SwipeTown Academy

“Content is King” rings a bell, doesn’t it?

If you’re not new to blogging, you’ve probably come across this phrase more than once.

It couldn’t be more true. Nowadays, without quality you don’t go anywhere, there are too many good alternatives to waste time with you if your content is not up to the task.

But what exactly is quality content?

Quality is manifested in many facets, but I would say that in the end all of them are common sense, nothing you can’t imagine if you reflect a little.

And, above all, it’s not that difficult to achieve, let’s see:

Quality content must be relevant

First, I would name the relevance of the content of the post. Does what you’re writing really matter to anyone? Is it useful? Does it have any kind of impact, however small, on people’s lives?

Also, keep in mind that if a reader comes to your blog and what he or she reads has a positive impact, even if it’s small, sooner or later he or she will remember you and come back.

If it doesn’t, it’s very likely it won’t give you a second chance. If he comes back to your blog it will be by pure chance (through Google, a link in another blog, etc.).

Obviously you can just write for yourself, by pure personal realization, and there is nothing to object to. But if you want your blog to read among your objectives, the first questions should be these.

Your knowledge about the subject matters, but not so much

Maybe this title will leave you a little out of place, what doesn’t matter that you know what you’re talking about…?

Well, not exactly…

It is obvious that you should not speak without knowledge of the cause and this does not need further clarification. But watch out, many bloggers “go too far” with this principle to the point that they don’t dare touch anything they don’t consider themselves “mega-experts”. They are not aware that with enough humility and prudence you can dare to talk about almost anything.

The clearest example are posts that relate the experience of someone getting into a new subject. For example: a professional who comes from the world of traditional marketing can make very interesting posts telling how he is living his apprenticeship in the world of online marketing and what he is bringing to it.

It will be very interesting because many people are in the same situation, will identify with the author of the blog and will have the opportunity to contrast their own experiences with what he has.

On the other hand, what you don’t know, to a large extent, you can investigate if you’re willing to make enough effort. In addition, you can tell it as it is by citing the sources and look very good.

What’s more, if you finish off what you have to say about a topic with the opinion of two or three recognized experts on that topic, you add a lot of solidity and credibility to your content simply by using the knowledge of others.

Originality is not that hard to come by

It is very important that your contents are original.

This can be scary because it can easily be interpreted to mean that you have to constantly invent things that are tremendously creative, fun, totally different and never seen before.

Don’t worry, it’s not like that, it’s just that your contents don’t stink of what has already been published 10 times before. There is no problem in tackling things that have already been tackled before (in fact, it is the usual thing, there is not so much new topic to invent either).

But it’s very different to make a crude copy or compilation of bits and pieces of other posts than to make the post really yours, reflecting your ideas and personality.

Even if you take an idea from another person, simply express it in your own words and with the nuances that you consider already makes it different and original, makes it your personal view of things. That’s what it’s all about.

The depth and detail of your contents

One of the most widespread and personally abhorrent poor quality post patterns is what we could call the “crap-post”.

By this I mean the typical post that normally does not exceed a few hundred words and that as a dogma loose 4 or 5 ideas or “good advice” by sitting on something without providing the slightest reasoning, nor putting those ideas in a concrete context and without a single practical example.

This type of post is very frequent and I personally abhor it. He says that the author only wants to catch traffic with the minimum effort and that he is not particularly enthusiastic about the subject he is dealing with.

You can continue reading at: What Quality Content Is And How You Can Achieve It (Part II)