So, you are a blogger. Specifically, you write sales copies and blog posts for online projects in need of terrific and tailor-made content. You are in love with words, and you write articles for living and pleasure.
That’s great! The more blog posts, the better; especially when they help to survive a writer burnout. For that reason, you write on various topics, come up with unlimited blog post ideas, and cover different niches. And one day you agree to craft a text for a niche that’s Greek to you.
Oops…
You understand that readers don’t need another neither-here-nor-there article. You care about the “what” and the “why” of your message, so you want to generate expert content and be proud of it. More than that, you can’t write blog posts that have duplications online: when you check them with the tools like PlagiarismCheck, they need to be original. The problem is, no one becomes an expert in one day; clients are waiting, and you have to can the can – write that article and meet deadlines!
These three aspects will help you win:
1. Research
If you plan to create a meaty blog post – forget about Google and Wikipedia. For a while, at least. You need a first-class article, not a crap your client can find at content mills. So take a step the other way round:
Go to experts
Blind men can judge no colors, so go to people in the niche who know it inside out. Thousands of users can help you online, hundreds agree to do that, and dozens are ready to help free of charge. Send direct messages to experts, asking them questions on the information you need for the blog post.
Yes, far from everyone will reply at once. To expedite feedback from micro-influencers, promise to link/mention them in your text. And don’t forget to tell about online media where you are going to publish the article: it can become another trigger for them to help you.
But don’t expect they will provide you with a thesis and statements for compelling posts. Break down all questions into categories to get more insights. Let’s say you need to write an article on how to choose rental skis. So your questions might be as follows:
Who? – Who are those people renting skis?
What? – What do your clients do? How much time do they spend on skiing?
Why? – Why is it so difficult to choose skis? What are the pitfalls here?
How? – How will we help them: what to ask, where to look, etc.?
When? – When do your clients prefer to rent? When is the rent of skis more beneficial? Is it so, indeed?
It takes up to a week to find experts, list questions, contact influencers, and get feedback from them. Meanwhile, keep on researching.
Go to fellow writers
Alien to you, the niche might be familiar to other bloggers. They wrote about rental skis for sure: some of them didn’t hear of plagiarism myths and, therefore, paraphrased writings, but there were also writers who did research, analyzed the audience, and got into the nuts and bolts of this topic. Network with them to learn what they know. Big chances are, their answers will be more honest and sincere than bare facts you’ve got with your term of reference.
In case you don’t have fellows with such an experience, go to corresponding forums, communities, and groups on social media. And only after you’ve got insights from experts and colleagues – it’s time to search Google and read articles on the topic. Use them to polish and supplement information you already have.
2. Voice
A great mistake would be to write for everyone. All bloggers know that but yet continue doing that.
Remember
The topic of your article doesn’t identify its audience. For example, texts about a new web portal for freelancers might be interesting to not only freelancers themselves but also people hiring them, competitors, independent digital marketers, etc. So decide on the audience of your text, and then go to respective influencers and online communities to find them.
Track the questions your target audience ask and answers they get. Find out what makes them mad. To save time, create polls and quizzes – people do love such interactive content, and it will allow you to get the necessary information.
The key point to consider
Make sure the audience of those groups and communities is relevant. Then, accumulate all facts to create a buying persona whom you’ll keep in mind while writing: their age, gender, profession, problems, interests, and hobbies.
The more facts you know about a buying persona, the easier it will be to choose voice and tone for your article and write texts that convert.
3. Language
So now you know whom to speak and what to tell. The last but not least moment is to understand which language patterns to choose for writing.
Tone and voice of your article matter, but make sure you know some terms, expressions, and even slang the target audience use for communication. Thus, writing about rental skis, you might want to know what it means to get a wooden medal, become snowed, or go to bushes.
And now you’ve got it, padawan!
The secret of writing stellar articles for alien niches is in your pocket. Do research, don’t be afraid to ask experts, and don’t hurry up to read and rewrite first five articles from Google search. Know the audience, write for a particular buying persona, consider words and tone you use, and do your best to create a text that comes home to readers.
After all, isn’t that a reason why you blog?
By Lesley J. Vos, a professional web writer and contributor to publications on digital marketing, writing craft, and self-development. Find more works of hers on Twitter or say hi on Facebook.
