How to Create Content, the DIY Way: The Complete Series

Not everyone can afford to hire a professional writer. Not everyone needs to. I recognize that. I also recognize that there is a surplus of content that is ineffective. I read too many posts that sound like term papers. I read many that sound like random musings. 

I put this series together to show what I do. Maybe you can get a hint or two. Maybe not. 

This is what I do, not what you must do. It isn't what you should do either. It's just what I do. It's what works for me.

Take from it what you will.

It's Your Voice.

It's Your Choice.

Let's get to it

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Why do You Write?

There are nearly as many reasons to write as there are writers. What's yours?

Until you know why you write, you can't really do a good job of it. You can't know you've arrived unless you know where you're going.

I suggest you write your own "Why I Write" post. 

You don't need to publish it if you don't want to. Putting your reason(s) in prose will help you clarify your purpose.

That purpose will guide you through your journey.

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Simpler is Better

Everybody here on beBee, and everyone on LinkedIn, is an expert at something.

You have experiences and insights that I don't have. You've done stuff that I haven't. You've solved problems years ago, that I'm facing now.

Your commonplace stuff is a mystery to me. 

So tell me about it! Tell me simply. Tell me in a way that I can absorb it quickly.

Let me decide if I want to learn more.

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Choose Your Topic Well

There's a lot of information out there that talks about what you should write about.

Some of it is worthwhile.

Most is not.

I read many posts about choosing topics and curing the dreaded Writers' Block. Having topics on hand is the Writers' Block vaccine. 

I don't write about Writers' Block because I've never experienced it.

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"Hire" Your Content Sales Team

My header images and titles are my "Sales Team." They are what entice people to actually read my posts.

Eighty percent will only read the title. The better it is, the more people will click through to the post.

This is so important, I usually offer to supply images and titles on works written for others.

Engagement is even more important when I write for someone else.

It's Darwinian. It's the Writers' Law of Fang and Claw.

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Tricks and Tools that Help

"Write good stuff and readers will flock to you," is bullshit. There are literally millions of pieces of content on the web. 

The odds of being found are astronomically against you.

These things help better those odds.

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Don't be in such a rush to Publish 

It's natural to want to hit "Publish" as soon as possible. I try hard to resist that temptation.

There are things to do before you publish.

They aren't difficult, but they can make or break your post.

If you must err, err on the side of caution.

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You published. Now what!?!

This is a rewritten version of the post that gave me my LinkedIn nickname, "The Earl of Etiquette."

My Mom was so proud. 

Most of us write for engagement. Many forget that engagement is a two-way street.

Nothing breeds engagement better than engagement.

This post discusses what I do when it comes to comments, shares, and likes.

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About Index Posts

I tend to write posts in series. That's an issue for most platforms. Most platforms, beBee and LinkedIn among them, list posts by order of creation. That can make it hard to follow a series.

This series is rather long, it took seven posts. I know at least one person who missed a few and had to go back. 

An index post solves that problem. 

LinkedIn allows you to embed post links into another post. That's faster. It's not better.

I already mentioned the importance of images. Embedding a post cuts (crops) an image, it doesn't just resize it.

Much as I would love to be able to embed Tweets into these posts, I prefer beBee's method. I can control what image the reader sees. I can make sure the images work as intended.

A Question

Would it be beneficial if I wrote a post on how to create an index post? 

An open offer

Do you have a corporate blog? Do you write it in-house? Are you happy with it? Send me the ink and I'll take a look.

If I can help, I'll say so. If I can't, then I'll say so too. 

Either way, I promise to give you my unbiased opinion.

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