Are you ready to take your blog to the next level? Do you want more traffic? In this article, discover how this blogging strategy research your niche will help you to start ranking higher in Google search.
Blogging Strategy For Artists – Research Your Niche
Today you are going to spend some time researching what other people are doing in your niche. You are going to be a listener and an observer instead of a marketer. Your goal is to learn what is working and what readers are interested in so you can develop and craft your unique blogging strategy.
You will be able to learn a great deal if you take the time to read other blogs that are doing well. You will start to notice common strategies most bloggers use. Why do they use common strategies? Because it works and it is what the readers want. You are not trying to reinvent the wheel. You are on a quest to make the wheel better.
Before you can start researching other bloggers in your niche, you will need to understand what a niche is.
Niche Market is defined by Wikipedia as the subset of the market on which a specific product is focused.
For example, if you specialize in oil paintings of Clydesdales, your niche will be Clydesdale oil paintings.
Understanding your niche will help you to develop a marketing plan which will target an audience that will have an interest in what you offer.
You can read more about niche marketing at Niche Marketing Strategy for Artists.
Today’s Action Plan
You will not need to spend lots of time on today’s task. However, this will be something that you should put into your schedule. Observing what others are doing will only help you become better at blogging and promoting your artwork.
First, start by finding the top blogs for your niche. You will only need to find a handful to be productive with your observations.
After you have discovered four or five top blogs, bookmark them for later reference.
Take Notes
There will be a series of questions you will want to answer after you have found the top blogs you would like to analyze. Document all your findings. Keep a separate folder for each website. You do not want to rely on your memory.
Here are some questions you will want to consider asking.
- What topics are they writing about?
- Are they writing about their personal journey becoming an artist?
- Are they writing about techniques they have learned or tools that they use?
- Is their blog a daily journal?
- How often do they post?
- Do they focus on a particular niche?
- How do they construct their titles?
- How many images are on the posts?
- Do they include video?
- Is there a call-to-action on the post?
Once you have logged the information that you have gathered from each site, find common ground for each blog.
Do all the blogs have tutorial articles, do they all have the learning stages and struggles of becoming an artist?
If each site includes a similar subject, it is because it works and you might want to consider writing about the same subject.
Ask yourself, “How can I make my posts better?” If you want to rank higher than the blogs that you are observing, your posts must contain better content.
Engagement
Notice what kind of engagement the posts are receiving.
- Is there a particular style of post that receives more comments over others?
- Are the readers asking questions or only sharing their views on the topic?
- Do the artists respond to every reader personally or respond generically?
Once you are done researching the engagement on the blog posts, ask yourself, “What can I do to receive more engagement?”
Blog Flow
The next thing you will want to look at is the layout of the blog.
- What colors are they using?
- What style font do they use?
- Is it easy to navigate?
- Where are the call-to-actions?
- Is there an email opt-in form?
- Do they sell their art on their blog?
- Is it easy to purchase art?
- How do they collect money for selling their art?
- Are their policies clear?
- What blogging platform are they using?
After you have answered the questions above, ask yourself, “How can I make my blog better?”
Conclusion:
Some people might feel that this blogging strategy research your niche, is copying. You are not copying another artist’s blog. What you are doing is studying and gathering information on what works and what doesn’t work. Your goal is to develop a plan that will make your blog better than what you observed. You can’t be the best if you do not know who you are competing against.
Just like all great musicians. They learn how to play from their favorite artists. After some time the player will start to have their unique voice by mixing everything they have learned. Another artist is born bringing music to a new level.
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