expertise with personal anecdotes.
3. Define Your Blog’s Target Audience
Before you begin researching a topic, you need to define your audience. For example, if you are writing a blog post about the best cat toys and products, you have determined that you are writing to a cat-loving audience. This helps you choose the best products to feature in the article and the links you will provide.
You will need to brainstorm the questions the person coming to your site may ask and how to answer those questions. Type those questions into the search bar and see what comes up. Start by thinking of ways to explain the information to your audience in your own words and develop details that will help the audience understand the topic better.
4. Keyword Research Your Blog Post
Keywords are essential to help you write your blog post because they help you understand what users are searching for, and integrating keywords into your article will allow you to rank highly in the search engines.
Sources for Keyword Research
There are a comprehensive variety of keyword research tools to choose from. The following include some of the best and most popular programs for keyword exploration:
- Google Keyword Planner provides you with information straight from the horse’s mouth. The data comes from none other than Google itself.
- Ahrefs Keywords Explorer This product will go deep into keyword research and gives you in-depth information about each keyword. It tells you how many backlinks you will require to place first on the Google search engine.
- RankIQ This program is an easy-to-use platform where you can quickly search for related keywords for your blog. It is one of the best SEO tools for a beginner.
- Serpstat This program comprises tools for link building, local search optimization, and keyword research. It can help you track your competitor and monitor trending keywords.
Should You Hire a Content Agency to Do Keyword Research For Your Blog?
Keyword research is a daunting task that the untrained blogger might not fully grasp. Instead of doing it yourself and potentially messing up, you can hire professionals to do it for you.
The professionals, like those at Text Goods, know exactly what they’re doing. They’re trained to be able to conduct thorough research for any niche, so you can just sit back and wait for them to finish up.
Content agencies almost always have blogs of their own. We know what you’re looking for, and we can help you get there. Hiring a professional – at least for the first round of keyword research – is definitely a good idea.
4. Draft an Outline For Your Blog Post
Organize the most helpful portions of your research and compile them into an outline. Trying to fit all the information you found into a blog would be a mistake.
You could jeopardize the article’s natural flow, making it seem too cluttered and disorganized. When you organize an outline for your blog, the goal is to remove the excess information that is the least interesting or helpful.
Your information should be arranged according to how you want to present it. Think of it like pop radio: you need a good hook. Your title must attract the reader and make them want to learn more.
5. Start Your Blog Research by Gathering Statistics from Credible Sources
Get the statistics ready first: that’s usually the most tedious part of researching. Statistics are important, and you need to make sure they’re correct. Some examples of sources you can trust:
You can also retrieve relevant videos on YouTube and put them into your blog. The most important thing to know about online searching is that the domain name can reveal whether the source is credible.
You should always check several sites to see if you can back up the information you have found. It may also be helpful to check the date of the publication.
Be aware that, if you’re adding statistics into your blog post and you haven’t dated them, you need to update them consistently. If you say 5% of people in America hate dogs, but in 6 months, a study comes out that 6% of people hate dogs, you need to update your post to stay relevant.
6. Contribute Your Personal Knowledge to the Blog
Once you’ve got your statistics together, you can start plugging in your personal experience: those stats are just your backbone.
You should figure out exactly how much you already know about the topic and how what you know can fit into your blog. Quality research entails that you incorporate your ideas into the article.
For example, if you write about how often you should walk a dog and have an adorable golden retriever puppy at home, you know you should not walk puppies too long because it can interfere with their growth and development.
You can contribute all the information you know about puppies from personal experience, share anecdotes, et cetera, which will help you build trust with your readers. No one wants to read a blog post that sounds like it was written by someone who doesn’t care or know the topic well.
If necessary, write down any information you know in a notebook, as this is another good brainstorming technique. You want the article to be as unique as possible.
7. Check Out Your Blog’s Competition
Check out other sites to see their style and get some ideas. You should never out-and-out copy them, but there is nothing wrong with simply observing the trends. Checking them out could also help you figure out exactly what you don’t like, too, so you know what to avoid.
Know that you and your competitors are trying to attract the same audience. They may even have similar content and many of the same sources.
Competitive analysis will give you a better insight into your competitors and why they have been successful. Identify their strengths and weaknesses. You will need to do some investigation here. Find out the following:
By researching your competitors, you can find out where the competition is lacking: do they not have good images? Is their tone too formal? This is a perfect opportunity for you to fill in those gaps.
What Should You Avoid During Research For Your Blog?
Sources are considerable help with research, but there are some resources you should either use sparingly or avoid altogether.
Remember, you can use Wikipedia to jump-start your research, but it should never be used as a credible source. Wikipedia is a great place to find credible sources, though; you can shop through their footnotes!
Unauthorized biographies are not credible because the subject does not approve of the author’s story and could be filled with lies. Social media posts cannot be trusted (except for direct quotes), as fake news tends to be circulated all over the internet. When it comes to quotes, consider the source.
Chances are, Twitter and Facebook may not be credible. Personal blogs can be excellent sources of information, but if they have not backed up their article with sources, they may not be reliable.
Conclusion
Researching your blog is essential because you must verify your information with credible sources. Hopefully, the above tips will help you when you explore data for your next blog post.
If you are looking for expert writers who are adept at research, look no further than Text Goods. You can get various articles ranging in subjects from health and fitness to personal development.
