How to write blog posts that get noticed? This is a really important question that you must ask as website owner.
For instance, growing an audience and launching a product is more than just following a system. The magic glue that makes it work is your online reputation. If you want to sell something to a certain group of people, you need to earn their trust. A great way to earn people’s trust is to teach them.
If you want to be useful, you can always start now. It will be a humble prototype of your grand vision, but you’ll be in the game. Start by teaching someone this week. Starting small puts 100% of your energy into solving real problems for real people. – Derek Sivers, Start Now: No Funding Needed
Your blog should be a sneak peek into the value your product provides. To ensure you get maximum traction, you’ll want to follow three steps:
- Research your audience.
- Write unique content that your audience wants to read.
- Amplify your content to reach new people.
Research your audience
Similar to my advice on building a product, writing a good blog post is based on research. Do research in communities where your target market hangs out. Here are some examples:
- Designers: Designer News
- Retail store owners: TalesFromRetail
- Hardcore developers: Lobsters
- Marketers: Inbound.org or GrowthHackers
While you’re there, look for opportunities where you can help. What pain points come up repeatedly? These pain points can become topics for your blog.
Write good posts that get noticed
Write good stub Everyone’s writing blog posts: how can you make yours stand out? Your biggest asset is what you know about your audience. Talk about the issues they care about.
Here are some ideas for making your blog posts stand out:
- Focus on one point per post. It’s easy to veer into a tangent when writing. Stay focused on one idea, and communicate that idea as eaciently as possible.
- Use diagrams, illustrations, cartoons. My most shared blog posts all have this element in common. Illustrations are often shared as the featured image in tweets and Facebook posts. Because of this, I’ll often have illustrations done professionally.
- Above all, Put something surprising in your post. We make fun of Buzzfeed headlines like, “This grandma ordered grilled cheese on the internet; you won’t believe what happened next!” They’re tapping into human nature. We’re all attracted to stories that shock us, or have a bombshell revelation at the end. These are also the stories we’re most likely to share.
- Jump on trends and current events. Is everyone talking about it? It can be default to rise above the noise when discussing current trends (like reviews on the latest Apple gadget). However, if you have a unique point of view that hasn’t been covered, your message has a greater chance of being amplified.
Make people laugh
- Firstly a good sense of humor is a tremendous asset. So much of online content is banal. Being funny is a great way to get noticed.
- Share your process. secondly, people like to hear the behind- the-scenes tales of how you’re building your product. Show them some code! Talk about a technical challenge and how you overcame it.
- Teach them something new. Did you just figure out how to build a Slack integration? Teach other people to do it, too! Just recorded your first screencast? for instance, Write up a tutorial, and publish it on your blog.
Remember, growing your audience is more than just following a system. The magic glue is your online reputation: to get people’s attention you’ll need to consistently create content that is inter- esting, unique and trustworthy.
Amplify your content
For instance, Blog posts, videos, and podcasts are valuable marketing tools. You can use them to reach new prospects, and expand your audience. But creating content isn’t enough. In addition, amplification is about taking what you’ve created, and distributing it through other people’s networks. There are three types of amplifiers you should focus on:
- Individual in Benchers: these are people who have built an audience in the market you’re
targeting. These could be popular bloggers, podcasters, entrepreneurs, journalists, or people with a big following on Twitter. - Online networks: Above all, these are community sites, forums, news sites, aggregators, Facebook groups, and anywhere else where people in your target market congregate.
- Your network: this is your email list, and the people build relationships with influencers carefully! Martin Greenling, of Groovehq.com, did a great job of this when he sent me this email (from his personal Gmail address):
Sample:
| Hey Justin, I know you probably get a ton of emails from startups looking for your expertise, so I’ll keep this really short. I think you might find it interesting… I’m launching a new series on my blog this week hoping to take an honest look at the long, tough haul from idea to successful company. Specifically, I’m tracking the ups and downs of going from zero users (where we were) to $28k in monthly revenue (where we are) to $100k/month, and beyond. Would love to share it with you if you’re interested. Do you mind if I send you a link. Thanks, Martin |
In addition, He sent similar emails to other influencers in his space (people like Gary Vaynerchuk, Dan Martell, and Rob Walling). He found that 83% of the people he emailed responded positively.
Why? He wasn’t being forceful. Notice he doesn’t even include a link to the post in his email. He simply asks if the reader wants to see it. Also, his proposal is unique and appeals directly to the people he’s emailing. After that,The idea of Alex sharing his revenue and growth tactics is compelling for any software entrepreneur.
