How Long Is Evergreen Content Actually Good for?

First of all, what is evergreen content? Evergreen content is content that stays fresh for a long time. It’s like a live Christmas tree as opposed to a cut Christmas tree. You can keep it, plant it, and/or use it again next year. It may be a solution to a problem, like Frequently Asked Questions, a research paper, or a tutorial. The best kind of content, in my opinion, is evergreen content. After all, you’re working hard to create content, so why not make it last a little longer.

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What Isn’t Evergreen Content?

News is usually not evergreen content. Breaking news, in particular, flits across our screens and disappears in a matter of moments. Anything that is time-sensitive isn’t evergreen. Some trending topics may also disappear quickly.

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Why Create Evergreen Content?

People are publishing more now than ever before. As this article from Copyblogger explains “…there is one type of content that can cut through the noise and deliver long-term results.” And by the way, notice that the article from Copyblogger is from 2016. So that says a lot right there! It’s still at the top of Google search results. And it’s still relevant in 2020!

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How Do I Start Creating Evergreen Content?

Think about your successes as well as your failures. You may want to show off a client who succeeded because of your product or service. On the failure side, you may want to explain how things could have gone differently. A failure has the additional benefit of showing transparency. And also, you can use self-deprecating humor (my favorite!). You might like this article: How to Use Smart Failure and Learn Faster.

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How-To Guides Can Be Helpful

Is there some area where your talent really shines? Then why not write a how-to guide? Recently, I saw a tweet and the tweeter asked What is a subject that you could talk about for an hour without notes? That could be your how-to guide. Simply talk and write down what you say for an hour. Or have a friend take notes for you .With a little massaging, that could be your how-to guide. Remember to address your specific audience when you write your how-to guide, as this article, 3 Ways to Write a How-to Guide from WikiHow reminds us.

Inspirational Pieces

Pieces that are particularly timeless can be inspirational pieces. Maybe you still remember what a beloved teacher or friend told you when you were in grade school. If you can inspire someone with your writing, that piece may last even longer than a how-to guide.

To Answer the Question

Evergreen content can be good for years, as evidenced by some of the evergreen articles I’ve referenced above. Whether that’s two, three, or more years, depends upon a few factors. Even if things change, you may be able to update your evergreen content. For instance, I recently updated this article: Three Business-Friendly Tools for Twitter. Perhaps there’s an older piece of content that you could update, too.

Questions?

Have any questions or comments? Let me know in the comments! And thank you.

 

How to Find Ten Blog Post ideas in One Hour That Will Make You Feel Relaxed

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Do you struggle to find good content for your blog? There are so many ideas out there, and yet…not so much. Maybe you are feeling less creative and have run out. Here are some hints for you so that you can continue writing. And you can create them in one hour (maybe less!).

The Most Asked Question

What do people ask you over and over again? Don’t you get a little tired of answering that question? They might also ask the question in different ways. Why not create a blog post about that? You could call it The Most Frequently Asked Question about….

What You Wish People Would Ask

Is there something people never ask you but you wish they would? For example, Why should I hire you? Or What differentiates you? might be good questions to answer. You can surely write a full blog post about that.

Behind the Scenes

Maybe you rescue dogs in your off hours. Maybe you do needlepoint. If you have a hobby, or if your staff members all go to baseball games together, why not write about that? You might be surprised at what triggers people to do business with you. If you do share, try not to overshare. Here’s why: What Happens to Your Audience When You Overshare.

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Best of Post

What was your favorite post? Did it get a lot of attention? Did it not garner any attention? Why not write about what you think happened…or didn’t happen? You might do one per month or even one per week if you post a lot.

Something That Made You Think

Was there some article pertaining to your business that really made you think? You could use that as a jumping-off point. What did it make you think about? Did you agree with what they said? Disagree? Sometimes using an opposite viewpoint is valuable for your audience.

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Something That Made You Laugh

Maybe your business is a serious one. Maybe not. But we all need to laugh anyway. So long as what you write is not completely off-brand, why not write a humorous post? For instance, you could write a whole series about clowns. Oh, wait, that’s me!

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Compilation Post

You might compile a few posts, especially if you write about the same thing over and over. You might like How to Effectively Stand out in a Noisy World.

Write about the Competition

Of course, you probably don’t want to name the competition. This goes hand-in-hand with what differentiates you. Are they sloppy workers? Write about how meticulous you are. Are they bad listeners? Talk about your keen listening skills. And so on.

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A Series about What You Do

Do people understand what you do? Even plumbers have some services that people might not know about, or understand. You could write about what you offer that’s beyond what others offer. For instance, many plumbers also work on sprinkler systems.

What You Don’t Do

This could be a humorous post. Maybe your customers always ask you to do something that you find distasteful. That could make a good post. Friend Randy Clark wrote about How NOT to train, for instance.

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Is That Better?

Do you feel more relaxed now? Having a bunch of topics to write about can make you more relaxed. Plus, you’ll have time to do something else now!

 

Content Creation Will Make You Insane If You Let it

Content creation will make you insane if you let it.

Content creation will make you insane if you let it.

So many people have been talking about content creation lately. But do they ever talk about the daily grind of what happens when you have to churn out content on a daily basis? Mostly, content creation is glorified as something easy and simple that anyone can do. How much work goes into the creation of content, though? Like so many things in life, the answer is: it depends.

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Who’s Your Audience?

Your audience is made up of at least two parts: those who actually visit your webiste and read your posts, and the little bots that roam around Google visiting your site. Having new content on a consistent basis helps your site rank higher so that both the people and the bots are satisfied. Of course, your human audience should come first. You don’t want your words to sound like they’re written for bots!

The Problem is Consistency

Coming up with one or two or even ten blog posts isn’t the problem. The problem is sustaining your content creation for months and maybe years. Will you ever get tired of writing? What if no one reads your writing, or you don’t just don’t feel like blogging any more? Will you be able to continue writing even if you don’t want to? If you’re feeling stuck, you might like this article: Content Creation: How to Make Your Writing More Fun! And, once you’ve read that and followed it, you could also share that blog post four (or more) different ways.

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Content Creation: Be a Tortoise, Rather Than a Hare

Creating content for your readers puts you in the camp with the tortoises, not the hares. That is, you need to have steady progress and keep at it. Someone told me something a long time ago, and it stuck: Apply the seat of your pants to the seat of the chair for success. So sit down and write something–anything–even if it’s bad. Write one sentence. Then write another one. See where it takes you.

Wrangle Those Words

Keep at it, even if you don’t feel like it. Because sometimes you’ll change your mind as you start writing. It’s like going to the gym. Put on your gym shoes and get yourself there and fake it if you have to. One thing that helps me write more is to read my words out loud. Try it and let me know how it goes! And don’t go insane in the process.

Content Creation: How to Make Your Writing More Fun

Content Creation: How to Make Your Writing More Fun

Content Creation: How to Make Your Writing More Fun

Sometimes work can be a real drag. On those days when you start looking at the clock before lunch, you know it’s going to be longer than it needs to be. The solution? More fun, of course! But that’s easier said than done. Here are some ideas to influence your writing, which if you’re a writer can, in turn, make your day more fun.

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Add Colorful Images

Images may be even more important than the writing itself (but don’t tell any writer that!). As Neil Patel writes in his excellent article 11 Best Practices for Including Images in Your Blog Post, “What you need to understand is that your audience is lazy.” That is, they want to get the information as quickly as possible. And images can make your readers smile or laugh, too, while getting them more information. Yes, visual information counts.

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Appreciate Bad Writing

Bad writing has its place. And if you’re someone who writes for a living, writing badly is probably difficult for you. It would be like asking someone with perfect pitch to sing something off-key. Reading bad writing may be something that hurts your teeth. You know what I mean, you writers out there! To fully appreciate bad writing, you need to pick up something at the airport before you get on a plane. And you must read it while enjoying those miniscule pretzels you get with your orange juice. If you appreciate bad writing, then you’ll notice the difference when you see good writing. You might like Content Creation: What Are the Best Habits for Writing?

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Automatic Writing

Do you ever write without any end in mind? That is, just fill a notebook with a page of whatever’s on your mind? At first, the words may seem like gibberish. But you may notice after a while that there’s a topic or two in there that could be expanded. And those topics that you happen upon accidentally can be even more fun. Automatic writing works really well in the morning for me, but you can take a try any time of day. The important thing is to turn off the editor who lives in your head and keep going.

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Combine Two Unique Topics

This is probably my favorite way to write. Combine two topics that you wouldn’t usually see together. For instance, What Nikola Tesla Said about the New iPhone Will Blow Your Mind! probably isn’t an article or blog post that you’re going to see very often. That’s what some might call a long, long, long tail word. So you might think about combining someone in the news along with another topic and see what happens. At the very least, you’ll have fun writing!

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Write for Yourself

That is, don’t worry about what anyone else will think. That’s a good way to start. Of course, if you have an audience, you need to keep them in mind. But if you don’t have anything written, you can’t go back and edit later. You need to have something on the page so you can go back and change it, after all.

How-to Secrets to Overcome Writer’s Block

How-to Secrets to Overcome Writer's Block

How-to Secrets to Overcome Writer’s Block

We’ve all suffered writer’s block at some point, right? Staring at a blank screen or blank page is never easy, and it sometimes happens to everyone. Lately, all the rainy, gray days have been sucking all the fun out of writing. But I know that others in the country have snow and ice (and no power!), so I’m not complaining too much.

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Just Do it!

One of the best quotes I ever heard was about applying the seat of your pants to the seat of your chair if you want to get something done. That’s generally been my approach, too. By the way, you might like my previous post Content Creation: What Are the Best Habits for Writing?

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Write Something, Even if It’s Bad

My dad used to always say “Do something, even if it’s wrong!” Sometimes thinking back on that advice, I smile, but other times it does seem to help to overcome paralysis. In my family, we didn’t often suffer from paralysis through analysis, but we did have to go back and fix some bad mistakes. Then again, as my friend Adam Fout said, “you can’t edit a blank page.” Go and read his excellent writing. Maybe you’ll be inspired to write something good.

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Turn off the Critical Part of Your Brain

One problem with writing or any creative venture is that your critical sense gets more refined as you move through life. That is, you like good writing and if you don’t do any writing yourself, the gap between what you know is good writing and your own writing grows. It’s difficult to turn off that critical sense. What if what you write isn’t good? What if no one reads it? The what-ifs grow and become louder, so it’s important to turn off that absurd little critic that prevents you from writing.

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Read More

If you’re paying attention while you’re reading, you’ll see some writing that you really like. And even if you read bad writing, you’ll discover what not to do. Sometimes, what not to do is as important as learning what to do. Right now, I’m rereading the Harry Potter books. The stories within the larger story really pull you along. I love stories that paint a picture as the Harry Potter books do. And the movies are good, too. Most of the time, I’d say that the book is better than the movie. This time, I’d say that the Harry Potter films are pretty good, too!

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Join a Writers Group

There are lots of meetups, and if you don’t see one you like, you can start your own! It’s pretty easy to do. You don’t even have to make it an official meetup. You could just ask a few friends to join you at a cafe to do some writing.

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Look over Your Old Writing

If you’re lacking inspiration, look at some of your own writing. What worked? What didn’t? Can you rework an old headline and make it into something more fun, more exciting, more interesting? Sure you can!

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Start with a Good Headline

Speaking of headlines, many people might argue that the headline is the most important part of what you write. If you’ve never considered your headline before, you might like this article What Happens When You Write 25 Headlines Before Choosing One? Yes, that was a fun one to write.

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What’s Your Secret?

How do you overcome writer’s block? Or do you have a secret at all?

 

How to Come Up With A Years Worth Of Blog Content

 

How to Come Up With A Years Worth Of Blog Content

How to Come Up With A Years Worth Of Blog Content

You’ve probably heard of those people who have their entire year planned out. They seem so on top of their game, don’t they? It’s not such a difficult thing to do (maybe a bit more difficult if you publish daily, like friend Randy Clark does–check out his Randy’s blog posts). You, too, can be prepared to write at the drop of a hat. For this exercise, I’ll be giving you some real-world examples that you can perhaps translate to your own industry.

idea board photoBrainstorm

Get out a big sheet of paper or a bunch of sticky notes, and write down everything you can think of as fast as you can. Or you could have a friend help you to write while you dictate. You could also use a tape recorder and then later transcribe your ideas. The idea is to get into the creative flow and not stop yourself. You might need a few minutes to get warmed up, but when you do–look out for the onslaught of ideas! Here are some other ways to get topics for your blog: Blogging Beginner? How to Get Ahead of the Game.

city map photoMind Mapping

Mind mapping is where you take an idea and then take all the ideas that are roughly related to that idea. One idea leads you to the next and the next. It’s fun and it’s especially good if you are a visual learner. If you’re the type who likes to use software, here are some software programs you might check out: 11 of the Best Mind Mapping Software to Brainstorm Better Ideas. A few of them are even free!

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Ask Friends

Ask your friends what they’d like to read about. Ask on social media. Call them up or text them. Write down everything they say. You might be surprised. Sometimes your friends may have bad ideas. You can turn those around by doing the opposite of what they say! Just say thank you and move on.sleep photo

Look at Old Posts

What posts have worked for you? What has not worked for you? Are there any old posts that you could rework? Can you rewrite something taking a different approach? For instance, here’s a post of mine that I really liked: For Better Social Media Results, Focus on Engagement. So if I were to follow up on that theme, I could maybe have five different posts, as follows:

  1. How you can engage with people different from yourself?
  2. The many types of engagement there are
  3. Engagement using simple emojis
  4. Engagement for the high-tech crowd
  5. Social media engagement for startups

You get the idea. That’s already five different posts, which if you post once a week is over one month’s worth of posts.

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What is Your Audience Like? What Are Their Pain Points?

If your audience never has time, you could talk about time management. My audience is extremely busy, and that’s why I often write about time management. So I could write these posts for my audience:

  • Time Management for the Startup Crowd
  • Time Management When You Have No Time
  • Timeless Time Management
  • Stop Staring at the Clock
  • Getting More Time for All Those Critical Things You Never Have Time to Do

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Ask Yourself Before Going to Sleep

This is one I’ve been using a lot lately. I ask myself what to write about before going to sleep. By the morning, I have an answer. Make sure you have a way to record your ideas before they slip away.

Lots of people think using a notebook and pen is the best way to get your dreams recorded. But you can also use your phone and maybe record them as you speak.

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How Do You Come up with Ideas?

And are you staying ahead of your blog posts? Leave me a comment! Thank you.

 

This is How You Make Your Blog Posts Really Shine

This is How You Make Your Blog Posts Really Shine

This is How You Make Your Blog Posts Really Shine

This is How You Make Your Blog Posts Really Shine

I’ve been blogging regularly for a while now. And by “a while,” I mean going on seven years. So I’ve learned a couple of things that might interest you. Some things have changed a little, while other things have remained the same.

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Don’t Stress over Your Writing

I know that’s easier said than done, but really–don’t stress over it. Overthinking can cause a great deal of panic, and make you stop dead in your tracks. You can go deeper with your topic by doing some research, but don’t let lack of time for research stop you from writing. You do want to know who your audience is before you get started, though.

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Keep it Simple

Writing, like walking, is simply taking it one step at a time. Write one sentence. Then write another one. Pretty soon you have a paragraph, then a blog post, then you can compile those into a small book. Then maybe a series. Who knows?

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Come up with a Good Topic

It’s easiest to batch your topic creation. For instance, create a bunch of headlines all at once–I created 52 all at once at the beginning of the year. That way, you’ll always have something to write about. And sometimes the very act of writing shakes loose something in your brain that you didn’t know was there. Did you miss my post from last week, about Content Creation: What Are the Best Habits for Writing?

It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect!

Done is better than perfect, hands down. According to some people, perfectionism is growing and becoming a dangerous epidemic, with more and more college students becoming perfectionists. In fact, in this BBC article about the dangerous downsides of perfectionism, author Amanda Ruggeri states that “Perfectionistic tendencies have been linked to a laundry list of clinical issues: depression and anxiety (even in children), self-harm, social anxiety disorder and agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, binge eating, anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome, insomnia, hoarding, dyspepsia, chronic headaches, and most damning of all, even early mortality and suicide.”

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Add Great Images

If the writing isn’t perfect, images can really help the subject along. You can use free sites for images, such as Pixabay or Canva. Or create your own images with PhotoShop. Or even use your own photos. There really is truth to that old saw about an image and a thousand words.

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Hire Someone

If you really, really need someone to blog for you, then hire someone! You don’t have to do everything yourself!

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What Stops You?

Is there something that holds you back from blogging? Let me know in the comments! And thank you.

Content Creation: What Are the Best Habits for Writing?

Content Creation: What Are the Best Habits for Writing?

Content Creation: What Are the Best Habits for Writing?

Content Creation: What Are the Best Habits for Writing?

Every writer has their own habits, and I know plenty of writers who suffer from writer’s block. Other writers work best under deadline pressure. Most of us are somewhere in between–a little pressure, but not too much.

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Carve out Blocks of Time for Writing

Having at least a half-hour block of time to write undisturbed has always been a great trick for me. Maybe it’s not a secret, though. You may need a certain space, a favorite pad of paper, or absolute silence. But having enough time to write is key. And starting ahead of time before you’re too stressed to write at all has worked for me. Here are some tips from Forbes on How to Manipulate Time with These Powerful 20 Time Management Tips. (See #2.)

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Trick Yourself into Writing

Another best habit for writing is to write for 15-minute chunks. Because you can do anything for 15 minutes, right? Getting started has always been the most difficult part of doing anything for me. Whether it’s a chore around the house or writing, that first 15 minutes is the most painful. And if I think about writing too much, then somehow my mind makes it into an overwhelmingly huge task. Also, if you’re able to gamify your blogging, that’s very helpful, too. Here’s a post about the gamification of social media that you might like.

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Have Five Topics

I learned this idea from Syed Balkhi years ago, and it’s stuck with me. Create five topics so you have no excuse not to write. If you run out of steam, go to the next topic. Here’s the post where I wrote about WordCamp Orange County and Syed Balkhi: WordCamp Orange County 2013. I can’t believe it’s been five years! Anyway, create those topics and don’t let “not having anything to write about” stop you.

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Keep Going and Edit Later

Don’t stop, and don’t think about what you’re doing too much until later. You can always edit. You can add links and images later, too. For now, your job is just to do a brain dump on the topic. You may want to get the high-level topics within your post, but other than that, just write. Add one sentence per topic. Then add two more sentences and take it from there. Soon, you’ll have something that looks like a blog post.

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Make it the Same But Different

When you’re writing, you may think it’s exactly the same as another topic you wrote about, and sometimes it’s very similar. But not everyone is going to read every word you write. Even if you’re writing about the same topic, it’s going to be different. And the images you add will be different, too. For images, I like Pixabay (make sure the images are really free).

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What Are Your Best Habits?

What are your favorite and best habits? What gets you going? Do you need a favorite beverage in a favorite mug? Let me know in the comments! And thank you!

 

How to Keep Your Content Fresh: Innovative Ways, Part Two

How to Keep Your Content Fresh: Innovative Ways, Part Two

How to Keep Your Content Fresh: Innovative Ways, Part Two

Once I started writing about how to keep content fresh, it seems that I couldn’t stop. Before we dive into these ideas, you might like to read Part One. Here’s part two.

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Use Quizzes and Polls

There are so many controversial topics right now that a quiz or poll could really help you figure out what your audience (or at least your friends) are thinking. You could ask them about Facebook and their privacy concerns, for instance. Have your friends shifted their social media strategies? Are they spending more time in other places online? That could be the basis for an interesting post or piece of content. Here’s a Wiki on how to create polls on Facebook.

Mind Mapping Is One Way to Find Fresh Content

Mind Mapping Is One Way to Find Fresh Content

Mindmap or Brainstorm Ideas

Mind mapping is a wonderful tool, and you can find software to help you. Or you could just get a big sheet of paper and some pencils, and get started! You’d be surprised at what starts to appear in your mindmap.

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Think Like Your Audience

What do you honestly think your audience cares about? Probably not the same things that you care about! For instance, my audience cares about time and money. And ROI (return on investment). Those are the questions that everyone asks. One idea (that I found while online) is Random Affinities.

Random Affinities

Moz has a wonderful article about growing your business with random affinities. You can use Google search, Amazon, or even Facebook ads to find out what a particular audience might be interested in. For instance, start a Google search for “are yurts” and then see what Google suggests. If you’re writing about a boring topic (not that yurts are boring!) this could help. A lot. I tried doing the search and Google guesses at the rest of the sentence.

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Try a Different Format

If you’ve been blogging, try a video blog or podcasting. The process of learning the new format might be more work, but it could also be a lot of fun. In addition, you might attract a whole different audience!

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Use Gamification

You can gamify just about anything. Give yourself points for starting, for progress, and for finishing a project. You might like this post about the Gamification of Social Media.

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Let Someone Else Write

Too busy to write? Let someone else write for you! If you don’t know of anyone, I do (that would be me!). Send me an email if you’re looking for someone to help write your blog posts!

How to Keep Your Content Fresh: Innovative Ways

How to Keep Your Content Fresh: Innovative Ways

How to Keep Your Content Fresh: Innovative Ways

Perhaps you’ve been creating content for months or years now, and you feel as though you’re repeating the same tired ideas over and over. Is that you? Some days it’s me! Sitting down to write isn’t always fun. The imagination doesn’t always cooperate the way it should! Especially if you’ve been in meetings all day long, and the thought of writing sounds way less interesting than sleep.

Repurpose

Take a look at your own content. Is there something from a blog post that you wrote long ago that you could revisit? That’s one way of repurposing. Start with that old idea, and do a remodeling job. You can add video, images, tweets, or quotations to make it fresh. Think of it as a makeover. You might get some clues here: How to Recycle Content the 10 Best Ways.

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Add a New Headline

Of course, you’ll want to create a new headline, too. In fact, many experts claim you should spend half your time on the headline itself. Here’s a thorough article about Headlines: How to Write Better Headlines, from Hubspot. The infographic is worth its weight in gold.

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Combine Two or Three Ideas

One thing that I love love love doing is to combine two radically different ideas to create a new one. So, for instance, What Nikola Tesla Said About the New iPhone Will Blow Your Mind combines a dead scientist with the new iPhone. I’m fairly certain no one has written that particular article before! Call it a long, long, long tail keyword.

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Interview an Influencer in Your Space

You could interview someone and ask them how they got started, what differentiates their business from other businesses, what makes them successful, etc. The interview doesn’t have to be done in person–a phone interview might be adequate, as outlined in How to interview someone like a journalist. Another good tip? Avoid the word interview, as it brings up visions of job interviews–which hardly anyone enjoys.

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Let Others Do the Work ~ Crowdsource

Sometimes you can crowdsource during a Twitter chat and then include the tweets in a blog post. Or just take a tweet and use it on another social media platform to start a conversation. It doesn’t have to be anything controversial to start a conversation, either.

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More Next Time!

There’s a lot to say about content creation and keeping it fresh. If there’s something you’d like to see, drop me a comment here! And thank you.

 

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