SYLVIANE NUCCIO

5 Different Channels To Create Excellent Content

May 7, 2012 Writing Tips

One of the toughest challenges of owning a blog is to create excellent content on a constant basis.  Yet, creating superior quality content is vital for your blog success and popularity.

We are all humans, and once in a while we may be running out of ideas to write about. However, there are different ways to come up with creative content.  In this post I am going to show you 5 different channels to create excellent content for your blog every time.

1 – How-to Posts

How-to posts are the most popular type of posts.  The trick to be able to write how-to posts is to get well educated in your niche.  The more you learn and know things, the easier it will be to write how-to posts.

If  you run out of ideas it’s time to browse some information and learn. The good all trick in order to be able to write it’s to read.  By reading, you discover, you learn, you practice what you’ve learned, and then you write about it.

When you write how-to content you want to make sure that you are an expert.  The more expertise you have in your topic the higher the level of quality of your post.

Another great way to write high quality how-to posts is to look for problems that people may have and try to solve such problems.  The more value you provide to your reader, the higher the quality.  It’s even likely that your content will go viral.

We all know that it’s becoming harder and harder to come up with 100% fresh unheard of topics, but you can still try to dig some out by using your imagination and talk about any subject from YOUR own perspective which will ALWAYS be unique.

You can also experiment with the length of you posts.  Try writing longer and shorter posts and see what works better for your audience.  According to SEO experts, longer posts work better with search engines, but what about your audience? What do they seem to respond better to?

2- Review Posts

We’ve all seen those fake review posts on class-B kind of blogs which are actually not real reviews to inform you, but rather, reviews that are design to make you buy the product they are reviewing. I think that I needed to clarify this before I speak about the review type posts.

A real review type post would be a post where you gather 5 to 10 items that you know well or at least have used, and tell your readers if such items are worth their time or money, or both.

For example, Ana Hoffman at Generation Traffic Café does that very well.  She would really tell you what’s worth or what’s not in her review type posts. When such reviews are genuine it really makes these types of posts valuable and, therefore, create excellent content for your blog.

3- Interview posts

Interview posts are really hot these days.  What better way to create great content than interviewing an expert and try to suck the knowledge out of them.  All you have to think about are smart questions that will make the person you are interviewing reveal some of their best tips and secrets.  You readers will love you for that.  This type of post creates instructive, high quality, and original content.

In order to be able to create an interview, think of a blogger that you’ve been following and like, and request an interview.  Most of the time, they will say yes. I they say no, don’t worry, there’s a lot of fish in the sea.

4 – Challenge Posts

Another very hot post topic is a good challenge.  Just about every blog that I visit these days have got some kind of a challenge going on.  Before you start a challenge on your blog it would be better if you’d already have a decent audience, because it would be useless to present a challenge with one to participate in it.

It’s also important that you create an incentive for the winner of the contest with some kind of giveaway.  If you are limited with your resources, you need to be creative and find another way to reward the winner.  If your challenge doesn’t include any kind of reward it would be hard to find participants to your contest.

So, before you decide to run a contest on your blog, make sure you have thought it out all the way through.  When you have, it will allow you to create some exciting content around that contest for a few weeks.  If your contest involves guest posts, you should be free from writing on your own blog for some time.

5 – Infographic Posts

I have never created an infographic post, myself, because I am kind of partial to writing.  However,  a lot of people don’t like to read or don’t have the time for it;  infographic posts may attract that kind of crowd.  They are also some readers who would love to have a visual of what you are discussing on your post.

Even though I love to write, I am thinking of creating an infographic post in the future.  You can also create an infographic post along with written content. A mixture of both.

If you apply these five different channels to write on your blog each week, you will be able to create excellent content on your blog every time.

Now, it’s  your turn. What type of blog post have you used and what is your favorite? Please, do tell us in the comment area.

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66 thoughts on “5 Different Channels To Create Excellent Content”

  1. I found myself worthy of writing how-to posts 🙂 However that’s what goes with my blog and I wanted to do with it. Mostly they are based on a problem I’ve got or one of my readers had, where I needs to address it and provide a solution with my ability, findings and perspectives. But even I had one sort of problem, I have to use my imagination and think of possible problems can be fixed with same solution when writing too. Sometimes a new update or product helps me to come up with a new post after experimenting with it and if I found it really useful. So fortunately, people shooting me questions frequently that ends up as a new post on my blog 😉 Isn’t it cool? 😉 Or usually I get into problems so soon and solution will ends up at my blog. I’ve never think of reviews, interviews, challenge and infographic posts yet. I LOVE INFOGRAPHICS. You know, we may not good at everything 😉 But thanks for this one and I wanna give ’em a shot later on dear.

    Cheers…
    Mayura invites you to read..Capture, Annotate and Share Screenshots of a Web Page with Awesome ScreenshotMy Profile

    1. Hi Mayura,

      When people ask you questions, the answer could well be turned into a post, indeed! This is a very good way to find ideas for how-to posts.

      Thank you for your visit and feedbacks. Keep up the good work 🙂

  2. Hello. Wow, great tips! I’m definitely going to try to incorporate some interviews in my Blogs. Hmm but I am wondering how to apply infographics as I didn’t really understand that much. Could you clarify that please? How would you apply that to the field of nutrition and dietetics as well? I’m thinking I could also do a Challenge Post, related to health. Lots of good ideas indeed! Thank you for sharing this :)).
    Kind Regards,
    Zena

    1. Hi Zena,

      Infographics are usually some kind of picture-drawing with a sentence or two per picture explaining a point. For example, infographics are good for visual step by step tutorial type posts. I am sure if you type infographics in Google you can find some examples. Maybe I should look for one and link it to this post.

      I think that it’s a really good idea to run a challenge related to health for a health blog.

      For interviews I am sure that with such blog you can find tons of ideas.

      Thanks for coming by, Zena, and I hope I answered your question.

  3. Hi Sylviane,

    What a nice breakdown of some of the hot ways to keep your blog full of fresh and desirable content to keep the readers coming back for more!

    I have just recently been getting into reviews and also how-to style blog post. I have personally been interviewed a few times for blogs but have never hosted one on my own blog yet. I think that will be next on the horizon. I have thought about doing a challenge post, but have personally been in the middle of a very long (100 day) challenge myself, so it wasn’t a good time for me to actually host a challenge til timing was better suited to that task.

    I do not know that I will ever do infographic posts on my main blog. I love these kinds of posts, but think that they may do better for audiences who are seeking nothing but imagery.

    I really appreciate you breaking this all down here for us. It’s great to have some memory joggers for reference and for preplanning of what our blogging schedule will look like over time!

    Hope you’re having a fine Monday, Sylviane!

    Cat 🙂

    1. Hi Cat,

      Nice to see you back here 🙂

      Yes, it’s good to have reminders of what can be done to spice up our blogs with different avenues of informing our readers.

      So far I have done only one video interview, but I have a written interview coming up soon on my France Travel and Food blog and it looks like someone wants to interview me, but not saying more 🙂 for now.

      Like you, I am not a real fan of infographic, but maybe I could find a way to do half graphic and have text. Just an idea.

      Thanks for your feedbacks, Cat, and have a great week!

  4. Hey Sylviane,

    Well you know I do love the “how to” posts… I’m getting into more reviews only because I realized I was actually doing a disservice to my readers by not sharing some of the products I’ve been learning from.

    I haven’t done the rest for the most part. I know, I probably should do some interviews but it seems like everywhere I go, everyone else is taking care of those for me.

    I’m currently involved in a challenge but not doing one on my blog. At least that’s something to think about in the future.

    I’ve shared some infographics from time to time but not a lot. I think they’re pretty cool and I just commented on a blog that showed you how to create your own. I might have to include that one soon. See, I’m already leaning toward that one now.

    Thanks for sharing these tips Sylviane. They are definitely great ideas for anyone still wondering what the heck to write about.

    ~Adrienne
    Adrienne invites you to read..Introducing Facebook Marketing For Smart PeopleMy Profile

    1. Hi Adrienne,

      Indeed, a lot of people are doing interviews these days and I have to say that I love it. I am going to do more of those, and it also gives you a break for content idea 🙂

      I am definitely interested in learning how to do infographics, if you don’t mind sharing the blog’s link where you read that info, please, share it here.

      Challenges are tempting and I am going to start thinking what the heck of a challenge I could come up with in the near future.

      Thanks for coming, dear friend 🙂 Have a great week!

  5. Hi Sylviane!

    Great ideas for me today, thanks!! I have been MIA with blog posts for awhile… How to or whatever. I like the idea of info graphics.. i will have to do some research on that.. I have been strumming up some ideas as of late, and cant’ wait till I get my self back into the writing process!!
    Holly invites you to read..Hooked Into Another Weight Loss Miracle?My Profile

    1. Hi Holly,

      Welcome here for the first time 🙂

      Content, what ever form it may take is really the life of our blogs so, there isn’t really any way around it. However, with just a little bit of love and the right mind set we can always come up with ideas. This post’s goal was to give such ideas to my readers and create great content with it.

      Thanks for your feedbacks, and have a great week 🙂

  6. Hey Sylviane,

    Great post. Knowing what to write about, when you first start out can be a challenge for some. I really love the idea of a challenge blog post, I have never thought about that. And infographics are really great too. I think it is important to mix up visual pics with written content and especially as Pinterist grows, there is clear a need for visual material more and more.

    Beth 🙂
    Beth Hewitt invites you to read..Guest Blogging – Things to RememberMy Profile

    1. Hi Beth,

      Thank you for coming and nice meeting you here for the first time.

      I think that challenges are great for blogs that are already a kind of popular, maybe a bit tough for a new blogs.

      It’s true that visual is more and more important these days online, so infographics are very good to use that way.

      Thanks for coming 🙂

  7. Hi Sylviane,

    This is my first visit to your blog and I love it! You listed 5 really great ways to create rich content on your blog including How-to Posts, Review, Interview, Challenge and Infographic. I’ve done all of them except doing an interview, which I will now consider. You have given me a great idea!

    Sometimes it is difficult to come up with quality rich content on a consistent basis whatever interval you use to post your blogs, so these are real idea joggers! After reading your post, we really don’t have any excuse for not blogging. Sometimes we may experience unexpected interruptions or time becomes a factor, presenting a video (I’m not necessarily including one your create) is always a great way to post. It is important to share a couple of thoughts or comments about your feelings or reaction to the video to add authenticity. It saves time and is a fantastic way to convey your message.

    Thank you for all of your suggestions. If I had to pick a favorite, I really like “show-me” articles.

    Raena Lynn

    1. Hi Reana,

      Great to see you here and I am very flattered if this post gave you some good ideas to come up with creative posts on your blog.

      I think that even if we didn’t ever ran out of ideas to write about it’s good to come up with something different ones in a while, so it we can be even more interesting to our readers.

      Thanks for coming by, Reana 🙂

  8. Hi Sylviane, great suggestions , another way to publish quality content on a constant basis is to allow guest posts on your blog, of course we should not publish every guest post that is sent to us but we should choose only those that really add value to the readers. Doing that we can really provide great content to our readers daily and also learn new things from others…
    Kostas invites you to read..Free WordPress Installation Service – Start Blogging NowMy Profile

    1. Hi Kostas,

      Well, I’m so glad you pointed that out. While I have whole posts about guest posting, I really didn’t think about adding this here. As a matter of fact my next post will be a guest post. I should have thought about that right :)?

      Thank you so much for your feedbacks, Kostas.

  9. Great tips Sylviane. Many a times even expert bloggers are trying hard to choose the title / topic for the day\’s post. These 5 tips will serve as a quick checklist

    1. Hi Dr Kavita, and nice meeting you here 🙂

      Hope to see you again soon.

  10. Wow, I love those ideas Sylviane and actually had never thought of doing an infograph post before but I guess this would work so well for Pinterest too!

    I know exactly what you mean about “review” posts, but again it is all about quality shining through – someone who obviously uses the product or service and can personally vouch for the pro’s or cons is MUCH more useful.

    Great post, thanks for the ideas!
    Nicky
    Nicky invites you to read..Article Marketing Strategy Post Google PenguinMy Profile

    1. Hi Nicky,

      As a matter of fact, I think that inforgraphics will do great on your blog, and it sure goes well with Pinterest.

      I think that inforgraphics are still new and they have their pros and cons, but they are great for people who like to visualize and those who don’t like to read.

      Thanks for coming by, Nicky 🙂

  11. Hi Sylviane,

    That’s great advice. I have never created an infographic either, but I have thought about hiring someone on Fiverr to create one for me, based upon the informasion that I provide. And, I haven’t done any interviews either. But that’s something I have been thinking a lot about lately. I read all the interviews that Sonia over at Logallot are publishing, and I love reading about all the brilliant people.

    I guess I have some work to do 🙂
    Jens Berget invites you to read..The Virtues of Posting Less OftenMy Profile

    1. Hi Jens,

      I think that hiring someone on fiverr to create a inforgraphics is a great idea. You can have a great looking product for 5 bucks, I’m sure.

      I love interviews too. I’ve done only one so far, but I have another coming up for another one of my blogs, and I will do more of that for all my 3 blogs for sure. Like you I love Sonia’s interviews, there are really great. And I’ve seen you there recently too 🙂

  12. Hey Sylviane,

    Awesome post. All of these five types of posts are awesome ways to share the same information in a different format (Info graphic is the best example. An info graphic can make even the most boring post a little interesting). When I think of interviews, I usually think of Ileane of Basicblogtips or Sonia of Logallot. When I read challenge posts headline, I was thinking of something else (As you may know, I do blogging challenges and write posts based on my observations from the challenges). But, anyways, giveaways are indeed a great way to kick up some participation within our blog.

    Thanks for the post,

    Jeevan
    Jeevanjacobjohn invites you to read..My Email Marketing Mistakes: Why I Started A New List?My Profile

    1. Hi Jeevan,

      You are right about infographics, I think that it’s every easy to call people’s attention with infographics.

      Very good idea to post about challenges observations. I have to hop over your blog and see what you have done recently.

      Thanks for coming by 🙂

      1. I still have to learn to make info graphics (I am waiting for someone across the web to come up with an easy way to design info graphics on our own).

        By the way, Sylviane, I noticed that comment luv link and the twitter Id still comes up even though I remove them (and uncheck comment luv box). Any idea, why?

  13. This is an excellent post, Sylviane. Before I started writing on my blog with regularity, I thought there was only one kind of post. You wrote and that was it. then as I started reading more blogs around the internet, I saw that posts seemed to fall into certain categories.

    I write a lot of story posts, I guess you would call them, because each post is kind of like a self contained little story. And i have also been putting up some posts kind of like infographics but more like images with quotes on them. Both kinds seem to be equally popular, which is kind of cool. I can’t even say that one kind gets shared more than another.

    Thank you for sharing your knowledge about blogging and for sharing the types of posts in an easy to understand way.
    Michael invites you to read..Building Your DreamMy Profile

    1. Hi Micheal,

      Thanks for coming and nice meeting you.

      What’s interesting is that every blogger has his or her own style of writing, so that alone makes us different than anyone else out there. I’v got to come by your blog and read some of your stories 🙂

      1. It is so true, Sylviane, everybody does have their own sense of style. I know there are many blogs I have enjoyed reading but are not anything like what I would write. The differences make life very interesting.

        Please drop by my site anytime. 🙂
        Michael invites you to read..Building Your DreamMy Profile

    1. Hi Mika,

      Thanks for your comment, but, please, make sure that you take care of that broken link of yours, which seems to be link to a dead twitter account. I do run broken link check every once in a while on my blog, and I have to get ride of them when I found them. Most broken links I found were under your name.

      So, take care of this or people will just get rid of your comments and you’ll lose the backlinks all together.

      Thanks 🙂

        1. Hi Mika,

          Just make sure you link to a live link, not broken, and also NO gun sites, please. I won’t accept that, my any mean.

          I will run another broken link scan and will be able to tell if your links are OK or not.

          Sorry, but comments have to be a two way street. Good for you and the host as well 🙂

    1. Hi Herbert,

      Welcome here and thanks for your feedbacks.

      Definitely, infographics and reviews are two things that people like and that would attract traffic to your blog. Great success to you with those 🙂

  16. very interesting post i really enjoyed reading all about it, thank you for sharing this post with us and all the very helpful tips. Great post.

    1. HI Andrew,

      I’m glad you liked it and thanks for saying hello 🙂

  17. Sylvianne Thanks for such a great post.
    Considering the ever growing popularity, a post with both video and text might be best, depending on the wants of your readers.

    i don’t mean a post including video’s, I mean the entire tutorial on video and backed up with text…if some prefer to read or watch.

    It will take more time, but some will like it for sure.

    1. Hi Amrik,

      Yes, I am glad you mentioned videos. I should have add this on the post, but it was already a long one.

      The feedback to this post game me more ideas to write about in some future posts for blogging ideas.

      Thanks for coming and nice meeting you, by the way 🙂

  18. Hi Sylviane,

    That’s a good list of post ideas to share with everyone. I’ve written post on them all except for Infographic Posts.

    How to posts are really helpful and I’ve followed plenty of them in my time to enhance my blog or the tools i use. I have also found they go down well with my readers when I post them on a new “tool” or method I’m applying.

    My favourite one is a challenge but after my last challenge I’m thinking of changing things around a bit, but I’ll have to wait and see about that 😉

    Reviews are good and I’d like to do more of them as I’ve always had a result from the ones I’ve done and like Adrienne said its good to let our readers know what we’re using and how it works for us.

    I also find list posts quite good: 10 ways to for example 🙂

    Thanks Sylviane
    Barry
    Barry Wells invites you to read..A Solution To Your Plugin Nightmares and Slow Loading BlogsMy Profile

    1. Hi Barry,

      Wow, this post sure attracts a lot of comments, as far as I am concerned anyway. By the time I’m done replying everyone for today it will be around 45 🙂 This is a blog that used to be comment hungry, but my hard work is paying off!

      I’m glad you mentioned the list post, that’s another one I could have added, but since you are the third person giving me one more idea for posts I think I will use all those juicy ideas and create another post with them in the future 🙂

      Thanks for you visit, Barry. Always appreciated.

    1. Hi Amit, and welcome here for the first time 🙂

      I am so glad that you liked the post, that’s really great news for me.

      Thanks and take care 🙂

  20. HI Sylvane!

    Like what Barry Wells said! In fact, I just might reply to him right after this post. Infographic posts is something I have yet to do, in fact I’m going to maybe start doing it in June! mmmm great thought. In addition, I think another addition you can add is the idea which pertains to random/crazy posts. Something so absurd, yet so entertaining, that readers would call it quality.

    – Jonathan
    P.S. I’ve decided to visit Barry’s site. I’m now interested. This is going to be fun!
    Jonathan invites you to read..Stop Doing, Just Dream: do nothing, learn nothing, but become everythingMy Profile

    1. Hi Jonathan,

      That’s what blogging and commenting on posts is so exciting. You meet other bloggers and it’s as delicious as a great dessert.

      Thank you for giving me another idea here for more post ideas. You guys gave me enough for another post on this topics. Thanks for coming, dear 🙂

  21. Sylviane, I don’t know if you meant to, but you cracked me up with the comment about “sucking the knowledge” out of people. What an effective way to put it! I like interviews because they’re interesting, and they can take a lot of pressure off to come up with content. The person you’re interviewing has to do that!

    The nice thing about how-to posts is that if you are doing something like a tutorial, you can include screen shots and people always like visuals. Plus if you can “show” you can do less “telling”.

    I also have never done an infographic though I would love to have someone do it FOR me. It’s not really my thing (like you, I like to write) but people like them and if you’ve got a designer’s bone in your body, they’re great to do.

    This was a great, concise, clear list of ideas that are easy to do and can help fill up your blog without wracking your brain. it’s a handy list to bookmark and pull out whenever you’re short of an idea!
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    1. Hi Carol,

      Ahaha! No I didn’t intentionally tried to be funny, but sometimes I do make people laugh without intention to do so 🙂 Yes, it’s a great image isn’t it?

      I’m like you about infographics, I think that if I use this avenue one day, I want someone do it for me too. I’m more of a writer like you 🙂

      Thanks for coming, Carol. I’ve enjoyed lots of your posts lately too. I’ve noticed that the bloggers who are “writers” always write the longest posts 🙂 But we also love to read, don’t we?

  22. Infographics seem to be becoming more popular. It also keeps people longer by them looking at it and the design. They are very fun and interactive. A great way for content.

    1. Hi Jacob,

      You’re right, infographics are really becoming popular these days.

      Thanks for coming and nice meeting you 🙂

    1. Hi Raj,

      Your comment was lost in the lala land of moderation. I always find one or two there.

      I don’t necessarily think that Reviews or How-to post are always the best, but there are definitely very popular.

      In the end valuable content always wins 🙂

    1. Hi Sandy,

      Thanks for coming here again.

      I certainly will try infographics in the future. First I have to see how it can be done. Adrienne Smith just published a post today about how to do infographics. Did you checked it out?

  25. Hey Sylviane

    I respect your views but I think you need to focus infographic based post because it’s best way to grab visitors attraction mostly infographic represent whole stories in pictorial view and people give more importance to video and pictures instead of text.

    1. Hi Rizwan,

      Well, while infographics and videos are great, text is here to stay for a long, long time. If you visit any blog you’d see that text is still king. It’s still the most use medium of communication of the blog.

      Thank you so much for your feedback, I love people giving their own ideas. And nice meeting you here.

  26. I forgot about inforgraphics. I most of these tools and sometimes, even I forget. I saw post by Lisa Buben about Twitter with an infographic and it was so funny and cool, then I saw Adrienne do the same thing. It just works.

    We all need a break at times and having guest posts, or creating posts that can help users act on something to solve a problem is even more useful. I am working on those posts more, but every now and then I need to create a post about something that just gets on my nerves and that tends to do the trick when I need it. Great ideas Sylviane!
    Sonia invites you to read..Blogger Spotlight: Jason Fonceca, RyzeOnline.comMy Profile

    1. Hi Sonia,

      Infographics seems to be the most recurring theme of the comments about this post. And wow, lots of comment on this one!

      It’s interesting to see how some people love them, some don’t. Some have used them and some don’t. Very interesting to see that! I’ve got to write more post like this one. This is a record breaking in traffic for this blog, ever!

      Ahaha! I have not written a post about something that gets on my nerves in a while. I should do that one of these days 🙂

      Thanks for coming dear 🙂

  27. Hi Sylviane,

    Coming from Barry Wells blog, It’s very nice to find your blog. Love your animal pics. I think the main thing about writing a good blog post is value. It could be video, audio, the 5 ways you mentioned, etc…

    All these different ways is what makes blogging fun and powerful, but with out value nothing will work. To create value you must know what you’re talking about. Just like writing a report for school you are going to have to do some research and learn if necessary.

    I like what you said about your own perspective about something, nothing can be more original. Helping people is what it’s all about. Helping each other is what it’s all about. Knowledge is power. In today’s Internet world there are many ways to distribute that knowledge.

    For me I like to use text and video, how to but will always consider the other ways you mention here in your post. Thanks for sharing the knowledge,

    Catch you later Sylviane,

    Terry Conti
    Terry Conti invites you to read..Your Own Custom Opt-in Box and AweberMy Profile

    1. Hi Terry,

      You are so right. No matter what avenue you may choose to create content, value comes first. In the end that’s what people want.

      It could be a how-to, a video or an infographic post, as long as it really give value that’s what the reader and Google like.

      Thanks for coming by 🙂

  28. Hi Sylviane,

    Thanks for providing these channels to create content. I have only used one of the five you presented (review). Using the other 4 will allow me to create quite a few posts. You’ve definitely inspired me so thanks again!
    Jamella Biegel invites you to read..Blog Topic Ideas At Your FingertipsMy Profile

    1. Hi Janella,

      Nice to see you here. There are indeed many different ways to attract and entertain our readers. I am glad if some of those ideas inspired you to create content on your blog.

      By the way, your blog seem to be doing pretty well for a rather new blog still 🙂

      Thanks for coming and have a great week end!

    1. Hi Galen,

      I’ve just reply to your comment on my personal development blog, and here you are. I am glad we met. I will visit you often and hopefully get to know you 🙂

      Thanks for coming here too 🙂

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