Content Creation Secrets

If you have been blogging for a while, you would have learnt about your blog’s strengths and weaknesses.

Your weaknesses may include lack of writing prowess, plain language and even typos.

You should correct these weaknesses as much as possible. The one thing you should not do is fuss and worry over them. If you give much time and energy, you’ll end up with a no-win situation, Why, you may even end up giving up on blogging.

Instead, outline a strategy on how you will be attacking these weaknesses. Follow and refine this strategy and you’ll certainly see results over time. Patience and persistence is the name of the game.

While devoting time to rectify your weaknesses, you would want to also focus on your strengths. Which category in your blog draws the most response in terms of comments?
Do you see a jump in traffic when you blog on a certain topic?

Which topic do you find yourself writing eloquently about?
You may have started your blog on a general theme, but over time you can identify the area that generates reader interest.

Focus on this area and generate more fresh content.
Blogging is all about learning to identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Ask yourself what you are doing to overcome the weaknesses.

Ask also what you’re doing to reinforce your strengths.

Have you written some good content so that you could generate search engine traffic?

Traffic to your site or blog depends on your ranking in the search engine pages. Does good content rank highly in such pages?

We learn that search engine robots are getting smarter by the day. We are told they can easily differentiate between valuable content and spam.

Is this true? Are search engine robots that smart?

If you don’t get a good ranking because there are better content pages you’ll have to accept defeat graciously.
What if it’s spam or not-so-valuable page that ranks higher than your content page?

I’ve come across sales pages and product order pages that are ranked higher (first page)than good content pages, which are consigned to the third or fourth pages.

You and I know searchers don’t go beyond the second or third page in normal circumstances.

So, what can we do when a sales page or product order page ranks above your content page?

You will have to write more content on the same keywords and submit to article directories like ezinearticles. Search engines rank content from article directories highly and you can still drive traffic to your content pages in a roundabout way.

The other method would be to create a Youtube video on your keyword and leave a link to your content page in the video description section. Search engines rank Youtube videos highly and your video may end up on the first page for your chosen keyword.

Do these methods appeal to you? Do you have any other methods?

The Internet Gurus will tell you that you can make thousands of dollars within a single day with your content. That’s a laugh. They are the ones who make thousands of dollars selling information products telling you how to do it.

Those who have tried making money with their content have some sad stories to tell.

There are thousands of webmasters or bloggers with great content sites or blogs carrying hundreds of articles making only a few dollars a week through Adsense. The same goes to the Adsense gurus, but they make money selling information products teaching you how to make a fortune with Adsense.

Still, there are some who make a living online with their content. They offer freelance writing services. They are certainly the envy of many who have not yet met with success in their attempts to monetize their content.

You may envy them, but the Internet gurus do not. These slick salesmen tell you it’s not enough to make a living with your content. You are only considered a success when you make a fortune out of your content.

I came across such a statement in a sales letter for a product which teaches you how to make a fortune with your content. You know what’s the secret? Just provide quality content which is in demand.

Gurus share another `little-known’ secret. Don’t write your own content. It’s time consuming. Get someone to do it for you for a few bucks. Sell the content for thousand of dollars. Very simple, isn’t it?

If you come across such a product just ignore it. You are not going to get content creation secrets to make a fortune by buying such products.

Save your money and visit good content creation sites or blogs to pick up useful tips. Keep creating content and be patient as you keep learning.

But if you’re lazy and greedy and always look for shortcuts in life, this advice will be useless to you.

The greedy and lazy will never make a fortune with their content. They will only make the Internet gurus rich and end up frustrated – the just reward of greed and laziness.

If you’re brimming with ideas for blog posts, you may find it tempting to discuss them with friends or family members instead of writing them down.

Is this a wise thing to do?

Yes and no.

Of course talking it out is much, much easier than writing it down. You may find yourself waxing lyrical about your ideas. If you’re going to discussing your content in depth then you run the risk of running out of steam when it comes to writing the content.

Yes, you may feel what’s there to write when you’ve already talked it all out.

If you really have to discuss your blogging ideas, just talk briefly on the topic without going into the details of the content.

You don’t want to end up emotionally spent even before you sit down to write your content.

Talking about your content, however, comes useful if you’re having trouble getting started writing your blog post.

In this instance, you may want to use your friend or family member as a springboard for a smooth flow of ideas.

You may even want to do an audio recording of the discussion so that you could use it to refresh your memory when it comes to writing your blog post.

Getting dozens of comments for his blog posts is nothing new for this high-profile blogger. His posts get commented on for months , almost on a daily basis. Almost every post enjoys a high Google PageRank.

Obviously, many blogs must be linking to the posts for his blog to enjoy such a standing. I would say that the blogger deserves all those comments owing to the comprehensiveness of his posts. They are almost at par with the quality of articles in a top-notch magazine.

However, I have an issue with the way he moderates the hundreds of comments he receive.

The post I was reading had about 130 comments. What disappoints is the blogger seems to have included every other comment that has been posted. What’s the idea of doing that?

There are many one-liner comments which don’t add to the conversation, made solely for the purpose of getting backlinks from a high-traffic blog.

There was a comment which only said one word: Last. Then there was a duplicate comment. The commenter must have clicked the submit button twice. Then there are comments which are plain silly. I stopped reading the posts after the first ten.

There may be some useful ones if I scroll further down, but I’ll only get to them by wading through the `lazy’, selfish comments which are just a waste of time.

Out of the 130 comments, the blogger could have done with about 30-40 comments that contributes to the discussion. The comments will be swelling over the months and years and they will end up providing no real value to a reader.

If yours is a high-traffic blog with dozens of comments, please moderate the comments in the interest of other readers. It’s your duty to select only those which provide value.

Kick out those comments which try to advertise a product, which try to be witty without saying anything or which just say one word.

One of the methods suggested to get traffic to your blog is by leaving comments in other blogs which draw high traffic.

Most blogs allow you to leave your URL in the comment section.

But does leaving your URL guarantee traffic to your blog? It depends.

If you’re leaving your comments among many others it may go unnoticed. I’ve encountered some blogs where there dozens of comments. Unless you’re going to say something clever and useful, visitors to the blog would have no time for you.

Usually blog posts which draw a lot of comments have enough valuable content to satisfy readers. There is no need for them to hop over to another blog especially when the comment is nothing more than `nice post’.

You can’t also write: Hey, I don’t agree with the methods suggested in this post. I have a better method. Please visit my blog at…….

Chances are your comment will not get through the moderation stage.

Yes, disagreeing with a blog post and offering an alternative view is a good way to attract attention, but then you may not into the good books of the blogger, who may decide not to publish your comment for fear of undermining his own post.

That should not deter you from making `radical’ posts, however. Some open-minded bloggers welcome that to keep discussion on their post going.

The other way to get noticed is to write your comment in the form of a complete post and dazzle your visitors with your know-how. Readers may be curious to know what else you have to offer in your blog and be tempted to check you out.

But then if you’re commenter number 99, readers may not be patient enough to scroll down to your comment.

Despite these difficulties, you should go on commenting in other blogs because its always better than doing nothing at all to draw traffic to your blog.

Here are some sentence starters you could use if you have trouble getting your blog post written.

• The one thing I like about ________________.
Example: The one thing I like about making daily blog posts is the opportunity it provides to cultivate writing discipline. (You can then go on to write about how your writing discipline has improved as a result of making daily blog posts).

• I thought it would be exciting to share my experience of ___________________.
Example: I thought it would be exciting to share my experience of writing an ebook. (You can explain the process and how you managed or failed to write the ebook).

• Do you face this problem when it comes to ______________________?
Example: Do you face this problem when it comes to monetizing your blog? (You can also use this sentence starter as your blog post headline or title. You just go on to define the problem and propose a solution to it.)

• How do you___________________?
Example: How do you get more readers for your blog? (Can be used as a title. You explain the steps to be taken to achieve the desired goal.)

• One of the best ways to ______________ is _________.
Example: One of the best ways to earn an income from your blog is by joining a blogging network. (You choose one among the many ways to do something).

What are your favorite sentence starters? Would you like to share them?

Do you have great content in your blog? Do you receive the occasional comment commending your two cents?

Do you feel your blog deserves better compared to some popular blogs that don’t have that great content to boast about?

It may pain your heart to note that other blogs with trivial content are deemed more popular or the most discussed.

You may also question the need to go on blogging when you’re not getting the response you desire.

The thing is you should not respond emotionally to the response your blog is receiving.

If you look at it on a rational level, you’ll discover that there’s really no cause for concern. For one, you have no control over how folks respond to your blog. No matter how much you worry about it, you have no power to change their attitude.

Instead, ask if your blog has timeless content. If it does, then it would be here to stay. New readers would keep finding your blog and your audience will grow. Really, you need to give your blog time to mature and grow into something formidable.

If you’re producing timeless content and regularly updating your blog, you’ve no reason to be concerned about your blog’s popularity in the here and now.

Tell yourself you’re blogging for the future. As your content grows and more folks discover your blog, it will get the popularity it deserves.

Only be concerned if you’ve been blogging say for around five years and have not received much of a response.

So, blog on no matter what response you receive. Blog with the future in mind.

How will my blog post benefit my readers?

If you don’t ask yourself this question, you may end up writing a post with a personal agenda. There’s something in the post for you, but very little or nothing at all for the reader.

An example is a blog post written with the intention of selling an affiliate product. The post says, in between the lines, “Hey, I’ve written this so that you will read it and buy the product. I badly want to earn my commission.”

A typical post says you will get all the benefits only if you buy the product. The reader comes away with nothing from the post unless he’s willing to open his wallet. Nothing is given as a reward to the reader for reading the post, not even a single tip which the reader could use without having to spend money.

If you have to write a blog post promoting a product, do offer some tips or valuable information readers can use without having to buy the product.

The other type of `selfish’ post is one about the blogger’s personal life. The blogger talks about his personal life without asking himself what readers can learn out of it. He talks about his dog falling ill and he takes it to the clinic and now his dog is recovering and he will wait patiently for it to be back on its feet.

The reader does not learn anything useful about dogs, or clinics or anything. However, the blogger assumes you know his dog and therefore you must be concerned.

Then there’s the post about struggling with a problem. Recently I read one about a blogger who has not been blogging regularly. She writes about her problem and just ends the post saying she must write regularly. The post is merely a personal reminder to write regularly. No tips or solutions for those who may be facing the same problem.

So, the next time you sit down to write a blog post, ask yourself, “What reward will the reader get for spending time on this post?”

This will prevent you from writing `selfish’ posts.

Early this morning, I visited a blog that was born in 2007 and drowned the same year.

It only had a life of about five months.

A blog is as good as its last post. You make a post today and as the hours stretch by, it starts sinking. So to keep its head above water, you would have to make a fresh post the next day or the next.

Some bloggers don’t make fresh posts daily because they don’t have fresh ideas.

Some have ideas but think that those ideas are not good enough for blog posts.

No idea is ever good enough if you start putting it under the microscope.

Also, some bloggers are under the impression that they would have to write thousands of words for their blog posts to be any good.

If they don’t have a subject on which they can write thousands of words, they banish the idea of writing at all.

You should eliminate such defeatist habits from your system.

All you need is a simple subject on which you can write about a hundred words.

When you feel you don’t have anything to write, just go out and write about fifty words, to keep your blog above water.

Don’t ever pause and think whether your post is good or will impress readers.

Remember, your chief mission as a blogger is to keep your blog from drowning, not writing the perfect post.