One of the hardest parts of being a content writer is finding the best topics for your blog. Of course, you’re going to want to write about what you know and what you love, but that’s not always the most popular. So how do you find topics that are a big hit with your audience? Here are 6 ways to identify the best topics for your blog!
1) Figure out who your audience is
Who is the person you will be writing for? They could be people in general or they could just be other content writers. Do a little research on your own, or try asking on the blogs you like. But do not take guesses at your audience. This is not as easy as it sounds. If you ask people what they like to read and then write about that, you’re bound to repeat yourself and bore your readers (especially if they aren’t interested in what you’re writing about).
2) Find out their interests
Think about what the people in your blog reading audience are interested in. Are they interested in travel, technology, money or food? Find out what your audience likes to read and write about that.
3) Ask for feedback on social media sites
To find what your audience likes, ask for their feedback. Post a poll on your social media page. You can use one of the “poll” buttons on WordPress or you can make your own poll within Facebook or Twitter. When you make the poll, try to make it as broad as possible. You don’t just want to know if readers prefer articles on cats or dogs. If one interests a reader, they’re probably interested in both! Try asking things like, “What do you like best about my blog?”, “What would you like to see more of?”, and “What would you like less of?”. You can also ask them what they think your blog needs. You’ll get a lot of answers to this one, but that’s what it’s there for. Respond to their answers and let them know you appreciate their feedback!
4) Search your website stats
If you’re already writing on your blog, there are some useful stats that could help you find out what topics are a hit. First, figure out how many people visit your site each month. If you’re just beginning, this will be fairly easy. Check the analytics on your CMS and see how many each month. The next step is to figure out what people are searching for. You can do this by using the Google Keyword Planner.
Make sure you’re logged into your Google account so that it will pull up your site statistics under “Traffic Sources” (which should be right under “Search Traffic”). If it’s not, you’ll have to link it to your website. To do that you will need your Google Analytics tracking code. What you want to look for is search terms and phrases in the “Search Terms” area. You can sort this by monthly search volume or by average position. If there are some terms that appear more than others, those are probably the best topics for your blog!
5) Read through your comments
Another great place to read what works and what doesn’t work is through your comments section. When people comment, they’re usually quite detailed with their answers. You can pull information from this and hone in on the best topics for your blog.
6) Monitor the search terms people are using
Monitoring search volume is important so that you can know which terms are “hot” and which aren’t. For this, you’ll need to be able to access Google Trends. If you’re using a content management system (CMS), it may be integrated into them, or you may have to use a plugin. If you’re a website owner, it may be integrated into your analytics software. If not, there are free plugins for Google Analytics that can do this for you.
Google Trends has lots of tools to help you, but the most helpful is the “Trends” tab. Here’s what I found when I was trying to find out exactly what people were searching for with terms related to “How to write a book” and “Writing tips”.
Here’s What I Found:
As you can see, “how to start writing a book” has more searches than “best writing tips” and now I know what to write about! This is important information that can really help your blog. The people who are searching for this information are most likely looking specifically for how to write a book. That could mean they’ve been on the fence about it, they may have tried writing before and failed, or they are just now discovering their passion for writing and want to try it out.
With the help of Google Trends, you’re going to be able to find out what your blog readers are looking for and then provide that information for them.
If you’re just now starting out blogging, use these tools now so that you can look back in a year or so and see which topics were your biggest hits!
Conclusion
Blogging has had a big impact on my business. In fact, it has been the main reason I’ve been able to start making a full-time income online.
After I started my first blog, I was able to take what I learned and launch multiple successful online businesses. It all started with learning about blogging and what it could do for me as an entrepreneur.
Use these 6 ways to find what your blog readers are looking for to get your blog off the ground and start making money!
Ready to start blogging? If you need help getting set up, remember to check out our guide on How To Blog Successfully.
I hope this guide was helpful! Let me know in the comments! Did you find any other great ways to find what your readers want? Great.
Our in depth content strategy guide is available for free.
