4 Ways To Research For That Next Awesome Blog Post
4 Great Ways To Research
Have you ever thought about how to research for your next blog post? Some topics may need more research than others. Some come from life experiences or others from something you read and you may want to expound upon. In the old days we used to do our research in a library. Today the research is all done online. Knowing how to research can add quality information to your blog.
Recently another blogger Allie from Ramblings of a Wahm was going back and forth with me in regards to recent post on masking links and affiliates. It got me to thinking more about shares on social media for affiliate products.
@allierambles You got me researching more this a.m. Allie
— Lisa(@Lisapatb) August 23, 2012
I’m still researching on affiliate links in social shares ever since this Twitter conversation. I found several ways but want to research the topic more before doing a post on it. Too many legalities involved and I would not want to steer anyone in the wrong direction. So what are some ways to do this research online?
Four great ways to research include:
- Google Alerts
- Twilert
- Quora
My favorite is Google Alerts. You can pick you topic or keywords and have it sent to your email. You can set it up so it does it immediately when it publishes on the web or 1x daily or weekly. You can set up your own parameters. I suggest setting one up for your name, your business, your blog, your topics, etc. It comes via email to you. I’ve been using it for years and it’s been a huge help at my daily job as I get alerts on my accounts and account category. I use it for the websites for names and keywords.
LinkedIn is great for doing research on companies. You can follow companies on LinkedIn and get the latest news on them. You may also follow individuals and groups. There are many ways to use LinkedIn for research on people and businesses. There is also an answers place on LinkedIn. You may ask or answer them.
Twilert – A great way to stay on top of tweets about your topics. You can set up emails to come daily or more than 1x daily or just weekly. These are great to see if anyone is tweeting your brand or to see what the competition is doing on Twitter for names and/or keywords.
Quora - This one is great to ask questions. There are many topics here related to websites and blogs. One time I found an answer to the best way to ship for the lowest price. There are many experts on this website ready to answer your questions. Of course if you are an expert you may answer them there as well. Your content can be shared and you can see who it reaches via Quora there. (That’s new) You follow users and users can follow you like other social sites. You can set up topics to follow on Quora too.
What Ways Do YOU Do Research For YOUR Blog Posts?
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About Lisa
Helping Others to Thrive Online Through Social Media, Blogging and SEO. What good is knowledge if you cannot share it with others?
20+ years experience in marketing/advertising with 3 years experience blogging, social media and SEO.
15 Responses to 4 Ways To Research For That Next Awesome Blog Post
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Hi Lisa,
Nice topic dear
Actually, I wasn’t using any of it, yeah, not yet.
Usually I get ideas or questions about how to do these things or that, and on the aspect of my blog, mostly I just need to try it out myself and share what it does actually. it takes time
For other topics, I tend to read more and more. Google comes up there and mostly I believe not personal opinions but experience of ‘em.
Product forums and online communities are where I can find official representatives help me with my questions mostly related to products or services
Else contact forms. I think still books are best methodology and when it comes to online, it’s trusted blogs.
Cheers…
(dofollow)
Mayura recently posted..How to Add a Feedback Tab for Your Website with Get Satisfaction
Forums – which do you recommend Mayura? I’ve got to get myself there. I’ve been in the Droid one when I first got my phone and had questions.
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Lisa recently posted..4 Ways To Research For That Next Awesome Blog Post
Mostly I’d go with official help forums Lisa
If you are researching about WordPress plugin, WordPress help forum can be a great resource. It is full of Qs & As, but nice explanations and much more to learn from small incidents 
Cheers…
(dofollow)
Mayura recently posted..How to Add a Feedback Tab for Your Website with Get Satisfaction
Hi Lisa,
I love your tips, very happy to see a new blog post publish but after its published my face is like
“What can the next post gonna be?” Just because of that, it makes me sad and can’t really do anything to it.
Luckily, thanks for the 4 ways above, I feel a lot better now. (:
Ferb recently posted..6 Simple Steps to Complete a Google+ Profile
Thanks Ferb, Hope you found these useful.
I am always researching, in many cases my “need to know and search” become my post.
Debbie recently posted..Baby Clothing brought to you by Kicky Pants
Hi Debbie, yes that is how some posts come to be. Good point.
I’m not using any of those but am definitely going to check out google alerts! Sounds interesting! Oh btw, Happy Friday!
Brenda recently posted..Friday Funny with Pibbles
Yes, Brenda Google alerts are great for many things including people and businesses, etc.
I love Google Alerts. I’ll have to check out your other suggestions. I learn something new every time I visit your site. Thanks for the great info.
Lauren recently posted..Akin Assailed for Female Defense System Leak
You are welcome Lauren. Me too, Google Alerts are my favorite.
Oh Yeah
Research IS my thing, Try AllTop for trends, CNN for news / current affairs, Youtube and Google hangouts for viral trends and things about to go viral. There’s so many ways, the list is endless!
I don’t do much research, but I use Google and Google Alert for some of my posts. And I use Twitter search as well.
I haven’t witten that many blog posts where I have based my posts on research. But, that’s probably going to change sometime soon, as I am starting to write posts for clients as well.
Thanks for sharing.
Jens P. Berget recently posted..Your Car Tells a Story – about You
Great post Lisa! I just want to add that it is really worth it if you digg a little more about your next subject in Google.
Google also offers:
-BlogSearch (perfect way to see if other bloggers already wrote about that particular subject and maybe you can offer a different twist to your blog post),
-News (searching Google News will instantly show results just from news publications. This is a great way to get verified facts that you can include in your awesome blog post).
-Google Scholar (Provides a search of scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources, including theses, books, abstracts and articles)
-and a lot more
Julius from RoundNews recently posted..R.I.P. Neil Armstrong. First man to walk on moon dies at 82
Oh yes Julius, I love the news search. Haven’t used the blog or scholar feature, good to know! Thank you for sharing the info here.