When I started out blogging, 12 years ago, the whole idea of blogging was pretty new. I watched an interview wayck then about it, and a man explained all about a web log and that “blog” was short for that. Pinterest didn’t exist. There were no “trends” to check out. I started my blog to share sewing ideas. From the first day, I just created content based on what I liked to make and hoped people wanted to the make the things that I liked to make.
Aerial view of computer laptop on wooden table
Now, it’s all about trends. To create a successful blog, you need to plan your posts around trends. While I do still write about the things I like, I also keep my finger on the pulse for what people are searching on the internet. Now, I often gear my posts towards those topics.
Table of Contents
Keywords
My first stop to planning a post is to check current keywords. It’s a quick way to see what people are searching for. There’s a couple of ways to do this. I recommend getting the Chrome extension for Keywords Everywhere. There are other paid programs, but I find this one works well for me.
Trends
These are also a few places I check regularly to see what people are looking at and searching for. These are my favorites:
If you’re making holiday content, I recommend starting at least 2 months early. Otherwise, it just isn’t indexed on Google and Pinterest quickly enough to get traction. It always drives me crazy when I have a brand want to work with me 1-2 weeks before a big holiday.
I had a huge brand do this to me a couple years ago for a Christmas post and had it go live two days before Christmas. Two days! Pinterest is one of my biggest places for traffic, and it takes awhile to get into the Pinterest algorithm. My post didn’t gain any traction until the next year when I was able to start really promoting it in October.
I’ve learned it’s pretty important to be aware of trends when you’re a lifestyle or food blogger. You don’t have to be hyper focused on those trends, but your content can often go a lot further if you do work around these trends.