Wow! Your fellow blogger gained a couple of hundred new followers last week, while your follower count increased by only a few. Even though you and your competitor write more or less about the same topics, he gains more followers than you. Do you ever wonder why?
Well, one of the reasons could be that he’s more creative with his blogs. They have that X-factor that makes people read till the last line and subscribe to his newsletter. Although your blog content is equally informative, it lacks the creativity and the spark to hold the audience together.
Creativity can make a big difference between a successful and a not-so-successful blogger. Remember, you are conveying your opinions in the form of writing. You are not speaking to your audience. Therefore, you need to write in such a way that it seems that you are interacting with your audience when they read your blogs. Today, you will learn how to improve your blog’s creativity by following a few simple techniques.
1. Know your audience inside out
Sure, a general blog is for everyone. But you still need to write content based on the audience that follows your blogs the most. And it is best to identify this audience right before you start writing blogs for the first time. For example, The Blog Starter can help you create your blog in six easy steps, but you still need to make it successful and gain viewers’ creative writing skills.
Assuming that your audience is interested in reading whatever you write is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Instead, use a few tricks to know your audience inside out.
- Surveys – What type of content does your audience like? Get the answer straight from the horse’s mouth. Ask your audience the kind of content they enjoy reading. You can offer incentives to lucky winners who take part in the survey. Drop your survey link in your followers’ newsletter emails.
- Go through FAQs – Suppose you are a tech blogger. Instead of limiting your blogs to a few topics, you can ask your audience the problems they usually face with different gadgets or appliances. Go through the complete list of FAQs and accordingly develop your content. That would show that you care about your audience, and they would be more likely to share your post with others.
2. Analyze your competition
Why is your competitor gaining more subscribers when you only have a handful? Start by analyzing your competitor. But this step should always come after you know your audience. It’s a research process that involves finding out the types of blogs that your audience usually reads.
You don’t need to focus on the blog topics specifically. Think out of the box. The blog name, for example, can make a difference. A catchy name may stick in your audience’s mind for a long time. Think of a unique blog name that best represents your brand and check its availability. Remember, you cannot use punctuation or spaces other than dashes in your domain name. Take some time to think of a name that would create an immediate impact in your audience’s mind.
Another factor that you need to analyze is the blog’s word count and your audience’s preference. Does your audience prefer short and concise blogs or lengthy, informative ones? Maybe your blogs are too lengthy, and although they are informative, your audience doesn’t want to spare time on such a long article. In that case, you can start writing shorter blogs. You need to adjust your writing skills according to your audience’s preference.
Apart from the word count, another factor that may keep your competitor ahead is the impact of visual content. Your target audience may feel more inclined to read blogs that have images and videos. These graphic elements make blogs more interesting to read, much like pictures in a storybook. Not to mention, these can be new sources of traffic as you can upload the videos on video sharing platforms to reach a wider audience.
3. Try using infographics
This is a part of the visual impact you just read about. Infographics can make your content concise and provide a lot of information in one picture. If you write about the same thing, it will only increase the word count of your blog. This is where your competitor may be beating you at your own game.
If you are talking about the impact of the Coronavirus on different industries, you can either list down the sectors one by one and speak in length about how the virus affected them. Or, you can make your blog stand out by providing the same information in the form of an infographic.
The best thing about infographics is they don’t have to be direct copies of your blog posts. You can turn how-to steps, opinions, and statistics into an infographic. But make sure you choose a unique template. Just because infographics are now popular doesn’t mean you can use any template that doesn’t look good. Think of your audience’s age group and choose accordingly. For example, teenagers may love a funky template, while seniors would probably prefer a professional one.
4. Make your content exclusive
Gated content or exclusivity is one of the tried and tested marketing tactics. If you haven’t yet, try making your blog content exclusive. For example, you can provide your viewers with permission to read your blog after providing their email addresses. How does that make your blog creative? Your audience will decide that once you let them in. You can allow them to read the first paragraph of your blog and hide the rest. If they want to read the rest of the blog, they have to provide their email address.
This strategy is commonly used to generate leads. It also makes your audience desperate to find out what’s hidden. Therefore, every time a new viewer wants to read your blog, he/she has to provide their email address, thus giving you the opportunity to reach out to them and convert them into loyal readers and customers.
These unique ideas can prove to be all you need to make your blog stand out. Improving your blog’s creativity will generate more views, shares, and comments, helping you inch closer toward becoming a successful blogger.