Monthly Archives: May 2011

5 Powerful Tips for Getting Started with Creating Content for Niche Blogging (Part II)

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In part I of this series we covered selecting a topic that you already know and have a passion for. In today’s installment we will cover the remaining three tips on creating content for your niche blog.

Always keep in mind that you are not trying to be all things to all people with your blog. The more you tighten your focus to more targeted your audience will be.

3. Narrow the topic and maintain your focus

In order to rank in the search engines, you want to focus on a few, specific keyword phrases and use them in your content as well as in strategic places on your blog to attract the search engines. But narrowing your focus also helps you to get very clear on your topic and provide exactly what your visitors are searching for. Appearing high in the search results is about providing value for the visitors who search on your keywords.

4. Don’t skimp on keyword research

The most effective way to narrow your search is by doing extensive keyword research. By using a combination of free keyword research tools such as the Google Adwords Keyword tool, and premium keyword research tools such as Micro Niche Finder or Market Samurai, you can drill down to find the best keywords related to your topic that will bring the kind of visitors who are searching for your content.

Use those keyword research tools to kind some long tail keyword phrases (long tail= keyword phrase of four or more words) to really help target your traffic.

5. Strive to become known as a subject matter expert in your topic

As you are creating your content, write with an eye towards becoming known as an expert in your topic. Subject Matter Experts (SME) are looked to as authorities on a topic, they are called in to speak about their topic and people will begin looking to you for leadership and advice. Here’s a blog post about how you can use one of my favorite time-saving tools, Google Reader, to help you become a subject matter expert. http://feigenson.us/blog/?p=1110

A bonus tip is to start early creating relationships with the top blogs and SMEs in your niche. Comment regularly on their blogs and offer to guest post occasionally. This will give you lots of targeted exposure within your niche, and establishes you as a colleague rather than a fan of the top bloggers.

Remember, write about what you are passionate about, don’t skimp on keyword research and brand yourself as an expert and your niche blog will be a success.

5 Powerful Tips for Getting Started with Creating Content for Niche Blogging (Part I)

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On this blog I like to share what I am learning as an online freelance writer and blogger with my readers. I have been on this path for several years, and if anything that I have learned along the way can be helpful to someone who is just getting started, then I am pleased.

The topic of this post came about as a result of a new client inquiry. I had consulted with this prospective client about six months ago about creating some content for a blog that she was thinking about starting. She held on to my information, and when she got her blog all set up she followed up with me about writing some copy for her. She mentioned that her blog was going to be about six different although somewhat related topics.

I replied and told her that while these were all six excellent topics to write about, I cautioned her about how challenging it would be to try to get a single blog to rank for so many different keywords. As I was advising her about narrowing her focus and choosing one topic and delving deep, a little light bulb went off over my head. I felt a blog post coming on. I knew that if this advice would help her it might help my readers, too. So, here are five tips for how to get started with creating content for niche blogging.

1. Select a topic that you already know a lot about

In the beginning you will want to post at least three posts a week, but ideally five posts a week to establish yourself in the eyes of the search engines and your visitors, so you’ve got to pick a topic that you have more than a passing familiarity with so that you can start writing posts about what you already know about the subject. You will still need to do research, but you want to have a firm foundation of personal knowledge to give you an advantage when you start writing.

Another reason to choose a topic that you know about is that it will be a lot easier to begin to develop your authority on that topic, which will come in handy later as you become an expert in your chosen topic.

2. Select a topic that you are interested in and have some passion about

Along with knowing about a topic it’s helpful if you love it and have a passion for it because your passion is infectious and it will shine through in your writing. Your readers who share your passion about the topic will resonate with what you write and become fans, and the quality of the content you create will be better.

OK, so that was part I of this two-part series. Check back tomorrow to find out about how to narrow your focus, do keyword research and establish yourself as a subject matter expert.

Please feel free to ask questions or leave your tips and suggestions for picking blog topics in the comments.

 

 

The Morning Pages Exercise from The Artist’s Way as a Tool for Transformation

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I read Julia Cameron’s, The Artist’s Way, many years ago and I classify it as one of the books that had a tremendous impact on my life as a creative person. If you are a writer or any other kind of artist and you have not yet read it, I will resist the urge to shake my finger at you, rather I will encourage you to get to Amazon or your favorite local bookstore and snatch up a copy right away and then read it.

There are two exercises or practices from that book that I have carried with me throughout my creative life and those are, 1. Morning Pages, and 2. Artist dates. In this post I will focus on morning pages. Julia has made the morning pages pdf http://www.theartistsway.com/pdfs/basictools.pdf document available on her website for those who do not have the book, but I definitely recommend reading the whole book. If you are serious about writing and being an artist it will inspire you and crack you open creatively.

I love the morning pages because it gives you a place to dump those stray thoughts that are circulating in your brain distracting you from your creative and other endeavors. I have been hearing a lot about Morning Pages online and how many people are actually typing them because writing long hand, as Julia recommends in the book, takes too long. Call me ‘old skool’ but I prefer to do my morning pages long hand. There is something about the feeling of the pen in my hand, making letters and words on the page that makes it real. Cameron says about writing out morning pages long hand:

“Writing by hand is like walking somewhere instead of whizzing there in the car. We notice landmarks. We retain a sense of direction. Writing by hand will show us True North and the false directions and switchbacks that have occurred, the shortcuts that saved us nothing and took us nowhere.”

Since I get that some of you live at such lightning speeds that you realistically won’t slow down to write in a journal long hand, I heard about this website called, http://750words.com, where you can, (ugh!) type your morning pages into a private, online journal.

Daily writing is a part of my spiritual practice because they help me to process the messages that I receive from within and much of the flotsam that I am exposed to in my daily life. I call morning pages a tool for transformation because this daily practice–if you are committed to doing it–can lead to amazing insights that you might never have received if you had not slowed down and showed up at the page to do this vital daily practice.

My recommendation is to get your own copy of the Artist’s Way and start a morning pages practice. Get a nice sized journal and a good pen to write with. Try it for a month and see if simply writing out three pages each morning does not transform your creative life in some way.

How to Start Writing a Book

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I am a professional, freelance writer who is still, as yet unpublished. That will soon change. I have been messing around for about two years doing more talking than writing on a book project that is close to my heart. My plan is to stop messing around and get the manuscript completed so that I can get it out there and start getting feedback on it. I have a daily regimen of working on my book after I have completed my client work.

Then I figured that I can’t be the only one who is writing a book but who also needs the nudging, accountability and moral support of others who share the same goal. So, I am putting out a call to those who are writing their first book and would like the encouragement and support of a small group of fellow writers.

I have been thinking about starting a private Facebook group, which will also have an occasional, group conference call where we can all get on the call and gain encouragement and support and just check in with one another. That’s about as far as I’ve gotten with the idea. Now I wil talk about what this group is not going to be.

This group is not going to be a step-by-step, hold your hand guide to writing your first book. It is not going to be a venue to advertise your services. The sole purpose of the group is to provide mutual encouragement to one another while we are on the path of trying to write a book while also running a business, raising children and husbands, herding cats, and plotting world domination. We will look at the steps to writing a book, you will gather tips for writing a book proposal, a list of suggested reading materials and have immediate access to a dedicated cheering squad that will help keep you motivated and inspired while simultaneously drowning out the persistent voice of your inner critic.

A major caveat that I must mention is that this group is going to have a spiritual fondation–not a religious one, so no worries about anyone trying to convert you to anything or force you to participate in any odd rituals. I believe that we are all spiritual beings and that we come to this planet, embody physical forms for a period of time and then we move on to other realms of existence. I also believe that as spiritual beings we have a Divine SOurce who inspires us. You don’t have to agree with any of this, but I just want to be clear at the outset that there will be some spiritual content, so if this is objectionable to you, this is not the writing group for you.

There will be a membership fee to join this group, but I am still working out what the monthly dues should be. If you are interested in participating in such a group, please leave a comment, or send me an email at: ebb567 AT gmail DOT com. I am going to create a quick little survey to find out what people want out of such a group and then write a follow-up post.

Please join us if you feel like you’ve got a book in you that is yearning to get out. The world is waiting to hear what you have to say. Imagine how freaking awesome you will feel when you are holding your published book in your hands for the first time. Now let’s get started writing a book together.