Sure, you also need a distinct brand voice, a pleasing color palette, a catchy tagline, and a recognizable logo – but brand consistency lies at the heart of it all. 

If your branding is all over the place (i.e., inconsistent colors, wildly different writing styles, etc.), you won’t stand a chance of cutting through the noise to build a loyal following. 

But how can you ensure your brand elements remain consistent across the board?

After all, you’ll likely have quite a few people creating content for your brand, including writers, graphic designers, editors, web developers, and others – so how do you keep them all on the same page?

Enter the brand style guide, a necessity for any business wanting to maintain a consistent brand personality across multiple channels, such as its social media profiles, marketing content, and videos. 

Your style guide contains all your brand guidelines, including preferences for typography, brand colors, writing style, visual elements, and more. It’s the document that unifies your content creation team and freelancers under the same umbrella to ensure your brand’s tone of voice & visual identity remain consistent. 

Do you have your own style guide for your company?

If not, you’ve come to the right place. Stick around to learn how you can create a detailed brand style guide from scratch. 

Why Style Guides Matter 

Creating an in-depth brand style guide is a critical step to take before rolling out a content strategy. 

That’s because your branded content needs to remain consistent with your brand identity in order to build and maintain an audience. 

A style guide clearly defines your set of standards for typeface, grammar, tone of voice, logo, colors, visuals, word choice, and more. It’s a document that you need to send to your in-house content creation team, all freelancers that will create content for you, and the rest of your employees. 

It’s imperative that your entire staff get familiar with your brand style guide, especially the part that covers your mission statement and brand story. 

The best brands out there all have style guides they use at their organization, from Skype to Mailchimp and beyond. 

Without a style guide, your content creators may use incorrect colors, use words you don’t care for, and upload an outdated version of your logo. That will provide an inconsistent brand experience that will hurt your reputation and may even turn off potential customers, which is why style guides are so essential. 

Style guides are all about ensuring the content you release is polished, consistent, and ultimately more enjoyable for readers. 

If you remain consistent with all your content efforts, your customers will come to expect a certain degree of quality & excellence from your brand – which can help you obtain thought leader status and elicit loyalty from your customer base. 

Where to find style guide templates

If you aren’t sure where to start with your style guide, you can always make use of a template. 

Our recommendation?

Instead of opting for a generic style guide template, try emulating style guides from the most successful companies online. 

For instance, Netflix has a simple style guide that you can easily adopt for your own brand. In particular, it covers how content creators are to use their brand assets, primarily their signature logo. There are specifications for its size, font, and even an RGB color code to achieve the classic shade of red they’re known for. 

It’s easy to find the style guide for just about any company if you do a quick search for it – so don’t be shy about looking up the style guides for the businesses that inspire you the most. 

What Elements Should You Include in Your Style Guide?

Quite a bit should go into your style guide, including your standards for written & visual content, your mission statement, logo guidelines, and more. 

Accordingly, you may not know what to include in your brand book if you’ve never compiled a style guide before. 

That’s why we’ve put together the 7 core elements of a successful style guide. 

Element #1: A compelling brand story 

First, every style guide should include a concise brand story that summarizes your values, mission statement, and vision in one neat little package. 

Every successful brand in history has had a clear & concise mission statement and a story that connects with and inspires its audience. 

What makes your company tick? What do you hope to achieve in the future? What sets you apart from the dozens of other companies in your industry?

These are all essential questions to ask yourself when developing your brand story. 

Also, while using a few brand archetypes here and there is okay, the best thing you can do is inject a bit of your personality and eccentricities into your brand story. 

The last thing you want is for your employees & content creators to skip over your brand story because it’s dull and predictable. To avoid this issue, try sprucing up your brand story with a bit of humor, fun illustrations, and a down-to-earth tone. 

The team at Skype fully understands this, which is why their brand story features fun visuals and a concise, informal tone. 

Trello also has a fantastic brand story in its style guide, featuring 10 of the company’s guiding principles, along with custom illustrations for visual appeal. 

Your entire style guide should adopt a similar format, where you convey information in brief paragraphs, bulleted lists, and include lots of images. That will make your style guide highly readable for users, which will increase the chances of them retaining your brand guidelines. 

Element #2: Your buyer personas 

A buyer persona is a fictional representation of your typical customer. It’s a detailed profile complete with a unique name, hobbies, buying habits, job title, age, gender, and primary challenges. 

Why is it important to include buyer persona information in your style guide?

It is because your buyer personas (it’s possible to have more than one) represent the target audience you’re creating content for, which is invaluable to content creators. 

Your bloggers will want to know who they’re talking to in their posts, which is where your buyer persona information comes in handy. It will clue your writers in on the appropriate tone of voice, word choice, and paragraph structure to use in their articles. 

Your buyer personas will also inform your video content, infographics, and all other forms of on-brand content that you release. 

If you haven’t created a buyer persona yet, check out our detailed guide on how to develop one. 

Your buyer persona is a testament to how well you know your target audience, so you should do considerable research on them before creating a persona/avatar. 

Make sure you dedicate at least an entire page of your style guide to your buyer persona, and you can even include details like a profile picture and a fictional home address to make your personas feel even more real. 

Element #3: Your color palette 

This element is especially important for your web developers and graphic designers. Your color palette refers to the specific group of colors you use for your brand & logo. 

To maintain consistency, you’ll need to use the same color codes for every blog post, video, infographic, landing page, and guest post that you produce. As such, including the specific HEX or RGB color codes in your style guide is an absolute must for color consistency. 

The most recognizable brands tend to stick with no more than 4 main colors for their branded imaging. 

That ensures that you don’t stray too far from the original hues of your logo while providing enough wiggle room for displaying your logo on light & dark backgrounds. 

Here’s a winning formula for selecting color codes:

• Use one light color for dark backgrounds
• Use a darker color for light backgrounds
• Neutral tones work best for text 
• One vibrant color that pops is great for catching the viewer’s attention 

That will give you 4 color codes to include in your style guide, which is more than enough. 

When listing your brand colors, include the following information:

• Pantone Color System (PMS) number 
• CMYK color code for print color 
• HEX & RGB codes for digital color 

Including these three codes will ensure your brand colors remain consistent regardless of the medium they appear in, such as printed ads & online content. 

Element #4: Logo guidelines 

Next, it’s crucial to include your standards for displaying your branded logo. 

The most recognizable brands in the world understand the importance of this step, which is why their style guides go into such rigorous detail about how to use their logos. 

As an example, Facebook has several pages of its style guide dedicated to displaying its logo, including how much space to leave around it. 

Why is that?

It’s because they want to ensure their logo always has a strong visual impact, and that can’t happen if it doesn’t have enough room to breathe – hence the specifications for how much space to leave around it. 

Facebook isn’t the only brand that sets ‘exclusion zone’ rules for its logo, as many other mainstream brands also have similar standards. 

You should take a page out of their book and make sure there’s always at least some space left between your logo and the rest of the webpage/printed ad (most brands stick with using half the width of the logo as the standard). 

Also, don’t forget to include specific color codes for your logo in this section as well. 

Element #5: Writing style guide 

This section of your style guide is all about ensuring the consistency of your brand’s copywriting. Feel free to get as specific as you’d like here, as it’s up to you to develop a unique voice for your brand. 

Of course, you should adopt a tone that resonates with your target audience. For instance, if your brand deals with highly professional clients, a loose, informal tone might not be the right way to go. 

Whatever writing style you choose for your brand, your style guide is where you set the rules in stone. 

Are there certain phrases or terms you don’t want to be associated with your brand? Do you follow the MLA writing style? How do you want writers to handle the capitalization of headings and article titles? Do you follow APA’s guidelines for citing sources?

You’ll need to answer each of these questions in this section of the style guide, as well as include any other specific rules you want to set. 

It’s also smart to include a few successful examples of your preferred writing style in action, either by linking to one of your existing posts or a competitor article that you admire. These will help your writers get a stronger grasp of the type of brand voice you want to achieve with your content. 

Pro tip: Are there any competing brands that you don’t want your writers to mention? Be sure to list all the brands here to save yourself from having to make countless edits down the line. 

Element #6: Typography preferences 

Your standards for typography are equally as important as your color palette, logo, and writing style. 

What’s typography?

It refers to the fonts, typeface, sizing, and centering preferences you have for your text. If you pay attention to copy released by mainstream brands, you’ll soon notice they always use the same group of fonts and text sizes. 

Your goal with your typography should be to create a visual style that’s not only appealing but also easy to read. That will make your content more accessible to a wider audience, which will help build your brand. 

You can choose to use a single font or a multitude of fonts for your content; just be sure to include them all in your style guide. 

It’s best to designate specific typefaces for headings, captions, and body content to ensure it all has a unique look and stands out. Also, include whether you want your writers to always align left, right, or center. 

Element #7: Guidelines for visual content 

Lastly, you need to dedicate a section to how you want your visual content to look, which includes both images and videos. 

If you’re going to have your writers select images for you, then you’ll need to include guidelines for image selection. For instance, you may prefer landscape-style photos that are free to license, or you may want writers to use custom images from your library. 

Your videographers and photographers will also need to know your logo color codes, preferred fonts, and buyer persona information. 

For videos, get specific with which type of video codecs you want videographers to submit, such as .mov or .mpeg. You should also specify your preferred resolution for videos, such as 1080P or 4K. 

Do you want your videos to feature stock music, or are you okay with licensing specific songs?

Music is another aspect to include in your style guide, so don’t forget to include your preferences for audio. 

Tips for Creating a Style Guide 

Now that you know what to include in your brand’s style guide, it’s time to learn how to develop one from scratch. 

Here are some tips for perfecting your style guide. 

Gather inspiring photos and materials 

You need a clear vision to develop a style for your brand, which is why you need to begin gathering photos and materials that inspire you. 

Which competitor blog posts do you feel really knock it out of the park?

Use them as a reference for the writing style you want for your brand. Pictures are also extremely helpful when creating a brand voice, so take to Google Images and Pinterest to find inspiration. 

You can use images to represent your company’s core values, mission, and vision for the future, which will help refine your brand’s voice. 

Create a detailed outline for your guide

You shouldn’t start writing your style guide without creating an outline first, as it will make the entire process easier. 

Writing an outline should be a breeze, as all you have to do is list the 7 elements that we defined above – all while including any business-specific needs you have. 

A style guide outline should look something like this:

1. Open with your brand story
2. Outline your buyer personas
3. Get into the specifics of how to use your logo 
4. Clearly list your color codes for print & digital media
5. Set the rules for your writing style
6. Provide your preferences for typography & typeface
7. Describe your rules for visual content 

An outline like this will make it far easier to create a fully fleshed-out style guide. 

Plan ahead for the future 

Your style guide shouldn’t be a one-off venture. Instead, it should be a living, breathing document that continues to change & evolve with your company. 

We recommend keeping a section of your style guide to contain your new ideas. That way, whenever it’s time to review & update your guide, you’ll have a fresh list of ideas to include in its new version. 

As long as you continue to revisit your style guide periodically, your branded content will remain relevant & consistent. 

Final Thoughts: Is Your Brand Style Guide Complete?

Your style guide is the one document that will ensure total consistency for all your branded content, which is why it’s so critical to have one for your business. 

If your style guide is currently lacking one of the 7 crucial elements listed in this post, it’s time to update it accordingly. 

With a fully fleshed-out style guide, your content marketing strategy will significantly boost your brand awareness. 

Do you need help with the content strategy at your business?

Then you need to check out our HOTH Managed Content service and our top-tier content creation services at HOTH Blogger.       

The post Is Your Brand Style Guide Complete? appeared first on The HOTH.

Small businesses often outsource jobs like accounting, human resources, payroll, and many more projects to stay on budget. 

Actually, freeing up resources to be able to focus on core businesses is the most widely cited reason for outsourcing.  

The remaining article will explore how you can outsource blog writing if you should hire a ghostwriter, and everything else you need to know about buying high-quality content. 

Ready to start outsourcing?

When Should You Consider Outsourcing Blog Writing?

A company should begin blog outsourcing when they need to focus more on business-critical aspects rather than smaller projects. 

Adding people to your team to do skills that are not part of your core business can not only save your business money but will also offer a wide variety of experts to choose from. 

Here are a few things to consider before you should begin outsourcing: 

• If you are having trouble keeping up with your workflow
• Your employees are doing too much
• Mistakes are costing too much money
• Budgets are getting tight
• You can’t find the right talent for the project
• Routine tasks are taking too much time and effort

How to Find Writers for Your Blog

When you are looking for ghostwriters for your blog, your primary goal should be to find someone who has solid writing experience. 

It could be someone with a background in journalism, copywriting, blogging, etc. 

When deciding on a writer, you may want to find one that has knowledge regarding your niche or industry. 

However, you don’t need an industry expert if your writer has excellent research skills and is able to learn a topic quickly. 

Here are a few ways to find good writers:

Freelance Marketplaces 

Freelance writers can be found on websites such as FreeUp, Fiverr, and even LinkedIn.

FreeUp pre-vets their freelancers so clients can have the best experience possible. One of the biggest benefits of using a freelance marketplace is that it makes it easy to connect with writers. In addition to writing, you may be able to use a freelance marketplace to find someone you can outsource other kinds of work to.

Marketing Agencies

Many marketing companies offer content writing services. These agencies can even help come up with blog topics and other content ideas that will fit your brand. For example, when you purchase content through HOTH Blogger, you can rest assured that your articles will be relevant to your niche and match your company’s voice.

Did you know that websites with active blogs get a whopping 55% more organic visitors from search engines? 

With that said, hiring a professional freelancer or blog writer service can be an asset to your team or project. 

Outsourcing blog posts require specific content that is loaded with messages you want your target audience to see. 

Here are a few tips to consider before you get started:

• Don’t begin outsourcing until you have a strategy and content calendar set up
• Have a budget set aside for outsourcing 
• Have a basic understanding of content marketing
• Create a tone and brand guidelines for your writer
• Test content lengths, headlines, and CTAs

What are the Benefits of Outsourcing Blog Writing?

Blogs offer an audience a unique chance to learn knowledge related to a specific search query. 

That is one reason why many business owners choose to use blogs to promote their services or products. 

In fact, 64% of B2B marketers that use blogging to promote products and services are outsourcing their written content. 

In addition, 88% of businesses also outsource their blogs to add credibility to their business. 

Here are some benefits to outsourcing a ghostwriter: 

• Blog outsourcing allows you to find experts in content creation
• Improvisation in marketing strategy
• Can save you money

Not everyone is skilled in blog writing. For example, a lyricist may not be the best fit for an SEO content writer. 

That is why it’s best to either hire a freelancer that you vet yourself, or use a writing service that hires professionals to get the job done. 

Prices always vary depending on your choices, but hiring a ghostwriter is always a choice if you need to outsource your content creation. 

Many blog writers are aware of the latest blogging trends. They are usually aware of what information to put into your blog. 

Although every website has its own objective, most blog writers can use experiences in blogging to make their content more impactful. 

Realistically, outsourcing is cheaper than hiring a new employee. 

According to a Deloitte survey, 62% of companies report 10% to 25% savings when they begin outsourcing. Additionally, 38% of companies reported saving as much as 40%. 

How Much Does it Cost to Outsource Blog Writing?

Research from Orbit Media suggests that on average, you can expect to pay an experienced writer for at the very least 6 hours to write a high-quality blog post of 2,000 words or more. 

That’s also not counting research or depth of industry topics. 

The fact is, writing takes time and good writing, such as creating an optimized, purposeful, and written for both human understanding and search engines, may take even longer. 

The cost of outsourcing blog writing can vary depending on the quality, word count, and complexity of the article. 

On average, you can expect to pay a freelancer anywhere from $25 to $250 or more per blog post.

Blogging agencies vary depending on your plan. However, you could expect to pay an agency anywhere from $35 to $135, depending on the writer’s experience and the length of your chosen blog post. 

Most writing services will create the following content for you:

• Blog posts
• Articles
• Videos and social media content
• Thought leadership articles
• White papers

Also, keep in mind agencies usually have in-house editors, whereas most freelancers are strictly writers.  

Things to Know Before You Outsource Blog Writing to a Ghostwriter

Now that you’ve decided to outsource your blog writing, you may be wondering what you should know before you begin. 

Blog outsourcing is a business investment, so it is vital to have a clear path moving forward. 

You need a good content strategy and it would be best to be well prepared and know what you need before you begin taking those first few steps. 

To ensure that the content writing topics you will be publishing will be a hit with your core audience, here are a few things you should know:

• Scope of projects
• Content needs
• Size of your team, if you can need a full-time writer, or if you need an in-house writer
• Your brand voice and culture

Some things you should consider for your blogging strategy are:

• Define your outsourcing and blogging goals
• Plan your budget
• List your requirements for onboarding
• Choose the best outsourcing partner for you
• Assign relevant roles and responsibilities
• Establish the best channels for communication 

Additionally, using tools like SEMrush Topic Research, or Buzzsumo, you can find blog topics that are gaining traction with your target audience.

Scrutinize Writers Heavily

Finding writers isn’t a hard process, however, finding the right writer for you can be daunting. What can be hard is finding a high-quality writer. 

That’s why you’ll have to sift through a lot of writers to find one that can write–without the fluff.

You’ll want to scrutinize or vet your writer thoroughly. 

Check for writing quality, turnaround time, and consistency.

Here are a few tips for screening your ghostwriter:

• Interview them
• Read their samples
• Ask about industry specialties
• Ask about any SEO experience
• Offer a paid-test article
• Decide to hire

Write & Format For The Web

Make sure your writer knows how to write for search engine crawlers. This is very different from standard college papers or other types of writing.

Using clear, plain language will help readers understand the message you’re trying to convey.

More than just the language, formatting for the web is crucial.

Breaking up your article into subheads, using line breaks, bullet lists, and spacing can keep attention spans higher and help skimmers find what they are looking for.

Here are a few tips for writing for the web:

• Use short paragraphs
• Understand your first paragraph is the most important
• Write in an inverted pyramid style
• Headings and subheadings are used to clarify subjects
• Don’t waste space with fluff

Optimize for SEO

The ghostwriter should also understand SEO.

y optimizing your titles, metas, and other basic OnPage factors, you’ll boost your chances of ranking.

Here are some tips for optimizing your SEO: 

• Publish relevant content
• Update pre-existing content regularly
• Metadata
• Link building
• Use alt-tags 
• Keyword research 

Pre-Format HTML & Upload

Have you ever tried to copy and paste a word document into WordPress? It’s a nightmare.

Make sure your ghostwriter can format your posts in HTML so they are ready to go.

Bonus points if the writer will actually upload the post for you.

It would be best to make sure your ghostwriter has a basic understanding of SEO. 

They need to know how search engine crawlers work, and the basic details of your website architecture. 

It would also be best to use your target keywords and track your metrics after your posts are published.

Track your keywords for each topic and each page, and it would be best if your ghostwriter has a basic understanding of keyword fluffing and how not to do it. 

That’s about it! 

Finding a ghostwriter can be difficult–which is why we created our own blog content service that solves all these problems.

Book a call with one of our experts to discuss your needs! 

Don’t forget to sign up for free and take advantage of our free SEO tools and resources. 

The post Blog Outsourcing: Should You Hire A Ghost Writer? appeared first on The HOTH.

Not only that but every month, 70 million+ blog articles are posted on WordPress websites, generating nearly 80 million blog comments. 

Most bloggers start their blogs to monetize their expertise and knowledge and create an extra income stream. 

The remaining content is a beginner’s guide to the most popular blogging topics.

If owning a successful blog is your goal, keep reading to learn how to improve your chances.

The Most Popular and Most Profitable Topics to Blog About

Most bloggers blog about what they know. 

However, starting a great blog isn’t as easy as simply writing about something you’re an expert on.

One of the keys to preparing a blog is ensuring you have sufficient topics and ideas to blog about. 

One way to do this is to write at least 100 blog topics and ideas before beginning. 

If you were to write two blogs a week, 100 topics would give you nearly 2-year’s worth of blog ideas.

Additionally, when starting out, you may want to consider the concept of guest blogging. 

This involves contacting other blogging influencers and posting guest blogs on their website.

This can help gain you traffic and exposure to a new audience. 

How to Pick a Blog Niche

Another essential task before starting a blog is to pick a subject to blog about. 

If the blog is for your business, the most likely niche would be something about that business.

However, if it’s not about your business, there are many other methods to blog. 

Below are several different methods for choosing what to blog about.

• Pick a blog niche you’re passionate about
• Understand how often you should blog
• Look for a niche with low competition but will gain more interest from your target audience
• Choose a niche in which you have some expertise, especially if you’re blogging about healthcare, finances, engineering, etc.
• Will your topic stay relevant over time? 
• Choose a blog niche where advertisers will want to place ads

Here are some different topics and types of blogs you can choose from:

Food & Drink Blogs

Food in all its glory is an insanely popular blog topic with a huge variety of subtopics and niches. 

That means there are a lot of people out there trying to do the same thing as you. Don’t fall into the category of blog niche saturation.

However, if done right, blogging about food can be very profitable.  

Food critic bloggers, for example, go from restaurant to restaurant, sampling their dishes and passing judgment on their cuisine, service, ambiance, and prices. 

Infatuation is one of the best, but there are thousands more.

However, food blogs on different blogging platforms with recipes, instructions, and cooking lessons are more popular than food critic blogs. 

The subtopics are just as varied, from preparing certain foods to finding the right ingredients, cooking tools and utensils that are best for preparing food, and step-by-step instructions.

One of the biggest subtopics in the food blog niche is wine, beer, and spirits blogs that search far and wide to find the best adult beverages. 

Craft beer bloggers are very popular, especially with craft breweries opening nationwide. (Beervana out of Portland is a standout.) 

Wine blogs are no different, plus whisky, gin, scotch, and, well, name the spirit, and it’s likely got its new blog. 

The Top 5 food and drink blogs include:

1. Food52– One of the premier food blogs online today.

2.  Serious Eats– A leading resource for all things delicious.

3. Deliciously Ella– A simple blog turned into a successful business!

4. A Pinch of Yum– Delish recipes are the heart of this top food blog.

5. Balanced Bites- A virtual nutritionist with tips on eating whole and healthy.

Fashion Blogs

The fashion industry is massive and provides an equally massive number of niches to blog about. 

Blogging about fashion and beauty has made some top fashion bloggers wealthy, although you must note that the topic is highly competitive. 

Fashion blogging can also be time-consuming and require extensive travel and expense outlay. Plus, getting recognition usually takes several years and Herculean effort. 

As with many of today’s blog topics, fashion and beauty have a wide range of subtopics. 

You’ll find it all in one fashion blog or another, from the newest style trends to luxury, bespoke garments, textiles, footwear, fashion shows, and even how to sew fashionable clothing for yourself.

Some of the perks of being a fashion blogger are pretty sweet. 

Free clothing is one of the best, often given to fashion bloggers in exchange for promoting a certain brand or model on their blog. 

Some top fashion bloggers get invited to the swankiest fashion shows in cities like Milan and New York. 

Even lesser-known fashion bloggers can do well as the topic is so big and in demand. 

With literally thousands of sub-topics to choose from, fashion blogging is one of the most popular blog topics on the internet today. 

The Top 5 fashion blogs include:

1. The Zoe Report– All you need to know about fashion.
2. Elle– One of the top fashion blogs by a top fashion mag.
3. Yes Style– Focusing on style in Asia.
4. Popsugar Fashion– All the styles and fashions being worn by celebs.
5. Who What Wear– Celebrity style with a blog name to die for.

Travel Blogs

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t like to travel or constantly dreams of their next travel adventure. 

One of the most popular searches on the internet is for travel, as millions hunt for information, advice, and reviews to plan their next vacation or trip. 

Review blogs are some of the most popular in the travel niche, including reviews of resorts, hotels, vacation spots, tour packages, etc.  

The subtopics for travel blog ideas are seemingly infinite. 

Some focus on a specific city or country and give you everything you could want to know about the people, culture, and attractions. 

Other travel blogs concentrate on getting great discounts for their followers on travel arrangements, including flights, accommodations, rental cars, and tour packages. 

There are travel blogs for hikers, bikers, mountain climbers, and wine enthusiasts, all geared towards letting readers know the best and most beautiful places to enjoy their specific sport, hobby, or interest.

Perks can be fantastic for top travel bloggers, including free hotel stays, travel to specific locations and experiences, and discounts on various travel-related products. 

One drawback is that you have to travel a lot if you want to write about traveling, which can be stressful. 

Five of the top travel blogs include:

1. Dan Flying Solo– A very well-done travel blog by a Lonely Planet Ambassador
2. Y Travel Blog– A blog based on traveling with family
3. The Planet D- Comprehensive travel guides, tips, and itineraries from a fun-loving couple
4. The Blonde Abroad– Tips and info on how to travel solo plus inspirational writing
5. The Points Guy– The best blog for travel discounts, airline points, and travel credit cards

Photography Blogs

Blogging has been a huge boon for photographers around the world, allowing them to show off their work to millions (and get paid for it). 

Many people love seeing gorgeous photographs and hearing stories about how, where, and when the photographer took them.

For many photographers, blogging about photography can be a dream job that allows them to turn their hobby into a full-blown career. 

Photography blogging is also an excellent method for a photographer to advertise their skills and get hired by new customers.

For example, it makes perfect sense to have a wedding photography blog if you’re a wedding photographer. 

It gives potential clients a clear picture (if you’ll pardon the pun) of what you can do for them during their own wedding. 

Many photography bloggers write about how they take their pictures and give their followers tips, advice, and information about becoming better photographers. 

Subtopics in the photography blogging space include nature, fashion, portrait, equipment, and photo-editing program reviews. 

There are even blogs dedicated to photographers who photograph food.  

The Top 5 photography blogs include:

1. Behind the Shutter– An huge catalog of photography tutorials.
2. Creative Boom– Career tips and photography Gear reviews.
3. Strobist–  A blog geared towards lighting your photographs perfectly.
4. The Phoblographer– Photography with a psychological twist.
5. We Eat Together– The authoritative blog on food photography. 

Parenting Blogs

The number of parenting blogs has skyrocketed in the last few years, especially with the recent pandemic sending millions of children home from school to study virtually. 

Even before then, however, the parenting blog niche was quite popular. One reason is likely that parenting is one of life’s most stressful (but rewarding) jobs. 

Parents are always looking for parenting tips and hacks that will make it more of a reward and less stress.

Parenting blogs aren’t just for moms, either. 

Thousands of dad bloggers give their input and advice and put their parenting experiences down on virtual paper. 

One of the most popular subtopics in the parenting blog niche is being a single dad (or mom) and raising kids single-handedly. 

There are even blogs about being an older parent and dealing with the trials and tribulations of parenthood while also getting older.

Some parenting blog ideas focus on reviewing baby and child products, including clothing, toys, and sports equipment. 

Baby food and foods specifically for kids are also a big topic, plus how to discipline kids in today’s modern world. 

Some of the top parenting bloggers have masses of devoted fans who reward their advice, tips, and insights with a generous affiliate income stream. 

Below are the top 5 parenting blogs, including:

1. Scary Mommy– Extremely popular blog with provocative and insightful opinion pieces.
2. Support for Stepdads–  A blog to help stepdads cope. 
3. Parenting today from the Child Development Institute– Top parenting blog from the experts. 
4. BabyCenter– Everything a woman needs to know about being pregnant.

Health and Fitness Blogs

In today’s health-obsessed world, it’s no wonder health and fitness bloggers are incredibly popular. 

From how to get in shape to eating well, fasting, exercise equipment reviews, and many more, health and fitness blogs span many topics and subtopics. 

Certified personal trainers, dietitians, fitness experts, and more have gotten involved in health and fitness blogging.

One drawback when blogging about health and fitness that we should mention is that legally speaking, it’s a topic that could land you in hot water. 

If you’re not a medical professional, it’s essential that you let your followers know this and advise them to seek medical help if needed. 

Some health and fitness blogs have been shut down for providing medical information without the proper licensing.

Still, whether a medical professional or not, blogging about health and fitness is an excellent way to build a following, monetize your expertise and create an extra income stream. 

The range of subtopics is vast, and the demand for quality information, tips, and hacks on staying healthy and fit are massive. 

They include physical and mental health, dieting, healthy snacks, and even what to wear when exercising. 

The Top 5 health and fitness blog ideas include:

1. Mark’s Daily Apple–  Amazing content from a lifetime fitness expert.
2. Carrots ‘n’ Cake- Focuses on women who want to become fit and healthy.
3. Breaking Muscle -One of the best blogs for serious bodybuilders. 
4.  Advanced Human Performance -An award-winning fitness in personal training blog.
5. Blogilates– A huge variety of fitness and health content, including recipes, workouts, diet plans, etc.

Woodworking Blogs

There are few DIY blog topics more popular than woodworking. 

Creating something with wood, for many people, is extremely satisfying and woodworking bloggers know this. 

Some of the best are world-class carpenters who share their advice and tips on how to get the best results from a raw piece of wood. 

Most woodworking blogs include how-to articles, resources for procuring different types of wood, tool reviews, and the latest woodworking tips and tricks. 

The beauty of wood is that you can use it to create so many different things. 

Wood is used in almost every facet of human life from your typical table and chairs to magnificent sculptures, beautiful frames for artwork, or the entire frame for a house.

Subtopics in the woodworking blog space are as varied and unique as the different species of wood you can use to create. 

Some blogs concentrate on home construction and remodeling, while others go deep into the details of creating wooden toys. 

Cabinet making is a very popular woodworking blog niche, as are wood sculpting, how to lay a solid wood floor, and blogs for refurbishing and refinishing antique wooden furniture. 

Five of the top woodworking blogs are below, including one from celebrity Nick Offerman:

1. Offerman Woodshop– What more can you say about a top woodworking blog by the star of “Parks and Recreation”?!
2. The House of Wood– A female Centric DIY wood blogger that includes furniture building, home renovation, and more.
3. The Rogue Engineer– Step-by-step plans for all the furniture your home could need.
4. The Handmade Home–  a wide variety of inspirational ideas and projects for your home.
5. Jays Custom Creations– Plans for some cool creations and projects.

Crafting and DIY Blogs

One look at Etsy, the DIY craft marketplace, proves that crafting is incredibly popular. 

Almost anything highly popular also makes an excellent blog topic, and thus there are thousands of crafting and DIY blogs.

One caveat about starting a crafting and DIY blog is that creating videos to go with your blog articles is essential.  

That’s because many crafts require many different steps to complete. 

Many people are visual learners and will have a better experience if they see something being explained on video rather than reading it in a blog. 

Indeed, many of the best craft and DIY bloggers are also popular YouTubers. 

Crafting may be one of the biggest blogging topics available simply because there are so many different DIY crafts. 

From selling your clothes to making toys, crocheting, knitting, and creating decorations and cards, the list goes on and on. 

One DIY blog niche involves activity blogs for kids that are extremely popular and blogs many parents flock to. The Top 5 crafting and DIY blogs include:

1. A Beautiful Mess– All sorts of wonderful DIY and crafting content brought to you by two talented sisters.
2. Paper and Stitch-. Started by an art teacher ten years ago and is now her main business!
3. Lovely Indeed– This blog has grown to include crafts and home decor. It started as a showcase for wedding projects.
4. Almost Makes Perfect– Crafting elevated to a higher art form.
5.  Aunt Peaches– Simple, inexpensive projects and kids’ crafts.

Personal Finance Blogs

When you consider that personal finance is something most people are never taught, it’s no surprise personal finance blogs are so popular. 

Millions of folks don’t even know the basics of finance, including how to create a budget, take out a loan, or start a retirement fund for themselves. 

Personal finance bloggers fill this massive gap, giving their followers sound financial advice and tips on making better financial decisions. 

There are finance blogs to create wealth, manage money, create multiple income streams, and start a business. 

Some of the top personal finance blogs are followed by hundreds of thousands of people who willingly exchange their time for advice that saves them money.

One of the bigger personal finance subtopics is retirement planning, which grows larger daily as the population ages.  

Blogs ideas on how to invest in the stock market are also popular, as well as blogs on investing in different foreign markets. 

One of the most popular finance blogs of all is Get Rich Slowly. 

It’s also one of the original finance blogs that started in 2006. 

Five of the top personal finance blogs include:

1. Smart Passive Income– Articles on entrepreneurship, passive income streams, and side hustles, among others.
2. I Will Teach You to Be Rich– The name says exactly what the blog aims to do.
3. Wise Bread- Advice on saving, investing, Financial Planning, and reducing debt with straightforward explanations and real-life situations.
4. Mr. Money Mustache– A wide variety of money-saving tips, tricks, and hacks
5. Money Crashers– A well-written blog from financial industry teachers and advisors.

Automobile Blogs

Automobile bloggers tap into this love for anything and everything on four wheels, bringing their followers a wide range of car and truck topics. 

Classic and collectible car blogs are hugely popular, especially the famed “muscle cars” that came out of Detroit in the 1960s and 70s. 

Customizing a car is a huge hobby, and many automobile blogs focus on customization tips, hacks, and techniques. 

There are numerous blog topics in the automobile blogging niche, from those focusing on one specific automobile brand to others that dig into the history of cars and the many revolutionary advancements made in the auto industry. 

How to repair and refurbish cars and trucks is a huge subtopic, especially among the DIY car repair crowd. 

Some blogs focus on investing in cars and flipping cars for extra cash.

Car bloggers travel the world searching for, driving, and reviewing cars, and some of the perks include invites to exclusive car shows and auctions. 

Automotive products are always given to car bloggers for reviews and mentions, and some of the top auto bloggers are world-famous. 

One of the best automotive car blogs today is Jalopnik which features a wide range of automobile topics, news, and reviews. 

One of the most trusted auto blogs today is produced by Motor Trend, whose original print magazine dates back to 1949. 

The Top 5 auto blogs include:

1. YourMechanic– The ultimate go-to blog for repairing and diagnosing auto problems.
2. Motor Verso-  Luxury, high-performance cars are the focus of this excellent blog.
3. Motor Trend– One of the best automotive blogs written by a premier American automotive magazine.
4. Car Talk– This blog is for you if you want your car to go faster.
5. Girls Auto Clinic Blog– An excellent automotive blog geared toward women who love cars. 

Wedding and Bridal Blogs

The wedding industry is one of the biggest globally, especially in the United States and many other countries, popular for honeymooners. 

Millions of people get married yearly, and thousands of wedding and bridal bloggers help them prepare for the big day! 

The sheer volume of different wedding blogs is astounding, as well as the number of subtopics in the wedding blog niche.

Many bridal blogs focus, of course, on the bride, including her all-important gown. 

Other wedding blogs focus on planning the event, what food to eat, and how to have your wedding outdoors. 

There are thousands of wedding photography blogs and even super-niche blogs about wedding cakes. 

One very popular wedding blog niche is how to throw a wedding party on a budget or have the wedding reception at home. 

The Top 5 wedding and bridal blogs include:

1. Ruffled– Advice on throwing a luxurious wedding along with DIY guides and honeymoon planning tips.
2. Love, Inc–  One of the more engaging wedding blogs specializing in inclusivity.
3. The Knot– Your One-Stop source for everything you need to know to get married.
4. Green Wedding Shoes– A fashion-focused wedding blog for everyone from the bride to the flower girls and ring bearers.
5. A Practical Wedding–  Tips, budgets, and timelines to help you get through your wedding day unscathed.

Business and Entrepreneurship Blogs

When you ask many of the most successful entrepreneurs and business people what they owe their success, many will answer with one word; reading. 

Not surprisingly, if you press further, many successful business people will admit that a lot of the information they read comes from business blogs.

Blogs that focus on starting a business from scratch are very popular,  especially today, as entrepreneurship continues to be popular. 

Many business blogs focus on changes in a specific industry, while others delve into the ins and outs of marketing, advertising, and brand building. 

As with many of the most popular blogging topics, there are hundreds of different subtopics in the business and entrepreneurship blogging space.

If you’re going to be a business and entrepreneurship blogger, one caveat is that your knowledge must be on point. 

It’s one thing, for example, to give someone advice on how to bake a cake or make their own table from scrap wood. 

It’s another altogether to advise someone on investing a quarter of a million dollars in a new business. 

Business Insider is an excellent example of a well-run, insightful, impactful business blog. 

From the latest economic news to interviews with top entrepreneurs, trend analyses, and market predictions, thousands of business people start their day with this excellent blog. 

The Top 5 Business Blogs include

1. Business Insider – The best business journalism in blog form.
2. Entrepreneur –  Interviews, book reviews, and business news.
3. Fast Company– The latest advice and Leadership ideas on growing a business.
4. Harvard Business Review – Well-written, influential articles make this a must-read business blog.
5. Small Business Trends – The top small business trends include marketing, management, and technology.

News Blogs

News today travels around the world at lightning speed. 

Depending on what news is important to you, you can read one of the thousands of news blogs that will fill you in on the latest stories and the people at their center. 

News bloggers come in a wide variety of flavors, from business news to entertainment, sports, religion, and international news, to name just a few.

Today, people are looking for news sources they can rely on to provide fair, unbiased accounts of what’s happening and every news story’s who, what, where, and why.  

The Top 4 news blogs include:

1. The Daily Beast– With over a million visitors daily, The Daily Beast is just that, a news beast.
2. Mashable– The best blog if you want the latest on culture, technology, and video entertainment.
3. HuffPost– Thousands of bloggers write for this major news blog covering every major category of news and most of the subcategories.
4. TechCrunch– All the news you need to know about the latest technological breakthroughs.

Marketing Blogs

If there’s one thing about the marketing industry, it is constantly changing. 

Trying to keep up with marketing is an almost impossible task for small and medium-sized business owners. 

To do it, many entrepreneurs and business owners look to various marketing blogs online.

Marketing bloggers engage their readers with the latest marketing trends, how to improve marketing campaigns, and the newest marketing technologies. 

There are quite a few subtopics in the marketing blogosphere, from content and digital marketing to social media, SEO, email, you name it.

Some of the most popular marketing blogs are known for taking confusing subjects and simplifying them for the layperson.

Others give solid advice on running digital marketing campaigns as well as real-world, brick-and-mortar marketing. 

There are, of course, plenty of blogs that focus on marketing trends and best practices. 

The top 4 marketing blogs include:

1. Digiday–  Covers a wide array of digital marketing topics, including online marketing, video marketing, and blog posts.
2. Content Marketing Institute–  One of the best blogs for content marketing being digitally published today.
3. Copyblogger– All you need to know about the most important part of selling online; the copy.
4. Social Media Today– An excellent blog for best business practices when marketing via social media.

The Most Popular and Most Profitable Topics to Blog About: Honorable Mentions

Today’s list of the most popular blogging topics features the best of the best, but there are so many others we felt it necessary to give several more at least a shout-out! 

Below are the best of the rest of the blog topics:

• Affiliate Marketing Blogs
• Pet Blogs
• Product Reviews Blogs
• Gaming Blogs
• Interior Design Blogs
• Personal Blogs
• Sports Blogs
• Life Hacks Blogs
• Mental Health Blogs
• Lifestyle Blogs

Now You Understand The Most Popular Blogging Topics 

Today’s list of the most popular blogging topics is relatively short compared to the absolutely massive variety of blogs you’ll find online at any given moment. 

Of course, the biggest challenge is finding the time to write and edit a blog, especially as an entrepreneur or small business owner. 

Still need a little help? 

Contact us today! 

Also, don’t forget to sign up for free and check out our free SEO resources. 

The post The Most Popular (and Most Profitable) Topics to Blog About appeared first on The HOTH.

SEO experts agree that blogging frequency should be anywhere from two to four times per week, depending on your company size and industry.  

At a maximum, a post every day is more than enough to maintain a good content marketing strategy. In fact, bloggers who publish more often are more likely to report “strong results”

The remaining article will explain and explore how often you should blog, what blogging accomplishes, the life cycles of a blog post, and everything else you need to know about blogging.  

Ready to learn? 

Let’s start with what blogging can do for your business: 

What Does Blogging Accomplish?

You may be wondering what your business can accomplish by putting hard work and time into blogging and maintaining a posting schedule with an editorial calendar. 

Many businesses agree that blogging holds value to their digital marketing strategy. In fact, 77% of bloggers report that blogging drives big results. 

Here are a few other benefits of creating blog content: 

• Posting frequency helps you rank in SERPs
• Helps you become a thought leader in your niche and boosts brand awareness
• Helps bring in website traffic
• Helps you engage with your audience

Businesses use blogs to help their website rank in search engines and to accomplish providing information that addresses pain points and questions. 

The more helpful, informative, and otherwise great content you have on your website, the more Google will view your website as an authoritative source. 

Blogging Tips 

Here are a few SEO basics you can implement into your blog right now:

Use long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords are longer and usually more specific keyword phrases that visitors are more likely to use when they’re ready to purchase. Most long-tail keywords have a lower search volume but a higher conversion rate. 

The best way to use long-tail keywords is to group them into clusters that all have the same type of search intent and write a blog post that targets all of them individually. 

A few examples of long-tail keywords would be, “dentists offices near me” or “buy running shoes near me.” 

Keyword research is a huge part of SEO and something you can focus on now. Try out The HOTH’s Google Keyword Planner to help get you started!

Keep a blogging schedule 

Maintaining a blogging schedule can help your audience grow and get better results from every post. 

Here are some helpful steps to begin your blogging schedule: 

Step 1: Start by defining your goals

Step 2: Map out your schedule using apps like ClickUp or Asana

Step 3: Keep up with your schedule

Step 4: Measure your results 

Optimize your blog for mobile devices

Google states that more than 50% of search queries come from mobile devices. 

With that said, here’s how to optimize your website for mobile devices:

• Test your website using Google’s Mobile-Friendly tool
• Use a responsive WordPress theme (responsive WordPress themes mean that regardless of screen size, the website will fit the screen and present it clearly)
• Keep your website secure 
• Declutter your pages
• Improve your website’s page speeds
• Make sure your pop-ups work for mobile as well as desktop

Optimize your on-page SEO, include images, and internal links

Search engines such as Google tend to value visuals for keywords. Images and videos are among the most common visual displays that will appear on SERPs. 

To be able to achieve a spot in an image pack or a video snippet, you will want to design graphics, use original pictures and videos, and add good descriptive alt text to every visual in your blog post. 

Here are a few ways you can do this:

• Crawl your website
• Conduct an SEO audit
• Update your URLs, page titles, and meta descriptions
• Make sure your keyword is in your URLs
• Include your keyword throughout your page but don’t keyword stuff
• Track and measure your keywords and topics

Furthermore, meta descriptions, alt-text, and other elements of technical SEO are required to be able to rank highly in SERPs. If that is your goal, learning the ins and outs of search engine optimization may be required.

Here are a few other valuable content tips for blogging: 

Blog post frequency: how often should you blog?

A daily post or creating a publishing schedule on a daily blog with fresh content is a good practice for large businesses or companies trying to rank in SERPs. 

However, a new blogger or small business that is just starting out should focus on quality posts rather than the number of posts in a week. Creating high-quality content is just as important if not more as blog post frequency. 

Experts suggest publishing relevant content on a new blog post at least once a week for new bloggers or small businesses. 

Larger companies may have the time and resources to post quality blogs on a daily basis. 

Blog post length

To be realistic, there is no official “Google Approved” length for blog posts. 

Although industry leaders such as Yoast believe that your blog shouldn’t be less than 300 words. Furthermore, a HubSpot study states that writing longer posts should be the rule to blog posts rather than an exception. 

In fact, Neil Patel recommends the sweet spot of an average blog post to be anywhere from 1,400 to 1,900 words. 

Additionally, another Hubspot study found that 73% of people admit to skimming blog posts while only 27% read the entire post thoroughly. 

Blog posts should be easily read but long enough to answer any questions a reader might have. 

Post high-quality content

High-quality content is any content that is informative, authoritative, and engaging for your audience. This kind of content can help you earn more backlinks while also boosting your trustworthiness in the eyes of your audience (and Google). 

How do you know you have a piece of high-quality content?

• It answers your target audience’s questions
• It’s engaging and easy to read
• It’s optimized for search engines

Repurposing old blogs

If you have any old blog posts that are not getting any traffic hits, you can reuse them. 

Here are a few tips for repurposing old blogs:

• Turn it into a podcast episode
• Use it as a script for a video
• Turn your blog content into ebooks
• Break it down and use it for posting on social media
• Repurpose your old blog posts into guest posts
• Optimize and repost with fresh information

How to Get Content Ideas

You can use these methods to come up with your next new video. 

Here are some great tips to help you find content ideas:

• Create topic lists
• Find content gaps
• Search through blog comments and questions
• Conduct interviews
• Look at your competitors’ websites
• Answethepublic and other Google search suggestions
• Recent reviews
• Questions on your product reviews

The average lifespan of a blog post

There are many factors that come into play, however, a recent study done by ContentHacker found that the average lifespan of a blog post can be up to 2 years. 

Compared to other platform lifespans:

• Twitter: 15 – 20 minutes
• Instagram: a few days
• Pinterest: a few months to a year
• TikTok: a few minutes
• Youtube: a month

With that said, depending on your content type and platform, the lifespan of a post can differ greatly. That’s why it’s so important to keep your content optimized for the right platform. For example, if you use the same Twitter strategy for your blog, it may not turn out as successful as you would hope. 

How to Track Your Blog Posts

By keeping track of blog metrics, you will gain the insights you need to add context to your traffic data which will help you make more informed data-driven decisions. 

How do you measure the success of a blog post? 

• With pageviews
• average time spent on a page
• average pages per session
• returning visitors
• conversion rates

Google Analytics can help you keep track of your blog posts’ metrics. This method can help you keep track of which blog posts are performing well and which ones need some work. 

In Google Analytics, traffic is counted as “page views.” This is the number of times your individual blog post has been viewed. 

Here’s how to find pageview data on Analytics: 

1. Click on Behavior > Site Content > All Pages

There you will be able to see your pageview data for every webpage on your site. 

In the same area you looked at “page views” you will find the average time spent on a page or (dwell time). There you can see how long someone lingered on a piece of content. 

Additionally, Analytics will show you the average pages someone visited per session. This will tell you how many pages of your site in total someone viewed on their visit. 

Finding where your returning visitors are for your blog posts in Google Analytics is a tad more complicated. However, you should keep an eye on this metric because it affects your conversion rates.

1. Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
2. Click the “Secondary dimension” and select “User Type”

By doing this, you will add another column to your report that shows you the type of user either returning or new for each page of your website. 

Outsourcing

Let me be honest here, blogging can be really hard. In fact, 88% of businesses that do outsourcing pay people to write for them.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed just reading this article, one of the questions you should ask yourself is, “is it time to start outsourcing my blog?” 

A 2020 report found that 84% of business-to-business (B2B) marketers are outsourcing their content creation. So, you aren’t alone!

There are some things to consider when deciding whether outsourcing is right for you: 

The main points you should consider would be the relationship with your readers, the content writer you need, your budget, and if working with a ghostwriter would be right for you. 

Outsourcing can be a freelancer or an agency such as The HOTH Blogger. Agencies like these offer highly-vetted and trained expert blog writers to write your blog content for you. 

To Summarize

Now that you can answer the question “how often you should blog?”, you can grow your content production exponentially.

Want some help? Book a call with an expert now! 

HOTH Blogger uses keyword research and SEO best practices to craft blogs that drive traffic. Outsourcing can be intimidating, that’s why The HOTH does it for you with results you can trust. 

We designed this product with all the above principles in mind based on our experience working with thousands of publishers over the last few years.

Sign up for free and start using our free SEO tools and resources! 

The post How Often Should You Blog appeared first on The HOTH.

The good news is that can buy content for your website as long as you understand what you’re getting. 

Since only around 24% of small businesses are outsourcing, buying content will put you ahead of the game. 

Below you can find the answers to what you should know before buying content, what the benefits are, and everything else you need to know about outsourcing. 

Ready to succeed? Let’s jump in!

Is Buying Content Worth It?

The short answer is yes. Effective content helps you attract new customers, build trust with your  target audience, boost your authority with Google, and improve your overall search engine optimization. In fact, the number one reason for outsourcing is cost reduction.

Additionally, Gartner suggests that the number of companies outsourcing essential tasks in 2022 and beyond will increase significantly. Around 85% of logistics leaders were already expecting their outsourcing to increase. 

The biggest benefit of outsourcing is being able to focus more of your time on your business. In fact, a Deloitte survey suggests that 57% of businesses use outsourcing for this reason. 

Now that you know the benefits, here are a few factors to consider before outsourcing: 

• Cost
• Resources
• Ability to meet deadlines
• Minimal supervision
• Trust
• Agreement
• Communication

What is the Best Way to Buy Content?

There are two main options businesses have when buying content:

Hire freelancers from a content marketplace

A content marketplace connects individuals that need content-article writers that can meet those needs. This includes freelance marketplaces like FreeUp that pre-vet their freelancers to make sure you have the best experience possible. 

FreeUp also offers you the opportunity to compare multiple freelancers at the same time. That way you can make an informed decision.

Agencies can help you as well. Think of them as the opposite side of the spectrum to freelancers. They can be more expensive, but can typically guarantee the work. 

Outsource to a content writing agency

Content writing agencies usually have a team of writers on staff who can handle your content writing needs. 

Our content writing service, HOTH Blogger, was created to help clients develop great content.

The HOTH goes through a very strict hiring process for writers. We only take the top 1% of all writers who apply and then put them through a rigorous training program. What you’re getting is the best of the best.

And because we’re an SEO-focused business, we take all the work out of your hands. We handle the research and make optimized content for your business. 

How Much Content Do I Need and How Long Should It Be?

The truth is every business has different needs and questions that need to be answered.

Whatever you decide for content, the most important thing is consistency. 

Aiming for once a week is great but you never want to leave things hanging for longer than a month.

Blogging 3-4 times a week is usually considered a sweet spot. However, blog posting once per day is a good maximum. 

Most websites begin to experience decreasing marginal returns after 30 posts per month. 

And, without good blog scheduling, you may even create keyword cannibalization issues if done incorrectly. 

Another question that often gets brought up, is how many questions a piece of content should answer.

Here is a basic formula for questions you need to answer for your customers: 

Number of personas x number of buying stages x number of questions in each stage = the number of questions your content should answer

Here are two different types of content: 

• Long-form content
• Short-form content

Long-form content usually describes written content that is between 1,000 and 7,500 words. You may want to read long-form content to get a deep understanding of a complex topic. The main purpose of long-form content is to provide valuable information to the reader. 

Short-form content is typically a written copy that is 1,000 words or less. Content like this is usually posted on social media platforms, some blog posts, event posts, and emails can also be considered good examples of short-form content.

Choose whatever form you think is best for your niche, but one thing we can guarantee is that having more quality blog posts on your website will go a long way for your business.

Best Practices for Outsourcing Content Creation

Outsourcing SEO services and other various content marketing strategies like content creation aren’t uncommon among small marketing teams. When you only have so many team members, you have to prioritize strategies and look to outsourcing for any remaining tasks. 

With that said, here are a few questions to ask yourself before buying content:

• Would you be comfortable outsourcing a remote worker with little oversight?
• How does outsourcing fit into your content strategy?
• Is the outsourcer you’ve found qualified to help you?
• Are you targeting the right phase of the sales funnel or buyer’s journey? 

Once you have answered these questions, you need to figure out what you actually need from outsourcing. 

Here are some great practices for outsourcing content: 

• Consider your budget
• Create a content brief
• Create a style guide
• Start small 

Here are a few steps to help you figure out your content needs:

• Use your Analytics
• Perform an SEO audit
• Ask your audience what content they want to see
• Learn from your competitors
• Use a keyword research tool
• Create marketing personas
• Follow social trends

If you’re having trouble finding keywords to base your content creation on, you can always use our free Google ranking tool to measure traffic before and after you post new content.

62% of respondents in a case study by BCG said they plan on renegotiating their outsourcing contracts. So, as a business owner, you need to have a process for vetting and negotiating a new writer. 

Let’s Wrap it Up!

The bottom line is, your business should consider outsourcing your content. It’s affordable, effective, and will free up your time to expand your operation.

There are a couple of things to remember about content. You have to do it consistently. Articles need to be the right length. And the purpose of the content is to drive traffic to your site.

This is the reason why HOTHBlogger is so popular. It’s client-friendly and it works.

Do you want to know more about your options for buying blog content at The HOTH? We can take a look at your site, discuss your goals, and map out a plan to take you where you want to go.

Simply book a call with us to get started! Also, don’t forget about all of our free SEO tools and resources! 

The post What You Should Know Before Buying Content appeared first on The HOTH.

In fact, according to the Content Marketing Institute, 80% of marketing content goes unused by sales teams because it’s irrelevant or hard to find. 

Below, we’ll cover how you can conduct a blog audit, how to make your content audits more effective, and the best practices for SEO audits. 

Ready to send your content straight into your readers’ search results? 

Keep scrolling!

What Are the Differences Between a Blog Audit, Content Audit, and an SEO Audit?

Audits are an important part of checking in on the success of your page SEO, blogs, and overall content marketing strategy.

You can run an audit on your entire website, on specific landing pages, on your own blogs, and much more. 

Blog audits focus on the quality and relevancy of your content. 

Additionally, a blog audit is a complete review of your blog. 

It is a comprehensive check of:

• SEO
• Social sharing
• Email marketing
• Blog layout and design
• Monetization strategy

Whereas a search engine optimization (SEO) audit focuses on technical features of your website, such as your use of:

• Keywords
• Links (internal and external)
• Heading structures

Finally, a content audit catalogs and analyzes the content on your blog or website including its performance metrics. 

The Importance of SEO Blog Audits

Content audits look at how valuable your blogs are to your audience, but SEO audits are the best technique for informing you about organic traffic on your website. 

Content marketing relies heavily on SEO techniques to ensure new content is not only informative and relevant but searchable by your target audience. 

With a basic understanding of SEO, you can improve your blog’s chances of being seen by your target audience.

Blog SEO strategy includes a close look at metrics using analytics tools, such as Google Analytics. 

Many of which are built into the most popular blogging platforms, like WordPress. 

As you decide to dive deeper into SEO, you might consider investing in tools like SEMrush, which offers highly detailed analyses of the most effective SEO methods for your content. 

Or, you can use our free SEO audit tools that are just as helpful.

Understanding Google Analytics and how it plays an important role in search engine results will help you build a successful strategy, but more on that later. 

For now, one of the best ways to get started is to perform your first audit. 

How to Audit Your Blog Content

Auditing your blog content is a process that allows you to optimize every aspect of your content strategy by pinpointing its weaknesses. 

Here are a few things to consider when conducting your blog audit: 

• Know your goals
• Collect and analyze data
• Draw up an action plan
• Adjust your content marketing strategy if necessary

Your piece of content needs to rank high in relevancy, quality, and searchability. 

Content audit tools can make this process simple and fast.

WordPress is one of the most popular engines used by bloggers to publish their content on the web, and it has great auditing tools built in. 

You can use the Yoast feature, for example, to quickly search through the SEO and content quality of your blogs.

Regardless of the platform you choose, you’ll need to follow a few steps to gather information to begin auditing:

1. Use a template to organize and plan your audit

To begin your audit, you’ll need to compile a detailed list of all your posts. 

The easiest way to create this list is to export your blog’s information into a spreadsheet. 

WordPress’s Yoast plugin offers this feature, but you can also use your Google Webmaster Tools console or software like Screaming Frog or SEO Spider Tool. 

If you don’t have a suitable tool, you can find many templates online that help you organize your content. 

These templates typically recommend you list your blog titles, URLs, and analytics.

Once you have a list of all your blogs and URLs, you’ll want to create a labeling system that will help you see how effective each blog is.

Try creating a color code for this purpose that includes labels for keeping a post as-is, improving it, or deleting it.

Now, you can focus on pinpointing which blogs need attention.

2. Check the analytics

Content auditing tools like Yoast on WordPress will help you quickly identify which posts need attention. 

You’ll be able to see whether a blog needs work by glancing at whether it is marked by a red, yellow, or green dot respectively.

If you have the luxury of a content auditing tool like Yoast, click on each post to see how it ranks the blog according to different categories. 

Whether your analysis is automatic or manual, you’ll now be able to create a to-do list using the color coding you’ve created for your spreadsheet.

3. Learn from your mistakes

If you’re a beginner, your first blog audit is an extremely powerful way to learn about SEO, creating quality content, and improving your strategy.

Many bloggers realize that their preferred types of content and topics have changed over time with their goals and interests. 

Blogs you published years ago may no longer be relevant. 

Seeing what’s driving in new customers will also help you redirect your efforts to focus on those topics. 

Handy Blog Audit Checklist

Audits range from simple to in-depth, and it’s up to you to decide based on time commitment and experience.

Follow these tasks step-by-step to see how effective your blog is within your content marketing strategy:

Intentional content creation

Intentional content creation means staying in touch with what’s working in your target market.  

You want to make sure you’re always delivering the content that your audience really wants. 

Further, it means creating thoughtful, high-quality posts that go beyond keyword-stuffing (the dreaded act of unnaturally using as many keywords as possible to over-inflate your post’s importance in search results). 

The best blog audit process will not only look for SEO markers and user behavior analytics, but deeply tap into which topics and content types are working the most effectively and refining your strategy.

Setting target keywords

Picking the right keywords for your content is a huge part of reaching your ideal audience. 

In many content management platforms–especially in WordPress–you’ll be able to set a target keyword as the guide for your blog audit.

For an auditing tool, the target keyword helps in determining if you’ve written relevant and quality content. 

For search engines, keywords help the algorithms deliver relevant posts to searchers.

Make sure every one of your blogs has a target keyword. 

Then, ensure it appears in your title, introduction, several headings, and conclusion, as well as interspersed throughout the body of your content. 

You can also choose several secondary keywords to interspersed throughout your content.

Heading structures

Choosing the right heading categories for the sections of your content is important to how search engines read your content and how readers find what they need. 

Correctly identifying which headers are Heading 1, 2, 3, and so on will help properly order the importance of the information and create a neat outline for skimmers.

Meta description, titles, and tags

Most content management platforms will allow you to set up SEO assets, such as search result titles, meta descriptions, tags, and more. 

Instead of allowing search engines to create them, you’ll want to take charge and write your own. 

In fact, Google rewrites meta descriptions over 70% of the time, according to a recent study examining search results for 30,000 keywords.

You can write your SEO title differently than the title of your blog, and often, it’s best that you do. 

Keep your audience in mind by asking yourself how you can be both concise and answer the question that a searcher has typed in the search bar.

Meta descriptions are the short blurb that shows up under the title of your search result, so make sure the text captures the topic discussed. 

Experienced bloggers can play with meta tags and other advanced features that help search engines best categorize their content.

Building up backlinks

Backlinks are links published on other sites that direct readers to your content. 

Building up backlinks tells search engines that your site is a reliable, trustworthy source for valuable content.

While gaining backlinks isn’t always in your control, you can try including links to your blogs in social media posts and asking others to share your content. 

This may also boost your conversion rate in ranking in SERPs.  

Check your backlinks with backlink checker tools and see if you’ll need to be more active in building your list.

Incorporating internal links

Internal links are links you’ve incorporated into your content that direct readers to your content in other places.

For example, include links to other relevant blog posts or landing pages on your site so that readers can become engaged and stay on your website longer. 

They might even find a product they like enough to buy.

Sticking to word count

Word count is hugely important to SEO and to your audience. 

Studies have shown that specific word count ranges are more effective than others for both ranking high in search results and keeping readers engaged. 

Most importantly, make sure every word you include is valuable. Don’t write more just because of a metric, but don’t cut down too much if what you’re writing is important to your readers.

Many times, long-form content is more effective, but make sure to do your research on your topic and niche.

Opt-ins and social shares

Most content marketers go beyond writing blog posts as their strategy. 

You probably also have email marketing, social media accounts, and other channels of engagement. 

Make sure any social share buttons and opt-ins are easily available for old and new visitors to choose for engagement. 

Also, make sure you’ve optimized the way your blogs show up on social posts.

Look into your bounce rate and user behavior

Finally, look at how your visitors typically behave when viewing your content. 

How long they spend on your site and how many times they click on links are great indicators of whether your blogs are effective.

Bounce rate is an important number to check: it will tell you if your visitors immediately leave after they arrive rather than interacting with your site.

Perform an Expert Blog Audit

With our handy blog audit checklist and a better grasp of best practices for SEO and content creation, you’ll drive more traffic and engagement on your site than ever before. 

Make sure to take your time with each task, keeping in mind that a great blog audit is time-consuming and educational. 

For more help in improving your site’s performance, whether that’s with content creation, SEO, or other marketing tactics, the HOTH is here to help.

Schedule a call today with our digital marketing consultants to learn more.

The post Conducting a Blog Audit: Content Audits, SEO Audits, and Why They Matter appeared first on The HOTH.

According to Demand Metric, content marketing cost 62% less than traditional marketing and generates 3 times as many leads. It’s no surprise that 90% of organizations use content marketing as part of their marketing efforts and that it continues to grow in popularity.

There are many questions that business owners ask themselves such as:

• What do you do if you are in a “boring” niche?
• Does content marketing work for “boring” industries?
• Will people actually read your content if you write it?
• Will it attract links, social shares, and boost long-term traffic and sales?

(Disclamer: we don’t mean to call yours, or any, industry downright “boring,” but when you’re writing content for a niche that doesn’t automatically drive engagement, there can be difficulties!)

The good news is that if you follow the ideas presented in this article, the answer is a resounding yes! Content creation can work for you even if you have a difficult niche, you just need to pick the right target audience. 

Let me show you a few ways you can create content niche content for great SEO marketing results!

Ready? Let’s do this!

What Problems Do Your Customers Have?

The first important thing to remember is that content isn’t boring if it solves a problem for a specific audience. 

For example, an article about cleaning your pool might be less exciting than “How to Make a Zillion Dollars,” but when you have friends coming over to your pool party on Friday, and the pool is really dirty, that niche content becomes really interesting, super fast.

When you write informative content that solves the problems or answers the questions of your prospects, your content becomes more valuable to your audience and to you as the content creator. 

Start by defining your customer profile’s search intent and thinking about what type of information your customer might be looking for.

Here are a few ways to get content ideas:

• Write a list of questions you get asked every day.
• Write a list of common misconceptions that people have about buying your product or service.
• Visit forums and communities where people are asking about your topic and see what questions are being asked.
• Use Answer The Public to find questions that are popular.

Turn all these ideas into a piece of content! These concepts can boost the performance of your  content marketing strategy simply by answering the questions your target audience asks. It can also keep your audience engaged and increase your organic traffic for your specific niche.

Help Your Audience Achieve A Result

Another way to look at creating content is to find out what end result customers want and show them how to get it.

A great example of turning a seemingly boring niche idea into a successful piece of content would be “lawn care.” 

The lawn care brand Toro has racked up a nice 2.6 MILLION views with this video on lawn striping.

Toro understood that customers wanted their lawns to look amazing, so they produced this video showing how to achieve that result, and gained millions of views in the process.

The point is to help your target audience achieve a result, regardless of how difficult or unentertaining that result is. In fact, a case study by BrightEdge states that 60% of online experiences happen with a single search. 

That means, that regardless of what the question is, most people just Google it. That leaves a huge demographic available to you, even if your niche is a little less trendy.

Conduct Original Research

One type of content that performs well in any niche is original research, which can be created by gathering and analyzing data on a topic or conducting surveys. People love research and data studies because they provide strong support to back up ideas.  

In fact, according to Dragon Search Marketing, 61% of customers said they were more likely to buy from a company that created interesting custom content.

Although many content marketers want to create more data-driven content for search engines, many businesses struggle with this type of content. EMarketer presented several studies which showed that businesses have difficulty with data management and performing data analysis. 

Research and data-driven content can also take longer and require more resources to produce. Due to the resources required, research and data-driven content is scarcer and thus more popular among readers.

Before creating data-driven content for your digital marketing strategy, also ask yourself if you have access to content assets that your competitors lack. 

For example, if you have built up a blog readership that is interested in your niche topic, you could survey them to create original content. Or you may be able to analyze your customer data to find unique insights into your market.

Moz has been very successful with this tactic and one example is their Local Search Rankings Factors survey. In this study, they interview industry experts about the local search ranking factors. They release a new survey each year so that they can continue creating content and providing up-to-date information.

Another example of original research is Orbit Media’s annual blogger survey. Andy Crestodina sends a survey to over 1,000 bloggers to find useful data like how often bloggers write and promote their content. According to our Backlink Checker, the page has over 3,700 backlinks from over 1,000 domains.

Add A Story

Another way to create quality content for a boring niche is to create content that entertains. Not only do you need the right type of keyword research and SEO basics, but you need great content. Entertainment-related content can result in a much larger reach in some cases, which can be great for branding and driving awareness of your business. 

Alex Turnbull ran an experiment where he created a blog post and added a story to the beginning of it. 

He split tested the version with the story at the beginning against a version with no story and the version with the story had around 300% more readers and over 500% more time on the page than the version without the story. This proves groups of people like entertainment! 

Stories are so powerful that one of Twitter’s co-founders started a called Medium, a social media blogging platform for people to share their stories and a great niche market. The platform grew to 25 million users and had an estimated $400 million net worth in 2015.

Here are a couple of stories that did really well on the platform: 

Stephanie St Claire, a business coach, wrote this blog post sharing 11 things she wished she had learned before starting her business. She starts off with her entrepreneur story and then shares lessons she learned. The post got upvoted over 17,000 times.

Another story that did well was Naoki Hiroshima’s story about how he lost his $50,000 social media platform Twitter name to scammers in 2014. Even though he only published one blog post on Medium, that post gained him 2.8k followers on the platform.

You’ll also want to write compelling blog headlines to attract readers. Try our FREE Headline Title Generator to help you create the best headline! 

Stories are a powerful tool for making content more engaging, even in boring niches.

Focus on Entertaining Your Audience

Entertainment is so powerful that some businesses choose to focus their content on creating entertainment value rather than education. Here are some examples of boring products that got massive results by getting creative.

• Let me use Squatty Potty LLC as an example. This company started as a small family business in Utah. They offer a wide range of Squatty Potty toilet stools for toddlers. Seems like a topic not too many people want to talk about. However, by creating some type of controversy in their marketing it created a seemingly boring topic and created something interesting and entertaining. With well over 40 million subscribers on Youtube, it proves that walking on thin ice can work for some businesses. Just remember that controversial advertisement needs to be well thought out and planned right, so your company doesn’t spiral downhill. 
• The Dollar Shave Club is another example of using entertainment as a marketing tool. In 2012, this company consisted of 10 employees and needed to boost its brand to be able to compete in such a saturated market. They took to Youtube and created an ad that reached over 27 million views. 10 years later, the company was sold for 1 billion dollars.

Notice that in all of the above examples, the focus was more on using entertainment value to bring attention and awareness, versus just promoting the product itself.

Here are a couple of examples of entertaining content: 

Make a video, podcast, or infographic

Most people these days look for products or services online to get brand information such as trustworthiness or product reviews. With that said, most people want to see these products in action with content such as videos rather than written material. 

In fact, videos are 50 times more likely to get organic rankings than plain text results alone. Another interesting statistic is that 62% of Gen Z and Millennials say they want more visual search results than any other new technology. 

Another great way to make your content entertaining is to create a podcast! 78% of people know what a podcast is, and 24% of people listen to podcasts weekly. 45% of podcast listeners have a monthly income over $75K and 50% of all U.S. households are fans of podcasts. This audio marketing campaign alone may increase your conversion rate and sales just by talking about your products and services! 

As an extra tip, you could also bring some color to your content by creating fun illustrations or infographics.

In addition, did you know that 67% of B2B marketers are currently creating infographics and around 32% of them say that images and other visuals are one of the most important forms of content for their business? People love to see their brands create great visual content! 

Hire An Expert

Still can’t figure out a way to make your niche content interesting?

Try hiring an expert to do it for you. Actually, did you know that 61% of companies have indicated they outsource content marketing work to either agencies or freelancers? There’s no shame in getting professionals to do it for you!

Often times “getting out of your own head” and hiring someone can help get the train rolling.

When you hire an expert, you can drastically improve your content because the expert can weave together insights that you may have not considered!

Niche Content Is the Way to Go

Even if you’re in an industry or small business that’s typically considered boring, you can still write killer niche content that is effective in getting traffic.

Remember that content is not boring for people who are looking for solutions to their problems, informs, or entertains them.

If you’d like some help creating great content for your brand, you might be interested in our HOTH Blogger service!

Don’t forget to sign up for free and schedule a quick call to one of our search engine optimization experts to get the ball rolling!

The post How To Create Content For Boring or Difficult Niches appeared first on The HOTH.

Or maybe the blog post topics you’ve published haven’t taken off like you thought they would?

If you’re wondering what to write about, you’re about to learn how to find great blog ideas by validating the topics ahead of time in this step-by-step guide!

There are some simple strategies you can do to find great blog topics that will definitely work – before you even start writing.

Your audience will actually care about and want to read your content.

This can lead to more engagement, higher traffic, and more sales!

We use many of these techniques when coming up with killer topic ideas for our own blog, as well as with our product HOTH Blogger.

In this article, I’m going to show you how to:

1. Define Your Target Avatar
2. Get 1000+ Topic Ideas In Less Than 5 Min (Including Target Keywords!)
3. Find HOT Trending Topics
4. Get 60+ Blog Post Angles & Ideas For Higher Engagement

Let’s get into it!

Start By Defining Your Audience Avatar

The first part of creating any blogging content strategy is to start by defining the avatar or persona of the person you’re writing to.

Think about your perfect customer and the kinds of problems they have.

We want to really hone in on who this person is, especially what kinds of things they would be interested in and be searching for online.

For us, our target customer is someone who wants help with SEO, so we write answers to the questions we get asked all the time:

Avatar: John needs link building to increase his traffic

• What kind of SEO strategy should I use?
• How can I prevent penguin penalties?
• What’s the easiest way to do keyword research?

Writing blog posts on these kinds of topics will attract a general, but interested audience.

Notice we don’t write about “what is SEO” because we generally don’t want to try to “sell” anyone on SEO. Instead, we want customers that already know about SEO and its value and just want help getting it done.

When we define our customer a bit more, our best customer is an SEO agency or an SEO consultant.

So we think about what kinds of questions or problems SEO agencies would run into, and we write articles about that:

Avatar: Andy, a manager at an SEO Agency

• How To Get SEO Leads
• How To Double Your SEO Business

These kinds of articles are more specific, and they are meant to attract our perfect customer.

When you’re creating your customer avatar, try to really hone in on who your perfect customer is.

Then think about the kinds of problems or questions they have that they would search for online. You should craft your articles based on this.

Think about the customer path:

• What do they need to know before they use your product or service?
• What other types of products/services would they be interested in?
• What kinds of questions do they ask every time before purchasing?
• What kinds of problems/doubts/fears would prevent them from purchasing?

This can give you a great starting point for doing research!

SEO Driven Topic Research

SEO can be a very powerful factor to consider when coming up with popular blog post ideas. Every blog post you write is a chance to rank for new keywords, new topics, and bring in your target customer.

We like to take an SEO-first approach to writing content by first identifying potential target keywords, then creating a topic around them. Our free Blog Topic Generator can help with brainstorming.

That’s not to say that every blog post NEEDs to be SEO driven – There are lots of reasons to write non-SEO-driven content like news, personal stories, roundups, fun articles, etc. However, if you want consistent traffic over time, taking an SEO-driven approach can be extremely valuable.

So what’s the easiest and fastest method for generating a HUGE list of killer keywords that you can target?

We are absolutely in love with doing what’s called a competitive gap analysis. Essentially, a competitive gap analysis looks at what your top competitors are ranking for that you are not. Usually, with this process, we can generate a list of over 1000+ keywords to target in a few minutes!

Here’s how to do it:

How to Get 1000+ Keyword Ideas With A Competitive Gap Analysis

The first step is to find your top competitors in search. Think about companies that sell the same products you do, or sell to the same audience you do. Another good way to find competitors is to think about who is putting out the best content in your industry.

Once you have your list of competitors, you can hop over to The HOTH’s keyword gap analysis tool and put in the competitors along with your domain name.

After you’re done, our tool will produce a list of the top keywords that your competitors are ranking for that you are not!

There are a few tips to tweaking this to make it work:

• If you are getting generic results, try putting in smaller or more niche-specific competitor sites. If you put in a very large site, it can often rank for too many keywords and will make your keyword gap unusable.
• Make sure you put in competitors that actually rank and have good content – Don’t just put in a competitor that you’re familiar with, put in a competitor that is competing in search.
• Filter the list by CPC – We like to go after terms that have a CPC cost associated to validate that they are worthwhile keywords to go after.

You’ll need to scrutinize this list and remove keywords that are difficult, have low search volume, or are not useful.

After you’re done, our tool will produce a list of the top keywords that your competitors are ranking for that you are not!

There are a few tips for tweaking this to make it work:

• If you are getting generic results, try putting in smaller or more niche-specific competitor sites. If you put in a very large site, it can often rank for too many keywords and will make your keyword gap unusable.
• Make sure you put in competitors that actually rank and have good content – Don’t just put in a competitor that you’re familiar with, put in a competitor that is competing in search.
• Filter the list by CPC – We like to go after terms that have a CPC cost associated to validate that they are worthwhile keywords to go after.

You’ll need to scrutinize this list and remove keywords that are difficult, have low search volume, or are not useful.

When you’re done, take a look at the top-ranking content for your target keyword and make a better version of it!

How to tap into your customers’ questions with answer the public

A lot of great blog post topics answer questions people are asking in search engines.

With Answer the Public, you can input your target keyword and generate a list of all the common questions being asked about it in Google.

This is perfect, because we’re trying to find out questions/topics we can write articles on, and this will tell us what kinds of questions people are typing in.

For instance, if you have to write an article about the topic of masonry paint, how would you make that interesting?

1. Go to Answer the Public here, and type in masonry paint.

2. Check out the answers.

Answer the Public will give you all sorts of ways to look at the scraped results. You’ll want to click on ‘data’ and just check out what came up.

They have sections for questions, prepositions, and alphabetical. Any one of these sections could bring in cool topic ideas, so check them all out.

Here’s one I found that looks interesting – “masonry paint for fireplaces”.

By using answer the public you can quickly get a list of ideas or angles about your main keyword! This is a great way to start searching for what your audience cares about!

Trending Topics Driven Blog Ideas

It can also be useful to take a look at what’s trending. By covering hot stories or topics, you can be at the forefront of new trends.

Here are a few ways to keep your ear to the ground for HOT topics!

Find HOT trending topics & seed content with Reddit

Reddit is AWESOME for finding ideas.

Here’s why:

1. There is a subreddit for almost everything (including giraffes with Joseph Gorden Levitt’s face photoshopped onto them)
2. Users are active and vote up what they care about (thanks for doing the work for me, dudes!)
3. It’s constantly up to date with trending topics
4. It’s easy to see what’s popular by using the now, week, month, year, and all-time filters
5. The comments section is often GOLD for finding seed content

Here’s how to use Reddit for blog topic ideas:

1. Find your subreddit by searching Reddit or by using Snoop Snoo.
2. Check out the topics.

For more active subreddits, you may find topics on the default view. For subreddits that are not as active, you may have to sort by top month, year, or all time.

3. Check out the comments section.

This can be GOLD when an expert drops knowledge bombs or extra resources.

You can find either seed content, more resources, or ideas in there too!

4. Bonus – Check out the sidebar of the subreddit.

Oftentimes, there are links to guides that have already been written or popular subjects in that niche. You can find links to awesome resources/tools here.

Keep up with trending topics & news with an RSS aggregator

Finally, another way to keep track of what’s popular going forward is to take the subreddits, sites, competitors, etc that you found in this research and create a Feedly out of them.

Feedly is an RSS aggregator that will let you quickly see what type of content is coming up in your niche.

Here’s how:

1. Sign up for Feedly.
2. Search for or add RSS feeds of sites in your niche.

You can find sites in your niche by visiting AllTop or by simply searching Google.

3. Keep an eye on trending topics.

Feedly will give you a “share” score right beside the article name, so you can easily identify what’s getting shared.

This is a great way to keep your blog current and even take advantage of new topics/keywords that aren’t showing up in keyword planner yet.

Now you have some simple, yet advanced methods for figuring out blog topics that will work for you.

The next step is to use the list below to get some solid ideas to write about.

60+ Ideas For Successful Blog Posts

Now that we covered how to find hot ideas and keywords, let’s talk about the style of post that you’re going to write. Below we list over 60+ types of blog posts to start getting your creative juices flowing.

With the ultimate list of blog post ideas here, you’ll never be short on topics to write about. Create some linkable assets for your site that naturally attract backlinks.

Take 30 minutes to come up with an interactive content idea for each list item now, and you have all of the blog content ideas you need for a year!

Let’s get into it!

Useful Blog Post Ideas

Valuable blog posts improve your audience’s life. It’s why you read your favorite blog.

Informative posts position you as an authority on the topic while making your audience like and trust you. So, be useful!

1. List post

List posts, known as “listicles” are probably the most common type of post. Why? Because they’re useful and people enjoy reading them! 

Create a great list of anything that the audience in your niche would find valuable or interesting. For example, this post you’re reading is a list of blog topics to write about, because content marketing is important for SEO. 

Another idea for listicles is creating a list of resources, such as a list of Amazon Kindle books or free resources your audience can download for information on your industry.

2. “How to” post

A How-To Post is one you’ll find yourself using often and is a good starting point for new bloggers. Break down an outcome into steps. Make it easy to understand by including images, videos, and/or audio. Example: How To Make A YouTube Video

3. Case study post

A case study looks at a project, process, and result in more of a story-driven format. Try using it to highlight the success of your product or service. Example: SEO Case Studies

4. Problem/solution post

Identify a problem in your post’s title, headline, and introduction.

Then use the rest of the post to present the solution to that problem.

How To Penguin Proof Your Site

This type of post can also be framed as a “How-To,” an Ultimate Guide, or another angle.

5. Beginner’s guide post

Creating a beginner’s guide for a specific task or skill can be helpful for those interested in expanding their knowledge. For example ‘A Beginner’s Guide to WordPress.” As always, tailor your beginner’s guide to the  target audience of your blog

6. The morning routine post

A post about your morning routine could be funny and interesting to many people, especially if you’re describing how to solve issues your audience generally has in the mornings.

For example:  “10 Things to do for a Perfect Morning Routine”

7. FAQ post

People often search their questions on Google and other search engines.

An FAQ post lets you create a piece of content answering those questions.

If you have a more detailed answer to a question, link to that post from your FAQ.

8. YouTube video cut-up post

You can do this for your own video or a popular video made by someone else.

Turn the video into a blog post of text and images with the equivalent information.

Embed the video, take screenshots and add text.

9. Questions to ask post

This post recommends questions that your audience should ask but usually don’t.

It’s a good way to inform and educate. You can format it like an FAQ.

10. Research post

Publishing a study you’ve conducted can get you referral traffic through social shares and marketing links.

Find a good angle and back it up with real data.

11. Checklist post

This type of post gives your audience a list of action steps to take. Crossing items off a list is engaging.

The Ultimate SEO Strategy Template For Getting More Website Traffic

Want the ultimate SEO strategy template? We hold back nothing in this to-the-point guide on getting your site ranked!

12. Ultimate guide post

An ultimate guide should be a truly epic post on a topic.

It can be a tutorial or a definitive source of information on a topic.

For example, we have a guide on blogger outreach for guest posts and influencer marketing: blogger-outreach

13. Definition post

If people are searching for “What is [topic]?” you can provide a post answering that question for them.

It can even be your brand.

14. Series post

Separate a topic into a series of posts. Link them together as they get published.

15. Statistical post

Similar to a research post, you publish relevant numbers around your blog’s topic.

If you can’t come up with internal statistics for an interesting post, you can combine statistics from multiple posts and curate them into yours. Just be sure to give credit where it’s due.

Amazing New SEO Case Studies: 842.4%+ Increase In Traffic!

Authoritative Blog Post Ideas

You can leverage someone else’s authority by promoting them on your blog.

To get promoted by other people and brands, be generous by first promoting them.

Just be sure to do some blogger outreach and let them know they appeared in your article.

16. Link roundup

Are you reading other blogs?

If you’re regularly consuming content, curate the best pieces of content around a topic into a list your audience would be interested in.

Add a description and link for each piece and you’re done!

17. Quote post

Frame a topic or ask a question, then aggregate them into a list of quotes from related influencers.

Quotes from movers and shakers are a great way to whip up a quick post. You can also create a list of inspirational quotes from celebrities and contemporary wisdom for those in your industry. These posts have a lot of shareable material for social media if the quotes resonate with your audience’s feelings.

18. Crowdsourced post

You can reach out to influencers to get a unique quote from each of them.

Email 10 influencers or so asking them to answer a question in 100 words or less.

19. Interview post

Have you thought about interviewing someone?

You’d be surprised at who might be willing to give you an interview.

Set up a call that you record through an app like Zoom or Skype.

Transcribe the interview (or have it transcribed for you) and publish the video interview with the transcription below it.

For example:

“We contacted 10 entrepreneurs on how to build a successful business”

20. The best “_” post

Similar to a link roundup, but with more of a reviewer’s tone to the writing.

Create a list of the best tools, book reviews, resources, or other content with a description, main takeaways, and link for each.

This can lead to more engagement, higher traffic, and more sales! 

21. The best “_” to follow post

Create a list of your favorite things. Such as events, influencers, podcasts, Facebook groups, blogs, Youtube channels, etc. for your audience to follow.

Add links to the website, social media channels, or any relevant links to direct your audience to.

22. Profile post

You can write a magazine-style profile of a relevant influencer.

Contact them to make sure they know you’ve profiled them.

Chances are, they’ll share it with their network!

23. Viral content aggregator post

Identify new content around a topic that’s been getting a lot of social shares.

Curate it into one post of all that’s going viral during the past week or month for that topic.

24. Weekly pick post

Make a short blog post that details a piece of content, resource or tool that your audience might find valuable.

It can be something on your site or another site. It’s a chance to highlight a single thing your audience might like to see.

Fun Blog Post Ideas

You can entertain people with your creative blogging ideas! It’s hard but if you can do it right you’ll get some very engaged readers.

Here are some fun blog post ideas.

25. Narrative post

Storytelling is a fantastic way to keep your reader’s attention.

The surprising secret to creating a million dollar a month business that you love.

26. Infographic post

An infographic post provides visitors with information in a fun and easy-to-read way that they can even download for later use. If it’s beautiful enough, they might even share it on LinkedIn, Pinterest, or even Instagram.

For example: ’3 Useful Email Marketing Hacks Infographic”.

27. Compilation post

​​A compilation post assembles an index of several posts or post ideas and presents them to the audience. 

In fact, this post itself could be considered a compilation example, compiling a list of possible ideas and examples for each entry!

28. Satirical post

Can you make people laugh through satire? Use irony or hyperbole for timely topics and this can work well.

For example, our 2018 April Fool’s post recommended cat-related content for Google’s algorithm. Some people even believed what they read!

Shocking New Google Ranking Factor Revealed, Entire SEO Industry Transforms Overnight

29. Meme post

Memes are humorous viral images or videos that get shared on the web.

We love memes here at The HOTH, we sprinkle them in our blog posts sometimes.

You might not want to publish a post that is just a single meme, but a curated meme roundup around a theme could be a great post.

30. Illustrated post

A comic or illustration can get your audience giggling and thinking at the same time.

Check out this example:

branded content

31. Parody post

Similar to a satirical post. You can imitate a widely known brand or person in your niche.

You can turn them into a funny caricature and entertain.

32. Warning posts

A good idea to make your warning posts more creative is to clear up misconceptions. This could also be framed as “expectations vs reality” or “myths vs facts” about an industry.

A couple of examples:

“5 Common Misconceptions About Freelancing”

“Plant-based deodorants: Myths vs Facts”

Timely Blog Post Ideas

Why do people read the news? Because it’s about what’s happening right now!

Timely blog posts can be very effective because you’re a source for trending information.

33. Review post

Write an honest review about a product, service, event, or anything else.

Be honest in your review rather than highlighting just the positives.

For example:

15 Best Plugins for Shopify (2022)

34. Survey post

Survey your audience about a trending or newsworthy topic. Poll them through email, social media, or in person. You can also poll them directly through your email list if it’s active.

Present the results in a blog post and add your commentary on them.

35. News update post

Make a new post for every major current event.

You don’t need to be the first to write about it, but you do need to present it in a way that your audience finds valuable.

We keep our audience up-to-date on Google’s search algorithms.

Google Fred Update 2017: Targets Low Quality Sites

36. Trendspotting post

If you can spot trends before they’re popular, make a post about the trend itself and piggyback off its increasing interest.

37. Concerns post

What are some current challenges facing your audience?

Voice the concerns they might have about an issue that affects them and recommend a solution.

38. Q & A post 

You can also use online forums like Quora and Reddit to create links to your blog. Quora is a wildly popular question-and-answer site that receives several hundred million visits a month. It has over 400,000 topics with Hundreds of thousands of questions being added and answered every week.

On the other hand, Reddit is an online community full of subcommunities that tend to post questions that you can possibly answer, or share your articles there as long as you follow the content guidelines of each subreddit. There are more than 2.8 million subreddits, so there’s a place for everyone in Reddit.

Write a Personal Blog Post

These personal blog post ideas can show that there’s a real human behind the content you’re putting out.

Add these personal blog topics to your lineup to help add variety to your content.

39. Inspirational post

Inspiring content can be very engaging. We all want to be inspired.

This can take shape as a profile post, a story, a quote post…anything that is truly inspirational.

10 Business Growth Lessons from 10k Users

40. Open letter post

An open letter post draws attention to issues that affect an industry or are directed to a person or company. These posts can resonate with your audience’s feelings on a particular issue.

41. Personal experience post

Lower your guard and write from a first-person perspective to describe a relatable personal experience.

Whether it’s an epic failure or a sweet success, this post humanizes you as a publisher.

The surprising secret to creating a million dollar a month business that you love.

42. Playlist post

You can see examples of most ideas described in this post in many popular blogs, but how many blogs have you seen providing their audience with a playlist of their creation?

Yep, this is one of the quirkiest posts you can make, yet most people listen to music when working. Nielsen’s Total Audience Report: Work from Home Edition estimated that a surprising three quarters (75%9 of people listen to music while working from home.

Share ideas for playlists people can listen to so to boost their productivity, relax, or to create creative moods.

43. Rant post

Using this depends on your brand voice. It won’t work for everyone.

A rant about a topic your audience is already thinking about and discussing can be engaging if you can make a coherent argument.

44. Off-topic post

You want to make sure to bring this type of post back around to the value you offer your audience.

It can be very interesting to see a post with an off-topic angle from someone who you’ve grown accustomed to.

Write a Controversial Blog Post

A controversial blog post can pique your audience’s interest in the blog topic you write about.

45. Persuasive post

Try presenting your side of an argument under debate to convince your audience.

If you can find someone to disagree with, give their side of the argument in the same post.

46. Prediction post

We’re all curious about the future.

Speculating about it and making a prediction can generate debate.

47. Reaction post

React to a notable piece of content is published by someone else.

Give your thoughts on a blog post, a video, an online course, an event.

You can embed a video or social media post and react to it, as another way to do this.

48. What if post

Speculate on how things might be different by framing your post accordingly.

Make sure you pick something that people would actually care about or find interesting.

For example: What if X happened, what would the result be?

49. Critical post

If you do this type of controversial blog post it can be very interesting.

Just make sure you’re justified in your attack on the company, event, or person so that you don’t end up the loser.

This can be a polarizing topic, but it can get people strongly on your side.

Lifestyle Blog Post Ideas

Like personal blog posts, a lifestyle post humanizes you or your business, more so if its a small business.

Use these posts to show them that yes, you’re just like them! People engage with blogs that they like and trust.

50. Behind the scenes post

This type of post lets your audience see what things look like from your perspective.

Show the process you used to make content, give an office tour, or describe a recent experience at an event– all of these are good behind-the-scenes topics for you to create.

51. Holiday post

Rather than take a break during holidays, try using it to create a holiday-themed post.

This lets you celebrate with your audience.

HOTH Radio Holiday Show With SEO Chef Chris Romero

52. Fashion post

Create content showing pictures and describing what you or people at your online business wearing (hint: Swag). If you don’t at least have a T-shirt with your blog logo made, you’re missing out!

Selling your own branded apparel can be an added revenue stream for all kinds of businesses. You plan to grow your fans, right?

Promotional Blog Post Ideas

Depending on you or your company, you might use your blog for promotional purposes.

The key is not to annoy or frustrate your loyal readers. Keep providing them value through your promotional blog posts.

53. Best of post

Make a quick blog post that rounds up the most popular content on your site, such as online courses, blog posts with a lot of traction, and webinars.

54. Company news or product update post

If you have loyal customers, posting about happenings at your company or a new product can do well on your blog.

55. Product tips post

Sell products? Make sure your audience is getting the most value out of them.

Write a blog post that helps them get a better experience out of using your product or service.

56. Comparison post

Compare your product or service’s features/benefits to other solutions out there.

57. Project log post

If you’re working on a big project, keep your readers excited about it by regularly updating them on its progress.

Mention what you’ve accomplished so far, and what you have left to do.

58. Income breakdown post

It can be intriguing to see an income report!

Give the people what they want and show them the money you or your company is making.

Or show them the traffic you’re getting:

How We Get 434,886 Pageviews Per Month

Audience Engagement Blog Post Ideas

Reading is a passive activity.

Spice it up by asking your audience to interact with these engaging blog post ideas.

59. Challenge post

Have your readers participate in a challenge.

Showcase the people who are participating, and provide regular updates on the challenge as a series.

60. Giveaway post

Tell your audience about something free that they’ll like.

Describe what it is and what they need to do to get it.

61. Answer post

You can prompt discussion on your own blog. Other people will make the content for you!

Pose a question to the audience and ask them to answer it in the comments section.

62. Question post

Ask a question and get answers from audience members. Ask it on social media, in the comments section of your blog, or in person.

Conclusion

Getting ideas for blog topics shouldn’t be a random thought process.

With just a little research, you’ll be able to validate blog topics that are already proven to be popular in your niche!

Bookmark this blog post idea cheat sheet, you’ll never run out of content ideas that drive traffic to your website.

Want even more ideas? Try our free Headline Generator Tool.

When we start any new project at HOTH Blogger, we go through a similar process to research and validate topics and make sure each article is a winner before we even start writing.

We spent years building a network of hundreds of elite writers who take great care to create only high-quality content.

We love our writers from all over the U.S. and the world, they consistently do an incredible job writing for any blog post topic.

Have any questions or other suggestions for blog post ideas?

We’d love to hear them in the comments!

Download Guide Now!

The post 60+ Awesome Blog Post Ideas (That Will Bring More Traffic!) appeared first on The HOTH.

If you’re ready to learn more about how long-form content can help boost your ratings, you’ve come to the right place. Below we will discuss why you need long-form content and how it improves your SEO. We’ll also offer some tips on doing it effectively. 

Ready to begin? Keep scrolling!

What Is Long-Form Content and Why Does it Work?

Although definitions of long-form content vary, most digital marketers would agree that it includes any blogs or articles over 1,000 words. Online businesses can post long-form content with word counts as high as 2K, 4K, or even as high as 8K. 

Longer content is usually centered around being more useful, informational, and comprehensive than short content. This earns more backlinks and authority which increases your rank in SERPs. 

The average user’s attention span on a website is around 10 to 20 seconds long. You may have heard that short content with quick bullet points that are easy to read, and go straight and to the point is the best way to create content. 

And, because 10 seconds is such a short amount of time you may wonder how long-form content performs. Surprisingly, long-form content does very well on both social media and web pages.  

If done right, a few pieces of long-form content can increase your search rankings faster than most short-form content (blogs or articles under 1K words). It’s a good idea to start adding a few to your existing blog schedule or update some of your old content. 

Long-form content takes time and effort. It requires planning, research, and a ton of thought just to make sure that there’s enough information to make it authoritative. 

As an example, I wouldn’t suggest creating a heading or title tag such as, “The Ultimate Guide” if you aren’t going to write over 1,000 words. It’s always best to match your content with the extent of your information. 

This would also apply to a quick blog post regarding an event. That type of topic shouldn’t be as long and as extensive as a how-to guide. 

Long-Form Content vs Short-Form Content

Short content or, “snackable” content is usually around 200 words. It gives your audience a quick bite of your company, product, or service. It also can help you gain trust and become a somewhat recognizable brand. 

Some examples may include but aren’t limited to tweets, event reminders, quick videos, and infographics. 

Short-form blogs are good at grabbing your target audience’s attention with interesting information or offerings (such as a one-time free trial). But, long-form blogs are designed to educate visitors about your products or services and to preemptively answer their questions. 

One of the best ways to use short content is to just keep it simple and memorable. Focus on one idea and explain everything quickly. Keep it direct and straight to the point. 

If your content is good, you don’t always need to have a long, drawn-out story because your audience only really needs a few certain elements and they can figure out the rest. 

Short content is great for social posts and information that doesn’t need explaining. However, if you are creating tutorials, how-tos, or step-by-step content, it would be best to stick to long-form content. 

Long-form content is seen as authoritative and trustworthy. Businesses usually use this type of content writing. These pieces of content grasp the attention of a highly invested audience who want to learn about what you have to offer them. Long-form articles are in-depth, comprehensive, and cover everything your audience needs to know. 

One benefit of using long content found in a case study by BuzzSumo, is that longer content gets more shares and proves people generally find value and like well-researched posts that are packed with useful information. 

Businesses that are invested in adopting inbound marketing typically need gated long-form content. This includes white papers, webinars, and more expansive content such as e-books. 

What this does, in the long run, is build long-lasting, long-term customer relationships. B2B sales use longer content because, in the earliest stages of a marketing cycle, the audience has very little awareness of products or services. 

This helps to pull in a potential lead and turn it into a qualified customer. 

How to Know If You Should Use Long-Form Content

Long-form content demands critical thinking. It is intended to be read and digested as opposed to a quick read or a skim. It is deeply researched and contextual. It’s not just another blog post that jams keywords into a page as much as possible. 

It provides the reader with as much information as possible on a particular topic. Besides the word count, there’s a lot that goes into long-form content. 

But, how do you know if your niche requires long-form content as opposed to quicker, less informational content? 

Long-form content tends to have a fantastic lifespan. If you are looking to publish content that will be relevant no matter how much time has passed, then long-form content is for you. 

Does Blog Length Really Matter?

Have you ever wondered why SEO blog services like The HOTH give you the choice of selecting 500 words, 1K words, 2K words, or more? 

It’s because blog length does matter and it’s important to figure out what length is the most advantageous for your website and marketing strategy. 

The assumption for so long has been that online readers prefer short pieces of content and snippets, but data on long-form content is proving that’s not so accurate. People also enjoy long-form content (if it’s done right). 

Hubspot found that blogs with a word count between 2,250 and 2,500 earned the most organic traffic. One reason for this is that larger blogs contain more keywords. 

On top of that, a study by Pew Research shows that users spend twice as much time on articles over 1,000 words. They found that short and long articles both attracted the same number of visitors, yet people would actually keep reading the longer pieces versus navigating away to something else. This has huge implications for your site and your bounce rate. 

Does Long-Form Content Affect Social Media Shares?

As I briefly mentioned above, social shares happen more frequently with long-form content than short content. A study by Moz concluded that articles that are over 1,000 words are more likely to earn social shares than shorter posts. Posts that are even longer than 1,000 words tend to increase in shares depending on the higher word count. 

In addition, a different study by Neil Patel found that longer posts received an average of about 68% more engagement on Twitter and about 22% more on Facebook. 

The correlation between content length and social media shares is similar to content length and backlinks. So, these statistics suggest that the everyday social media user values content length if it is informational and you optimize it with helpful content. 

Should You Use Long-Form Content for Landing Pages?

Long-form content doesn’t necessarily need to be articles or blog posts. Basically, the purpose of a long-form landing page is to make sure that your audience is as informed as possible about your service, product, or brand. That allows them to feel comfortable and confident enough to spend their hard-earned cash. 

A giant success factor is the role of targeting. Hubspot research has discovered that businesses with over 40 landing pages generate twelve times as many leads as businesses with just 1 to 5. So, consider this when deciding whether or not long-form content would be a good idea for your company. 

That isn’t to say that short landing pages won’t convert potential buyers. You may even be able to persuade your product with stories or emotional and instinctual images.

But, science suggests that most of your potential customers won’t convert unless they understand your product and also feel comfortable. 

That is such a crucial thing to understand about long-form landing pages. They are there to completely get rid of any hesitation or anxieties about buying a service or product. You need to have trustworthy content before your leads will buy what you’re offering. 

In fact, conversion rate experts at Moz stated that long-form landing pages boosted sales by about 52%. 

The key here is that there are many reasons why webmasters or designers won’t include long-form landing pages on their websites. Many of those reasons are because it doesn’t seem user-friendly or it might come across as scammy. 

Regardless of the reasons, using long-form content on your landing pages may actually improve your sales depending on what your audience needs from your brand. 

How Does Long-Format Help SEO?

Besides sharing information with your potential customers, SEO-optimized blogs are also designed to rank for keywords. 

Good long-form content will rank for way more keywords than a 500-word blog. One study also found a direct correlation between the length of content and the number of backlinks a website receives. 

Writers of long-form content need to conduct extra search engine research, go more in-depth, and ensure their final version is high-quality. Doing this will improve a site’s domain authority, which results in more backlinks over the long term. 

Here are a few SEO tips to focus on for long-form content:

• Focus on your targeted keyword or phrase
• Optimize your copy with SEO methods
• Boost your readability with headlines and links

Keywords are a given when it comes to any SEO content, but long-form content gets ranked higher because it contains more keywords without overstuffing. Think about it like this, the longer your content is, the more keywords you can insert into it. This helps you rank in Google and other search engines, but it also increases your organic traffic. In fact, homepages featuring long-form content also experienced an increase in conversation rates by more than 37%.

Optimizing your content with SEO methods such as meta descriptions and alt text can raise your chances of ranking in search engines. It is not always an easy task and businesses that spend more than $500 a month on SEO are around 53% more likely to succeed in ranking. 

The Google algorithm also favors long-form content because it caters perfectly to E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness). It rewards this type of content with higher rankings. 

Now that you understand how long-format content can help your SEO, let’s go over a few tips on how to create your own blogs that will get the algorithm’s attention: 

Tips and Tricks on Writing Quality Long-Form Content

There are just so many benefits of long-form content that it would be silly not to consider creating some for your niche or business. If you’re interested in developing content marketing and some long-form content for your website, here are some things to consider. 

Start off by carefully researching your topic and relevant keywords. You’ll need a lot of reliable research because long-form content is more in-depth. Focus on finding long-tail keywords as well. A great place to start is with The HOTH’s Keyword Planner.

Research

Organize and structure your blog or article. We recommend outlining before you write so you’ll know where everything goes. Outlining and having a word count goal is a fantastic start to any content.

Researching your niche, information, and picking the most relevant keywords can open up the opportunity to rank well in search engines for your preferred niche. High rankings in search drive traffic to your website and give you the ability to promote your services or products with content creation. 

Short Paragraphs

Write short paragraphs and divide your content into different sections using H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, or H6 subheadings. Don’t forget your other SEO information like alt-texts or meta descriptions.

By organizing your topics in your content strategy, you can increase readability and boost your content rank because Google search sees your topics as easy to identify. This can help improve your authority. When you write in small paragraph chunks, usually around three sentences, you increase easy scrolling and searchability. 

The Hook

Hook the reader with an engaging introduction that will ensure they read the entire piece. This may be an interesting statistic or something they’ve never heard of before. 

Link baiting is a common practice among marketers, the concept has been around for a long while. Marketers have figured out by trial and error that emotional hooks that entice people to “like” or “share” a link to content increases engagement and overall traffic. 

Now that you know that your writing needs a good hook, how do you write one?

Here are a few ideas to start with:

• Be bold! Create a statement that begs for attention
• Be witty and show your personality
• Use a fresh twist
• Tell an emotional story

Use a bold statement in your hook. If you think your article has some great ideas that will help your audience do something better. Tell them so! They want to hear it. 

Be witty, by using a simple play on words or a fun headline, you may increase your click rate and boost your traffic. Just make sure to keep your audience in mind. 

Use your personality and add a fresh twist to some of your headlines or long-form content. If you’re writing a how-to post or tutorial, creating a welcoming atmosphere that builds a relationship with your readers will help to create returning customers. 

Lastly, telling a story with your content is a good way to keep your audience engaged. It makes your readers invested in your service or product. Testimonials and letting your audience know how your service works or how much your business cares can boost your trustworthiness and your sales. 

Style

Your writing style should be accessible and conversational. SEO writing is quite technical and is a way to write content that is easy for search engines to see what the content is and whether it is of high quality.

It is always a good practice to keep your audience in mind along with search intent. It’s important to make sure that your style of writing goes along with what your readers want to see. 

For example, if your style of writing is packed with slapstick humor, but your audience is more conservative, it may not sit well with them.

Style guides for your writers are also a great idea for creating long-form SEO content. Because SEO is such a technical style, it would be best to hire a professional writer or service like The HOTH that understands the best methods. Many businesses will hire a writer, send them a quick brief, and expect a masterpiece. 

While that sounds like a great idea, the fact is you aren’t giving them exactly what they need to write a great long-form piece. Many small businesses can’t really afford to have a hit-or-miss content writer because of how much SEO can cost in the long run. 

Outlines, SEO strategy, and the desired writing format with loads of training can get your writers where they need to be without your business suffering. 

By giving them a style guide, you are setting your team and your business up for success. You can also prevent inconsistent or inadequate work by giving out your guide. This saves time, effort, and won’t eat at your budget. 

Images and Graphics

Another ranking factor is images and infographics. Add images or graphics where you can to break up the text. These can also make it easier to digest complex information. 

If you make your posts pop with images you’re more likely to keep an audience engaged with your content. People are visual! Adding an image (or a few) along with your blog posts can make quite an impression. 

A fast tip for easy marketing and promotion would be to blast your blogs across your social media channels such as Pinterest. High-quality images attached to pins add an additional avenue of traffic. 

Social Media

Speaking of Pinterest, social media is a powerful tool that can aid you and increase the reach of your audience and content by promoting sharing. Post each new article on your social media accounts and use a descriptive call-to-action. 

Because the power of social media is in sharing, it is important to have share buttons on each blog post. 

If you wish to have more control over how your links appear when they are shared, you can implement Twitter cards for Twitter, or you can use Open Graph for Facebook (this can come across as a more technical side of SEO.) 

By using this practice, you can improve your traffic and you may even boost some of that sought-after click-through rate. 

Monitor Your Activity

Long-form content writing is complicated and will take some time to work out the kinks. Stay on top of your SEO content. It would be best if you monitor your efforts with Google Analytics or other free tools. 

It’s a great way to keep track of your page views, average time spent on a page, and bounce rate. If you aren’t creating your long-form content correctly, you will be able to tell through these metrics. 

If you happen to see a drop-off in addition to low time spent, that’s a red flag. You can then adjust your content creation, keywords, etc. until you see an improvement in your numbers. Graphs are a great way to keep track of your SEO performance. 

Quality

Focusing on quality is the most important thing you can do. Not only should you provide rich information to the reader, but the writing should be error-free. 

Most business owners can get away with asking staff who have no writing experience to crank out a few short blogs here and there. But, if you want to include long-form posts on your site you should have them written by a professional. 

That brings us to the most important part of this blog. The HOTH offers an affordable and effective blog product that can help online businesses get long-form content. 

Need Help Crafting Long-Form Blogs?

Many businesses don’t have the time or experience to craft long-form content. And that’s ok! 

With our most popular SEO product, HOTH Blogger, you can order professionally written and researched blogs about your specific business ranging from 500 words all the way up to 5,000! Our writers are selected from the top 1% of all applicants. 

Each blog is optimized for SEO with the right keywords to generate traffic and our team of digital marketers can even publish it to your site. 

These flexible options through HOTH Blogger allow you to add a few long-form blogs while you continue posting shorter pieces on a consistent basis. You can get the best of both worlds!

Are you ready to start adding long-form content to your site and watch your rankings grow? 

Reach out to one of our experts today! You can also sign up for free for additional content and resources! 

The post Why Your SEO Strategy Needs Long-Form Content appeared first on The HOTH.

The first thing we tell new clients is to develop a plan to post consistently at least once per week. As for blog length, that depends on a variety of factors.

This article will break down the differences between short-form vs. long-form content. We’ll cover what’s good and what’s bad about each, as well as give you some tips on how to optimize your blogs.

Keep scrolling if you’re ready to get started.

The Role of Content in SEO

Many first-time clients don’t quite understand what big role content plays in SEO ranking. Ultimately it’s high-quality content that will push you to the top of the search engine result page (SERP).

What is content exactly? A basic definition is that it’s anything that needs to be expressed to an end-user.

Content isn’t just blogs or articles. It also includes videos, infographics, case studies, how-to guides, ebooks, and more.

The Google search algorithm prefers content that demonstrates a site’s expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T). Therefore, this is what you should strive for with your content.

Law firms, for example, can demonstrate their expertise by writing blogs about new statutes affecting their clients. Individual lawyers in that firm can position themselves to be authorities in certain areas of the law.

Developing trustworthiness boils down to providing accurate information and being linked by other websites.

Satisfy all three of these E-A-T elements and your rankings will soar.

Short-Form vs. Long-Form Content: What’s the Difference?

While we discussed above how content takes several forms, for the purpose of this article we’ll talk specifically about blogs.

Blogs can be described as short-form or long-form. When you sign up for our service HOTH Blogger you can choose between both.

Definitions vary across the world of digital marketing, but short-form blog content is typically under 1,000 words. Long-form blog content is anything over 1,000 words. In fact, in some cases, it’s as high as 8,000.

The purpose of short-form content is to use relevant keywords, buzzwords, and present imagery to readers. Shorter pieces are designed to quickly attract new readers.

On the other hand, long-form content goes into great depth on a given topic. This form of writing requires critical thinking skills and isn’t skimmed. It typically includes a lot of research as well.

White papers and reports are other examples of long-form content.

Is It Better To Write Short or Long?

This is a question we get all of the time. The truth is there’s a place for both types of writing in your SEO strategy. Both serve a different purpose and both are effective when done right.

It depends on your goals and how much time you have each week to write.

As we said above, short-form is generally to attract visitors and long-form is to educate them. The subject matter is a big factor as well. Some topics are simply better long-form.

Most SEO experts would recommend having a mix of both. Short-form should outnumber your long-form content, but whatever you post over 1,000 words needs to be in-depth and authoritative to move the needle for your SEO.

Pros of Writing Short

Internet users are more likely to stop and read a shorter piece of writing. Everyone’s lives are so busy and the average time spent on any website is only 10 seconds or less. Something short is more likely to grab their attention.

Research has also shown that shorter content is more likely to be shared across social media. This includes infographics or memes.

Businesses need to post to their blogs consistently if they hope to maintain good rankings. From a logistical standpoint, it’s much easier to post several short-form blogs each week versus in-depth pieces.

The two negatives of short-form content include not making a significant impression on your reader and not ranking for as many keywords.

Pros of Writing Long

Writing long-form content is an investment for everyone involved. You as the business need to invest time and energy into a well-researched blog and the reader needs to devote their time to finish it.

SEO studies have shown that the Google algorithm tends to favor lengthy content, especially when it satisfies the elements of E-A-T. Are there any other reasons for this?

Long-form content ranks for more keywords and is more likely to be linked by another site (especially if it’s authoritative).

Posting long-form content is a great way to stand out over other businesses posting blogs of 300, 400, or 500 words. They can also better serve a niche audience who already possesses a certain level of expertise on the topic.

The biggest challenges to long-form content are short attention spans online and ensuring that what’s written is high-quality. You may have to hire a professional to write it.

How To Write Killer Long-Form Content

If you’re intent on posting long-form content to your blog, here are some tips to ensuring it’s high-quality:

1. Understand your audience and what they’re interested in reading
2. Use a narrative arc for your non-fiction writing to ensure there’s a sense of satisfaction at the end
3. Do a lot of research before you write and cite as many specific details as possible
4. Break up large chunks of text with headings, sub-headings, images, or graphics
5. Don’t forget to proofread your content and fact check if you think it’s necessary
6. Anticipate what users need so they are more likely to share your blog or link back to your site

This sounds easier said than done, but you want to produce high-quality content to outlast the algorithm.

It may take time to determine exactly what your audience wants but it’s well worth it when you’re able to answer their questions or concerns in strategically placed content.

Optimizing Long-Form Content for SEO

The last section of this article will cover how to optimize your content once it’s ready to be published.

Completing your on-page SEO is just as important as writing high-quality content. These elements are also part of the Google ranking system.

Before creating any content, it’s a good idea to establish your goal. Are you simply looking to educate readers about a complex topic, get more subscribers to your email list, or create something to be shared on Facebook?

You should also conduct keyword research before drafting blogs. You can use Google’s Keyword Planner or other paid services like Ahrefs or SEMrush. Compile as many keywords as possible and include long-tail keywords.

Write a compelling headline using the HOTH’s Blog Topic Generator. Even better, find a way to incorporate your brand or product name into the headline.

Once you start writing the content, use sub-headings like H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6. Add alt-text to any images or graphics you include on the page.

This is a step some websites may skip, but fill out your metadata. Yoast SEO is a helpful plug-in for making sure it’s the right length and format.

Most importantly, make it very easy for readers to share.

Conclusion

We hope you’ve learned a lot about the differences between short-form vs. long-form content. An effective content strategy will include both.

Even more important than length is content quality. Whatever you post to your site should be well-researched and professionally written.

The problem is so many online businesses don’t have the time to write this kind of content and they don’t have a writer on staff. That’s why one of our most popular products is HOTH Blogger.

Our clients can easily order professionally written, SEO-optimized blogs ranging from 500 to 2,000 words. We even work with companies to publish the content for them.

Book a meeting with us if you’re interested in learning more about this product.

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