3.3 Why Research Matters

We are so close to getting into the actual writing of each blog and if nothing else, this course has taught you….well, patience. 

That all good things come to those who wait and that life is like a wildflower that is here today and gone tomorrow…..I’m not sure where I was going with this but the point is...we’re almost there. Stay with us for just a second..

Let’s look at one key factor that needs to be part of your planning and strategising: search volumes. 

In the last episode, we talked about how you can build a content calendar by dividing audiences, putting down questions they might have and then building blog titles to answer those questions.

Well, there is one more step that you could incorporate into that process, which is validating if your blog titles are actually stuff people are searching for. 

Remember, I told you most blogs fail because they are writing about stuff nobody is searching for. This step helps you make sure that doesn't happen to your blog.

I mean, you don’t wanna end up as another obscure blog on the internet that a total of 3 people have read, one of them being your grandma. 

So, how do you know if your blog titles are actually something people might be searching for?

There are 2 ways you can find out -

The first way is so easy, it's stupid. You simply put the question you are trying to answer with your blog into google’s search bar and see if you are getting relevant content on that topic. 

For example, here is one of the questions we talked about - How much does it cost to study in a particular country?

Let's make that a bit more specific - How much does it cost to study in the UK? Now, let's see what Google gives us.

A simple search will reveal that there are a lot of pages answering this question. That means, this is actually something people are searching for, so you building a blog on this is definitely validated. 

One thing to note is that, if what you are writing about is extremely popular, there might be other blogs out there that are already ranking for and it might take your blog time to really stand out. 

Over time you will learn to not just look at search volumes but also competition, but for now this is good enough.

The second way to assess search volume is to actually use a tool that will give you that data. There are several paid and free keyword research tools out there and as you get into the world of blogging, keyword research will become part of your daily life. 

Some of these tools are paid but for now, let’s use a free tool by Google called the keyword planner. 

Search for Keyword planner and find your way to the website. Google will ask you to sign up for an adwords account - go ahead and do it. It’s worth the trouble. 

You will see these two options - ‘Discover new keywords’ and ‘get search volumes and forecasts’.

Click on this wrench icon up here and navigate to keyword planner. 

Click on Search volumes. It will ask you for a search term:

Let's try, study abroad in the UK. Hit ‘get started’.

And that is what we have come all this way for - Avg. monthly search. You can see that the number is 100 - 1k. You go and click on this, the monthly searches will jump from 1k - 10k. That tells you that there are about a thousand to ten thousand people searching for this exact term across the world.

Now that's not bad at all. Here’s why - there are people searching for the same thing that are not using that exact phrase. If you go over to keyword ideas on the left and type in Study Abroad in the UK, you'll see this,

There are similar search terms people are looking up that would probably engage with your blog. All the searches together do give you a picture that a blog on this topic is something that users would consume.

As a blogging professional, take a few hours or even days just researching multiple keywords and see how they rank. 

This is a nifty little tool only a handful of bloggers know and you’re one of them so make sure you add it to your blogging process. 

And with that we are done with this chapter. You’re finally ready to get into writing some world-class blogs.