Zombies. Blood. Skin falling off. Desperate survivors. You can’t turn it off, though. Is it magic? No, it’s just AMC’s The Walking Dead.
Unless you’ve been holed up trying to escape walkers, or are busy prepping for the zombie apocalypse, you probably already know that it’s simply a major hit. When AMC’s The Walking Dead returned from its mid-season hiatus in February 2015, it came back to 15.6 million viewers, according to the New York Daily News. It’s blowing television away. The most-watched TV show on cable this year, it has been consistently drawing crowds since it first launched back in 2010.
Fan demand has caused the show to grow from 6 episodes in the first season to 16 in the most recent ones. What you may have missed, however, is that their screenwriters aren’t the only talented wordsmiths on their team. AMC has some skilled copywriters working on The Walking Dead website as well.
12 Elements That Quality Content Should Have: Let’s See How The Walking Dead Measures Up
For this piece, let’s actually take a look at the 12 elements that Forbes Magazine says high-quality content should have, and then see how The Walking Dead’s website measures up.
Appropriate Content Length. The first thing that Forbes mentions is having content that’s the right length for the audience. It’s doubtful that people are trying to research and read about The Walking Dead using a mobile device, so they should be targeting 1500-2000 words for the sake of their readers and to rank well in Google. Using an online tool to verify word count, their “About the Show” page hits the spot at 1662 words. If, for instance, you decided to examine the “Daryl Dixon” page, purely for research purposes, of course, you’d find 1819 words. It seems their content writers did their homework and are delivering pieces of ideal length.
Use of Supplementary Media. The second thing Forbes mentions is the importance of including photos, images, video graphics and other supplementary media, because they increase how often a piece is shared and improve reader response. If you’re still on Daryl’s page (it’s ok, we won’t tell anyone), you already know that the copywriters have included plenty of photos and videos. In fact, the website is loaded with media on every page, including the blog. If you can tear yourself away from Daryl, you’ll see that the copywriters have nailed this aspect across the site, too.
Coherent Content and Grammar Check. Forbes also mentions the importance of not only having factually-correct information, but also in having error-free content that has been organized in a sensible way. Analysis of the “About the Show” and “Daryl Dixon” pages, plus one of the longer blog entries, returned zero spelling and grammatical errors. The website also utilizes a mixture of headings, subheadings, and bullet points to break up text, which makes it very easy to follow.
Proper Formatting of Page and Text. The next concern, per Forbes, is whether the content is easy to skim, as well as aesthetically pleasing. Considering that the website liberally uses images, reading the pages is almost unnecessary for navigation. However, corresponding text is certainly there and all content flows naturally.
Attaining an Appropriate Readability Score. Forbes points out that readability is especially important when those checking out the content are children or non-native English speakers. Several pages of The Walking Dead were run through a Gunning-Fog Index tool, and they all came back with ratings between 4 and 5. An easy read on the Gunning-Fog Index is 6, while text that is more difficult to read can rise as high as a 20, though that might only be seen on a high-level academic paper. Although the median age for a Walking Dead viewer is 33.2, it’s actually the most popular show for people ages 12-34. Considering that the age span for the show’s viewership is pretty massive, and the youngest viewers are roughly in grade 6 or 7, the readability for the website’s content is dead-on.
Hire Writers who are Experts in the Field. Although Forbes says having expert writers is more important on pages that involve finances, medical advice, or life-changing information, all content should come from an authoritative source. Sadly, the only true walker experts are characters on the show, but the Walking Dead website is managed by an entire team of experts who cover AMC shows. If a group of real-life heroes can’t be rounded up, industry experts are probably the best that one can hope for.
Be Sure the Authors Have a Positive Reputation. Seemingly, reputation and expert knowledge would go hand-in-hand, but Forbes split them up for some reason. Based on a little bit of sleuthing, it seems that the noted contributors were plucked from relative obscurity to assist with numerous AMC blogs. None of them appear to have had work printed in any major publications, but being chosen by a huge company like AMC strongly speaks of their reputation.
Has the Content Been Shared? Forbes reports that Google does not officially look at social media shares to help determine ranking, though they often correlate. In any case, when an article is shared frequently, it’s generally an indication that it was written by a skilled copywriter. Speaking only of the blogs on the Walking Dead website, the overall pattern seems to be that longer articles have more comments and social media shares. One recent post had 8k shares on Facebook, but some of the shorter posts had none. Even though social sharing is not consistent from piece to piece, the copywriters did well overall.
Quality Internal and External Links. According to the Forbes article, high-quality outbound links help make a site more trustworthy, while internal ones are to be used carefully. Interestingly, the Walking Dead website relies heavily on internal links. It seems that every time a character or episode is mentioned, the text links to the corresponding area on the website. While the “About the Show” page includes only one internal link, there are blog pages with several. However, some blogs also include outbound links to reputable sites that have cast and crew interviews, so it seems to be a perfect balance.
Attached to a High-Quality Domain. The quality of the domain name can have an impact on the rank that a page receives in Google, per Forbes. If the main website is top-notch, articles posted on it are typically rated higher. Equally, even a high-quality piece can have difficulty achieving a decent rank in search engines if it’s published on a less-than-reputable site. In this case, The Walking Dead is part of AMC’s website, which presently has an Alexa Rank of 1,067 in the United States and 4,320 globally. In all fairness, about one-third of people who head to AMC’s website are looking for The Walking Dead, but it was a reputable website before the show came to fruition. AMC was wise to maintain the show as part of their website, rather than giving it its own spin-off with a unique domain.
Quality of Comments. The number of comments, the quality of comments, and even whether comments are enabled, say a lot about the content of a website. Although base pages don’t have a place for comments, the Walking Dead’s blog does allow for them. As with the shares mentioned earlier, the number of comments and the quality of them, varies greatly from blog to blog, though longer blogs tend to have more comments. Some posts have 80 or more. It’s also worth noting that the website has a forum, so it’s possible readers head there to interact after reading a piece, rather than directly posting to a page. Their forum is incredibly active, with new comments springing up continually. You can actually watch it scroll through as new comments are made while on various static pages throughout the main website.
Valuable Content. As a final note, the Forbes article speaks directly of the content itself. The article suggests that content must answer a question, solve a problem, provide entertainment, make people laugh, or offer unique, expert insight. Although the website isn’t designed for humor, it certainly does all the other things on the list. People can look up information on characters, find out when the show airs, learn background or insider info, and even watch clips or full episodes of the show.
The Verdict Is In: The Walking Dead Website Kills It with Content
Overall, the Walking Dead website meets every single guideline that the Forbes expert content article lays out. Before anyone tries to argue that it’s only because there are pictures of Daryl on it, the actor who plays the character has his own personal website, and it’s got an Alexa Ranking of 626,283 in the United States right now. That’s a full 625,216 behind AMC, which could easily be explained by the fact that Norman Reedus’ personal website contains little more than a landing page and some links. His production studio, Big Bald Head, ranks a little better, at 417,254 in the United States. Clearly, there’s more happening on The Walking Dead’s website that just star power. AMC hired a knowledgeable group of content writers who have built upon the corporate brand to further establish the company as a reputable site, with content that is engaging, useful, and relevant to fans. Looks like this show is here to stay awhile.
It’s that time again – you’re stumped for awesome blog topics and you aren’t sure how to come up with any.
I know—I’m a writer over here. It’s as frustrating as the feeling that everything you touch turns into ice, right? Time to “let it go…” Sorry, I think I got carried away there.
In any case, you really CAN create some incredible topics that are sure to please every single one of your readers, and I’ve got some tips to help you. Let’s take a look at 17 different ways you can easily come up with some awesome blog topics for your business and readers!
How to Generate Engaging Blog Topics
Use the HubSpot Blog Topic Generator. You already know the area you want to write about, and you likely already have a few nouns and keywords at the ready. However, you might be stumped for creating great headlines and forming topics. HubSpot understands this, and we love them for it! In fact, they created an excellent topic generator where you can put different nouns into a search field and have them generate headlines and topic ideas to help inspire you. You might not use what they come up with, but it can help get those creative juices’ flowing. It is important to remember that this is a computer generating the ideas, so use discretion and decide if it is a decent topic or headline.
Pick Evergreen Topics for Your Blogs. You can also come up with awesome blog topics by utilizing evergreen topics. Evergreen means that the topic will last for a long time instead of writing on trendy topics that only last for as long as the trend does. You can come up with some great evergreen topics that pertain to your business by researching your audience, asking what they want to read about, and searching Google for some great ideas.For example, if you write a blog about foot health, then you will want to write on things like how to treat plantar fasciitis or diabetic foot care. This is a great example of a topic that will remain popular long after trends fade away because people will always need to learn new ways to take care of their feet. You will notice that using evergreen topics will not only get more social shares and views, but also give your content more mileage and allow you to reuse parts of it throughout the year.
Always Create Excellent Headlines. When creating great blog topics, you have to make sure you also come up with awesome headlines. Headlines are what will make people click on a link or avoid it all together. Craft something that gives the audience a question while also giving a small answer. Consider staying away from click bait sounding headlines and craft something that doesn’t come across too sales-like, but as something that offers the reader real value. You might even notice that by crafting a great, powerful headline, you can come up with a few more topics, too! This has happened to me more than a few times, and it is wonderful.
Use “Trigger” Words to Pique Interest. Along with crafting a great headline, you should make sure you use “trigger” words. This is what can convince someone to click on the link, instead of passing it by. A few trigger words are things such as “awesome,” “top secrets,” “top tips,” “great,” “amazing,” “perfect,” and so on. I am going to use foot care as the example yet again. If you are writing about how to treat a common foot condition, you don’t want the headline to sound bland and boring. Instead, you can write a headline that says, “The Top Awesome Ways to Keep Your Feet Wonderfully Healthy” or something similar.
Keep a File of Ideas for the Future. This might not seem like a way to come up with new blog topics, but there have been several times where I have thought of several topics, only to forget them. When you begin brainstorming, you will find that it is easy to come up with a plethora of topic ideas. This means you need to write and file each idea away in order to remember it in the future. You can use something like Evernote, Dropbox, or Google Docs to create a file for ideas and resources. This will help significantly in the future when you begin to hit the inevitable topic idea brick wall.
Take Inspiration from Other Blogs. While you don’t want to steal their information and exact headlines, gaining inspiration from others is a great way to come up with great blog topic ideas. You can take a look at what your competitors are blogging about, and follow industry leader blogs to get notifications about new posts. This will help you generate some great ideas for your own content and might even help with your social media posts! Again, only gain inspiration from others; never copy or steal what they are doing.
Create an Ideas Board When Brainstorming. Sometimes people have trouble brainstorming by staring at a computer. However, if you make an ideas board, you might find brainstorming easier, especially if you are brainstorming with multiple people. In fact, find one or two people to brainstorm with to come up with some great topics. While you might be stumped for ideas, others might be able to come up with some great ideas that you hadn’t thought of. Don’t go brainstorming alone! Take along a pal or two and use an ideas board to keep things organized and in view the whole time.
Ask Your Audience What They Want to Read About. You might not realize it, but your audience is one of the greatest resources you should be using for topic ideas. You can ask your readers what they want to see and even have them ask questions to be featured in a question and answer post. This will give you a resource filled with great topics to use for quite some time. In addition, you will be writing topics that are relevant to your client base, which is perfect!Use social media to ask people what they want to read and have them ask questions or state it in the comments. If you don’t have much interaction on social media right now, you can always send out surveys in emails and have a comment section on your website for people to ask questions or make suggestions.
Utilize Google Alerts for Great Resources and Ideas. Google has quite the amount of helpful tools for your blog and website, and one of these is called Google Alerts. You can set up an alert for a certain topic and have Google email you daily or weekly with new information. It will send you articles, which can be used as resources or inspiration, helping you generate on-the-spot topics, as well as relevant topics for your audience.
Look Over Your Blog to See What is Missing. Take some time to not only look for new topics and resources, but to look over your blog. You need to look for holes in your topics and see what areas you are overlooking. Take some time to write a list of everything you’ve already covered and how many times you covered them. This will show you which topics don’t need to be talked about as much, and which ones could be written about more. In addition, it will also be easier to see what you’re missing when you create this list. Try it out to see what you’re missing!
Do a “Highlight Reel” of Previous Blog Topics. A great way to generate a topic idea is to do a highlight reel of your previous, most popular, blog posts. This gives you the chance to show people your other posts that they might have missed while also giving you the opportunity to have a new topic for that day. You can do as many highlight reels as you’d like, but most people do one to two a year, with one being at the end of the year or beginning of a new one. This is a great chance to celebrate your successes, too!
Use Quora to Help Find Topic Ideas and Great Resources. Quora is a great content resource that helps you research your chosen keywords for your website and blog. This gives you the chance to find resources and inspiration for your posts. It is a free service and all you need to do is sign up and begin asking your questions. You can put in a broad topic idea to see what leads you get, but using your desired keywords is the best method to find a wide variety of topic inspiration and resources. Head on over and take a look to see how much Quora can help you with generating amazing blog topics.
Write a News Article for a New Topic. You can also come up with great blog topics by writing news content on current events. This content can be on news within your industry, or how various popular news stories can impact your customers. News content doesn’t have to be overwhelming and daunting, however! Just make sure you always state the facts first in your article, always research your topic, and make sure to use citations throughout your blog. This will help ensure people realize you know what you are talking about and that you are a trusted source for information. Again, remember you always need to research. If you find a news topic that is interesting, seek out at least five different, reliable resources that can help ensure you get the facts correct.
Repurpose Your Content to Create Fresh Content. Repurposing content is yet another incredible way to come up with more topics for your blog. Content repurposing is something that many content marketers suggest for content and copywriting because it helps to delve into a topic further in-depth. It also gives your client base more information on a specific topic. You can repurpose content by rewriting one blog and posting the new rewrites on different sites like LinkedIn. You can also do things like repurpose your content into a YouTube series, podcasts, infographics, and other formats that will work incredible for your blogs and readers.
Share and Read Infographics while Brainstorming. When you begin brainstorming, you might find that searching for infographics from within your field might help get your thoughts going. You can share interesting ones you’ve found with your brainstorming team, and you can have them share ones they’ve found. You can even create your own based off of past blog posts as that might help think of new, amazing topics as well.
Write On Something You Want to Know More About. We all have things we’d like to know more about, and writing about it for a blog topic creates a great chance to learn while also teaching your client base. This gives you the chance to delve into the different research out there and learn more about different topics that interest you for your business. If it interests you, it is a great sign that it will interest your clients as well. Think of a question you have about a certain topic and begin your research. You will be able to come up with more questions and answers that allow you to write your post and inform your audience while also receiving answers to your questions.
Research More in Your Field to Find Great Topics. The best way to come up with some great topics while also staying at the top of your field is to research things constantly within your field. There are constant changes in the majority of fields, which gives you the chance to stay up-to-date and keep your clients in the know, as well. Head to your favorite industry related websites, your competitors, or simply go to Google to utilize the search engine to research. Isn’t it great that you get to knock out two things at once?
Until Next Time
Generating blog topics isn’t as difficult as we always seem to think it will be. You can easily come up with several topics to last throughout the year just by following the above steps. Again, remember to keep a file of all of the topics you come up with to make sure you will remember them and have access to them all year long. Which suggestions are you going to try first? Let me know in the comments!
The one thing you know that is absolutely vital for your company’s online presence is the need for great content. You have your website all laid out, you feel like you are writing top quality content all the time, but you might be lacking in social shares, decent Google ranks, and leads. Why is this? What can you do about it?
The best way to learn what is wrong with your content and what you need to do is audit it. This is great because you get to see your entire website outlined in an orderly manner and see what you need to do to improve your site and bring in more clients. I am going to look at what a content audit is, why you need it, and the two ways to do one!
First: What is a Content Audit?
Content auditing is something you may hear thrown around when you read content marketing sites, but you might not know what the writers mean. Just what is a content audit? How does one do an audit? Is it really that important? These questions are completely valid!
It is, in simple terms, a chance to look at your website to find anything that is missing, overdone, or broken. This is vital because you need to make sure your site is always working well in order to get the best results from Google. It gives you the chance to combine all of your existing content into a master list and look over it. How does this help? It gives you the chance to make sure your website is operating with the best quality out there because, we all know, high-quality content is key when it comes to copywriting. Remember, this is different from a content inventory. An inventory focuses on the amount of content and pages whereas the audit will focus on the quality existing content.
3 Top Reasons Why You Need an Audit
The main reason you need to use a content audit is to make sure you have the highest quality content possible. As I already stated, high-quality content is vital to have for your website. First of all, it helps you rank higher on Google and can bring in more people. Secondly, after it brings in people from the search engine, it helps retain them. No one wants to read poor quality material. By focusing on quality content, you will gain and maintain clients by making a content audit important to your strategy. Let’s look at a few more reasons why you need an audit.
It Solves the Problem of an Uninterested Audience. Having buyer personas at the ready can help you when it comes to doing a content audit. This can help you see which parts of your audience will be more engaged with your content and which aren’t. If you have one persona that is only about 10% of your audience and another that is 60%, you want to make sure your content reaches out to the higher percentage the most. Of course you want to reach the 10%, but if you only have content for them, you’re missing out on a huge chunk of audience reach. A content audit can help you see this and improve your strategy.
You Can Increase Social Shares. Since a content audit focuses on quality, you will be able to see which areas need improvement. This will not only help with your website but can also increase your social shares. People don’t want to share low-quality work, which means you need to know the quality of your existing content.
Checking Out the Competition. Yes, a content audit of your own website can get very tedious, but you won’t have to stay there forever. You can even do an audit of your competition to see what they’re doing right and wrong. Researching your competition can help you improve your strategy by either gaining inspiration or learning which mistakes to stay away from.
Two Ways To Do Your Content Audit
Now that you know what a content audit is and why it is important, you are most likely wondering just how you can do one. Here are two ways you can do a content audit:
DIY: Create a Spreadsheet and Use Google Analytics. A content audit is something you can do yourself. It is important to know that it will take a significant chunk of time so you will need to be sure to set aside enough. You can create a spreadsheet, use Google Analytics, and go over each page in detail to make sure everything is going smoothly. QuickSprout offers an incredible guide to help people do their own content audit by explaining how to set up the spreadsheet, using Google Analytics, and which details you need to look at.
Hire a Content Auditing Service. While a DIY solution seems to be the easiest or the choice that saves the most money up front, it can be overwhelming. Many people don’t have the training necessary for a content audit and can miss important things, or take much longer than it really should. The best way to ensure you get the most out of a content audit is to hire a service that has trained professionals. While this will be money out of your pocket, you will notice that the professional audit can help you find pages that need to be improved. When this happens, you will be able to bring in more revenue than ever.
Audit Your Content for Incredible Results
Now that you know the importance of a content audit, now is the time to begin. Take a look at your schedule and carve out some time to look at what you’ll need for your content audit. If you need help, don’t be afraid to ask! Professional content auditors can help you get the best results and give you the guide to improving your content. No matter what, a content audit is your key to a successful webpage.
Viral content. It turns heads. It stops us in our tracks. We HAVE to look. We have to read (at least a little of it).
What makes content viral, and how do you get a piece of the game so you can experience the results of heavily trafficked, popular content? I have some awesome resources for you this week. Let’s take a look!
Viral Content: Resources From The Great Content Roundup!
10 Quick Tips for Going Viral from Problogger. Useful piece. “You can’t go viral if you say the same as everything else.” Getting your basics right, being a trend setter and leader, writing list style posts, and using emoticons and being long are all features of viral content, as written here.
The Secret to Creating Viral Content (Get Contagious) on Social Triggers.Did you know positive oriented content is more of a candidate to go viral than negative voice content? Or, practical and useful content is almost always a viral candidate winner? This piece gives some very useful tips that will help you cover all your basics when creating content to go viral. Plus, there are 7 emotions listed that can make your content contagious to include in your content creation. (I have this list in my editorial calendar already.)
Backlinko Blog-A “Viral Content” Case Study – “How To Generate 36,282 Readers — and 1,000 Email Subscribers — From Your Next Blog Post (Case Study)”. Now you might think this is some crazy automated product for sale by the title, if you’re anything like me, but don’t worry—it isn’t. It’s one of the best pieces of content on how to share and create viral content that I’ve read. Basically, this guy says that if you 1) find awesome content that is getting a ton of popularity and 2) make some awesome improvements to that content (write your own and make it better) 3) lastly, promote via email—well, you’ve got a winner. I’d go as far as to call it viral content creation. And he’s got a whole impressive case study showing proof of this suggestion. I can validate this entire strategy because you’re basically creating terrific quality content here by identifying what’s popular in your industry and how you can add your own voice and improve directly upon it. Rock on, Ben! View their other viral case study on a blog generating 17k plus viewers in a day.
And, The Viral Content Problem (Many People Don’t Care Whether It’s True) on Gigaom. A most objective, interesting and truthful piece. This really hits the nail on the head about blogger sites like Upworthy, Huffington Post, etc. A woman with three breasts made for a viral but untrue topic – just one of the points made. Fake news got distributed, driving millions to a website. It’s called a fleeting instance of joy in this piece. And there are “viral content warehouses” like Buzz Feed.
Like this post? Tell me what you’d like to see in the next Roundup! Email Julia.
Do you have some awesome topic ideas and great content marketing planned out, but you accidentally forgot to write it down? Or, you might have hundreds of sticky notes around your office?
15 Tips for Staying Organized with Your Content
Organization is key to having successful content because you are going to have a hard time remembering everything if it isn’t organized well. Just how do you get organized with your content ideas and flow? Let’s look at a few tips that will help.
Use Programs Such as DropBox. If you are looking for a great way to keep things organized but want to be able to access it whether you are on your own computer or not, programs like DropBox are perfect. You can easily put your content folders into this cloud-based system, and be able to do your marketing from anywhere in the world. This is also great because, we all know computers like to be finicky, and might just crash one day. If that happens, all of your ideas are not only saved on your computer and an external hard drive, but also on DropBox.
Utilizing List Apps and Programs. One of the best ways to stay organized, whether it is for personal life things or marketing, is to keep a list of everything you need. A big mistake many people make with lists, however, is having a master list for every single thing both business and personal, and all the little things in-between. By using list programs such as the Reminders app on iPhone and iMac, or Remember the Milk, can help you create multiple lists for multiple things. I love lists, because they help me get through my busy content days and helps me remember what I need from the store or other non-work life related things. Try some lists out today and watch that organization and flow improve!
Planning Out Your Schedule for the Next Week or Two. Another thing that helps me immensely with getting organized is not just having a plan for the upcoming month (which I will talk about later) but is also scheduling out my week and two weeks. This helps because you don’t just have content marketing going on, you have other things pertaining to your business, and, again, personal life. When you sit down and plan everything out, you will be able to delegate time to different tasks and know when you should start and finish something. While this might not always go to plan, you will find that you will be more productive and get things finished on time. You will also notice things aren’t quite as stressful if you already have a plan in place!
Using an Editorial Calendar to Keep Your Topics Organized for Months. When it comes to content, you need to make sure that you are not only prepared for the current month, but also for the next few months. A great way to do this is to sit down with your topics and campaign ideas and implement them into an editorial calendar. This will help keep your thoughts and topics organized, and you will be relatively stress-free for the next few months. Many places suggest having an editorial calendar set up for about six months or having one in place for the entire content year. Are you not sure how to create an editorial calendar? Don’t worry! Hubspot offers a great, free calendar!
Create a Content Inventory. A content inventory helps you keep track of the content you’ve done, as well as what areas you haven’t covered. It can even show you areas you have covered some, but not enough. A content inventory is also a great way to keep track of every web page you have from your about section to a contact page or anything else you have or need. What you can do is open an excel sheet or a Google Doc and catalog each page you have by name, link, and a small sentence about why you need it. This can help you figure out new pages you need and how you can also organize your web page. It can also help you see if you might have a landing page or two that you don’t really need. However, it will take quite a bit of time to create a content inventory, so be sure you have enough time set aside to do this.
Don’t Hesitate to Use Good Old Fashioned Paper and Pencil. Technology is great and can really help you get organized, but you shouldn’t ignore good, old-fashioned practices of staying organized. Consider getting a planner and writing down your content schedule or what you need to do in the future. Keep notes of your different topics or simply use pencil and paper to brainstorm. Many times, this can help people stay more organized than a calendar on a computer because writing it by hand can commit it to memory easier. I know that writing down things on paper is quite a big help for me and I find that I get a lot more done that way.
Use a Sitemap to Keep Your Flow Organized. Sitemaps can be incredibly helpful when you are trying to stay organized. This can show you which pages are the most important and that you want more clicks to, but it can also show you which pages you need to change and improve to make them more impactful. It can be a simple thing to make either on your own or with a program. You will find that, when you have this written out in a diagram format, it will be easier to see what you need to do and make necessary changes. A sitemap will also show the relationships between pages. However, this can be difficult to decipher, which can make a sitemap a little harder. You should still give it a try and see how it benefits you!
Use a Post Tracker to Help Stay Organized. A post tracker does exactly what it sounds like it does – it tracks your posts. This is great because you are able to look at your previous blog posts and access them easily. It can also help you see which posts are more popular, and help you tweak your blogging strategy to follow the most successful posts. However, a post tracker doesn’t just focus on past content but can help you plan out future posts by coming up with topics and planning out a blogging schedule to get the most out of your content. Consider using the post tracker shared in the link above to get started and see just how much easier it is to organize your posts, write great, relevant content, and come up with newer topics!
Have a Specific Place for Brainstorming Ideas. This particular point refers to two different things – have a digital place where you write your brainstorming ideas, such as Evernote, and consider having a physical place you go to write like outside at a park or in a coffee shop. We all have areas that help us brainstorm better, and if we go to those locations, we can come up with some great topics! In addition, we need to have a central, digital location to keep those ideas because, if you write them on scraps of paper or napkins, it is likely you’ll quickly lose your ideas and have to start all over again. I enjoy Evernote because it provides you with cloud technology and can help you craft and organize some awesome ideas.
Use Programs to Track Buyer Personas. You can utilize a variety of programs to create and monitor buyer personas to help you organize your content and get the most out of it. There are programs like Trello that allow you do to this in a form of Pinterest model by letting you create a board for each persona and tracking or making any changes you need for it. A buyer persona is vital to help you get the best results from your content and bring in revenue. In fact, this is one of the best ways to research your audience outside of actually asking your audience questions. Building buyer personas will help your content tremendously so create some and use something like Trello to track and improve personas as time goes on.
Have a Time Each Month to Look at Your Content. You need to make sure you are looking at your content consistently and making any tweaks and changes you need to improve it. While you can’t sit down and look at it every day or week, you should set aside time once a month to look it over. This will help you see if you are meeting your intended content goals. If you aren’t, you need to research and see what changes you need to do. Look at which blogs were the most popular in the month and which weren’t to see what changes you should make. If you are constantly getting in a rut, you will be able to notice this quickly and seek the help you need to improve your content and make it powerful.
Use Excel to Track Keywords that Work and that Don’t. Excel is a great program that often comes with any Microsoft Office package, which means you most likely have it. If not, you can always use the spreadsheets available over at Google Docs. According to Buzzsumo.com, Spreadsheets are a great way to track keywords that you are using, and keeping a tally of how successful they are. It can show you if you are paying money for a keyword that is actually ranking well organically. Write down the keywords you intend to use and constantly follow Google Analytics to research those keywords and see how effective they are. Write it down in the excel sheet, and look at it when you look at your content each month. This way, you can quickly make the necessary changes to help improve the impact of your content.
Set Up a Pinterest Board for Ideas. Just like with Trello and buyer personas, Pinterest is a great place to track ideas. You can use it to track your content ideas and save or bookmark things that you think will be helpful for your content and business. Pinterest isn’t just for moms and DIY enthusiasts, it is a great place to gather up ideas and learn something new to improve your content flow!
Schedule Out Social Media and Blog Posts. This is a great way to stay organized and to not forget to post to social media or your blog. Each week, you should take the opportunity to schedule out your social media posts to make sure that you don’t get too busy to remember. In fact, if you are able to, you can also schedule it out for a whole month, especially if you’ve created an editorial calendar and know what you are expecting for your content. The same goes with blog posts; try writing and scheduling them out to save time and get more organized.
Delegate Tasks to Trusted People in Your Company. Sometimes we can get so overwhelmed with everything we need to do that it can be difficult to maintain everything. The busier we get, the less organized we become and the less likely we are to produce quality content. Because of this, a great way to get organized is to ask trusted individuals within your company to help with content creation. This can be in various ways whether brainstorming ideas, creating an editorial calendar or writing the posts up. You can even hire a copywriting agency if you are a very small business and don’t have enough people available to help.
Ready, Get Set, Let’s Get Organized!
These tips will help you get organized quickly and before you know it, you will have things in specific places and your stress levels will significantly decrease. I know that when I have everything organized and planned out, that I am able to accomplish more than when I am scrambling for ideas.
Take a few of these tips and start using them today. Which of these do you think you will try first? Will any be more of a challenge for you? Let me know in the comments!
