Habits are those small, yet important little things that can either make or break us in the scheme of life. Look around at everyone around you: they are either trying to break an old bad habit or trying to cultivate a healthy and productive new habit. By and by, habits define us: we may say we believe certain things about business practices or relational issues, but our habits actually tell the real story.
But what about our business habits, where the rubber meets the road? Most people know that having an online presence is an absolute necessity for all businesses. But if there is no plan of attack, no active intention of taking steps to move in this direction, then just having a stale blog or company website will have no payoff.
But the biggest question, for those who don't like to write or find it difficult to come up with new blog posts every few days is this: What do I write about and where do I even begin?
We know that the only way to get people to come back over and over again to your blog is through content! This is a great article on 9 effortless ways to get the relevant, interesting content onto your blog, to keep readers coming back. * * * * *
1. Read. Read a lot. Read a huge, crazy, over-the-top lot. I read right around a book a week, and have done so since grade school. Sure, the downside is that most of those around me think I'm something of a know-it-all. But unless I know a LOT, I don't have the basic resources to provide a broad underpinning of information to write from, and thus enrich any subject that I need to write about.
2. Write. Write a lot. Write for fun. Write for money. Write for history. Write for others. Write because you love to write. If you don't, maybe you should try another career. The reading and writing should not be a chore. But like anything else in life, there are competing priorities . . . or, at least one competing priority. So turn off the TV and read and write.
3. Learn. I read because I am curious, insatiably curious. Not just about some things. About everything. I'm curious about science, history, politics, the environment, foods and nutrition, sports, parenting. Okay, you get it. And today I read an article on Joel Osteen, the TV evangelist, and spent an hour researching him. You can be a writer without being curious and loving to learn, but it sure can't be easy.
4. Speak. Talk about your subject. Give talks about your subject. Engage in online chats or forums about your subject. You can't really know how your take on something is going to be received unless you've done some testing. I love trade shows because of this. I can pitch a new product idea for a few days and get hundreds of responses and ideas for how to present that product or service.
5. Deep. If you are going to be writing on this subject for a while, you might as well become an expert. Call other experts and do casual or formal interviews. Buy and read every book you can find. When researching online, go 3, 4, 5, or even 10 pages deep on Google. Then go to YouTube and do the same thing. Follow the rabbit trails.
6. Tools. Use Google Adwords Keyword Tool, and Google Alerts, RSS feeds, social bookmarking sites and other similar resources to get content information all day long. Come up with a method for keeping lists of ideas, titles, headlines, opening teaser lines, and categories of ideas when you think of them. Also use Evernote or some other system for storing websites and YouTube videos that you want to have handy in the future.
7. Stop. If you do these things, I believe you will find yourself with more ideas than time to write the things you want to write. But if you are actually having one of those moments when nothing is kicking in, get into your Alpha Brain State. Stop everything. Go where it is quiet and where there won't be interruptions. Get quiet. Tell your mind what it is you want, and let it do its thing. You might need ten minutes, twenty, half an hour. But if you can get out of your own way, the ideas will flow like crazy.
8. Flow. Write fast and just let it come. Stream of consciousness writing is by far the best for non-fiction. I am horrible at fiction, but suspect that this works for much of fiction writing, also. You can go back and edit and reorganize later. However, the more you write this way, the more often your first draft will be 98% ready.
9. Talk. Take your final version and read it OUT LOUD to yourself. You will find all the places where you syntax was awkward or confusing. You'll catch punctuation errors. You may sometimes find out that your argument wasn't formed as well as you thought. If you don't already do this step, you will thank me for years into the future for just this habit.
What do you find to be the most effective means of helping you to write relevant content?
In case you missed it, check out this Business Book Review: To Sell Is Human.
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