What is the most challenging part of blogging for you? For me, it's finding content that will stand out from the other one billion posts published on on the same subject. If you can relate, let me introduce you to Google Alerts. It's a great tool that allows you to receive notifications on a particular search query providing you with the most current and relevant search results on Google. In other words, if you'd like to receive notifications on social media, you would type social media in the search query box, choose your result type, how often you'd like to receive these notifications, and how many results you'd like to receive. Google Alerts gives you two ways to receive this information. One is to your email address, the other is to your feed. For a great tutorial on how to use Google Alerts, I recommend this article on wikiHow.
THE GOOGLE ALERT FOR POST IDEAS
So, how can this help you with coming up with content? Well, let's discuss it further.
Blogging is like school in that it requires work and dedication. Don't think you can get away without doing your homework and studying. There's nothing more important than being up to date and current with the trending topics in your niche, so take the time and study the Google results. By knowing what's out there, you will be two steps ahead of everyone else.
Using the tool to find out what your competitors are blogging, posting, or writing about is essential if you want to ensure your content is fresh and unique. Now that you've seen a variety of posts on, for instance, the benefits of social media, you may want to blog about something that appeals to the same audience. I suggest reading some of those other posts and taking note of what might be missing from the information they are providing to their readers. While their posts may offer valuable information, no post could possibly touch on everything. So, what’s missing? Something as a reader, yourself, would want to know? If you can figure that out, consider you've struck gold!
Let me elaborate more. One of the Google alerts I have set up is for parenting tips. One day, while reviewing the Google results for all things parent related, I found a variety of articles and posts on potty training. And while a lot of the content I read included the tip to reward the child for using the potty, not one post/article mentioned how to put a reward system in place. Nor did they provide product recommendations to use as potty prizes, particularly ones that would both appeal to a toddler and were also affordable. You can imagine, this got the ol' gears turning and, before I knew it, my post: Potty Training Tips: the Potty Prize Basket was born! THANK YOU GOOGLE ALERTS; IT'S BEEN A PLEASURE!
And in case you’d like to know how else Google Alerts can be used to your advantage, I found this great post on PR Daily:
Why Google Alerts is the most effective free marketing tool
Definitely a must read!
If you missed our previous post, Alicia from A Sweet Fragrance shares her new found knowledge of HTML with How to make a post gallery for your sidebar, so feel free to check it out!
And if you still haven’t stolen your very own customizable Valentine’s Day card, have some fun and steal away! There are quite a few designs to choose from!