What’s worse than creating a fascinating blog post or writing a piece of quality content… that nobody sees. Sometimes, even after posting to Facebook or tweeting with the best of them, your content still ends up sadly, and surprisingly, overlooked.
Find out how to make content that markets itself with these 5 tips—no extra tweets required.
Stick to What Works
New isn’t always better, especially if it comes at the cost of sacrificing a proven technique, style, or method that’s worked for you so far. Keep your content and your ideas fresh and new, but there’s no need to start from scratch with your approach each time you want to make a post. As they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It may be a cliché, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
So instead of starting from ground zero here, go back into your analytics and find those posts that were the most successful (the ones with the most views, shares, likes, leads) and figure out what worked for you in the past so you can replicate that success it in the present.
Make us Feel it
Create content that makes readers react. According to a study done by the Wharton Business School, things go viral because of a number of different factors, but the most important one: emotion. Generating a post that evokes an emotion—whether it’s surprise, excitement, sadness, joy, fear, anger, or disgust—will not only entice your followers to read further but inspire them to share your post with others.
Hone in on a Headline
No matter how good your content may be, how unique your ideas, how valuable your input on a subject—If you’re headline doesn’t attract your readers, you’re out of luck.
Don’t forget the four “U’s” that Copyblogger stands by as tried and true headline and subject line rules of thumb: always make it Useful, Urgent, Ultra-specific, and Unique.
A picture speaks 1,000 words
If you want a little social media marketing to go a long way, then it’s always better to show readers what they’re about to read instead of simply telling them. If you’re sharing your blog post on Facebook for example, a tiny thumbnail image can make a huge difference. Including an attractive featured image will give your posts a polished look, but more importantly, they’ll draw people in when they’re scrolling through a newsfeed.
Use SEO to do the Work for You
Simply blogging, which itself is the act of creating new, unique content for your site, is a great way to market your business. But if what you’re blogging is optimized from an SEO standpoint, you’re on your way to making content that’s even better at self-marketing. This kind of content will get indexed in the SERPs and the better its optimized, the more Google will essentially be doing your marketing for you.