Maintaining an informative and engaging blog is at the core of any successful content marketing strategy. When your blog develops a reputation for containing relevant and interesting ideas, you’ll be rewarded with traffic from an engaged and receptive audience. Blogs with content that is spammy, outdated, and poorly written are worse than having no content at all. So you know you need high-quality content that is well-written, discusses interesting topics, and attracts an audience – now what? If you don’t know where to start, the following blog post categories should offer plenty of inspiration:
Be informative
If you’re stuck on ideas, the number one rule of content creation is to write informative content. People search out information, and they can end up on your blog if you write the definite post on the issue. So be useful, beneficial, and educational. Write a checklist, create a how-to post, answer some frequently asked questions, or define some niche concepts in layman’s terms.
Be timely
An excellent way to receive repeat views is to become known as a source of timely information. If you update your blog sporadically, you won’t benefit from this class of blog posts. Give your audience a reason to come back daily with news posts, trendspotting, or a review of a newsworthy product or pop culture event.
Be funny
Audiences don’t want to read dry and boring content. Entertain your readers and make them smile. Your argument can actually leave a more lasting impression if it is presented in a comical or skewering manner, so consider ironic, satirical, or parodic content. You’ll also have a better chance of generating viral posts with this type of content.
Be engaging
Engage your audience and give them a chance to interact. You can solicit questions or topic requests through social media and follow through with a blog post. You may also choose to run a contest, promotion, or giveaway through the blog and tie it in with your social media accounts to generate attention.
Be relatable
You don’t want your blog to have a robotic tone – let your audience know that there are relatable people behind the scenes. Show your human side with stories and experiences from your own life. You can write a biographical post, express gratitude for the mentors who have guided your success, or explain how you were able to overcome past stumbles.
Be communal
Take advantage of the wide and generous community in your particular field. In profiling, quoting, or interviewing influential individuals in your industry, you can develop a reputation as a trusted source. Many of your colleagues would be excited to be featured and will even help to promote your blog through their own website and social media accounts.
Be provocative
This may not be appropriate in every industry, but controversial content can be beneficial if done right. Consider writing a debate post where you argue one side of a hot-button issue, or react to a post from a competitor. You will likely spark conversation in the comments section and on social media, but make sure you don’t overuse this method lest your sincerity be questioned.
Be promotional
Finally, promotional posts are great ideas for content. You can give your audience a behind-the-scene look at a project in the works or product in development, introduce new employees, or share tips on how to get the most out of your product or service. It’s a great way to establish a sense of connection with your audience and generate buzz for future company developments.
When it comes to content marketing, absolutely nothing is more important than good content that your audience – real live humans, not Google search bots – will want to read. Consider these posts categories to keep your blog fresh with informative and entertaining content for years to come.
Source: www.digitalmarketer.com
