With so many competitors posting every day, there’s a big question every blogger asks: How do you make your post stand out and grab readers’ attention?
The answer to that is simple. If you want your blog to stand out, you need to create posts that no one else is writing.
In today’s digital age, when we collectively release tons of posts, articles, lists, and infographics on a daily basis, staying up to date can be a challenge. Ideas come quickly and true originality can be hard to come by, especially if you post multiple blog posts a week.
It is still possible to make blog posts that no one else does. It can be more difficult and time-consuming, but it’s always worth avoiding posting content that’s simply a carbon copy of 50 other posts. All you need to do is get creative and use these 6 tips to create amazing blog posts that no one else is writing.
Check Out the Competition
Sometimes I’ll be struck by what I think is a great idea for a blog post, and I’m always very excited; It’s usually an idea I’ve never seen anyone write about before or a new angle on a topic, and I know it will work well with search engines and engagement.
And then just to make sure it’s really original I google my idea … and find 5 other blog posts that are basically the same idea.
A quick Google search of your headline, keyword, and the general idea will let you know if you’re truly original and help you find ways to differentiate yourself from the competition.
This happens more often than you think. To create awesome blog posts that no one else is writing, you first need to make sure no one else wrote them.
Go to Google and see what appears when you type your keywords, subject, or headline. You can also take a look at Google Trends or Buzzsumo, which shows which content works best for your competitors.
If someone else has already written a similar blog post, that’s fine; it just means you need to work a bit more on the idea. Focus on how you can make your post different from others. This can be adding more value (stats, images, or additional resources) or it can offer a unique angle.
Convenient topic tools like Content Ideator, which provides a list of existing titles using the keyword you type, and Portent, which presents a wide variety of title ideas based on the words you enter, can help you see an old topic from a new way.
By knowing what your competition is doing, you will have the upper hand.
The Details Matter
You know how you are going to read an article about breaking news and then all the other articles that come out have almost exactly the same text? (If you notice it, it happens with movies too.) Many blog posts in the same niche can be like this.
So if everyone writes posts about Facebook ads, how can your content stand out?
The additional details you add will make your post truly unique. Even if you’re compiling data from other sources (and linking it, of course), struggling to find that information will already make your piece stand out; These details will add authority and better prove the points you are making, and readers will be grateful that you did their homework for them.
The Buffersocial blog often features statistics that prove a point, ensuring posts are of the highest quality so others have trouble competing with them.
These details can take the form of your research, statistics, or even custom graphics and images. Articles with images have 94% more views, and unique, custom images created for your site will help you get some of those valuable views.
Likewise, doing extensive research for an article and fully educating your readers with relevant facts will create strong, standout content that you’re unlikely to find elsewhere. Remember, statistics help you back up your post, even if it doesn’t come from you—especially if they’re not coming from you.
If you can’t afford a professional designer, consider making good use of free image sites such as:
Pull marketing stats from:
Get in touch with experts on almost every HARO topic (Help A Reporter Out).
A picture is worth a thousand words, like this image from Pixaby, and pictures can help your post go further towards originality.
As a note to affiliate marketers using content marketing: having a detailed post with all the details and statistics you can find will greatly strengthen your post and help you get a conversion instead of another affiliate.
Answer Your Own Questions
Have you ever thought, “I would love to read a blog post about it”? If so, you must write it down.
When looking for blog post ideas, I look up sites like Quora or Warrior Forum and review the different questions users ask. When I come across a single question, one that I’ve never seen before, that is relatively complex, or that I don’t even know the answer to (and it’s in my area of expertise), I know I’ve found a great blog post topic.
When you find a question that your audience is asking and you don’t know the answer yet, it can result in a great, original blog post.
This type of post will take more time to write and a lot more research, because the point is, there aren’t enough answers out there yet. But it’s worth it because if you are able to answer tough questions that no one else has asked, or rather, that no one has thought of asking, you will be able to produce unique, high-value blog posts.
Share the Lessons that You’ve Learned
The more we develop in our chosen fields, the more lessons we will have learned (and often the hard way!). If you can turn these lessons into a post then they have the ability to be unique and work great.
Writing a post about the lessons you’ve learned is a good idea for a number of reasons.
The first is that it will offer a lot of value. The reader is not only learning strategies or acquiring new knowledge but also seeing what mistakes they’re should not make (trust me, people are very grateful whenever they can avoid making mistakes!). It will also be a truly original post that you won’t see a copy of anywhere else unless someone directly copies it.
This SocialBro article took that tactic to the next level, interviewing other experts to learn the most important lesson they learned.
If I were to write a post about the lessons I learned as a freelance writer, I would put “never write without a contract” and “you have to file quarterly taxes” on my list because those were situations where I was burned for not knowing.
Another freelancer can present other lessons, such as “use a pen name so your mom can’t Google you” and “don’t talk from one editor to another” (more good lessons a colleague shared with me).
The lessons you’ve learned will be yours and yours alone to write about, and these custom accounts can offer a great deal of value and insight to your readers.
Get Specific
Which Blog Post Will Be The Most Original: 5 Strategies To Save Money With Facebook Ads Or 5 Strategies To Cut Costs With Your Relevance Score For Facebook Ads?
The more specific you are, the more original you can be.
Generating these topic ideas can sometimes be difficult and overwhelming. To make it easier, start with a general idea and then follow the subsections until you get more and more specific.
For example, you can start with a general idea of ”How to write a good blog post.” This is a good, solid idea, but a lot has been addressed. Then you have to find a way to make it unique, and to do that, you can divide it up and choose a more specific niche within that topic.
I like to write the outline with the headings I would use for different sections of this blanket post, which might include keeping posts to a certain length (which turns into “How to Write a 2,000-Word Blog Post Without Fluff”), offering value (“How to find the correct search to back up your blog post”) and keep it original (“How to write blog posts that no one else is talking about”, sound familiar?).
Also, you can be specific by targeting different audiences, such as newbies, experts, entrepreneurs, housewives, etc. Therefore, this headline can be: “How to write a blog post even if you fail English 101”, “How to turn a research article into a blog post for laymen”, “How to monetize your blog post so that You can retire at 32 ”or“ “How to Write a Blog Post While the Kids Are Trying to Kill Each Other in the Background.”
The more specific you are, the more actionable your posts will be; Each subsection will focus on something more detailed, giving you more space to pass on strategies, tips, and examples. Increasing the specificity also increases the uniqueness of your post, helping you find a blog post idea that no one else has written about.
Share Your Opinions
Many blogs are safe. They offer similar information in the blog post alongside them because they don’t want to be wrong. Providing new information, specifically by sharing your personal recommendations, opinions, and/or strategies, can be a risk. Someone may disagree with your opinion (imagine this) or find out that your strategy didn’t work for them.
While you’re always at risk, there’s a good chance that sharing your ideas or recommendations can and will help at least some of your readers.
The Social Media Examiner frequently posts where guest bloggers and experts share tools and product recommendations to help their readers.
Considering that 82% of people trust a brand more after reading personalized content (and 60% want to learn more about a product after reading it on a blog), your regular readers will not turn against you because you have expressed your opinion.
Your exact opinions, recommendations, and thoughts will be largely unique to you, and by sharing them on your blogs, you’ll have content unlike anything else.
Final Thoughts
Even with a large number of blog posts, it is possible to create killer posts that no one else is writing. Using all of your different experiences, opinions, and insights, you can create content that is different from what someone else has shared.
The more exclusive your posts are, the better they will be. By bringing something different to the table, you will be able to create amazing blog posts that allow you to break free from the pack and reap all the benefits that come with originality.
