Boost Your Blog: Top 10 Ways to Curate and Create Content
Running a blog for your restaurant and posting consistently can be a formidable task. After all, developing fresh ideas to keep your readers coming back for more week after week, and eventually year after year is time-consuming and difficult, especially when paired with trying to run a business.
Professional bloggers use a system of methods and techniques to curate and create fresh content, and they are skilled at quickly picking out what will resonate with their reader base. Once they know what strikes the right chord, presenting the most relevant content from trending search data and previous posts is what professional writers do best. If you are ready to blog like the pros, just follow these 10 ways to curate and create content.
Curate Other’s Research and Content
Sometimes the creative well runs dry for all of us. To keep your posts coming consistently for your readers, look at the research and information others have collected. See what they are posting, then create collections of content that will resonate with your readers.
Data and research-based lists of ways to save time and money feeding your family during back- to-school season may sound less than exciting to you, but posts like that have been shown to trend and share quickly. If you tie it into your own promotions and online ordering specials, curating others research and content without plagiarizing can significantly impact your business if you time it right.
People Love Pictures, so Make Them a Scrapbook of Images
Often, the most popular content online is simply a collection of pictures with snappy, well-written captions. Since you are in the restaurant business, you probably have access to many photos of the type of cuisine you serve that you can either create yourself or curate from public online sources. As long as you properly credit the photographer and get permission to use others’ images, collecting food photography to create a slideshow or article is a great way to attract people to your blog and to your restaurant.
Draw On Your Comments
People provide feedback for your restaurant all the time via email, review cards, and social media. Determine the topics that are commented on the most or questions that come up frequently and compose a series of posts addressing those questions. You can also cross-link back to older posts where you had provided answers for those questions previously, too.
Reach Out to Influencers
See what other pro chefs have to say about the type of food you serve, the type of restaurant you run and various business practices you have like online ordering and delivery. If you collect enough relevant information from multiple sources, it puts you in the position as an authority in the business who follows best practices and knows who the major thought leaders and innovators are.
Provide Insider Views to Make the Mundane Into Magic
Write about those who grow your food and how they bring it to market daily. Create live videos and post them when you head to the farmers’ market to get your fresh produce and other ingredients for your menu. Serve shellfish and seafood? Show your readers the process of heading down to the fish market or the docks and buying your goods fresh off the boat. Make the everyday humdrum routine something special and worthy of documenting in writing or video. Give it a narrative and start sharing those stories.
Make Your Audience Part of Your Posts
Hold live Ask Me Anything (AMA) events on Facebook or Instagram Live. Invite your kitchen staff to be on, read the feedback and respond to comments in real time. This process makes your readers feel like valued insiders and not merely people who order your food.
Start a Weekly Curation Column
Topics can be as simple as “What’s Trending Now in the Restaurant Business” or “Top Favorite Dishes on Our Menu”. When you update it consistently, people will have a reason to return each week to see what’s new.
Research Trending Topics
Google Trends can tell you what people in your industry are talking about. All you need to do is run a search. The search engine will give you a list of results from the most popular topics and headlines. When you feel uninspired, this idea is a lifesaver.
Write Headlines With Punch
Crafting a headline isn’t rocket science, but it can take a nuanced touch. If you need help coming up with creative headlines that get reactions, there are plenty of articles and how-to videos online that explain the science behind headlines that get clicks. Sharpen up your headline writing skills, and watch those hits and click through numbers start to take off.
It’s All About Stories
Your blog should have a strong narrative thread that connects all your posts together thematically. You are telling the story of your restaurant, and every article you post is another chapter in that story. Curate your content along a strong narrative arc, create fresh content that adheres to the theme, and you will find that your blog starts seeing more traffic in no time.
If you need help getting started with your Blog, contact Orders2Me today. We can help get you going.