How to Improve Research Skills for Blogging In 2022
Research is one of the most crucial steps of your article writing process. Even though your blog may be based on a niche of your expertise, a well-researched article can take up your viewership and your Google ranking up a notch. If you are just getting started with blogging or have newly entered this profession, you might be searching for some tips to improve your research skills. Keep reading to know the simple ways to do so.
How to improve research skills for article writing or blogging
Follow these steps and keep practicing them daily and eventually you’ll see that your articles have become more detailed and valuable than before.
Read a lot
This goes without saying, but a good writer readers a lot. When you read articles written by others within or outside your niche, your mind opens up to new styles of writing and new approaches. Whenever I get stuck or feel a writer’s block coming, I stop what I’m doing and read articles from some of my favourite authors. Observe their style, but don’t copy them. The more you read, the more variety of content you’ll have in your brain and soon, it will reflect in your articles.
Don’t Rely on One Source
For writing articles, it’s important to look for multiple sources. This helps your fact-checking process, allows you to get different perspectives or even get different methods to do the same thing. Watch YouTube videos if it helps you create original content and don’t forget social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and Discord for more sources, depending on your topic.
Identify Good Sources
Building up on my previous point – as important it is to collect information from various sources, it’s even more important to understand which ones are reliable. Ask yourself – is the content still relevant or has it become outdated? Are the facts cross-verified by testing it personally or via any other format? Is it an opinion piece that can be relied on? And so on.
You may already know the bigwigs from your niche – make them your go-to for reference. There could also be some quality websites that are not so popular. You may find them ranking on Google sometimes, bookmark them and go back for more.
Refine your Google Search
If you wish to find more sources, make the most of Google search. Filter by specific phrases or sort by date – you are bound to find a lot more information this way, instead of just focusing on the top 10 sites that rank on the first page of Google (or any other search engine you prefer to use). This trick can prove to be very useful to make your content unique and useful.
Note your Points in an Organized Manner
As you gather information, note down the most important points and then build from there. Going at the topic all at once can get overwhelming – so to avoid that, take it one step at a time. It’s easy to get overwhelmed if you are faced with a huge wave of source materials, especially if the topic you’re writing about it challenging. In such a situation, take a deep breath before putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) and start with baby steps. Soon enough, your organized collection of notes will help you create your first draft.
And those were my suggestions to improve your research skills while writing a blog post or an article on a web portal. Hope this helps! Be sure to check out my other post on tips to improve writing skills as well.
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Not relying on one source is such valuable advice! Your idea to watch YouTube videos and batch other knowledge before writing is a great way to diversify your info. Organization is also key to making for a better end product when blogging! I find it’s easiest for me to write out a title I’m writing towards, write out sub-headings so I know what to focus the writing on, and then work on the details.
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