How to know whether you are writing the right content, centered on the right keyword, for optimal exposure, and some search engine love?
Because knowing you are actually doing that can act upon how much you are passionate about that exact content, how work you invest in the whole procedure, how serious you are about that link building strategy and that marketing thing in general.
And being reluctant to think about this aspect of content can represent the difference between having the mindset to create a great content, or to just push another filler stuff on the shelf.
You have already chosen your niche, and there is no turning round, for better or for worse. The question however, you should be asking yourself right now is whether you are choosing the right material to fill that niche, ergo your blog. And that question ladies and gentleman is not that easy to answer.
I've been right there on the line asking myself whether that the material I'm about to produce is going to be worth the time invested in it. And to make long story short and cut right to the case, here is how I can almost always come with the answer that allows me to start typing and sleep sound at night, knowing that it wasn't all for nothing (well, not nothing, but at least time bad spent when elaborating about the whole investment-profit scenario, of course not just regarding the materialistic aspect that is).
And without further ado, here are a couple of ways to find out, and couple of questions you have to be asking yourself:
Five things that make your content pass the test of time
1. Go to Google Keywords tool. There you will find more than just numbers. It's what that numbers mean, and also what this tool is suggesting you to write. The numbers mean one thing – how many people are searching for the term you are inquiring about.
Knowing this you can make your equation upfront, and decide whether you are willing to trade hours for whatever that is that you want to achieve. The numbers show something more – and that is competition. You can see how competitive a term is, and judging by that make a logical and informed decision about whether you are going to step in.
The next thing that this tool shows is the related terms that people are searching as well. Being in the niche, and reading a lot, you should already know couple of related terms, so this is always a good test to see where you are standing in your niche.
By reading these terms you are not only seeing what is searched out there, but you are also learning the lingo within your own niche too.
And that's always a plus. For example when we were preparing a series of posts about a 5k run, we found out that what people wanted to learn about the most was how to get from couch to a good shape for the race.
And how did we learn this? Well, statistic showed that the term "couch to 5k" was the most searched term related to this thing. So by knowing this you can choose towards where to continue.
But, have also in mind that this tool is not the absolute truth, nor it's the only tool worth checking. Always try to do a little dirty work yourself, like checking the SERPs for that particular term and try to find out if anything is missing that you could fill out and provide a missing value to the niche.
2. Another useful tool that also comes from our favorite Google is "Google trends". Just go there and write a query. What you are about to see is gold in terms of knowing the future of the content you are about to write. Google trends show you the popularity in terms of searches for that exact query for quite some time in the past. And by that you can see whether the interest in this thing you are about to write is increasing over time, and how much is that growth when taken to a certain time frame.
And while knowing this you can't tell the exact numbers it will generate in five or six months, you will for sure be able to make quite better assumption compared to most people out there. You can also put two terms, and see how they compare to each other as well.
3. Guess things based on the offline world. How's that going to work? Simple, actually. I will again take the running 5k post we wrote for example. By talking to lot of people, and by witnessing how running became more and more popular, I figured that this subject is only about to grow in the near future. Also, I came to realize that people would get into it more and more, therefore becoming more serious and specific.
So posts like training schedule for the 5k race, and best tips for running the 5k race seamed very logical, since the interest for this is only about to grow. Another thing is your personal experience, or the experience of other people. What do I mean by that?
Well, If you start running (again taking the same example), you will start to see what matters more, and what is not that important. You will maybe even face some injury, and see the importance of preventing injuries yourself.
Going through all of this, you will have the picture of what is the most likely thing people will be looking for. And then you swoop in with your post and targeted keyword and give them what they are looking for. If there is a more complex thing involved, you can always look for communities and circles in which you can find more about what you are about to write. You will know the lingo, the phrases, the demand.
Try and ask yourself- is this going to be talked about a year from now? Are people catching to it ? The answer should be a positive one.
4. Follow the questions. See whether the thing you are about to cover is having some popularity on communities like Yahoo Answers or Quora. If so, you are off to a good start. Maybe even follow your peer bloggers. Forward an e-mail to some of them out there in your niche, and ask them whether it's ok to maybe write a guest post for them on that topic in the future. You will see how they are feeling about the subject.
5. Writing the post alone is not going to be enough. With the post you're only trying to answer the need for the subject on the market. You must answer this need without a question.
If you are writing a post about the tips on how to run a 5k race, then you better deliver them in the post. If you are writing about the best way to prevent injuries, then you must stay up to your promise. If you like your material to stay out there and to rank high in the engines, promoting it isn't enough. You have to make it so that it will promote itself. And that can be achieved only if you are satisfying the need of the readers with your content. Then you have social sharing, linking to your content, and the material gets the attention it deserved.
Composing the right material is crucial if you want a future for your blog. And while the filler and non-evergreen material that you are about to compose will not be so innocuous with regards to the survival of your site, it will for sure make so that your site never reaches its potential, and you never start making it for the long run – and if you are in this seriously, the long run should always be on your mind. Producing the material that gets talked about for ages to come, sure makes a difference with your blogging efforts.
Writing this post I didn't went to Google trends, or Google Keywords Tool, but being in blogging and experiencing this whole thing, as well as seeing the need of answering this question, I know that this material is going to be valuable to readers, and more so it would hopefully only gets more popular over time. So there you go – another example of how your experience will help you a lot. And that experience comes with time and patience.
Slavko Desik is a freelance writer and editor at Lifestyle Updated where he takes his passion for living full time and combines it with his knowledge of blogging and internet marketing.
Original Post:
5 Things That Make Sure Your Content Pass The Test Of Time 
