Original Blogging 101
If your online business includes a blog (and it should), and especially if that blog is envisioned as one of the main ways you will make money and pull in readers / customers, then we need to talk about keeping things fresh. Coming up with content on a regular basis is probably going to be challenging if you’ve never done it before, and it’s probably going to be tempting to just fill up the space with something, anything after you’ve been doing it awhile. But here’s some advice: don’t. The quality of your blog is what will get you readers and the consistency of that quality is what will keep them coming back day after day and month after month. So how do you go about keeping things original and not just regurgitating someone else’s content? Here are some tips:
1. Read Constantly
One way to keep your blogging content fresh is to make sure that the content in your head stays fresh. Of course, one of the best ways to do this is to keep learning new things yourself. Read blogs, read books, stay current on events both in general and in your field, and you will find that you will be able to talk about new things on a regular basis for your blog.
2. Make Connections
Look for the unique connections (the ones that only you can make) in the stuff you are reading and use them to write interesting and insightful blog posts and articles. Remember: the point of your extra reading is not so that you can just repeat everything you’ve learned! It’s important to process it and collect it in such a way that it is now new and interesting — and yours.
3. Work Your Personality
Use your personality to your advantage in writing original blog posts. Everyone likes to feel as though they are communicating with a real live person, so don’t be afraid to add as many personal details as you are comfortable with or to tell pertinent stories from your life that might illustrate a given point. While doing this however, just remember to always ask yourself about any given blog post:
4. Why Should Anyone Read This?
Personal details and stories need to serve the larger purpose of your blog. Don’t take this the wrong way, but no one really cares about you…they care about what you have to teach them through what you’ve learned from your own past experiences. So make sure that each and every blog post provides the value that you yourself would be looking for if you were out there surfing the Internet and looking for valuable blogs to read for your own edification.
