Not Another Friggin Idea! WPCP: 071

…And Content and Metrics.

In my last solo show, I shared with you guys that there were a couple of opportunities for me to collaborate with people. Well… I almost jumped the gun on yet another collaboration with someone else!

I know, I know.

We both got caught up in the moment, sat with it for a few days, and when we had our next call both decided that it was a complete distraction and NOT the direction either of us wanted to be heading in.

Which brings me to the  IDEAS part of this episode.

As an entrepreneur we’re NEVER lacking ideas… in fact, there’s often a plethora of them that tend to be more of a distraction than anything else. The crazy thing is that for me, I allow these distractions in, even though I know in my GUT that I need to stay focused. What I’ve learned about these distractions lately is that it’s more a part of my process than anything else.
And I don’t buy into every distraction.

I usually have a few different things going on at any given time.

I’ve read all the books (The ONE thing, Essentialism, etc…. which btw are GREAT books), but I also know myself and how I operate. I have two VERY clear priorities in my business right now. And then there are a handful of ‘side’ projects that I have going for me. The difference with the side projects for “me” and the collaboration projects is that I’m not responsible to anyone else for the work that does (or doesn’t) get done on these side projects. They’re something I play with when I need a break from everything else I’m doing. When I want to ‘play’ with something that doesn’t require me showing up as Kim Doyal. Part of my journey in ALL of this is to genuinely show up as myself, which I love (as scary as that can be). But it can also be a little tiring at times. When you make a conscious decision to put your name and face on things you want to do it in a way that serves your audience AND you. No one can do that 24/7.

So what do you do with all these fantastic ideas?

That’s up to you.

You need to figure out what works best for you and run with it.

Here are a few things I do with these ideas:

• Write them down
• Map them out (I use Gliffy for mapping things out)
• Share them with a friend
• Create your own side project
• Sit with it for a day or two (meditate on it)
• Get creative (logos, colors, site mockups)

Here’s what I DON’T do:

Shift my priorities so any of my new ‘ideas’ overtake my focus and before you know it I’m exactly where I was a few months ago.

I see this happen over and over and over again with people.

What they’re doing isn’t working the way they want (hear producing the income they want) so they jump ship too early. Instead of tweaking and measuring what they’re working on, they give up and jump into something else.

There’s also that entrepreneurial rush that kicks in when you come up with an idea that lights you up!

And it’s pretty addicting.

Which is where the Content and Metrics come in.

Unless you have an unlimited budget for advertising, you’re going to have to create content.

It’s not just that ‘content is king’ like we’ve all heard over and over again. Content is REQUIRED.

Content isn’t just about SEO, indexing, and keywords. It’s about building relationships and trust in a way that makes people want to do business with you. It’s providing value before people hand over their hard-earned cash.

Lately, I’ve seen a LOT of discussion around people who aren’t going to keep giving things away. Some think the ‘free model’ doesn’t work anymore, do people really care about opt-ing in for your free guide, ebook, cd, audio, course, etc.? I don’t have the answer to that (nor do I care to get into a discussion or debate around it. Not because it’s not a worthwhile topic, I simply don’t have the energy). What I DO know is that people who do content marketing RIGHT are killing it.

Take a look at Dan Norris as an example (founder of WP Curve and author of The 7 Day Startup and newly released Content Machine).

Dan literally is a machine when it comes to content (I’m hoping to have him back on the show to talk about The Content Machine). He spent less than $200 on advertising for WP Curve, which is now a 7 figure business (less than 2 years). Of course, he’s worked his ass off for it, but content WORKS.

When you do it correctly.

It can be challenging to write content, I totally get it.

I LOVE creating content yet I find it’s the first thing to go when I feel squeezed for time. And then I pay the price for it.

I’m putting myself through Dan’s book & resources (when you get the book he gives you a link to a ton of free resources he’s created to help you in creating your content strategy) for my other brand, INFLUENCE Podcasting since I decided I’m attaching my name (and face) to that brand as well (here we go). I know I NEED a content strategy and really wasn’t sure where to start.

And here’s the thing.

I know it’s going to be work, and that’s O.K.

Onto Metrics

Truth be told this is probably my least favorite thing of all to do in my business (which I’m guessing is probably common among creatives).

But it is SO vitally important.

Measure what’s working.

And if you don’t want to do it (like me), then treat your business like a business and hire someone to do it.

I’m not going to get into all the different metrics you should be measuring (because like I mentioned above, I don’t enjoy doing it), but I will talk about a starting point for metrics.

Your Blog

I’m assuming you’ve installed Google Analytics and added your site to Google Webmaster tools (verifying the site). Once you’ve done that there are a handful of Google Analytics plugins you can install in your site so you don’t have a login to your Google account to see what’s going on (I’m also testing a plugin called Skystats that is pretty awesome. I’ll be doing a separate post on that, but for now know that it’s also an option).

The simple metrics I would use to get started with measuring your blog content are:

– Top keywords

– Top pages (content)

– Bounce rate

– Top traffic sources

– Conversions (opt-ins)

– Social shares & comments

Your Email List

First, let me just point out that I listed your email list BEFORE social media here. Social media is crucial to successful online marketing, but you don’t “own” anything with social media.

– Site Conversions (how many optins to visitors, where people are opt-ing in and what they’re opt-ing in for)

– Squeeze pages:  Assuming you have some pages up that are opt-in pages only. Same metrics as above (we’re not going to get into paid traffic here)

– Email CRM stats: Open rates, subscribers, links clicked, unsubscribes

Social Media

– Counts & activity (I know, kind of vague, remember, I’m not a social media expert either)

– Shares

– Clicks (are people clicking through on what you’re sharing? Remember the goal is to get them to your SITE)

– Engagement (which is similar to activity but will vary on different platforms)

*My personal recommendation with social media is to pick one platform that you spend MOST of your time on and focus your efforts there. Share and engage on your other accounts as well but it’s hard to do them all really well when it’s not your primary focus*

So… in summary (this has been a WAY wordier post than I anticipated, but when you start writing about the priority of content it’s kind of hard not to get wordy), find out how YOU focus best and commit to sticking with something until it works.

I’m not saying that all projects need to live forever, because they don’t. Wisdom also comes from letting go of things that aren’t working or serving you, but that’s another blog post entirely.

I am talking about not expecting your life to change when you first put something out in the world. Give it time to grow and nurture it.  Course correcting along the way is MUCH easier than starting over. And over. And over.

Trust Yourself.

You’ve got this.

Links mentioned in this episode

Books:
The ONE Thing
Essentialism
Choose Yourself
Content Machine
The Automatic Customer

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