Anyone else sick of hearing that “content is king?” Almost every day we hear or read that. There is a lot of truth to it; most of us just hate to hear it because thinking of content is hard. If you have an idea you can write about it no problem, but what about when you run out of ideas? People always have a harder time actually thinking about what to write, than the actual writing of it. Quality isn’t always a measure of whether content is going to go viral. Actually, neither is budget. Most viral posts have been found to be crafted by smaller brands. You also have the power to earn thousands of shares, ReTweets, and +1s. Of course you already know the fundamentals of content that’s destined for viral. It’s going to be well-written, effectively targeted to the audience, and contextually spot-on but how do you go about it?
You need inspiration, how do you get it?
Plan
The entire process of writing a blog post often takes more than a couple of hours, even if you can type eighty words per minute and your writing skills are sharp. From the seed of the idea to finally hitting “Publish,” you might spend several days or even a week “writing” a blog post, but it’s important to spend those vital hours planning your post and even thinking about your post before you actually write it. Having a list of what you want might inspire you to write a really viral post. When you go over your plan again and again sure you’ll love to add some more.
Choose a Topic That Interests YOU
There’s an old maxim that states, “No fun for the writer, no fun for the reader.” No matter what industry you’re working in, as a blogger, you should live and die by this statement. Before you start writing, be sure to pick a topic that actually interests you. Nothing kills the inspiration of a blog post than a lack of enthusiasm from the writer. You can tell when a writer is bored by their subject, and it’s so cringe-worthy it’s a little embarrassing. No doubt, the hallmark of a professional blogger is the ability to write well about any topic, no matter how dry it may be. You also need to be able to accept that not every post is going to get your motor running. Some posts will feel like a chore, but if you have editorial control over what you write about, and then choose topics you’d want to read – even if they relate to niche industries. This way you won’t run out of ideas. RAMSAY TAPLIN known as “The Blog Tyrant” once said “I always find that I write the best stuff when it’s something that I know really, really well.
And that usually means mucking around with new ideas as often as possible. Experimenting, taking risks, working from different places and meeting new people. The more “stuff” I do the more I have to write about. And the flip side to this is that if you can inject those personal stories into your work, people will be far more interested in what you’re writing. So I really think that inspiration comes from experimenting and just doing things related to your blog’s niche”.
Create an outline for your post
Obviously, great blog posts don’t just happen. Even the best bloggers need a rough idea to keep them on-track. This is where outlines come in. An outline doesn’t need to be lengthy, or even detailed. It’s just a rough guide to make sure you don’t ramble on and on about something tangential to your topic.
Research
No one knows everything, even professional bloggers who have been known for writing viral blog posts did not do it all from their heads. Frankly, sometimes viral blog post writers don’t know anything about a topic before they sit down to write about it. A lot of bloggers’ natural curiosity is what makes them great at what they do. If you blog for a living, you have to be comfortable jumping from one topic to the next, even if you don’t know anything about it. What allows bloggers to do this, and to write authoritatively about subject areas that are new to them, is knowing how to properly research a blog post. Of course you are not going to be researching from Wikipedia alone.
Read readers’ emails.
In an interview, SEAN OGLE said he gets inspiration for blog posts from listening to reader emails. He finds out what problems are they having? What’s working for them? What questions do they have? “That’s my source for an unlimited number of posts” he said. Share some of the best feedback you’ve received from a customer. Not only does this put your customer in the spotlight, but also it can serve as a testimonial for your business and may inspire you to write something better.
The next time you want to write a blog post and you want it to go viral, check out these inspirational approaches.
