It’s easy to get words down on paper if you’re passionate enough.
Yet there’s a sea of passionate writers behind brands out there whose content doesn’t see the light of day - but, why?
First off, top posters write how they speak.
The internet is full of articles; all detailed, accurate and interesting.
But subscribers aren’t in it for the content - they’re in it for the personality.
People like to speak with other people - that's the power of storytelling.
Sell the story from the inside-out; personality first, content later.
I confess - I spend hours gaming, and about 40% of that time watching people play on YouTube.
The channels often help to improve the way we play, and demonstrate gameplay or graphics.
However, my favourite channels aren’t content focused.
Robbaz AKA ‘King of Sweden’, plays some of the most obscure and unappealing games imaginable, but his narratives are so hilarious, it doesn’t matter.
People don’t subscribe for his game knowledge, they subscribe for him.
A Google search of ‘eCommerce’ pulls up 45,700,000 matches; so, a reader simply happening across your blog is unlikely.
Even if we have a strong SEO strategy and sail through 99% of those hits, that still leaves us doggy-paddling with the other bloggers.
So, we’ve got to make ourselves stand out.
The trouble with serious topics is that there’s no room to be overly funny or intriguing; they’re essentially informative, functional documents ... unless we can find an exciting angle.
Think of the dullest thing possible. Drywall? Stamps? Surely, if we can make these things seem interesting, the sky’s the limit.
What did drywall replace; why? How were stamps invented? They’re just off-the-cuff questions, but the idea’s there.
By getting to the topic’s core, there’s a point of separation that a lot of blogs don’t have.
Work from the inside out, and people will invest in you.
If they’re invested in you, they’ll invest in your content.
With followers accounted for, now we’ve got to try and keep them.
To do this is: engage the reader.
Sound inclusive, e.g. use we instead of you; it makes for a mutual experience. Don’t overcook it though - just make people feel welcome; a part of the family. Your subscriber family.
Invest time in responding to comments and emails, and listen to what they like.
Tailor content to their preferences, without losing sight of your why and they’ll listen to what you have to say forever.
So there you go.
You’ve got an interesting, personality-laden blog, scoring highly in the search results with a loyal following to boot.
A job well done.
- Louis