The Content Brain Fart… and How to Fix it
I know you know what I’m talking about, right?
That ‘oh so fun’ feeling when you’re staring at a blank screen (or worse, a half-written post) and you really want to create something new but you feel stuck.
I’ve talked to a lot of people about the content brain fart (although I can’t say I’ve ever used that term before today… you’d think I’d spent the weekend with a bunch of 6 year old boys. They never tire of fart jokes).
With so much information available around creating content it can be a little overwhelming (listacles, epic content, content that converts, and on and on and on).
With every single person I talk to I start with one thing.
It might seem contrary and not very strategic, but it’s the easiest way to get writing and start producing consistent content.
Simply share your story.
Share what’s going on in your business, in your life (as it relates to your business), lessons you’ve learned, things you’d do differently, and successes you’ve had.
Don’t worry about being a prolific writer or the next Stephen Pressfield (I highly recommend his books. Start with the War of Art. His latest, Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t is fantastic too).
Just be YOU.
My business completely shifted when I simply started writing in my own voice, sharing what was going on, what was on my mind and how I felt about things in my business. You can decide how much of the personal stuff you want to share, there’s zero expectations on what that looks like.
Like reading other peoples income reports but don’t want to share yours?
Cool. You don’t have to.
Not interested in doing live streaming?
Yep. Your choice again.
Where I can get stuck is feeling like I have to have a video or tutorial all the time (I don’t… some of my best shared content has been when I needed to get something off my chest and just went for it).
As someone who tends to get a little preachy about putting your business first (meaning over your clients business), I found myself in that space of wondering what to write about this morning when I wanted to write a post that wasn’t a tutorial or podcast post.
Then it hit me.
One of the most shared posts I’ve had was my list of plugins I was using in 2015 (because I use CoSchedule I can see which posts have been shared the most). I had been meaning to do that for 2016 but not much had changed so it seemed kind of boring (remember my motto, if it’s not fun, I’m not doing it).
Then I realized I could do more of a… dare I say ‘epic post’ of ALL the tools I use in my business. Broken down into categories (ex: affiliate marketing, email marketing, design, etc.).
Done!
Here’s the cool thing about this and what I’ll do with this post (it’s all about leverage my friends!). I’ll be putting it into a PDF for a content upgrade (I’ll add more to the PDF so it’s not just a copy & paste…although I think that is fine too as long as you explain that’s what they’re getting).
Then I’ll take the categories that I’ve broken the post into and do an updated resources page on my new site (well.. new theme, same site). Using Beaver Builder of course and the super fabulous new plugin, Beaver Addons.
If you’re a fan of Beaver Builder, you’re going to LOVE the Beaver Addons plugin! Tons of great new style elements and they’re adding page templates!
Check out BeaverAddons here
With this post I knew I needed to get organized before I began writing. Right now I’ve got about 47 tools listed (I’m including plugins in this list but because it’s broken down into category it should be easier to navigate).
I have to be careful not to get too wordy, which as you can tell is easy for me to do, because this post will end up being ridiculously long.
Hmm… maybe an infographic?
We’ll see.
For now though, I’d better get back to writing this post so I can publish it this week.