Would you say that your site is full of quality blog content? We all know the saying “Content is King”, but what does it actually mean? What is quality blog content??
Just for a minute, go and take a good hard look at your blog content. Does it look like real quality?
Quality content isn’t just about having content on your site that is relevant to your topic. Nor is it about having a post full of specific keywords. There are some specifics that should always be adhered to if you want your content to be considered as quality by Google.
Today we will explore 5 blogging tips that will help your understanding of creating quality blog content each and every time.
Quality Blog Content Rule 1: The content needs to be easy to read
How many times have you visited a blog and given up reading it within the first one or two paragraphs? What has made you stop reading?
- Were the paragraphs too long?
- Was the content disorganized?
- Were there spelling mistakes?
There are many factors that need to be considered to make your content readable. If the content does not flow, or readers are faced with large chunks of writing, it is likely that they will simply give up.
Can this type of content be classed as quality? Absolutely not!
Generally speaking your call to action is at the end of your blog post, and that is where you want your readers to end up. After all, it makes no sense to include a call to action that is not going to be read. That is pure madness.
Your aim is to engage your readers interest, and draw them all the way to end where they will read your all important call to action.
Quality Blog Content Rule 2: Ensure that you don’t ramble!
You will find lots of conflicting information around the net to suggest whether your posts should be long or short. SEO plugins that you use recommend at least a minimum of 300 words. This is to ensure that you have something sufficient to say that is going to be valuable.
However, don’t just write for the sake of writing!
If you have made your point in only a 500 or 600 words, then leave it at that. Don’t ramble on purely to reach 1,000 words as the likelihood is you are going to be loosing your readers in a load of nonsensical writing. If your readers get bored, they will leave!
If however you find that after only 200 words you have run out of ideas, it may be that you need to undertake some more research about the topic. Can you really provide information of value in 100-200 words?
If your post is either a long post full of nonsense, or short with nothing to say, this is not going to be seen as quality blog content.
This brings us nicely to our next point, of ensuring that your content is always providing value.
Quality Blog Content Rule 3: Always provide value to your readers
Regardless of the niche you are blogging about, your post should be of value to others.
Quality Content = Valuable Content
Think back to the main purpose of the post. What is it about your post that can assist other’s in some way? If you struggle to answer this question, then you can be assured that your readers wont be able to.
A valuable post will be able to give something back to the readers and if you are not doing that, it can not be classified as a quality piece of writing.
Quality Blog Content Rule 4: Always remember who your target audience is
You should always be writing for your readers. In order to do that, you need to know who they are and how to respond to them.
What type of people do you think will visit this site? It will be for those that have their own blog and are looking for ways to improve it. It could also be for people who are yet to start out in their blogging journey. Either way, it is for those seeking to learn more about blogging to enable them to be more successful.
There are two things that I need to keep in mind when writing for this target audience. The first is obviously the topic. The readers are not going to be interested in how I decided to landscape my garden on the weekend. How on earth will that help them drive their blog to the next level? It is therefore probably best to avoid such topics and keep to the nature of blogging.
The second point to remember is that the readers to this site are unlikely to be experts in the world of blogging. Whilst we may receive some experts who like to brush up on the basics, or read out of interest, the majority of readers are going to be those who are learning along the way. The language therefore needs to be easy to read and understood by those who may have literally only started their blog today.
This site is not going to be filled with technical jargon because that will only serve to confuse readers.
The aim of YOUR blog is to build readers, subscribers and encourage engagement, and that will not be achieved if the content goes way above their heads.
Quality Blog Content Rule 5: Remain professional and proofread!
Before you ever hit the publish button, you should always, always, always proof read your post. It is worth doing this several times to pick up on different mistakes.
There are several things to look out for when proof reading including spelling, the post format, workable links etc.
Every post you publish helps to build up your crediblity as a blogger, and it is ALWAYS worth proof reading your articles to make sure that they are exactly as you want them to be. Don’t rush through this as you will regret it later.
FINAL BLOGGING TIPS!!
Are you still not 100% sure what quality blog content is? Google encourages you to use quality content that will enable Google to find, crawl and index your site! Watch this video to help explain what Google regards as quality.
So in summary, quality blog content requires you to
1) Provide content that is easy to read
2) Be succinct and to the point
3) The content must add value
4) Content must be targeted to a specific audience
5) Always proof read before publishing
What is your understanding of what contributes to quality blog content? Please share your thoughts with us below.