Instantly Lift the Quality of Your Content: Six Top Research Tips

What is content marketing? It is marketing focused on creating content for a select audience online. If you consume a lot of content, then you already know why so many blog posts are humdrum and not at all engaging: the content is just too thin.

These posts present an idea, but they do not make it meaningful to the audience. They don't hit on the buzz topics that readers care about in that moment. They have not checked essential facts. They lack depth and substance. Or to put it another way, they are not well researched.

Thorough research is the only way to discover what readers care about and where there are gaps in the information. Plus, conducting research helps you learn a lot about your topic and build up your expertise.

Taking the time to conduct some research sounds obvious, right? Yet so many businesses and bloggers are missing the mark with their content marketing because they have skipped this fundamental step.

This article outlines six practical, real-world tips for marketers who want to radically improve their content by upping their research game.

Start with a Focus Keyword

Imagine that you have a couple of content ideas. These are your high-level items; the topics or themes that you want to write about, like 'leather bags.' There are multiple angles for approaching this topic, and multiple blog titles you could write under this broad theme. Here are a few examples:

• How to Choose the Perfect Leather Bag

• 10 Best Designer Leather Bags for Ladies

• 5 Reasons Why Leather Bags Make the Best School Bags

• What's So Great About Italian Leather?

Which of these titles will gain the most traction? You probably don't know the answer to this question, and that's where keyword research comes in. Since most people start their searches at Google, it pays to check whether there are any search queries around your broader theme.

For this example, you would type 'leather bags' into Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest or KWFinder or one of the dozens of other keyword planning tools on the internet.

According to these tools, the keyword 'leather bags' receives thousands of monthly searches, and there are over 2,000 keyword ideas available. In general, any keyword that returns more than 100 search queries per month makes sense as a content topic. Some content marketers set the baseline at 1,000 or even 10,000 searches, but it depends on your industry.

Compile Variations of your Keyword (and Filter Out the Trash)

As well as searching for the exact match of your chosen keyword, brainstorm the different variations of your keyword to find even more relevant content ideas. For example, the topic 'leather bags' might also suggest the following keywords:

• Best leather bags

• Leather bags for sale

• Leather accessories

• Leather bags for men

• Luxury leather bags

Enter these keyword variations into your chosen keyword research tool and see what comes out. Then, enter a potential keyword into Google's search bar and check out the search results.

You likely will find many pages of listings for articles that someone has already written on your chosen theme. Some of them will be garbage, but some will be relevant and interesting

For instance, searching 'best leather bags' turns up titles as diverse as "Best Leather Gifts for Her this Christmas" and "5 Best Leather Laptop Bags for Men."• Tells a story, particularly how a person overcame a problem

By scanning the headlines on the Google page listing, you'll get a good feel for the type of content that's already out there (and ranking well) and where there are gaps. Keep track of all the great content you've discovered.

Broaden the Search

Most people who perform content research focus their efforts on Google. If you do that, you are going to come up with the exact same content ideas as everyone else. So why not go the extra mile and check out some other sources as well?

Print books and periodicals, trade magazines, infographics, white papers, interviews, podcasts and research data can all throw up a bunch of content ideas that no one has covered before.

Another source to mention is BuzzSumo. While Google's keyword data is based on links and searches, BuzzSumo compiles its data based on social shares. You'll often find content here that does not rank well, but has been extensively shared by people in your industry.

This content is probably very exciting for the type of readers you are hoping to attract. Simply enter your focus keyword into the tool and open the listings for any story that you find interesting.

Consume the Content You've Uncovered

Now for the fun part: reading all the content you've collected. Grab a coffee and start consuming your competitors' content. Dedicate a chunk of time to this, as it is an active exercise. As you read or listen, make a note of:

• Any questions you have that the content has not answered

• Your response to the ideas raised, for example, a better example or an alternative point of view

• Statistics and data points that add value to the topic

• Ideas for making the current content better - what would you like to see as a reader? Screenshots? Step-by-step instructions? A deeper dive into the costs and benefits? What would your readers need to know?

Find the Angle and the Hook

After you have scanned everything and got a rough overview of where your content is headed, you should find the right angle and the right hook for your story.

The angle is the story's main point or theme, which is expressed in the title and the lede (introduction) of the article. Readers use the angle to make sense of the information you're presenting.

As a writer, it's your job to make sure that the content stays true to the angle so it remains meaningful to the reader. When people get angry with salesy 'clickbait' content, it's because the title and lede have promised one angle but the article itself is delivering something completely different.

The hook is how you draw your reader into the content and the way you do that is with a stellar title and opening paragraph.

During your content research, you will read dozens of articles on your topic. What was it about the title that made you want to click on the story? Which story had an introduction that really drew you in?

For the 'leather bag' post, for instance, you may start with an idea of writing a how-to guide for caring for leather bags. So you immediately thought of "How to Care for Your Leather Bag" as a blog title. But when researching, you noticed that most bag owners only start to think about care after they have scuffed or damaged their bag.

To differentiate your content, you might choose a different angle such as chose "Caring for Your Leather Bag After You Have Damaged It." It's all about looking a little closer and deciding the direction you want to go.

Write it, Rest It

In the last step, bang out your draft blog posts and then...do nothing. Seriously. Just relax. Put the draft away for at least a day and do something else.

What's more, there may be another great content idea in there that you only spot when your mind is processing, like a follow-up piece or a deeper dive into something that could not be included in this content due to space or time limitations. Already, your next content dilemma is solved.

Final Thoughts

Is content research hard? No, but it is time-consuming. And because of that, so few do it. That's exactly why it will set you apart from others who are looking to write on a similar theme.

Fundamentally, content research is about looking at the topic from many different perspectives and digging as deep into the subject as you can. Only when you have explored the other resources that are out there, and learned what's missing from the conversation, can you really understand what your audience is looking for and how to teach it.