Do you have a blog? For instance on WordPress or a website but you're not getting the traction and visitors that you were hoping for when you started? You are certainly not alone. Two important reasons why your blog or website is not performing, could be that you either do not have enough content or that the content is not good enough.
In this blog article, we'll address both these issues. I will reveal my top five on how you can produce better content a lot faster. So your blog, or website becomes an absolute traffic generating beast, driving quality clicks to your business.
We start with number five on how to create better content, a lot faster for your blog, social media or website. Here we go. Number five: stick to your plan. Perhaps you recognize this: you have an idea for a blog article, a post, or perhaps a video, but instead of just creating it, you spend way too much time perfecting your plan.
You are overthinking, while you should be working on your original idea. You end up with several bits and pieces of a script or perhaps an introduction or an outline, but not the content itself. It often happened to me too, that when I wrote a blog or a video script, I thought about countless other topics that are related, but completely different topics in itself with the risk of jumping from idea to idea and from project to project.
So the first tip that works really well for me and that will certainly work well for you too, is to just make a list with topics or even titles or headlines with your ideas. It will be a huge list and you will work your way down from that list from the first to the last topics. And if you do this right, there will actually be no "last topic" because you keep adding to it.
You create every single idea from your list and if you come up with some new idea or angle for that specific topic, you just add it as a new item on the bottom of your list. The only reason why a topic might fall off from your list is because you checked the keywords and there's literally no one interested in the topic.
In that rare case, you can move on to the next one. But if you really have several topics with zero search volume in your list, you might want to reconsider your niche. For the rest, low but highly targeted searches are a good thing if you want to build authority. So summarizing this point as: stick to your plan and stay focused. You waste time by overthinking! Your second idea will make a beautiful second blog article or video.
Number four: reuse and repurpose. Number four is to choose the type of content to repurpose, so you can save a lot of time. I'll give you an example of my workflow: I have a couple of blogs on different topics that I want to drive traffic from. And instead of creating as many posts as I can and focus only on that, I always think about how I can reuse and repurpose. So usually I create videos. I have different channels for every niche. When I have created my video, I use the captions or transcript to create a blog post and the social media posts. Now I have several different pieces of content in different channels for different audiences.
It can also work the other way around: many years ago I did not even consider to show my face anywhere online, let alone to create videos. And back then I used really good text to speech software to turn my blog articles into content for YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and so on. So whatever you do think about how you can organize your content creation workflow in such a way that you can deliver on multiple platforms, accounts, and audiences. So simply multiply your impact.
And number three is: build a swipe file for inspiration. Find inspiration from other content creators. I keep a swipe file with articles, topics, emails, headlines, and more that managed to hook me or to inspire me. That in some way, grabbed my attention and made me click or even buy something.
If you are not sure what a swipe file is: for me, it's just a folder on my desktop organized by type of content. I have a folder for great headlines, for great thumbnails, for great ads, great posts, and a list with topics. There are no rules for a swipe file. You just collect what actually inspires you.
So my big swipe file contains all these brilliant ideas from hundreds of brilliant minds. Then what I do is I create something that is based on the original idea that resonated with me, but make sure that I give it a spin or create a totally different type of content than the original content.
For instance, if I really like a blog post. I use that topic to create a video, or I might take the broader concept of another video, and without going through it line by line, I think about the unique angle I could take on the exact same subject. So you end up with the highest quality content for your audience, because, if it resonates with you, there's a very good chance it will resonate with your audience and you just make it unique.
We're on to number two. And number two is: work smarter, not harder. If you are in the business of content creation for your business it is easy to lose yourself. You create videos, blog posts, try to manage multiple, if not all different social platforms. And in the meantime, you receive hundreds of emails and try to manage your business. In order for you to stay healthy and deliver the best content and results you need to keep a healthy balance. Hustle culture is real and it can truly damage you. So always remember that it is okay to take a break. So go out for a run a walk or a workout. To have fun with friends. I take a run several times a week, especially if I think I do not have time for it. And when you then get back to work, your output will be of higher quality and you'll feel a lot better, which will help you to keep this up in the long run. So that's what "work smarter, not harder" means: it is about output, not input.
So now on to number one, and number one is treat your business like a business and not a habby. You wouldn't know how many people struggle with giving structure to their own business. Most entrepreneurs are very much used to plan and agree on timelines and deliverables for clients or when they are at work in case they also have a nine to five. And when they get to work on their own business, they work really hard, but without any clear deliverables or timelines. You need to start planning the blocks in your calendar for your business, like a regular working day and stick to it. So many entrepreneurs know what they want to do in general terms, but they let their day and mood determine their priorities and production or the messages and emails they receive in their inbox.
So give your business the structure and commitment it deserves. Hold yourself accountable and deliver according to your planning and deadlines. Treat your business like a real business. I have a planner that you can use to plan your week. I will leave a link in the description of this video, where you can download it for free if you think that it can help you to plan your week and deliverables.
So just to be clear, the number two and number one on this list seem contradictory. So number two on this list, it's about: yes, you really need to take a break, but number one is about: plan that break. Make sure that you don't plan your full working day back to back and make sure that you get the rest that you need.
And now the bonus tip. What I have learned the hard way: don't waste time by looking for the ultimate shortcut. In all the years that I do this digital marketing thing, I must have spent years and spent tens of thousands of dollars finding the silver bullet and to make content creation effortless by using other content or push button solutions.
Of course you can learn and work smarter. But in the end, there's no such thing as one single tool or solution that does everything for you. There is a reason why I started SuccessisMade.com because success is actually made, with hard work and dedication. Anyone promising you a method or a tool to make that effortless is being dishonest. Have the right expectations.
So those are the top five quick and easy ways to make your content better and faster. So you can finally give your business the traction it needs and deserves.
