Content Writing & Copywriting Blog

Creating Unique Blog Content

Jul 23, 2008 3 Comments »

It is really very difficult to come across totally unique content on the Internet, especially on blogs. The definition of unique content may differ from topic to topic but it more or less means content that is very difficult to find on other sources and at the same time it is highly useful, relevant, or topical.

Creating totally unique content is not possible always because when you are blogging you are mostly talking about things that other people, the bloggers are talking about. Even your visitors would like to know what your take is on the subjects generally being discussed on other blogs. The key expression here is “your take”; what you have to say, what you have to add. This is a big reason why lists are becoming big bores on various blogs, even on the “A-list” blogs because these lists have nothing unique to say. They are either pointing out things that have been said thousands of times by thousands of other people or they simply linking to things that have already been said thousands of times by thousands of other people.

Again, you can say the same old thing but with a different perspective in order to be unique. This way people will come to your blog just because they know you’re going to say your own thing on the topic; that what you are saying is totally unique to you. This uniqueness can be your style, the examples you use, the way you write and the links you link to. In order to generate unique content you have to come out of the herd mentality: just be yourself and don’t follow all the suggestions copiously thrown around by different “expert” bloggers.

Okay, being different, being unique, and not following trends does not mean you devoid yourself of benefits of following some well proven methodologies for success. For instance it is highly advisable that you create compelling titles for your blog posts and organize your blog content under various headings and subheadings. Now, this is not just a suggestion, it is common sense. Titles do entice us especially if they cater to our sensibilities and headings and subheadings do help you organize your thoughts properly.

Generating unique content for every successive blog post is normally not possible but among five blog posts at least one should be totally unique – totally your own, unadulterated perspective and point of view.

Unique content also helps you target niche audience because the more you focus on less common content the more targeted your audience becomes.

Writing a good blog post

Jul 08, 2008 5 Comments »

I was preparing a quote for a new blogging assignment and while preparing the quote I was explaining to the client who intends to hire me what makes a good blog post. At that point I thought will also share my thoughts on this on my blog. So here are a few things that make your blog post a good blog post (the opinion may differ from blog to blog but it can be generally acceptable):

Make your blog post interesting and topical

I think this goes without saying. People are not going to read your blog posts if they are not interested and they will only be interested if you can offer something interesting. By “interesting” I mean something that is highly relevant, that is current, that is useful, that is realistically useful, and that is topical. Current topics, garnished with your own personal opinion, are generally great in bringing more and more people to your blog. I will quickly like to add here that more people reading your blog post does not make your blog post good; the entire goodness exists in the relevancy of your blog post.

Pay attention to the title and headings

Titles and headings make it easier for the reader to quickly go through your blog post. After all one has to visit scores of blogs in a day and a post that goes on and on and on quickly sends the less interested visitors away. A good way of keeping them hooked to your current blog post is highlighting the relevant portions and expressions with the help of headings. The title is what gets them initially interested and the headings keep them reading your blog post. A well-defined title can get you good rankings on the search engine result pages. Your headings are like orientation tools. Once you know what is there in the paragraph you can read that paragraph faster. Therefore if there is heading over a paragraph it is a lot easier to read that paragraph or at least skim through it.

Keep your blog posts short if possible

Although personally I have nothing against long blog posts — in fact sometimes even I write pretty long blog posts – keep the length of your blog post as much as there is requirement. Don’t unnecessarily increase the length of your blog posts because your readers are intelligent enough to see through if you have got nothing solid to say.

Organize your main thoughts in bulleted lists

It seems everybody loves bulleted lists on the Internet and they come highly recommended. In fact the bulleted lists are so relevant that even search engines take them into consideration while ranking your web pages and blog posts according to the related keywords. So if you think that you can write your thoughts in bulleted lists instead of a paragraph then use bulleted lists. They not only reduce the size of your blog post they also make it easier to read.

Stick to your fundamental theme

Don’t try to cover everything under the sun; people come to your blog to read on a particular topic and preferably on a topic you specialize in. So if you are a web designer it is better that your blog posts deal with web designing rather than cooking macaroni, although sometimes you can do that to keep things interesting.

Instill passion into your blog posts

This is a must; write only if you believe in it and if you believe in it then people will be able to perceive the underlying passion and passion is always powerful.

Should you display your RSS feeds counter on your blog?

Mar 04, 2008 No Comments »

This is the question dosh dosh is pondering over on his blog (he has the feeds counter displayed on his blog by the way). Why do people put their RSS feeds counter on the blogs? Is it to show off how many RSS subscribers your blog has? I don’t see anything wrong in such kind of show off.

Maki (he publishes dosh dosh) argues that he doesn’t want people to subscribe to his RSS feeds just because he has high number of RSS subscribers. I think displaying your RSS feeds counter makes good sense because it shows your visitors, especially the new visitors, how many people trust the content on your blog. Even initially if they subscribe to your RSS feeds just because they’re impressed by the number they will end up reading your posts eventually and I think this is good, isn’t it? You’re not misleading them; you are just trying to make sure they don’t miss the updates on your blog.

Blogging, written, textual blogging, is all about readership. The more readers you have the more successful your blog becomes, and the more successful your blog becomes, the better content (ideally) you want to present on your blog, the better the content on your blog, the greater is your readership. So it all becomes a cycle, and displaying your RSS feeds counter is just a small part in this whole entire big affair. Whether we like it or not there are a few people who are driven by numbers. There is nothing wrong in prompting them to subscribe because if they don’t like your content they will simply unsubscribe. So there is no harm putting your RSS feeds counter on your blog. What do you think?

Side note: instead of leaving comments on other blogs I have decided to create short blog posts on my blog with links to the posts I intended to leave comment on. This way I will be able to generate more content for this blog as well as send trackbacks to other blogs. Also I feel freer expressing my thoughts on my own blog rather than posting one-liners on other blogs. I won’t be doing it all the time but most of the time I will. Some blogs don’t publish trackbacks but still personally this seems to be a better idea.

How seriously should you take comments on your blog and on other blogs?

Mar 03, 2008 7 Comments »

A person is suspected to have committed suicide (I read it here) after a few scathing blog posts and subsequent vitriolic comments on the ways of his functioning. This reminds me of various blog posts and comments I have encountered during my blogging experience of 5 years, on other blogs, and sometimes on my own blogs. In fact, even my content writing website sometimes becomes target of vicious commenters. There was this person who would write to me every morning, with a different name, that my English is so pathetic that I should be ashamed of providing content writing services and charging for them.

You expose yourself to open assault when you share your thoughts, skills and services on the Internet simply because it is so easy to attack you; one just needs a computer with Internet connection and a browser. You can be attacked through your comment section or through a blog post on another blog. The content of such comments and blog posts can range from snide remarks, sudden outbursts of disagreement, outright insulting and even racial slights.

You have some degree of control on your comment section but you cannot control blog posts and comments appearing on other blogs. Even people whose posts and links end up on various social bookmarking websites like Digg become targets of very rude and ruthless remarks on their abilities. So how do you handle the attack if you are the target?

Have confidence in yourself

You are less prone to get affected by negative reactions if you have confidence in yourself. For instance I never even for once took that person’s advice to my heart (the one who said I shouldn’t offer professional content writing services). I’m not saying that my English is perfect and flawless but I know one thing, most of my clients are happy with the sort of content I provide. This was enough for me to ignore that person’s harangues.

While exchanging comment on other blogs be sure of what you are saying. If you know what you’re talking about you won’t get hurt; you will simply think that either there is a difference of opinion or they don’t understand what you’re trying to say so you should try again. Similarly when you are writing for your blog accept the fact that some people are going to oppose your ideas out of conviction and some are going to do it just because they have nothing better to do and they have no idea what they’re doing.

Be humble and ready to learn

Learning is something that never stops; you’re always learning and de-learning. The sky is not going to fall if someone criticizes you. Not many people are tactful but it doesn’t mean that they are always out to hurt you or insult you or show you down. Before feeling crestfallen after reading a negative comment just try to study it a bit; what is the intention of the person leaving the comment? Some people simply want you to improve and they just don’t know how to put it in better words. So whenever you encounter an adverse comment on your blog or another blog just try to see what is the intention.

Be an authority

Bloggers who have attained an authority are hard to criticize just for the heck of it because then the person who needlessly criticizes himself or herself becomes the target of the other readers. An authority also gives you confidence and clarity; you know your facts, deep down your heart you know whether the person is wrong or write and whether you need to learn something new.

Develop a thick skin

You need, definitely, a thick skin to interact on the Internet. Today I came across some online Hindustani vocal music tutorials on YouTube presented by an American lady. Of course she didn’t sound like a melody queen but it wasn’t that bad. Still people had left such hurting comments that a sensitive person would immediately take down all the videos. Fortunately the singer isn’t overly sensitive.

The thing is you cannot stop people from behaving the way they do. You can’t preach to them, you can’t talk sense into them, they are bad because they simply want to be bad. Some are even proud of their badness. Therefore if you want to survive on the online world you need to develop a thick skin.

How to become an authority blogger

Feb 26, 2008 3 Comments »

Just read this interesting and comprehensive post on how to become an authority in your niche at Dosh dosh. Authority always commands respect and trust. When you have established your authority people believe in most of what you say. In order to become a successful blogger you have to become an authority in your field and only then your readers will come to your blog to seek advice repeatedly. For example check out Dosh dosh and Problogger, and even for that matter Copyblogger; people simply love what these people write because their advised can be immediately used and benefited from.

What benefit do you provide as an authority blogger?

"Benefit" is the central keyword of being an authority. You become an authority blogger when your advice helps many people improve themselves. Your advice should be straightforward and it should not contain abstract meaning. People should be able to implement your advice with minimum effort and derive maximum benefit from it.

Become an authority blogger gradually

I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t start blog unless you have become an authority because then you will get trapped in a vicious circle. You become an authority gradually. In the beginning you don’t even have to act like an authority. Just write about your experiences. For example, if you are an online copywriter then share with your readers all the experiences that you have while serving your clients and all the new things that you are learning. Also chronicle the mistakes that you make and what you learn from them. Sharing your mistakes and using them as your strengths commands lots of respect from your readers.

Talk like an authority blogger

Along with publishing your blog daily keep learning and improvising. This is another thing that makes an authority: talk like an authority. I don’t mean sound like a snob and show disrespect for your readers, but you get my point. You have to sound convincing because if you cannot convince you cannot have people trusting you. Keep improving your writing skills because they come handy when you have to express yourself. If you’re straining all the time trying to "write well" it shows through. This is also a skill that you acquire/learn gradually.

Verify your facts and then talk

An authority blogger knows what he or she is saying and you can only be sure of what you are saying if you know the facts and have the data to back them up. Do your research and make sure you don’t have to eat your words later on. The sky is not going to fall if you have to eat your words, say once or twice every six months — we all make mistakes — but don’t take such instances lightly and try to make sure their occurrences are minimized.

Be consistent and frequent

Consistency is also an important ingredient of success. If you’re not consistent then people soon forget about you, especially on the Internet where things happened so fast. If you write once a week, or once a month, then your readers will have read scores of blog posts, perhaps on the same topic, and by the time you write about it, it may already become an old news to them. Give them something everyday so that you become a part and parcel of their daily lives.

Authority comes with experience and knowledge, and with sharing. The more you share your knowledge, the more deep-rooted it becomes.