11 ways to keep your blog content relevant

Know your blog intent

As a blog writer sometimes, the hardest thing to come up with isn't the words but the subject. First and foremost, as a blog writer your intent is to entertain, educate, teach or inform your audience. If you stick to this goal you can't go too far wrong.

Here are 11 ways to keep your blog writing fresh and relevant:

1. Research your subject

To ensure you don't dry up writing about the same subject week on week do your research. First start with your area of expertise, then look at the subject from different angles. This will help to give you new ways to examine the same subject without boring your audience. You want your readers to return so give them a reason to do so.

2. Don't be afraid to be different

Sometimes you may need to push the boundaries by giving your readers a controversial or thought provoking blog. Never be afraid to try something different. You'll soon know how you faired when you analyse the results. You may just surprise yourself by stumbling upon a new style that works. If the results are below par don't consider it a disaster or a failure instead go back to point 1 and revise the angle. Being different can help you to stand out in a severely crowded market. Just ensure that you don't insult your readers.

3. Guest writers

One way to share the workload is to open your business up to the opportunity of working with guest writers. Connecting and forming relationships with like minded bloggers can provide your readers with fresh content whilst remaining loyal to your brand. Start by connecting with people through social media channels. Once you form connections and the foundations are established then you can begin to build a working relationship. Don't go in immediately for the hard sell. Give yourself time to expand on the relationship.

4. Check out your competition

You should keep a watchful eye on your competition. Plus, there is never a better way to find ideas than from those in the same market. Check out what they are talking about and intersperse these ideas into your own blogs. Be sure to offer a different perspective and follow the golden rule of never copying someone else's work.

5. Plan ahead (but not too far)

Everyone has a different take on how far you should plan ahead. We suggest you build a blog calendar schedule. It's best to fill this calendar when you are feeling creative. Otherwise you can feel despondent and pressured to come up with multiple ideas. Plan ahead but leave space to add in specific blogs that may arise from a change in policy or in accordance to the news.

6. Find your business keywords

When you first start writing you will spend time coming up with keywords. Try to include different keywords for each blog. Once you have a list of defined keywords you can begin to expand your blogs around these. Use online word sites to find different words that mean the same thing. Also check your phrase or keyword against search engines to ensure that the terminology matches what customers use.

7. Keep going

As blog writers we are told to write and post regularly. In times when you may feel stunted this can feel like a tall order. Avoid these dry times by writing when you feel inspired. You may have times when you write like a literary genius, if you find your rhythm keep going. You can then save the additional blogs for those times when you experience writers block.

8. Build your audience

The most important thing to remember when blogging is to publicise your blogs across social media. Your mission is to build an audience. Don't be too hard on yourself in the beginning, with thousands of blogs being shared on a daily basis it takes time to build up your followers. Post regularly across social channels and watch as your audience begins to grow. If its really slow then try writing about different subjects and use different social media platforms to attract the right level of interest.

9. Start with a punch

Ensure that you grip your audience from the start. Blogging stats tell us that readers tend to get bored quickly, with some not even bothering to read past the title. Grip your readers from the start answering the proposed question along the way. If you give your readers a magical formula to their problem, they will be sure to come back and read more.

10. Keep it a good length

Knowing the right length for your blog is all part of being a good blog writer. Don't come at it from a point of just filling the page with words. Allow your blog to grow organically and when you reach a natural conclusion don't drag it out, bring it to close. Readers don't want to feel like they are being forced to read a novel when the point could have been made in 600 words.

11. Mix up the subjects

If you are writing about complicated subjects, aim to give your followers a break by offering lighter easy to comprehend blogs. This will help them to know that you can also break from the norm and that you can write about other subjects. Allow your personality to shine through in all of your writing.

Whatever you choose to write about keep it interesting. You won’t suit everyone all the time so aim to target your blogs at your loyal followers. These are the people you want to keep happy. If you feel you have written the piece to the best of your ability, don't want too long before you hit the publish button.