Content creation hacks to stay ahead of the game

So you’ve got your blog and you’ve got some content. You think of an idea, but everyone seems to have already written about it! Prioritising what to write about can be overwhelming and holds you back from starting. What are you going to write? Some people flow with ideas and don’t have enough hours in the day to get out what’s in their brain (yep, me), whereas others get stuck. The ideas might be there but then they are not sure what people want to read, or how to get their concept across (also me). I’m going to give you some ways to create quality content that you can easily fall back on, plus little tricks to make it easier.

One of the mistakes I used to make and I see so many new bloggers making is that they are making everything more complicated than it needs to be. I used to spend hours crafting reviews of a simple toy or service when all I’d got was the product in return. Then I’d see other bloggers with the same review doing something much simpler. The brands will want a quality review with clear photographs of the product in use, good use of spelling and grammar and an honest review of the product with a link. But that’s it – no need to spend hours on it. Blogging can be your dream job, but don’t exhaust yourself over it.

Product review tips

If it’s something you don’t need or a lower value item, ask for the marketing budget or state your fee for review. If they don’t have a budget you haven’t lost out and now you don’t have to write a post about it. Did you really need the item or did you just get shiny object syndrome?

If you decide to do it, photograph the item(s) straight away or as soon as you have good light. Then you have the photos ready when you come to review and you can relax slightly and let your kids play with the toy for example. It’s the same if you need to video. Why not do a live un-boxing on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube, then you have a video saved.

Write what you know

There’s no point writing about something you need to do loads of research on unless you’re being paid to. Write about what you know and are passionate about, and the words will flow a lot easier. If you’ve got your niche mix right and you’re writing with some knowledge behind you even better.

Round ups

Round ups are the great staple of blog posts. Research other people’s content on the topic, crowd source among your blogger friends and ask permission to use their images in your post. For example, you could do a round up of the best travel systems for twins, or 18 freezer dump meals on a budget. Make an eye catching pin for pinterest and boom traffic.

List posts

List posts are very popular and my list posts are definitely my most popular ones. Odd numbers do better than even numbers for some reason, think about the title and go for it. For example, my post 19 ways to increase your chances of getting pregnant (apart from the obvious!) is very popular and does well on Pinterest. I often start with the ideas and then the number comes later. Also, 100 is a good number if you can make it that far.

Make Graphic Templates

Have a title graphic, social media graphic and pin template saved on your preferred platform. Mine are made easily on Canva so I only need to change the text, colours if I want and the image and my graphics are good to go. With Canva pro you can instantly resize your graphics for the different categories.

Seasonal content

Make the most out of the seasons and special events. You need to be aware bloggers become like the retailers. Think about Christmas in July, and start scheduling content for Christmas in August through to December. Always stay a step ahead with seasonal content. Think about your niche, are you crafty, foodie, practical, organised? Any niche can work with the seasons and trends. If you like making crafts and arty content, think about batching your craft posts. An example would be if you’re making candles, make them in different colours and accessories so you can do:

‘How to make autumn scented candles this season’

‘Candles that bring the scent of Christmas into your home’

‘Valentines gift for her: romantic candle set’

There you have at least 3 different seasonal pieces from one craft session – you can photograph it all with different accessories and it’s essentially the same how to but with different angles. If you like you can stealth publish them at the time and start pinning on Pinterest and un stealth them nearer the time with a new published date. Make some pins for them and they will continue to bring in traffic year after year. Add some affiliate links for the materials and you can make some money from them too.

If you like recipes, make seasonal recipes. If you can find an angle that not many people have covered, all the better. The same with fashion, organised home, parenting and pregnancy.

Here are some quick tips to create content faster and smarter:

• Add images by dragging and dropping directly to the media library. You don’t need to be in a blog post either, you can go to Media> library>add new and then add all the images so they’re ready for the post.
• You can add media from your phone directly to your WordPress media library via the app, then you just need to write the post and slot in the images
• When you add links, make sure they open in a new tab by clicking the cog for settings and checking the box.
• I use my no-follow plugin that has a checkbox in link settings to make it no follow rather than typing in code
• Start ideas on your notes app like Evernote that syncs online and then you can cut and paste

Always preview your content 

See it how the reader will see it, check for spelling and grammar mistakes and read it through to see how it sounds. I have Grammarly installed and it’s a great help not just for blogging! Check the formatting and how the images are sitting on the web page. Check it on a mobile device after you have published, or view the preview on mobile, so it looks good on all platforms.

Using Google Analytics to create content

One of the first things you need to set up is Google analytics. You only get this with your own domain, if you don’t have one yet then look at your post stats. You can add google analytics as a plugin and have the app on your phone. It tells you not just your basic stats but a lot more information. Let’s look at what you can see. You may have heard people talk about ‘Unique users,’ Unique monthly views’ (UMV) or quite simply ‘Uniques.’ These refer to your ‘New Users’ as seen here:

These are readers who are new to your website in the given time period (the last month unless you set it otherwise). The sessions mean how many people came and viewed any amount of pages on your blog. Your Page Views are how many blog pages in total got viewed that month.

The bounce rate is a percentage which shows how long people are sticking around on your blog. You can also see the average time in minutes spent on the website. You can improve your bounce rate by adding in related content and making your site as user friendly as possible. Some brands care about page views, some care about uniques. The sessions only gets mentioned by Mediavine, a well paying (or so I hear) ad service that asks for 25000 sessions a month before you can go on their books. I’m a little way off as you can see.

Here’s where it gets interesting. You can use Google Analytics to shape your content. Once you know what’s popular on your blog, you can create more content like it. If you go to page views by page you will be able to see all pages in order of the highest views. It may vary slightly according to the season or if you’ve had a big giveaway on, but it gives you valuable insight into what people are reading.

You can see my pregnancy cold and flu remedies is the most popular post and has been since the start of the winter, but I expect it may tail off in the summer. My list posts and information always does well.

Give Value

While people may sympathise that you’ve been up all night with a teething baby and that your partner is about as much use as a wet kipper, they will be more interested to know any products you have found helps, remedies, tips on coping and to know when it’s all going to end. Research a bit into your topic and try and come up with a different angle. Yes, there are plenty of similar posts out there but you are what makes you unique.

Catchy Title

Titles are so important and can make or break whether your post gets read. Use the free headline analyser on coschedule (you’ll need to sign up to their mailing list). Go back and tweak your old titles, re-share and re-pin them and see what happens. A catchy title will draw people in. The title is sooo important – it can make or break whether someone clicks on your post, often more so than the image. Take time to ensure it’s the right level of describing the content without making false promises, and drawing the reader in. You don’t want it too click-baity but enough to make them want to click.

People like numbers and social proof. Research suggests that including numbers in your blog titles can double your social shares. Data also suggests that including numbers in your blog titles can increase your clickthrough rate by 36%! It’s better to write ’19 proven ways to make money from your phone during maternity leave’ rather than ‘Ways to Make money from your phone.’ You could also go further and say ’19 proven ways I make £100 a month whilst breastfeeding my baby.’ You can relate to that more, yes? Of course, all titles aren’t going to follow that same sort of formula, but try experimenting with a few different titles on the same post and see which gets the most traction. Maybe go into some old posts and change up the titles and description, then re-share them. Here are a few free tools to help you get that killer title:

Blog post idea generator Enter a keyword and get up to 100 titles

Headline Analyser Put your headline in and it will analyse it for you so you can tweak it

Hubspot Blog idea generator Enter up to 3 nouns and it will give you blog titles

These are great when you are maybe running out of ideas or need some inspiration and to perfect your title.

Getting blog ideas direct from your target audience

I mentioned above about getting a post idea from a reader comment or question. Another way is to pay attention to where your readers are hanging out. Are they on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik tok? What are their pain points? What do they need help with? For example, on Facebook, I’m a member of several ‘Mum’ groups as well as running my own. I pay close attention to what these Mums are talking about, what are they struggling with? I have a whole load of saved statuses from Mums asking questions or asking for help. I can then use these for blog post ideas. A bit of stalking! If your readers are more specific, join some groups relevant to your niche. Make sure you are active and comment regularly in the groups. Some groups let you share your content, or you can put it in as the answer to their question in the comments. This is another way of gaining traffic.

On twitter you can look for hashtags related to your niche and see what people are tweeting about. They also have trending topics you can look at. Do a pinterest search and see what the most popular pins are – what do they look like?

Re-purposing content

Take a look at your old blog popular blog posts. Can they be made into video content, Instagram stories, Instagram post, Youtube videos, infographics? That will give you different types of content you know people want to consume. Can you come up with an email opt in, freebie or paid download related to your blog post? Get your thinking hat on and brainstorm a list.

Your content will evolve as your blog does and you will find your groove. I hope this post helps you, let me know your content hacks in the comments!

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