Content Creation Secrets

There’s one Benjamin Franklin quote that can help an aspiring writer as it had helped me set up a content website and add to my earning from freelance writing.

If you follow the advice in the quote, you may end up with enough material for a blog, ebook or website of your own.

The quote is: “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

This is a simple but profound quote that should set any writer going.

The quote will benefit those fond of complaining that they don’t have anything useful to write about.

Such writers should exercise the second option by going out and doing things worth writing about.

One of the things you could do is travel. Many writers focus on travel for their writing material. Think of VS Naipaul and Paul Theroux among others. Their travel experiences, more often than not, result in books.

If you can’t afford the luxury of travel, you can do something small but meaningful, something that others would be eager to know about.

A method you could use is getting hold of a device/gadget that you’re curious about and start exploring it.
In the process of doing so, you will learn some tips and tricks and also meet with problems that will spur you to explore other related areas.

Some twelve years ago I got curious about camcorders and acquired a unit. Now that I was capturing video footage, I began getting interested in how I could remove parts that I don’t want. I also wanted to know how I could add music in lieu of annoying background noises.

Exploring further, I found that I could do it using a video capture device that I could hook to my computer.I went out and acquired one.

Before long, I discovered that the video editing software that came along with it didn’t really meet my needs.
The natural thing to do is explore alternatives. This was an exciting journey which led me to learn things which I would not have learnt if I had not gone out and acquired the camcorder.

The thing is when you set out to explore something you’re curious about, you’ll end up learning many other useful things. This is also a form of travel. You visit a place with preconceived notions about it, but once you’re there, you learn things you never expected to learn.

My digital video exploration led me to acquire enough know-how to set up my own website and later getting paid to write about it for content sites.

Do something worth writing about.

This is Benjamin Franklin’s content creation secret that I use to ensure that I don’t run out of writing material.
If you have not yet done something worth writing about, then go out and start doing something you’re curious about.

Rest assured that you’ll have a long and pleasant content creation journey.

The Second Type: The Keyword-Mad Blogger
This blogger will not write a single word until he checks his intended topic with a keyword tool and gets approval from it.

He’s excited about blogging on a certain topic but because he has just bought a keyword analyzer tool from an Internet Marketing guru, he will have to put it to good use and get his money’s worth.

The ebook that came with the keyword tool has taught him only to write on `profitable’ keywords, which means keywords with high search volumes.

Still, he searches the keywords he’s passionate about and finds that there are only a few searches or no searches at all. He’s in a dilemma. But the Internet Marketing guru’s brainwashing wins the day.

He decides not to write on topics he’s passionate about. He will spend his time hunting for `profitable’ keywords. Or he doesn’t have to. Some gurus do their readers a favour by listing down profitable niches in their ebooks – saves their readers a lot of hard work and time.

What these gurus suggest is the moment you use a `profitable’ keyword in your blog post, readers will come rushing to your blog because it’s a hot keyword everyone is searching for.

So, the blogger, faithful to his training, comes with `profitable’ keywords and starts writing away although he may not be excited about them or has very little knowledge on the subject of the keyword (the gurus don’t address this issue in their ebooks).

According to the gurus, once the necessary keywords are chosen, readers will be clamoring to read the blog posts and from the `tsunami’ traffic you can earn through PPC advertisements or sell affiliate products etc.

The blogger will soon realise that he’s not the only one who’s using the keyword tool. There are many others using the same shortcut method to draw readers to their blogs or websites. Some have done it much earlier than he has. So, he’s going to be up against stiff competition.

The second thing he will learn is if he keys in a `profitable’ keyword into his favorite search engine, he will find millions of sites already using the keyword. He mistakenly thinks this is good because there’s demand for the keyword.

He will soon learn that he will not get any traffic to his blog because people who search for the keyword will not find his blog. Yes, he’s not going to get first page ranking in the search engines because there are many other mature (have been around for a long time) content sites already using the `profitable’ keyword and there’s no way he’s going to beat them. He would be lucky if he finds himself on the 100th page.

Let’s be a little optimistic for a moment. Say some searchers manage to find his blog. How would they likely react to it? They will find that the blogger’s content is nothing special, not valuable enough to spend their time on. Because it’s keyword-based, they would have seen many others like it elsewhere – maybe better content than what he has to offer.

The smarter ones will sniff it out as a spam blog which focuses only on keywords rather than offering valuable content from the mind and the heart of the blogger. They leave with a bad taste in their mouths, never to return again.

There’s one sure winner though in this game – the Internet marketing guru who sold the keyword tool or ebook to the blogger. He’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.

While our blogger, having burnt his fingers, is trying to find blog topics (if he has not given up yet) and trying to win readers, the grinning Internet marketing guru is already planning his next product and looking for ghostwriters who can do the job for him.

I’m sorry, it’s not `looking for ghostwriters’. The gurus call it outsourcing.

Yes, they are so busy subtly hoodwinking gullible folks out there that writing does not deserve even a single minute of their time.

Ray Bradbury is a science fiction writer. What can he then teach you about content creation for the web? Plenty, if you read his all-time classic, Zen in the Art of Writing.
Here are some of his pointers that content creators could put to good use.

Write with Zest and Gusto
Bradbury says whatever you write you must write with vigor and love. Are you writing with zest and gusto? Well, if you’re writing about something you’re passionate about, then the zest and gusto are natural byproducts.
 
Ray Bradbury says,“If you’re writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fever, you are only half a writer. For the first thing a writer should be is – excited.”

The web is full of half-writers who write in profitable niches with very little of the zest and gusto Bradbury is talking about. They write in profitable niches or on high-paying keywords or on keywords with high search volumes.

Ask yourself whether you want to be half a content creator like them or do you want to write with zest and gusto about what you’re passionate about to offer something genuine and of value to your readers.

Write Fast
One of the greatest enemies of content creation is hesitation. If you start worrying about whether what you’ll be writing will be without mistakes or interesting, you put a tough brick wall in the path of your content creation process.

Ray Bradbury says, “In quickness is truth. The faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write. The more honest you are. In hesitation is thought. In delay comes the effort for a style instead of leaping upon the truth which is the style worth deadfalling or tiger-trapping.”

The next time you sit at the keyboard or pick up the pen, write as fast as you can, without worrying about the things you’ve learned to worry about. Pump it all out until you’re finished.

Do you notice a kind of energy in your writing when you do that?

Here are some questions worth considering:

Are you Writing What You’re Passionate About?
The easiest source of energy is your passion. When you’re passionate about something, you don’t have to consciously generate energy. Energy comes from some deep, mysterious source. The moment you write something that your heart doesn’t desire, your energy saps.

Are You Writing When Your Energy Level is High?
Ask yourself how much energy you need for writing. Much more than needed for other activities? Then write when your energy level is high. If your day job exhausts you, write before you set out to work. Take about fifteen minutes or even half an hour to write. If you commute by train use the time to write. Write during tea or lunch breaks. Write on the way back from work. Don’t wait until your day’s energy drains away before writing.

Do You Waste Your High Energy Level?
Do you undertake menial tasks when your energy level is high. Do you read emails, make phone calls, surf the Internet or do anything else which doesn’t require much energy when you can write?

Never do anything else but write when your energy level is high.

Recently, I saw a blog post where the blogger was looking for writers to supply content for his blog. He was courageous enough to say that when he started the blog the going was good. Months later, he found himself running out of steam. So, now he’s looking for writers who can provide him with content. To qualify, the writer must have a good working knowledge of SEO. It’s not a profit-sharing thing. He is buying content from freelance writers to publish it as his own.

Now, why is he taking the trouble to buy content for his blog? Why doesn’t he just discontinue the blog or take a long vacation until he’s motivated enough to start blogging again? He can’t afford to. His is a niche blog and I guess it’s earning him some money already. So, he needs fresh content to keep the dollars rolling in. Since the dollars matter more to him he doesn’t seem to care where the content comes from.

He blogged to make money and now he has to fork out his dollars to keep his blog afloat. I guess that’s alright for people like him. Sometimes you have to use sacrifice a small fish to catch a bigger one.

What could have caused the blogger’s `writing well’ run dry? The answer must be very obvious to you. Yes, he has no passion for what he’s been blogging about. He must have started the blog to make money maybe after reading an ebook entitled something like, How To Be a Millionaire Blogger in 30 Days.

He has done his homework well, he was chosen a profitable niche, based on high-paying keywords and has spend hours optimizing his blog for the search engines.

To many like him passion for his subject is not King. Keywords are. So, there’s really no surprise that his well has run dry. How long can he blog on keywords that pay but for which he has no passion for? Not long. His writer self has begun revolting and is on the verge of going on a long strike.

If you are in his position, what would you do? Would you move on to producing content you’re passionate without worrying whether it’s in a profitable niche or whether it has keywords a high search volumes? Would you aim for endless content that not only nourishes you but also your readers?

Or would you take the path of the ailing blogger and desperately fill the dry well of your keyword-driven blog with other people’s content?