Knowing how to conduct a good study is probably one of the most crucial things when you’re a writer. But, if you’re still not sure what’s the best way to do it, you will undoubtedly be looking for suggestions on how to research for a blog post so you create informative, well-written pieces of content.
Exploring everything needed for your posts will require a valid system and organization. This means you have to make a plan and collect trustworthy resources. However, don’t forget to check out your competition too. Lastly, considering the importance of search engine optimization, having a helping hand from a professional SEO marketing agency will make the entire process a lot easier.
Why It’s Important to Know How to Research for a Blog Post
Presently, there are around 2 billion web pages, and that number is only going to keep increasing. So, writing an engaging blog post nowadays is more important than ever. After all, you want to succeed and get people to your website. That’s where the right blog post research and only the best SEO marketing services come in.
Researching won’t always mean you have to spend many hours studying or burying your face in a stack of dusty old books. Here is a clear definition of research that anybody can understand – it is the process of finding and analyzing information and evidence.
When starting a new blog post or an article, researching properly will allow you to back up the claims you make. This is usually done with images, links, quotes, or actual examples. Here are a few other advantages of a thorough study:
- Your credibility and dependability with the reader increase.
- It speeds up your writing because the concepts are already well-structured.
- It inspires concepts for new material.
Having a Good System Is the Key
You can easily land on high-quality written content because it often appears highly in the search results on your search engine. Sometimes, perhaps you simply chose well by accident! But you don’t want to take the chance and lose your reputation as a good content writer.
To consistently identify and choose the finest sources, you must implement some sort of a system. This way, you’ll enhance both your writing process and output as a result. There are several reasons why you must understand how to do an investigation for a blog post:
- Facts have more weight than assertions of facts.
- It helps to strengthen your ideas if you sprinkle your articles with facts, cases, tales, and examples.
- It is quite valuable to offer proof that the information you are expressing is correct and current.
- An original and unique article can be created by being aware of what is currently available online.
How Many Research Hours Are Enough?
Consider that a person spends, on average, 3.5 hours to create an online article. But what does that mean when it comes to actual investigation and gathering all the needed information? Every professional SEO services agency will advise you to spend a minimum of 40 minutes researching. Depending on the subject and style of the article, you’ll require a different number of sources. This can take a bit more of your time, but three to four excellent sources per key topic will often be sufficient.
Create a Plan and Have a Goal Before You Start Writing About the Wanted Topic
Above all things, having a plan is a must. Defining and composing the posts will be much easier when you establish the procedures you must follow. For creators, the investigation process can often turn into a big black hole. One site will link to many more that are worth looking into. When you’re interested in the subject, getting lost in a sea of data can happen quite easily.
Because of this, it is crucial to have a distinct end objective to determine when the analysis will be completed. You can proceed to the following stage of composing the post once you are clear on the article’s core premise, the points that must be made, and how to support each one.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to be an expert on a subject to create an informative essay. The key is to find and use the appropriate elements – in cooperation with your content marketing agency. So, let’s see how to achieve a streamlined approach.
Explore and clarify your ideas
The best place to start your analysis once the idea for the post is created is to ask yourself the following two questions – what background knowledge do you have on this subject, and what queries do you have regarding it? Besides saving you a lot of time, clarifying your thoughts and inquiries will help you provide information that will be helpful to others. You’ll end up with a product that closely resembles what others have produced if you start by instantly examining what they’ve done.
Write down all your ideas so you can decide what you’ll write
Your posts will be unique because they will be written from your point of view, knowledge, and knowledge gaps. Start by writing down some of your ideas. You can do it in a physical notebook or your phone notes. The main objective is to put everything on your mind in one place so you can examine it and determine what you’ll write.
Figure out who will be your target audience
Your blog’s readers might not always end up purchasing your goods. Make sure to understand your audience’s preferences so you can figure out how to attract them with material that is both targeted and optimized by an SEO digital marketing agency.
Search and Collect Valid Sources
After you’ve jotted down your topic-related thoughts and inquiries, the following stage is to look for and store resources, including articles, videos, photographs, and any other relevant content. The key is to check what has already been written about the topic you want to write about. It can help you understand the entire topic better and even give you some ideas on how to start writing. To do that, simply google the topic. Most frequently, content writers start by searching for what they need on Google.
Don’t spend too much time reading every single article or watching all the videos. Read just enough to confirm the article’s applicability before adding it to the collection. You’ll have the chance to explore the resources you’ve obtained in the following stage.
How Can You Know if a Resource Is Reliable?
The longer you conduct your study, the more adeptly you’ll be able to identify excellent resources and steer clear of subpar ones. But when you initially start, these inquiries will be helpful:
- Was this published recently, or how long ago?
- Who wrote and posted it? Are they well-known in the field?
- Where is the information located (on a reliable website or another location)?
Always keep reliable resources in mind, whether you use Google or any other search engine. When someone says “reliable resources,” it refers to the best-known and most respectable business websites, blogs, podcasts, online magazines, news websites, and blogs written by gurus (or subject-matter experts).
Recognized organizations and government websites are also reliable resources. Although this could seem like a piece of cake, it’s always best to have a professional and affordable SEO agency to help you with every step of this exciting journey.
How to Verify Sources?
The quality of your source is one of the things that affect your overall credibility as a content writer. Business-wise, it’s crucial that your potential clients view you as a reliable content writer. Additionally, the critical part is to make your competitors see your credibility. If they are reliable, they might request to collaborate, which is excellent for promotion. Verify a source’s credibility online by doing the following:
- Examine the author – Go to their resume by doing a name search. Have they demonstrated success in the field you’re writing about in their career? In which locations did they write or speak? Have they written a book that has seen a lot of print runs? Do they own a popular podcast? Additionally, look at their social media presence. Do they enjoy respect on the platforms? They could, for instance, be a Top Voice on LinkedIn.
- Check the author’s website – Look closely at the “About” page to see whether the author is a business or a guru.
- Check their source – Take a look at some of the published works so far. Does the information fit the criteria for credibility that we discussed earlier? If not, you should speculate about their E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) or avoid using them as your source altogether.
Check Out the Competition
The final stage before creating your strategy is to review the writing that your rivals have done on the subject at hand. In certain circumstances, you could have already run across their work when conducting your study. For example, while researching on Google.
In order to identify any crucial details you might have missed, look at your competitors’ blogs and social media accounts when researching the topic. Even if you plan to approach the topic from a completely different perspective, this can still be a valuable tactic.
Analyze Competitor’s Keyword Search and Blog Focus
Visit the blogs of your competitors and look through the categories to determine their main areas of interest. Every experienced content strategy agency will tell you to do that, so don’t think it’s something inappropriate to do.
It’s important to keep an eye on your tags and, if you can, filter them to determine which categories are most common in their writings. Any of these categories or tags can be the main subjects used by your competitors. If they are consistent with your approach and have enough volume, you should add a few of them to your own plan.
With the Right Research and Professional SEO Agency, Your Posts Will Be Top-Notch
As you can see, researching blogs can be a rather difficult job to do on your own. If you wish to outsource the difficult task of researching for a blog post and writing it, you should find the best SEO agency to help you. Having a reliable and efficient digital marketing agency by your side makes everything so much easier. Our Made Online is the perfect solution for you – we have a team of experts who can provide you with an excellent digital marketing strategy.
Don’t waste your time – contact us right away. Our team can schedule a one-on-one meeting with you and get you a custom-made plan for your business. We’re here to assist you, so let’s embark on this journey together!