Winning The Battle with Content Marketing - You Can Do It!

It is amazing how fear can be a real obstacle for people to face. There are so many business owners and non profits that are actually doing many great things, yet hesitate to move their stories to the web. Why is that? It could be a few issues, but here are the most common I notice:

Not Enough Time 

So much of content marketing is writing and finding information to write about. While we all have a niche where we direct our focus, it can also be time consuming to continue finding new inspiration. I can empathize with this, however, there is a solution. The very content that may seem to overhelm our inboxes is also the same resource we can use to produce more quality content.

• Read printed publications in your niche to gather inspiration and information about current needs and concerns in your field. It is good to get away from the computer and read the newspaper or a magazine. They can offer a fresh perspective about your topic. You can then take the news, information, and content you've consumed and start to write down what you walked away with. If you have a question regarding what you read, it is likely someone else does too. Use that as inspiration for a new blog post or article. 

• Use the search functions of Twitter and Facebook to find out trending stories. There is almost always an angle you can take that is unique and relative to your target market. A quick long tail keywords search on Google will show you how differently people think when it comes to searching for information online. Don't think all the bases have been covered because it's not likely they have.

Overwhelmed By The Demands of Content Marketing

It is true that there are hundreds of websites coming online everyday, but that should not discourage you from keeping yours well and maintained with quality content that will increase your organic website traffic. Just because there are houses built daily, should we stop keeping up the appearance of our homes? Do real estate agents give up on selling older homes because of newer ones? Of course not.

• Focus on what you are doing. Write down what you hope to accomplish in the next month, six months or year. Your content marketing is not like advertising where your ads run for a limited amount of time unless you add more money. What you write today can be seen on the internet as long as there is an internet, if done properly. Don't allow the size of the web to intimidate you! Someone, somewhere wants and needs to read about what you are writing about. Keep writing!

• Remember the passion that you have for your product or service. Forget about trying to write something per se, and focus more on conveying your passion in your blogs and articles. I can guarantee you that your knowledge is far greater than you know. Just talking to friends or colleagues can be a good reminder of how much you actually do know. Write down notes about common questions you come across for future reference. Record yourself speaking about your product or service. Sometimes you get new ideas by simply hearing yourself talk about it. 

Focus on Quality not Quantity

How many times have you read a great headline, clicked through to the website, only to find that the content was repetitive or poorly put together? While we want to be consistent with our content, it is more important to produce quality pieces that people will actually find useful, bookmark, and share. 

• Plan your content and how often you will publish it. If you are just starting out, do not be discouraged because someone else's blog is updated daily. By writing out your topics in bulk, when you do read new material and find new inspiration, it only adds to what you've already planned to write. The key is to produce content that will be useful for your readers. Here's a simple planning tool that will help you accomplish this.

• Use your keyword research and discussions on Linkedin to help you stay abreast of what professionals need. I use Facebook, but it is not always the best resource when it comes to serious matters or finding quality information. StumbleUpon, Google News, Hubspot Blog (may absolute favorite), and a host of others really dig deep in their content and help get the creative juices flowing to inspire new content. You're not going to re-write what you read, rather use what you read as a seed for new ideas. 

At the end of the day, we all have the basic need to solve problems in our lives and reduce pain. These are very powrful driving forces that can help any business in inspire, inform, and help their target market. In order to win the battle, you must first get started!

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