“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.” — Samuel Johnson, 18th-century English writer
Solving problems is not easy. You need to master the topic first, and then you can find an effective solution. But can we have 100% knowledge of any topic or subject?
The answer is: NO.
We may want to know everything about a subject but there will still be scope for improvement. So does that mean you, as a writer, will never be able to solve a problem for your readers?
Of course, you will be solving all your reader’s problems.
How?
Through thorough research.
You may not be good at research skills right now, but I can help you get better at it.
But how to improve your research skills?
Let me answer that. Throughout my nine-year career in writing and content marketing, I have made many mistakes and learned from them. Researching for my content also underwent the same process.
But the best part is that you do not need to commit the same goofs. You can easily skip them and reach where I am today with my 9 years of experience by simply reading this blog.
Why Writers Struggle with Research?
Even if you are a seasoned writer, you may find researching overwhelming. Here are some tips to help you out:
Information overload
It sounds cliched, but the internet is overflowing with information. It is very easy to lose your way in that crowded place, and it is super hard to sift through the noise. So, it’s obvious if you feel overwhelmed trying to find authentic information for your article, blog, or any content. Deciding what is most relevant and what is not is time-consuming (if you do not know the legit way to find out).
Struggle to find credible sources
Not all sources are credible and you may struggle to find trustworthy authoritative sites. Unverified and outdated information is your worst enemy as a writer. So you need to be aware of them.
A vague understanding of the topic
If you don’t have clarity, you may get confused. And if your topic is broadly or poorly defined, you may get perplexed even more and commit some research blunders.
Lack of research strategy
I know it is tempting to go to Google and search for the topic. But trust me that’s the worst idea because this scattershot approach wastes time and results in incomplete research. So you need to strategise your search better, before asking Google
No time for research
Deadlines and busy schedules often leave little room for thorough research. That’s my everyday struggle as a writer. But resorting to quick fixes can sacrifice the depth and accuracy of your writing.
How to Improve Research Skills?
Here’s what you can do to improve your research skills by overcoming all the challenges I have stated above.
- If you have a topic or your client has asked you to write about it, you need to break it down. For instance, if the topic is “sustainable fashion”, you can ask yourself these questions.
- What is sustainable fashion?
- Why is it important?
- What are some examples of sustainable practices?
Don’t forget to ask your client about the scope tone and depth of the topic. This will save a lot of time, and avoid misunderstanding. You will also be able to write content that fulfils their requirements.
- Based on the brief you have received from your client, do the keyword research. If your client has provided a list of keywords to work on, your work will be easier. If they haven’t, use Ahrefs free keyword research tool for the research. I am using it and it is amazing.
In case you need to do it yourself and don’t know how to do keyword research, I have already explained it in a blog. Go check it to get an idea.
- Once you decide on the list of keywords you are going to use, move on to study your competitors. Personally, I check these points while doing the competition research before writing on a particular topic.
- I google the focus keyword
- Choose the first 5 competitors
- I check the meta title, heading meta description
- Topics and subtopics covered
- How images are used
- Analyse the common topics and subtopics.
- What each one of them has unique in them
- After jotting down them I ask Chat GPT to make the structure
- I make changes to maintain the flow and give it my twist and flavour.
- Now I check the claims I will make through the writing. For all those claims I need empirical evidence. So I research for statistics, expert opinions, case studies, or historical context.
H2. Research tips to save time
Here are some of the things you can do to save time while researching for your assignment or blog.
- If you are writing this for a client, you should prepare a copywriting or brand voice questionnaire. Here is a glimpse of the questionnaire.
Brand Voice Questionnaire for Clients
This questionnaire will help understand your brand’s personality, values, and goals, ensuring the content reflects your unique voice. Please take a few minutes to answer these questions.
About Your Business:
- What is your business or brand about?
- What products or services do you offer?
- Who is your target audience (age, location, preferences, etc.)?
- What problem does your product or service solve for your audience?
About Your Brand Personality:
- How would you describe your brand in three words? (e.g., professional, approachable, bold)
- If your brand were a person, what kind of personality would it have?
- How do you want your audience to feel when they interact with your content?
About Your Voice and Tone:
- How formal or casual should your brand voice be? (e.g., conversational, professional, friendly)
- Should the tone of your content be more inspiring, informative, humorous, authoritative, or empathetic?
- Are there specific phrases, words, or jargon you want to include or avoid?
Content Preferences:
- What kind of content do you need? (e.g., blogs, articles, social media posts, newsletters)
- Do you have examples of content (yours or others) that you like or dislike? Please share links or details.
- Are there any specific topics or themes you’d like to focus on?
Competitors and Differentiation:
- Who are your main competitors?
- How do you want your content to stand out from theirs?
Practical Details:
- What are your goals for this content? (e.g., increase sales, build brand awareness, educate your audience)
- Are there any SEO requirements, such as keywords or meta descriptions, you’d like to include?
- Do you have a style guide or branding guidelines I should follow?
2. The other day My friend Susmita Pathak shared some helpful tips on LinkedIn. Go follow her for amazing writing tips. She shared very useful insights in this particular post. Here are some of them:
- Just Google search the topic. If you don’t get what you are searching for simply write the topic within double quotes (eg. “sustainable fashion”).
- If you want to see the list of articles on the topic enter this: “sustainable fashion + article”.
- For data and statistics related to your topic, enter this: sustainable fashion + statistics.
- For PDF and white papers, enter this: sustainable fashion + PDF
3. Always use authoritative sites for citation and linking. Domain rating is one of the indicators of its authority. So, check its domain rating. I go for only the sites that have 80-95 and above domain ratings. Ahrefs Backlink Checker is a free tool that you can use to find out the domain rating.
Just follow these steps and let me know how helpful they are
And that’s that, these are the tips I follow for my research and they save a lot of time and help me ensure the quality of the content. When you have clarity regarding the intent of your content, research becomes easier.
So, try these tips and if you need clarity regarding what intent is, just read my blog on it:
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