5 Content Generation Strategies That Will Save Your Sorry Ass Blog

content generation strategiesSo here you’ve cranked out this great blog with wonderful posts, but it seems your content generation strategies just aren’t working so well, huh? Doesn’t that suck the big one? And it seems that it really doesn’t matter what types of content you have, it just misses the mark for some reason. Don’t fret, my friend, we’ve all been there. And if someone tells that all of their social media content gets readily consumed, then you can take this to the bank – they’re lying!! So let’s look at some content generation strategies that will help your blog posts become winners.

Always Some Uncertainly with Online Content

Before we get started on this, you have to realize one thing. No one can really predict how well a piece of content is going to go over with your readers. Just like no one can ever predict when something goes viral on the internet. It just happens. BUT what we can do is increase the odds of your content becoming a winner or even going viral. Who knows? Your blog posts have as much of a chance of doing that as any other – as long as you develop a strong content generation strategy. So let’s get started on the real stuff.

5 Content Strategies that Actually Work

1) Use lots of bullet points. You have to understand the people today are constantly overwhelmed by information. If you can speed up the process of their consuming it, then you are doing them a big favor. Bullet points are the perfect solution for the information weary audience. And as those bullet points begin to hit home on something dear to them – or it appears to solve a problem for them – they will zero in on the details. You just need to make sure the details invoke the response from them that you desire.

The same can be said for headers. Make sure that you use lots of those as well. Your headers should be able to summarize the content. Your content shouldn’t be trying to flag down every viewer anyway, it needs to be targeted to specific individuals with specific issues. Those are the kinds of message that will get results.

2) Use images or videos.  Images will serve to make your content more appealing to your audience. Try reading something that is one big paragraph with about 1000 words or more – it is quite painful to read – if you choose to try. Trust me – most people will not even try. Make sure the images and videos you add are relevant to the article. Just about any guide to content marketing will tell you this.

You have to remember something important with videos. If you put the right ones on your webpages, they will increase the bounce rate of your entire website or blog because visitors will more time per visit. This is a big plus with the search engines. Longer visits tell them that people like your website, so they will be apt to suggest your website more during organic searches by potential customers.

3) Keep content short and brief as possible. This is pretty much following along with the same message we have been stressing thus far. Use bullets, use images, and keep the content brief and condensed. Again, you are preparing your content for an information weary viewer. Make it easy on them by being brief. One suggestion for situations when you feel the need to expand – offer up a link to another webpage or post that is more detailed. That way, you don’t risk losing them and if they are interested in more, then you have something of value to offer them – it’s win-win.

invoking emotion4) Invoke emotion. This is something that many of us are guilty of. I know I am. It’s too easy just to sit down and start banging out facts and figures of your topic. Or just describing how to use the software or the tool, or how to navigate a complex process, but that is not what sells an audience. These technical details are important, but only after an audience has been sold. Never forget that emotions are what sells people, and facts validate their decision to buy. So you have to understand when to use the different types of content.

Most of us human beings love to feel our emotions. Need proof? Why have soap operas been around since the radio days? We love drama and it sells over and over again. Look at our favorite fiction, look at our favorite movies, and look at our favorite TV shows – all drama. Learn to accept this fact and embrace it and you will become a much better online marketer. Learn to use strong social media content properly and at the right times.

5) Have an objective for your content. Don’t just sit down at your keyboard and start banging away. Too people are already doing this. Don’t you want your content to stand out from the crowd? Of course you do. But to do so, you need to be developing a content strategy that will achieve this goal. You need to know ahead of time what you would like your reader to do. This is not always as obviously as it may seem.

You may want them to take some sort of action. If you are an internet marketer, then most likely you want them to join your mailing, buy your product, or sign up for your service. Your very first paragraph needs to start setting that up. In this case, you’ll need to point out problems they’ll have without your product or service, and then tell them about the benefits and the joys (emotions here) of having those problems solves, and then tell them what to do to get their problems solved.

Hopefully, a lot of what I’ve said here makes sense to you. But you’d be surprised how many pieces of content out there do not follow any of these rules. And for that reason, they are not ranked well, they are not read by viewers, and their blogs have no traffic. Do not let this be your blog. Start using the content generation strategies that we have discussed here.