#CMWorld: How to Write Blog Posts that Get Read & Shared

Gini Dietrich, author of Spin Sucks shares her tips to write blogs that get read and shared. One of the best tips of the day to get people to share your content? Include them in it! Include thought leaders in your blog posts and they will want to share it. Keep reading for more blogging tips and tricks!

How to Generate Blog Post Ideas:
Subscribe to Alerts: Alerts will help keep you updated on industry news and trends. Subscribe to alerts to stay informed and for blog inspiration. Gini suggests Talkwalker, which is a free and easy alternative to Google Alerts. She also suggested checking out SmartBrief, which breaks down content ideas by topics and industries.

Read Comments: What are people saying in comments on your blog posts? Gini explains that we shouldn’t just skim through comments but we should read through as an inspiration for new blog posts. Did someone ask a great question that would make a great post? Paying attention to comments will let you know what readers find important and can be a source of inspiration.

Current Events: Is there a current event that is applicable to your company? Stay relevant in the news by writing a blog post about a current event and connect it to your company. Do this with caution and only if it is actually relevant to your business.

Keep Track of Ideas: Inspired in the moment? Figure out a way to keep track of content ideas as they come to you. This could be keeping a notebook to jot them down quickly, starting a rough outline right away or just quickly throwing the title into a WordPress draft. There are many ways to do this, just find the way that works best for you!

Types of Content to Create:
Trends: In the fall before a new year people become very interested in trends for the upcoming year. Do a blog post on trends for next year that are relevant to your industry. Gini assures us that we don’t need to be able to read the future to do this! She suggests just looking at current industry trends and explain what this means to your business in the upcoming year.

Case Studies: Know a company that is doing something great? Interview them about their awesome strategies and share their tips in a case study. This will be easily shared because the companies will love the positive PR!

Lists: Lists work! As much as Gini hates lists they are effective. People love content that is quick and easy to read. If readers are able to easily review content they will be more likely to read and share it.

Interviews: Do a Q&A with an industry leader and share their experiences. Pick a relevant or just interesting topic and conduct an interview. Don’t make the mistake of not recording the interview! A video can turn a regular blog post into a multimedia source that more people can enjoy.