If you are either new to blogging or have been doing it for a while, you would have encountered the phrases ‘unique content’ and/or ‘content is king’. Well that’s so true about blogging that content is really the king, and what makes it king is its uniqueness. Providing unique content in your blog is essential to keep things going, and if you are serious about a blogging success, this comes as a rule. If you cannot produce unique content and if you are the one who relies heavily on other blog’s RSS feeds, then blogging is not for you.
Having said that, I know some will disagree with me that producing unique content is not necessary for a blog to make money. That’s quite true — I have seen many blogs on the internet that simply use other site’s feed and place some ads. Since they use content from many sites, those kind of blogs will naturally be rich in keywords and will provide a variety of information. Thus they will rank good in search engines, they are easy to be updated frequently (just needs a copy and paste). And, if they manage to get good traffic, they can earn good money with ads, affiliate links and so on. So if you blog for money this option is just fine; who cares?
But I am not talking about making money, but about branding. You remember popular company names easily and are able to relate company names to their products because they have created a branding for themselves in the field. So your mind easily recognize their name and the service/product they are providing. The same goes with your blog too!
If you want to make people remember your name and associate it with your niche, then you should be unique. I am sure you will agree with me. Those who feed their sites with other site’s content are easily visible in search engines, make good money, that’s fine. But can you ever remember even the layout of such websites? I can’t! I can see a substantial number of such websites when I search for anything, I even hang around a bit and read them, but I don’t care to either visit the site back or to remember it.
But those sites with unique content are rockstars. Your readers are tempted to visit it again, they share unique content with their society (online and offline) and yes, such unique content helps them in every ways. Such a blog gets loyal readers. If you help people out they will remember you. Here are some quick tips to brand yourself (or to provide unique content).
Quick Tips To Brand Yourself & Provide Unique Content
#1 – Resonate with your readers. Write blog articles for your readers and not because you know something. If your readers are coming to your blog because you claim that your blog is about tech stuff, they’ll be annoyed to see that you are simply selling chocolates! So know your readers and write for them.
#2 – Do killer posts at least once in a week.
#3 – Write extensive and in-depth posts as often as you can. These are rich in content and gives your readers a deep and concrete overview.
#4 – Write list posts containing tips and suggestions. For example, you can check this article, 30+ Tips To Reduce Your Site’s Bounce Rate.
#5 – Make sure your post does at least any one of these (a) solves a problem, (b) motivates your readers, (c) educates them (d) makes them think (e) guide them (d) make them take an action. If your post is not doing any of these, then don’t publish it.
#6 – Make sure you embrace both starter and advanced readers. Don’t leave your starters alone while you feed the hunger of your advanced readers.
#7 – Write often from your personal experiences. Uniqueness will just easily flow.
#8 – It is fine to quote other people’s articles or even write articles completely based on them. But make sure you cast your own ideas or reflections in your article. Otherwise, people could just read the other person’s article instead of yours.
#9 – Do not advertise or sell yourself in the articles of the blog by shouting. There are millions of people already doing this on the internet, so you won’t be unique. Provide useful content and people will buy anything you sell, don’t worry about it.
#10 – Research before you write. Your best idea might be already out there.
#11 – Do interviews or get other people’s opinion and get them published in your blog. Your readers will be excited to hear from a different person and will learn in a different style.
Most people blog to create online presence. And, the feeling that you can make thousands of people remember your name, read what you write and buy what you sell is addictive. Don’t miss that!
This guest article is written by Jane Sheeba. She is the one behind Find All Answers. If you wanna get help on self-improvement, relationships and blogging tips, you can visit her blog. She also has a free ebook for you to grab. If you wish to write for HBB, do check this.
Great post. This idea would really help the people to make brand the blog.
Very good tips, it’s a great skill of writing unique contents. Also this post is very descriptive, I recommend it should be kept in collection.
Thanks for reading NFR and thanks for the recommendation.
What is a killer post?
Check these Ayush :
1. http://hellboundbloggers.com/2009/10/16/great-tips-for-killer-blog-articles/
2. http://hellboundbloggers.com/2010/08/15/killer-articles-for-killer-traffic/
Great additional information.
I know a few that tips.
but, the real problem to me is how to optimize my blog get much visitors
Anyway, thanks for good article
@Vivek, @Rahul and @Feber, glad that you liked the article. Hope you can make use of the tips.
hey Jane, awesome tips and no thank-giving words enough for this article. all 11 tips are outstanding and #5, #8, #9 and #11 are special for me. your article must be helpful for any kind of blogger. thanks a lot for sharing.
branding your blog is more important if you’re taking its as a profession. without branding and unique content you can’t think of taking it as a profession.
some impressive (repeated points) points being sited overall.
Awesome post jane, Content only can bring us abundant traffic but one should know how to produce content in effective manner.
@Rohit yes, writing from one’s own experience makes the writing close to heart. Moreover when you give out tips or techniques from your own experiences, people know that you have already tried/experienced those and hence they are proven and working ways.
@Thiru If one chooses to blog about something that he/she is passionate about, then producing quality content will not be an issue. Thanks for
oops! I pressed the submit button accidentally before finishing the typing.
Well @Thiru thanks for the appreciation.
Jane.
LOL. 😀
Though lot of people now write on similar topics on branding the blog, it still feels fresh on reading this.
Solving a big problem might help you get attention from other blogs as well
Yes you are right. And it just now strikes my mind that solving a big problem can lead to series of posts, or an e-course or even another blog in the network of your blogs where you narrow down in your niche. Excellent add on 🙂
Nice. and useful
thanks
Nice tips..putting up your own experience is a good thing it shows readers that you are fully involved in wat you are writing about…i mostly liked point 2nd n 5th..
writing a killer post and interviews in week is quite good idea and will soon interview a sucessfull blogger…
good luck mate 😉
writing a killer post and interviews in week is quite good idea and will try to follow your path….
very true and useful points, Jane. Even though I know these points are important, I didn’t applied it properly in my 3.5 yrs of Blogging. Thanks for the post.
One important thing is Frequency of publishing, If you miss to feed your blog, it will die.
Very true Hemanth. Your posting frequency shows how committed are you to your blog. The frequency may be high or low but you should be consistent.
With new blogs appearing on the web at an alarming rate, it’s imperative to be original, to stand out from the crowd, in order to maintain people’s interest.
Nice tips.
Yes, standing out from the crowd is also important to establish your own self!
Great tips here. I think one of the most important pointer is to have really good content. Writing killer posts at least once a week is great, but I personally find it rather hard to keep this up.
you will find it to be a piece of cake as time flows 🙂 good luck
So true Jane,
I specially liked your 5th point. I agree on that there have to be a reason why you are publishing the article. If people will not find anything that could move them forward they will most likely not read the post.
And yes, content is still the king but without the proper promotion, especially when you have a new blog, there will be nobody to read your articles although they might be awesome.
Thank you for sharing.
Adam
Glad that you liked the points. Yes, good blog promotion is the Queen, probably 😉
Do killer post at least a week is a good tip but I find that it is really hard to create a killer post. It is needed hard work and lot of time.
Yes I agree. It might be hard to start with, but then if you practice consistent writing, you can develop skills and the knowledge to write a killer post.
I liked the Interview point. Never gave a thought to that aspect.
p.s. Pradeep you’ve started interlinking that post right away. Great going 😛