Content Creation Secrets

The blog post got me interested.

It was discussing how you could have ideas for blog posts all the time.

Among the methods suggested was to have an ideas file. You’re encouraged drop ideas from your notebook, pages torn off magazines, newspaper clippings and even brochures into this file. Anything that you think can spark off ideas for blog posts.

You’re then also encouraged to also have a folder in your computer. This is where you keep ideas jotted in your notepad and it’s recommended that you transfer ideas from your offline file to it.

The post elicited several comments, mostly thanking and praising the blogger for the suggestion. Some even said they’ll follow the suggestions at once. One said he had been looking for such a solution for a long, long time.

However, there was one comment that was a little unusual. The writer said he was already following the suggestion of throwing into his folder anything he can use as inspiration for his blog posts.

His folder is now full and his desk is now full to overflowing with newspaper clippings, pages from his notebooks, materials printed from the web and so on.
With so many ideas around him, he had a problem – writer’s block. He often finds it difficult to get started writing a blog post.

At once I sensed that this chap is suffering from the Idea Overload Syndrome. He has too many ideas fighting for his attention that he isn’t quite sure which to choose and write on.

The decision-making process is simply too painful that he abandons any attempt to get started. But the thing is he keeps on collecting blog ideas and throws them into his folder or on his overcrowded desk.

I have a confession to make.

I used to maintain an ideas folder in my early days as a writer. I soon learnt that they were practically of no use to me. I never relied on them when I’m looking for ideas to write on.

Many ideas are lying in the folder for fifteen years and more and I hardly look at them. I stumble upon them when cleaning my studio, but they don’t spur me to expand on them and write.

Now I consider it a waste of time collecting ideas. They’re time consuming and they don’t bring me returns. Also, I don’t want all these ideas to crowd my mind and give rise to the Idea Overload Syndrome.

For the Content Creation Secrets, I’ve never worked on more than two or three ideas at a time. Out of a possible three I choose only one and discard the rest. There have been times when I’ve yet to settle on an idea for the next day’s post. That’s alright. I can always come up with a single idea hours before making a post.

At the time of writing this post, I have two more post ideas, but I’m not sure whether I’ll be working on them. I’m not going to worry about them until I start writing tomorrow’s blog post. I may discard both and come up with something fresh, hours before posting.

The one thing I told promised myself when I started this blog is I want to enjoy writing the blog posts here. So, keeping an ideas file has the potential of defeating my purpose and even put me in the position of the bloke who’s struggling with writer’s block despite being swamped with ideas.

I need no more than two ideas at a time, just in case I can’t come up with something fresh and good before making a blog post.

So, if you’ve been suffering from the Idea Overload Syndrome, chuck your ideas folder aside and have no more than two or three ideas to work on at any one time.

Too much preparation can put additional strain on your mind and prevent your from achieving the results you desire.

When you’re deciding on a layout for your blog, what do you have foremost in your mind?

Do you want readers to focus on your content or do you want them to focus on your ads?

Most of us want to monetize our blogs, to compensate for all the hard work we have to put in. We feel we are justified in doing so.

Of course we are. But then what we feel about our blogs is not as important as what our readers feel about them.

Readers are not interested in our predicament. They’re only focused on what benefits they can derive.

Let me say that again. They visit blogs to avail themselves of good content. If they don’t get what they are looking for, they leave. As simple as that.

So, if your blog layout is not in such a way to highlight your most prized asset – your content – rest assured that you’ll be leaving a bad impression on your readers.

How much space do you give for your content in your blog? That determines the your attitude towards the reader.

What do readers see first when they show up at your home page? Are their eyes drawn to your content or to your ads and other monetization strategies?

Take a honest look at your blog and ask whether you’re having your reader’s interest in mind with the layout you have chosen.

If you find that very little prominence is given to your content, choose a different theme which gives prominence to content.

If you must have ads in your blog, downplay them. Spread them out so that your content still remain the primary focus.

Just because you’ve signed up with all those affiliate programs, you should not bombard your readers with ads left, right, bottom and top.

If you’re just starting out, take it easy on your monetization strategies.

Being a new blogger, you’re not going to make much cash (unless you want to believe the Internet marketing gurus) even if you’re going bombard your blogs with advertisements.

Wouldn’t it be better to generate less cash and a good impression than generate less cash and leave a bitter taste in your reader’s mouth?

You decide whether you want to win the reader’s trust or make money first.

Writers come in different packages. Some would not write a word unless they have the material planned to the minutest detail. The research must be done, facts and figures double-checked and everything else needed for the writing must be at hand.

You have a planner here.

The second type of a writer also does his homework before beginning a writing project.  But his planning is not as in-depth as the planner. He’s ready to go after gathering the minimum amount of material. Long planning makes him uneasy. He wants to get into the momentum of writing at the earliest opportunity. He just makes some notes and is ready to go.

If he needs to add extra information, he takes a break from writing, go into the research mode and gets back to writing as soon as he finds the necessary material.

Then there’s the writer who believes in no planning at all, who believes planning will stifle his writing momentum. He looks at the topic, spends a few moments thinking and is ready to go. Here is a diver.

He writes away without worrying about what is to come. He doesn’t fear wasting words on paper. Words doesn’t cost him anything. He uses as many as he likes.
He doesn’t really expect to go anywhere in his writing. In fact, he’s ready to go where his writing takes him. He is sure his writing will take him somewhere worthwhile. He begins writing with this belief.

Usually, he ends up writing long pieces and it will not be long (if he knows his subject) before he hits the bull’s eye and take off from there. Then all he has to do is cross out what’s not needed and retain the relevant parts.

In my twenty years as a writer and editor, I’m often asked which is the best among the three methods is. I have no concrete answer.

It depends on the writer and the writing project. I have used all three methods at one time or another.

If I am writing a technical piece where I’ve to get the facts and figures correct, I would want all the material at hand before I begin.

When I’m writing on a subject which I’m familiar with but have no in-depth knowledge, I get started with what I have and later fill in the gaps with research as I go.

Yes, I also write without a concrete plan. I’ve done that for the most part of my career as a fiction writer. You just have a general idea about a character and his goal or a sticky situation he or she is caught in and you take off from there and see where it all ends up.

This freewriting method also comes in handy when you’re writing a direct personal experience piece. Say for instance, if you’re writing an ebook entitled, How I made a Million Dollars on the Internet in Seven Days, you would not want to plan to the last detail what you’re going to say. You would just want to go with the flow because the material is all there in your head.

Whether you should be a planner or  diver or somebody in between, depends on your temperament and  nature of your writing project.

Keep experimenting to determine which method works for which project.