Starting a blog certainly isn’t rocket science. We begin with a handful of hacks, rants and raves we’ve collected over the years. It’s our own little fountain of wisdom, all neatly formatted for online consumption. We add  just the right dash of color, pics and media here and there and before we know it we’ve developed a small following that’s growing with every post. Our blog has begun…

Things are just looking up when BAM! We’re hit with the fabled, feared and unforgiving writer’s block!

Before we can answer the question of: “What should I write about on my blog?”, we have to come to terms with the first two blogging commandments.

Know Thy Blog!

Why are you writing this blog? To sell affiliate products? To share your expertise? To advertise your awesomeness? To share your ideas? To promote your product? To express your opinions?

Answer this question and that’s part of the problem solved. Your goals will dictate your blog’s tone and identity, your readership, and the extent to which you can express yourself. Know thyself to know your blog! Your blog is like you: without a sense of identity, it will never function optimally

Know Thine Readership!

What past posts got the best reception from your current readership? What past posts had an impact on your figures? Why? Try to determine the limits of your audience’s attention, where they grow distracted, where they get offended, and where they light up!

Identify with your audience and you’ll start becoming a good judge of your content plans because you can quite simply ask yourself: ”would my readers enjoy this content?”

A Fickle Fire

Whether you’re a fashion blogger, food blogger, reviewer, master of the life-hack or travel snapper, the audience’s loyalty is a fickle fire at best and no-one is going to come back for more because they’re dying for a slice of ‘run of the mill’. You have to have pizzazz, you have to make a revelation, you have to be genius. The question is, how on earth are you going to keep it up, post after post after post?! Well, that’s where keyword research comes in…

1.Do Your Research

Overcoming the conundrum of what to write on your blog is something you need to get a handle on. Keeping up with current trends and developments, while at the same time expanding a readership can be challenging.

Keyword research is the pinnacle of blogging enlightenment and it’s something that’ll allow you to solve the conundrum of what blog topics to write about every single time, even when none of the other steps that follow are working for you. It’s the foremost trick of the trade and, with this tool, you’ll be ahead of most writers and bloggers who just ignore the data.

A long tail keyword effectively provides you with your next blog post title, since you know what potential readers are searching for…why not give them what they want?! It’s up to you to close that gap in the market before someone else does. There’s no limit to the number of winning ideas you’ll have access to if you choose this route. It is, quite simply, the blogger’s holy grail!

2. Get Opinionated!

In your daily life, jot down instances that draw an animated reaction from you, whether you laugh, cry, get angry, enlightened or envious. Our deepest impressions are the easiest to write home about and more often than not they’ll be fit to elicit similar emotions in others, whether good or bad.

Sharing is caring and if you’re stumped about what to write about in a blog, think about the experiences that have been unique to you, the things you remember the most. They’re the ones about which you’ll have a strong emotion, a staunch opinion, or simply a rant to deliver, and those, my blogging friends, are the things people need to read about.

Just make sure that your content is relevant to your blog’s unique identity. This will be far easier to accomplish with blogs and websites that were created out of passion or in pursuit of a genuine interest. You want to avoid going off topic, as your readers will likely move to another online space to meet their need for content. Your readers are checking in because they identify with the theme of your blog, don’t leave them hanging!

3.Show Them How It’s Done!

Every single one of us has lessons to teach and that’s a fact. Whether you dye your eyebrows every second week, know how to craft an expert fishing fly, or even know how to build your own blog from the ground up (which you do!)…there’s someone out there who has no idea how and you’re the one with the expertise to tell them. Think of things you’ve mastered through years of practice or things you’ve impressed yourself by figuring out. Now, show them how it’s done!

One thing you’ll soon realize is that expert skill is in the eye of the beholder. A well structured how-to, supported by clear and useful pics will have your readers thinking you’re a pro in no time.

Even if baking that green tea cheesecake doesn’t work the first time, you can still post great pics of your successful second attempt, along with a detailed expose of your tragic first trial. Your readers will learn what to do and what not to do and they’ll thank you for giving them a good laugh in the process.

4.Top Ten Everything!

Curated content is a great way to not only build up a support network of fellow bloggers, but to keep your readers coming back to your blog, even if you don’t necessarily have your own new content to offer. It’s one of the best solutions to the ‘what to write about in a blog’ question because you don’t necessarily have to write anything, except an intro perhaps!

Develop top ten lists of everything from your favorite food bloggers to your top ten craft hacks or celebrity quotes. It doesn’t matter here because you can rely on others for the content! Be sure to keep things relevant to your blog’s identity.

5.Go With The Flow

Regardless of your niche, there’s bound to be current news that you feel is worth sharing. Dabble a little in the art of journalism and research news releases and real time developments, drawing from all the best articles you find to concoct your own optimal mix. If it interests you, it ought to interest them. Turn your blog into a ‘go to’ headquarters that’ll keep your readers ahead of the game.

The ‘go with the flow’ rule applies not just to current events but fashion also, fashion in everything from travel to tattoos. If a lot of people are doing it, then a lot of people will be Googling it. Get with the program and hop on the bandwagon, being sure to add your own quirks and interpretation.

Conclusion

As a final note, I’d have to add that regardless which one of these courses of action you have a mind to follow, long tail keywords in particular are what will take your attempt at any of these tasks out of the realm of just entertaining your current readership and into the garden of delights that is an ever expanding readership.

Whether you’re blogging as a hobby or as a prime source of income, commanding the attention of your readers is, effectively, business. I call it that because, like any business it requires you to have an advanced understanding of your market, as well as your product.

Anyone can blog out reams of easily attained consumer copy on a regular basis but that’s not going to expand a readership to the point of being profitable. Consumers crave change! Succeeding in the blogging business requires a knowledge of the basic hacks, sure, but even those hacks won’t get you far without the kind of insight and topic generating upper hand you attain when you do your proper keyword research.

Don’t waste another day grasping at straws and not knowing whether you’ll hit the mark. Equip yourself with LTP and let real time consumer data guide your content strategy. Keyword competitiveness is the ONLY place to start when it comes to brainstorming that next winning blog post.

[thrive_leads id=’7750′]