And the third step ...

3. Doing your own comprehensive research

So ... You've selected the main topic for your next blog post. What's next?

Well, now you'll have to create the very backbone of your new content masterpiece. And that starts with a comprehensive - and usually time consuming - research. Needless to say, the whole world is at your fingertips. The only limit is your imagination. Here are a few tips:

• the good old search engines
• don't forget the advanced search operators (specific or related sites, term comparison, etc)
• online archives and libraries
• free online research tools
• etc, etc

Sometimes – very rarely – an idea springs to mind as a clearly and fully defined unique approach. But, usually an idea is just an … idea. A broad topic with a general angle and approach …

Whether you share opinions or facts, and whether you want to entertain, persuade or inform, you’ll have to define your own unique approach. And for that, you’ll have to research your topic(s). And I am not talking about finding a few pertinent quotes or stats! I am talking about an extensive, far-reaching – and unfortunately, very time-consuming – research process that can make you a real subject-matter expert.

Here are a few useful tips on how to perform an efficient research:

• first of all, think about what your readers want and need to know (trust me, it’s a difference) about your topic, and try to find untapped angles or different approaches
• start with your idea-generator sources; each and every source or method is also a valuable source of opinions and information! so, set up a Google Alert or a Feedly stream for your topic, ask some relevant questions on forums and Q&A sites, etc
• always look for accurate and authoritative primary sources! a secondary source – a blog post, an independent review, a press release, a third-party case study, etc – can be valuable, but your goal is to follow the references until you find the original primary source
• always look for reliable and credible industry-respected resources that your readers recognize; if your source isn’t well-known, it’s always a good idea to add its credentials too
• always try to find the newest information about your topic; you should try to limit the age of your data to no more than 2-3 years; if your information is older than that, try to find a newer resource or at least an other piece of research that validates the older data
• and always fact check everything, especially if you couldn’t find or reach the original primary source! send an email to an industry-expert, make a phone call to a well-respected authority in the topic, etc
• also, avoid using Wikipedia as a resource site! Wikipedia isn’t an authoritative website! their user-created content may be useful for your own edification if you want to find some useful reference links or if you need a quick overview of a given topic, but you shouldn’t use it as a resource
• don’t lose your own ideas and don’t dilute your own thoughts in the research process! mark – and use – researched information properly, so you can easily see which thoughts and ideas are yours and which ones need to be attributed
• finally, never use any kind of copyrighted information or material without permission!
• always keep in mind the difference between soft research and hard research; An opinion-based soft research might be enough for subjective topics, but a strictly fact-based research is required if you are writing about objective, scientific, etc topics
  
• start with your own curiosity and confront your assumptions
• always cross-reference your sources to verify your information
• always support your content with facts and not assumptions
• use what you already know; it may sound obvious, but it isn't
• don't try to interpret something you don't understand!