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If you’ve been blogging and sharing content for a few years, you’ve probably reached the point at one time or another where you’ve run out of ideas or lost interest in your topic.
It happens.
Don’t fret. A little analytics and creativity will not only get you flush with ideas once again but also these ideas will be exactly what your readers want.
Identify your top posts
Google Analytics is your friend. While you can request anecdotal evidence from the field, it’s best not to rely solely on hearsay. Data is what you want, so seek it out.
So, log on to your Analytics account. Your goal today is to find your 30 most-viewed posts since you first started blogging. Found them? Good.
These are the posts – better to think of them as themes – that you’ll focus your content efforts on for the next year. Feels good to have some direction, doesn’t it?
Go deep, creatively
Now that you know your top 30 posts, it’s time to sharpen your focus on the top 10.
How can you add depth to these topics? Write down everything you can think of, from the ideas that need a little more explaining to anything on the periphery of this theme that could add value.
While refreshing content is a good start (even your tried-and-true content may not be as evergreen as you think), we’re talking about supporting content, educational content, engaging content, inspiring content, content that looks good, content that gets people thinking, content that builds your authority, and the list goes on.
Think infographics, surveys, whitepapers, more blog posts, newsletter articles, brochures, microsites and social campaigns. These are the tactics you’ll use to go deeper on your chosen themes.
Once you’ve worked through your top 10, start on your remaining 20.
Three quick examples
Let’s say your top three posts are “Saving for a comfortable retirement,” “What do I do with an inheritance?” and “Rethinking investing for Millennials.”
“Saving for a comfortable retirement” could benefit from a calculator that helps explain the power of compounding over the long term.
“What do I do with an inheritance?” might reach a bigger audience if it was backed up with stat … or, better yet, a handful of stats found in a great looking infographic.
“Rethinking investing for Millennials” may need an infographic too, but it would also benefit from a series of supporting blog posts that tackle (and provide solutions to) the financial challenges that younger people face every day.
Repeat the process
Let’s look a year into the future. You’ve added depth to your top 30 posts. Now identify your top posts once again but, this time, focus on your top 20. Explore ways that you can go even deeper on these themes.
Why are you doing this? You’re expanding your content and you’re refining your content. As time goes on, you’ll see that your focus is narrowing – and this is a good thing. This razor sharp focus is on themes that your readers want.