Easy Guide to Stretch Content

Website owners and bloggers always seem to be looking for the next great article to fill their content gaps. Some turn to guest writers while others look to the article directories to find the answer. Follow these few, simple steps to stretch your content into all that it can be.

Six Steps to Stretch your Content

Step One: Start with a title or idea. Be sure that it includes at least one of the keywords for your website. Ex: 10 Tips for Encouraging your Husband.

Step Two: Write down five to ten points about that title or idea. Ex: 1. Do something surprising; 2. Speak words that lift up; 3. Do something that he likes to do.

Step Three: Write three to five sentences about each of the points. You have now written a relatively good paragraph. Ex: Almost everyone likes surprises. Finding little ways to encourage your husband unexpectedly can turn his cloudy day into one that is bright and shiny. Send him a text message on his phone or pack him a nice note in his lunch box.

Step Four: Write an opening paragraph and also a closing paragraph that go along with the points you created for your title or idea. Squeeze in each of the paragraphs you wrote for the separate points between these opening and closing paragraphs. You have your first content article.

Step Five: Take one of the points that you included in your article. Expand on that single idea with three to five paragraphs. Include links to other websites if you can find relevant links. Be sure to link back to your original article as well. With the addition of an opening and closing paragraph you will have another article completed for your website. Repeat this process for the rest of your points and you will have several articles to fill in the gaps of your content. In addition to the content material, you will have also created a number of links and also back links to your own material.

Step Six: Take all of the articles that you wrote, weave them together in a coherent manner, publish them through a PDF and you have an eBook or eReport that you can sell or give away to your readers. You may want to consider offering them to a conference or workshop that relates to your niche as a free giveaway. You can include links to your website imbedded in the material so that readers can find their way to your site.

Planning ahead can help make creating content a little easier. Reusing what you have already written makes it a breeze. By combining the planning and the reusing you can know that you will always have solid content for your website. You will also know that you can expand your visitors through links, back links, and giveaways.

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Habits of a Good Content Writer

Pouring out content consistently burns out many website owners. Discovering a good content writer can be just as stressful. Investing some effort into research so that you are working with a content writer that you know on some level may save you the hassle or re-writing content or the pain of paying for content that you do not want.

Tips for Finding Good Content Writers

1. Grammar and spelling – pay close attention to the emails that the writer sends to you, including the subject line. The more attention that the little things get then the more attention the big things will get.

2. Response time – the amount of time it takes for the content writer to answer an email may be an indication of the amount of time it will take for a project to be completed.

3. Existing clips – spend a little time and effort to research a writer before you begin a working relationship. It may be harder to find anything on new writers, but a quick search by name will probably turn up something if that writer has been active for very long.

4. Word of mouth – references can still be used today. Ask a new writer to provide you with someone that you can contact about past work.

5. Critiques – good content writers should be willing to hear your requests or changes and be willing to work with you to get the content right for your website. An even better content writer will ask you a number of questions from the beginning to be sure you are both on the same page from the start.

No matter how you find your content writer you should consider starting slow. Offer smaller projects until you are comfortable with the voice and style of that content writer.

Pay writers a decent wage. The old adage, “you get what you pay for,” holds true in writing. Pay peanuts and you will end up with a lot of nuts. Start new content writers off at a lower amount but be sure to increase compensation along the way or you may end up losing a good writer to a better deal.

Getting things in writing should be stressed from both sides of the deal. Writers need the protection but the clients need the protection as well. Keep in mind that emails may be enough protection if no formal contract is signed, but take the better route with a signed contract.

Finding good content writers gives many websites owners a headache. The writer that seems great in the beginning quickly starts to fizzle out. Molding and growing a content writer means that writer flies off to another point in his or her career. Knowing how to find good content writers and then working to keep them around can be the answer that many websites owners desire.

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How to Write Content With Ease

There was a time when I actually thought I hated writing. I considered myself a ‘talker’ not a ‘writer’. I was trying to run a business on the internet while avoiding the written word.

Oh how silly I was back then.

But hey, we all need to learn our lessons in our own way and in our own time.

What I learned was that what I hated was the idea I had of writing. I thought writing was this restrictive, proper, rule based, punctuation, grammar police type of thing. Yuck – right? Once I got over myself and my preconceived notion of what writing should be I came to the realization that I love writing.

Why I Love Writing:

While I love to talk and chat and listen there is something that’s even more personal about writing. It allows you to lay out your words in the exact way you want them and to capture the full attention of your reader as they go from top to bottom (hopefully) of your piece.

In terms of business and the internet writing is now my bread and butter. Submitting articles I wrote to directories brings me instant traffic, writing blog posts builds relationships with my target market, writing content for clients brings me immediate cash and writing emails allows me to make sales.

You get a second chance to make a first impression when you’re a writer.

When doing things such as audio and video it’s time consuming to do second takes if you don’t say exactly what you want the first time. When writing you can easily go back, re-read your first copy and edit until good.

I never worry about being perfect though, I don’t think anyone really is.

Since I struggled with writing for so long and finding my own voice I completely understand if you are struggling with the same.

Here are some of my suggestions for just getting over it and writing more than you ever thought you could.

How to Write With Ease:

Know who you are: When you know yourself and write from the heart it almost always works without effort.

Write what you know: When I try to write about things I know nothing about, I struggle. When I’m in my element, I shine.

Challenge your beliefs: I used to think I needed thirty minutes to an hour to write a great article. I kept challenging that concept until I got myself down to writing one article in just ten minutes. That means I can write six times the articles I did with my old, limited thinking!

There you have a few tips on how to write more, more often. I want to wish you good luck in finding and using your writing voice so you turn the need for writing into a love of writing.

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More Steps for Content Calendars

Annette asked if I was using an editorial calendar for my website. I had to say no. But an editorial calendar is a great idea for managing my content and keeping that content fresh and flowing. Taking my website to the next level means pushing beyond the ordinary. Creating a list for what I want to write and when I want it posted is definitely NOT the ordinary way I do things.

Most of my life has been spent meeting deadlines by the skin of my teeth. Planning things in advance might be an option, but procrastination kept them in the planning stage. I have always been a very good procrastinator. These last several months have helped me to understand the value of following the plan if I want my website to be all that it can be.

5 Easy Steps for Planning and Writing Content

1. Review your website. Start your content calendar session by reviewing the content that already exists on your website. It is always a good idea to link back to your own articles whenever possible and relevant. Knowing what you have already been writing will help make that possible. Reviewing past content will also give you an idea of the topics that you tend to make the focus of your content.

2. Discover the purpose and direction of your website. Reviewing what you have written is one of the best ways to determine what you want to be writing. Knowing the vision and mission of your website will help you develop the right content for your site.

3. Create content blocks. Break up the content that has already been written into specific topics or subjects. Also consider any topics that have been raised in comments or emails to you that you have not covered. These new topics may be opportunities for you to invite in some guest bloggers.

4. Brainstorm ideas. Spend a few hours or a few days coming up with potential content titles for your different topics. Use this time to visit other blogs, forums and websites in your niche to see what are on the minds of people in the industry.

5. Work the content into your work schedule. Set aside time every day or every week to produce some of the content for your site. You can pre-post the content or keep it in a folder to be posted as needed.

Organization may not be the easiest thing for you, but it is essential to your content writing success. Not only will a content and editorial calendar organize you materials, but it will also help you get the writing done. Knowing what you are going to write and when you are going to write can be a great deterrent to writer’s block. Creating an editorial calendar may be that new step you need to make all the difference on your website.

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Are Your Using an Editorial Calendar?

A few month’s ago the esteemed Alexis Rodrigo blogged about New Year’s Resolutions for Content Marketer (It’s #8 on the list).  So the question is….are you using an Editorial Calendar?

What is An Editorial Calendar?

Quite simply, it’s a list of the content you’re going to publish with corresponding publication dates. You can find samples of what an editorial calendar can look like here:

Notice that this particular calendar from PC World has a schedule for print and online content.  While your calendar doesn’t need to be presentable to the public, you will likely have numerous categories listed.

For example, online, autoresponder, article marketing, reports and so on.

Why Use an Editorial Calendar?

Planning your content in advance offers a number of benefits:

• It makes it easy to outsource your content.
  
• It makes creating content a breeze because you don’t have to worry about what you’re going to write about.
• It helps you plan your marketing and advertising promotions.
• It reduces stress.
• You’re less likely to miss blog posts if it’s scheduled in advance.
• You’re able to focus your attention on other profitable tasks.

How To Create an Editorial Calendar?

The easiest approach is to grab a notebook and a desktop calendar and to plan your content.  It’s recommended to plan a year in advance, however you’d prefer, you can plan three or six months in advance.

Once you have a plan on notebook paper, then consider taking two steps. The first is to create your plan in an easy to access manner. That may be printed out and tacked to your bulletin board or saved as a document on your computer.

Additionally, consider adding the content to your daily/weekly planner, Outlook for example. That way when you’re busy you’ll be notified automatically when you have content scheduled.

If you’re not using an editorial calendar, consider adopting the tool. It’s tremendously useful and it’ll help you stay on top of your content and ahead of your competition.

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Featured Article Directory: Articledashboard.com

ArticleDashboard.com is a free article directory website and ezine that provides a place for authors to submit their articles and for website owners to access content. The directory was established in 2005 and continues to stand as a solid provider for a wide range of topics.

Article Dashboard has been working to establish itself as a top content provider since it first came on the scene in August 2005. It not only provides content, but also provides free software that allows sites to establish their own article directories. Websites can use this software to build resources for their visitors and the software can be customized for a specific need or niche.

Articledashboard.com lets people from around the world view your content. It currently boasts a unique visitor count of around 125,000 per month. This means that your content will be exposed to new eyes from around the globe through the Article Dashboard site but also through those sites that repost your content.

According to the Articledashboard.com website, there are only a few simple rules to submitting material to their directory. Some of the rules are basic guidelines about how the articles can be used.

• Articles must be the original work of the person submitting them. You must have the rights of all the articles that you submit to Article Dashboard.

• Article Dashboard has the right to used submitted material on any of its outlets – including website, blogs or RSS feed.

• Others also have to the right to use articles that are posted on Article Dashboard in their newsletters and online magazines (with the stipulation that articles be left in their original state, including the resource box and any links).

• There is no guarantee of acceptance into the directory database. Each article will be reviewed. Submitting an article to Article Dashboard does not mean that it will be published.

Article Dashboard is a free article directory. This means that all submissions are done without monetary compensation. Writers do not get paid for submitting material to ArticleDashboard.com. The best thing about article directories, like Article Dashboard, is compensation comes in the form of help establishing a writer as an expert in a particular niche through the published content.

Article Dashboard has a strong standing on the internet. It currently holds a 5 out of 10 Google Page Rank. The Alexa rank of ArticleDashboard.com is 4753.

Submitting material to different article directories is a good way to build your own visitors. Article directories can also be a solid source for discovering content for your own website.

No matter how you choose to use article directories, you should take some time to review Article Dashboard. It is one of the leading article directory websites and provides you with more opportunities to expand your online presence.

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