how to create great content It’s often hard to know what to write about when blogging. The answer is closer than you think. Write about something you know a lot about; write something about an area in which you are an expert and the chances are that your audience will find it useful.

A good way to frame your “expert knowledge” is to write a How-To-Guide. If you’re an expert garden supplies guru, then write a blog on “How to guarantee a bumper tomato crop”.

Ironically, this blog post is a How-To Guide on how to write a How-To Guide!

Step 1: Define the problem

Find a problem that you and your audience share (e.g. my audience is confused about when to plant tomato plants and how to grow them well) .  Think about a difficult experience within your industry that you personally had and talk about how you dealt with it.

You may not think of yourself as an expert but I guarantee you know more than the average Joe.   Your audience will appreciate hearing how you faced a challenge and were able to figure out a solution.

Don’t be afraid to flex a bit here and show your knowledge, this is how you prove to your audience that you know what you’re talking about.  If your audience trusts your opinion then you’ll have a better chance at influencing their purchasing decisions.

Step 2: Create a direct solution

Get to the point as soon as soon as possible.  Don’t dress it up, just tell them exactly what they need to know.   You’re wasting your own (and the reader’s) time with a bunch of fluff and side information that won’t really be read.  Just simply and efficiently walk your audience through the process you used to solve the problem.

Step 3: Just send it

The final step is to get it out there as soon as possible.  It may be imperfect but it will get a discussion going and that’s the most important thing.  Maybe someone has a better way to do and wants to share it.  You never know until you put it out there, so just write it and send it.

If you still need some pointers, then here are a couple of examples of great How-To Guides:

How to Create a Killer Newsletter in Under 10 Minutes 
How to get more followers on Twitter

Now get out there and try it yourself. Let us know how you do.

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