Here are 6 blog topic ideas for coming up with good content.

• Stay Up-to-Date with Current Events – This will give you ideas about the future of your market. This also includes focusing on news that involves your market niche.

• Hire Researchers – Research isn’t an easy task. If you don’t have the time, hire someone to do it for you.

• Think Out the Box – Come up with something unique. Try going out of your comfort zone. Think of new ways to make your posts more exciting to your audience.

• Recycled Content – Sometimes you just run out of fresh content. Other times you may just be too busy. Sometimes the only thing that can save you is to recycle old posts. Make sure you make old content look fresh.

• Ask Your Audience What They Want to See – Your audience (as well as your customers) like being able to give their input.

• Check to See What Previous Content is Missing – Updates and improvements are inevitable in any market. Check old posts to see what updates you can come up with and post about them.

Tips on Writing Your Comments and Posts Effectively

• A Good Title is a Must – People are busy. Some people won’t read a post that is too long. Pique their interest by using a catchy and intriguing title.

• Use a Catchy Headline – Start the headline and first sentence of your post with something catchy and interesting.

• Use the Inverted Triangle Method of Writing – This means that you write your posts by including information at the beginning.
• Example:
  • The Lead: The top part contains the most critical information.
  • The Body: The middle part of your post is addressed as the body.
  • Conclusion: The final part is known as the conclusion.

There are many resources for finding blog topic ideas. If you are out of time or simply want someone else to handle your posts, contact us. That’s what we do.

The post Short on Blog Topic Ideas? appeared first on Second Self Virtual Assistance.

Believe it or not, your blog is an important sales tool. Every post your write is a chance to make a sale or warm someone up to an idea. But heads up…This is only true if you know how to write blogs posts that sell. Not just any blog post will get people clicking through to your sales pages and lead pages.

So how do you craft effective blog posts that sell like crazy? Follow these simple strategies.

• Know Your Audience
  • Eavesdrop on their conversations. Visit niche forums, social media groups and blog discussions. This simple step will give you a great insight into what your audience thinks about certain topics and products in your niche.
  • Interact with them on social media. Here you take it a step further by actually talking to your audience. Ask them questions, find out their pains, figure out what kind of solutions they’re looking for.
• Outline and Research
  • Find a good quote or inspirational story to share at the beginning of the article. This is a great way to engage someone emotionally.
  • Statistics and other data to back up your claims in the article. For example, you might share a sobering real estate statistic. You can then launch into a post about how the reader can avoid being a statistic.
• Craft a Compelling Title
  • Share benefits. The idea here is to answer the “what’s in it for me?” question that’s floating in the back of your prospect’s mind.
  • Arouse Curiosity – Sometimes this is as easy as using a word like “secrets” in your title. This makes your prospects want to find out what you know that they don’t.
  • Use Social Proof – This headline gives your reader the impression that everyone else is doing this. For example: “Here’s What The World’s Best Real Estate Agents Do To Help Buyers Create Wealth…”
  • Ask Questions – A question can arouse curiosity, help qualify the reader, or even just engage them by making them think.

• Include a Strong Opener
  • Tell a story. Share a story about how someone very similar to the reader overcame the same problem your reader is now facing.
  • Share a shocking fact or statistic. The idea is to get someone to sit up and pay attention. For example, share a shocking fact about how many people (real estate fact) each year.
  • Say something unbelievable or controversial. Is there something in your niche that almost everyone believes is true? You can shock people right out of their seats by opening an article that goes against this mainstream thought. Ask a question to at least get people considering the idea that something might not be true.
  • Bust a myth. Do some people in your niche believe something that is hurting their results? Then you might open by busting this myth.
  • Ask a Question. This is a great way to engage your readers and get them to start qualifying themselves.

• Introduce a Solution
  • At this point you’ve given your reader something useful, such as an overview of a process, tips or something else to help them solve their problem. Now you need to introduce the rest of the solution, along with the benefits of this solution.

• Include a Strong Call to Action
  • After following the previous steps, you’ve led your reader right down to the end of the article. And best of all, the reader is very interested in this solution you’ve been talking about. Now it’s time to drop a call to action in front of them along with a link. This is where you tell them what to do next, and why they should do it. For example, include a link to your free lead-capture download.

• Proof and Polish
  • Read it out loud. This will help you catch portions of your content that are bumpy or otherwise don’t read well.
  • Get someone else to proofread. They’ll catch the errors, as you’re probably too close to the work to see them.
  • Look for ways to make the content more engaging. Sometimes this is as simple as using different words. For example, instead of saying something is “fast,” you might describe it as “lightning quick.” This paints a picture in the reader’s mind and draws them into the content.

As you just discovered, writing blog content that sells has a part in the technical side of writing, such as good grammar and spelling. However, it’s also about knowing your audience, drawing them in, and then leading them to your call to action.

The post How to Write Blog Content That Sells appeared first on Second Self Virtual Assistance.

Consistently writing a weekly blog post presents a unique stress point for some writers.  We get writer’s block.  It’s important for us to write about topics that will inspire, teach, and motivate our audience.  What do you do when this happens?

Here’s what I do:

Check Analytics – Assuming you’re keeping track of your posts’ views and clicks, choose the most popular posts.  Find out what links your readers clicked within your post.  If your post includes a video, see how long they watched it or if they watched it at all.  Knowing this information helps you decide which topics and tactics are readily received by your audience.

Unsubscribes – It’s inevitable that some of your audience will, at one or another, unsubscribe from your blog.  It’s okay.  People’s circumstances change and they may no longer need the information you’re writing about.  If, however, you are getting consistent unsubscribers, it’s time to take a look at what you’re writing about.

Now that you know this:  

Repurpose Your Content – Take a look at popular posts you’ve written about the same subject.  See how you can reword, update or mash up several posts into one.  Don’t forget to check your reference links to make sure they still work.  New resources pop up all the time.  Make sure the information you repurpose is still relevant.

Check Out Feeds – There are several popular resources for finding articles.  Many of these resources are free with upgrades available.  Sites like Feedly, ScoopIt or even your competition provide the latest articles with valuable ideas.

Curate – Curating content is simply gathering information from articles relevant to your post’s subject.  Quote some of their article in your post.  Give the writer credit with a link back to the article you found the information in.  This provides filler for your post and adds value for your reader.

Try using these tips the next time you get writer’s block or need content ideas and inspiration.

You might also enjoy reading:

Don’t Fall Into These 5 Blogging Pitfalls

The 2 Most Powerful Often Overlooked Opportunities on Your Blog

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