Bloggers should always stay aware of
the trending topics that catch a reader’s eye. Maintaining a themed but boring
blogsite can be a waste of time, but a site that draws an audience and makes
your name an attraction is worth more than you could pay any publicist (and
this is not to minimize the value of a good PR person).
Some of the best and most visited
author blogs feature content about the author’s books only once in a while. A
well designed blog will showcase the author in the background and will not be a
constant advertisement up front. Call it subliminal suggestions, a blog visitor
should get used to seeing the author’s name, book covers and perhaps a form of
contact. Most of all the visitor should see that the writer can do more than
just put words together.
Keep the topics interesting, relevant
and preferably consistent. For someone who likes reading about sports, for
instance, they will be looking forward to seeing posts about football games,
hockey players, perhaps something about a new stadium, or a piece about the MVP
who lost the season due to an injury. That reader probably will not be
satisfied reading about the latest fashion trends from the Paris runway. By the
same token, why should they read your blog if you are only rehashing
information that every newspaper and TV station has already aired?
· Twitter — has a well-earned
reputation for trending topics, but everybody is doing it. Where else can you
go to find those “IT” topics, the eye catchers that will draw an audience in?
· BuzzFeed — distributes up-to-date and
fresh content categorized by topic
· Google Trends — allows for multiple simultaneous
trending searches
· Reddit — interesting tidbits are
ranked according to popularity
· Buzzsumo — helps you find the
influencers in your topic of choice
· Quora — sign in to this site and set
up a personalized feed based on keywords
· FaceBook — just to the right of your
news feed on your home page you’ll see “Trending” and icons for categories
including politics, sports, etc.
· SimilarWeb — you can put your site’s
URL into the search bar and it will help analyze the site; if there is enough
data it will suggest topics, if not it will make recommendations to improve the
site.
Remember to post your blog content to
social media (link back) such as Twitter, FaceBook and Google+. Use catchy but
accurate headlines and titles; do not use misleading headlines or you will only
disappoint the people who popped in to read. If possible host guest bloggers
now and then to draw their traffic to your site. And have a sidebar of sites
you recommend, you will often find those URLs will bring in their own
followers.
Writing Exercise: Find three
trending topics and research each online (2 or 3 sources is okay). Write a 1 paragraph
post for each.
Writing Prompt: Make a list of
any 10 topics of interest to you. How would these topics apply to the content
on your blog?
Challenge Assignment: Review the
last 10 to 20 posts you made on your own blog. List the main topic and category
for each. Are your posts interesting or merely sales pitches for your
books/stories/poetry? (be honest!) Do you have any topics that have been trending
recently? Do you allow room for “discussion” with your blog visitors? Are your
posts consistent (timing, topic, length, type)? How many of these posts have
you shared with social media? If your blog has statistics available, how many
people actually visited and which posts got more interest? Finally, now that
you have reviewed your blog and learned a little about trending topics, list 10
goals about how to improve your future blog posts.
