Thoughts about research for those new at this whole blogging gig
Guilty.
So it is not that I don't want to do my homework, or write good content.... I just don't want to spend a day researching for one article that takes an hour or two to write. I mean, I am busy - we are all busy aren't we?
I chose my niche on a subject I am very familiar with. I have had the interest, training, life experience, career.... my whole life has been immersed in it. Everything in my life has led me to learn more about it, create ... and so on.
So..... I know at this point that more income is necessary so what do I decide? Use the knowledge of my subject and my years of developing a specific skill set and write about it. Share the knowledge with others.
I don't need to research. This is perfect!
wrong.
So, here's the thing. This topic has been so part of who I am - literally my entire life. My mother tells people she could see the traits developing before I could feed myself.....
But here is the problem.
It is so who I am that it is not something I "think" about. I mean, I don't know. I just know what I know...... So much that it has been hard to come up with how to's, or 7 steps to... or fix this by... blah blah blah. It is so much my daily life that it has taken me the last few months on WA to even come up with great ideas and how to's that I don't think every other site is doing. Some ideas came from suggestions of others I have met, things I have literally experienced but did not think to write about. duh.
research, research,research
You would think my creative brain as it is would have endless wealth of article ideas to write but I didn't. For a moment it truly made me feel like an artistic failure to be a couple articles in and be at a loss as to what the heck to write about.... But here is the thing, and I mean this to apply to everyone (especially those new at this like I am), do the research even on topics you know inside and out.
why?
I was doing some research this morning (as I seem to do a lot lately) on one particular topic for my site and by the time I was done and satisfied - knowing I had good content to write I got ideas for three more articles based on what I read. I will do some homework on those ideas and will likely end up with three or four more ideas.
I have been doing this almost since I started (reluctantly at first) - I have never been a "researcher" - ever. I hated it when I had to do reports in school and don't love it much more now.... So I am sure there are others who feel the same way and just want to write.....
The moral to my story.
Doing your homework ends up being so much more. Researching one topic gives new ideas...
researching for those new ideas leads to even more ideas - like a snowball... gets bigger as will your notebook of ideas and content. Pretty soon you have a month or a year worth of content ideas - research is our friend.
Recent Comments
16
Hey Corey,
I will admit I hated doing research in the beginning also but like you I also found I would also either get ideas for more articles or I was just writing through content. I also didn't really enjoyed research in school but learned to enjoy it here at WA because I found it was fun and beneficial.
Tried and True
Elaine
No matter how well you think you know a niche there is always something new to learn.
Derek
its a change from having a brush in my hand 12 hours a day, but I am enjoying sharing my knowledge, looking for new ideas and brushing up on some basics - super fun.
what is your niche?
Corey
Hello Corey,
It sounds like you are going to have a lot of fun, doing research and writing about your passion.
Actually I have two niches at the moment and I might have ore in the future. I am interested in so many things and I was stuck in the beginning not knowing what niche to choose.
Kyle recommended writing “I would like to help people because….” and fill the blank
and that inspired me to have Life Coaching as my primary niche and CBD as another one.
Life Coaching is because I changed my career after many years of full-on corporate jobs in a very aggressive environment and started Life Coaching something that I always wanted to do. I studied and got a certification but I didn’t have the courage to step out of my comfort zone and kept working while being unhappy just because the money was good and I could travel then I reached a point where I couldn’t do it anymore.
In April this year I moved out of Tokyo after 30 years to a beautiful place right on the beach and I started coaching. I specialize in Career Coaching, Expat Coaching and Wellbeing Coaching.
This is the first time I am doing something that matches my passions and values.
I love my new life and I never felt as happy.
I came across WA while doing a search about how to promote my website not with SEO and I am so happy to be part of this beautiful community. I love everything about it. I love the support. I love the community, I love the spirit and I feel I have already made friends not knowing really who they are.
CBD is because I am anti conventional medicine and I don’t believe in prescription drugs. I think CBD and all other natural remedies could help people without all the bad side effects of the conventional medicaments
I have been mostly working in rebuilding my website because I changed the hosting WA platform and I lost all the setting, theme, plugin, etc..
I was overwhelmed in the beginning because I never used WordPress before but now I almost competed it and I am very happy with the result
In a in or two I will be a WordPress Pro. Lol
I wish you a lot of success
I will be following you
All the best
Love & bliss
Adel
one of the best things about WA (besides the great training) I love to learn what people love and their passions... I would love to have your websites so I can go visit them!
I just finished rebuilding my Life Coaching website.
It doesn’t look as professional as the original one but I am happy with the result.
I will need to add SEO and affiliate links.
Once I complete everything I will work on my other website.
I agree with your comment about WA training.
I have been also doing search on Youtube about WordPress and there are many easy to understand tutorials. Very helpful because sometimes I don’t know where to sera on the WA Training
Please have a look my website and let me know your feedbacks
www.your-dreams.net
Have wonderful rest of the week
Adel
Yep. You just hit the nail on the head. LOL
Search, Research, the Research some more.
Great job.
Wendi :)
Yeah! :) Me too. But I am kinda getting to where I can enjoy it. It is learning, and I love to learn.
All the best,
Wendi
I love learning.... just want to be doing that with a brush in my hand LOL.... but I am learning to like it.
See more comments
Sometimes the research phase is not so much about the knowledge of the topic, but rather about the way in which to form it into content. Very often while you are thinking of how to work a subject into a specific article or post you come across ways some of the info would work into another post. So it snowballs into many pieces of content.
This is why research is so valuable. Not so much for the knowledge.
Maryann