The How-to-Write-Content Battle: Let Me Entertain You!
There's a content battle out there and as a community of over 1 million members don't you think we have the opportunity to decide which way this battle plays out?
I took two courses on Content Creation this month at Udemy, and those courses perfectly represent the battle at hand:
- Course 1 said 'here's how to build your website fast by copying the content off successful sites'. It was like in the old cartoons where a little red 'devil' with a pointy pitchfork sat on your shoulder whispering things you just knew were off but very seductive if you wanted a fast buck and easy life...
- Course 2 the author said he did 'his own unique original research' and produced good content. This author also had a success story to back up his strategy. That's the course I kept, and I got a refund on the other and complained to Udemy at the disgrace of being taught to steal under the guise of a legitimate course.
Excuse Me, Have You Heard of the Internet?
Quoting Sheldon Cooper's words to his girlfriend Amy when he decided to write a scathing review on a competitor's book he'd never read, she exclaimed 'But you never read it', to which he replied, 'Excuse me, have you heard of the internet!'
That is actually a scathing remark on bloggers:
- Who write reviews on stuff they have not read and do not know about
- Bloggers who enter a niche with no intention of immersing themselves in it to find out what's going on, never mind master it
- And whose only research is reading and copying the words of someone else who copied someone else who copied someone else, who may have only started with wiki in the first place, which half the time especially in the health niche is only a half baked biased opinion to begin with.
I wrote a blog earlier this month showing you there's a bunch of free resources in any niche:
- And that anyone who signs up to newsletters
- Who knows who the niche leaders are, and who disagrees with their way of doing things
- Who knows what the history of their niche is, the trends that extend back further than a couple of weeks or years
- And who isn't afraid to read key books
- And finds out what's going on and who INFORMS their opinion before offering it will actually transform themselves from average to something useful and profitable and competitive, and deserving.
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/mozmary/blog/how-to-source-c...
Alternatively you can choose to follow a different type of blog at WA currently trending in the 'top 10' which says 'bear in mind google can be lax with duplicate content, go forth and multiply your great content', lol, 'great content' is a real tickler there, as is 'top 10' and the fact the comments there already question what WA has so far stood for with the words 'relax the duplicate content rules' here.
'r-e-l-a-x d-u-p-l-i-c-a-t-e c-o-n-t-e-n-t r-u-l-e-s' wtf?
*If anyone has an affiliate link to a machine that will also wipe people's own ass for them, please forward it to me, as there could be a lucrative niche within this audience who refuse to do any work....
At the moment those who shout the loudest, who grab the fastest, they seem to be getting some success online and people are thinking they need to do the same - but that sounds very caveman-like, a backward step for humanity. I remember living in a third world country 20 years back where when the bus pulled up everyone got jammed in the door getting on at the same time - everyone was so focused on survival that politeness was a luxury no one considered they could afford - but we do get to decide the rules folks, dog eat dog or some level of integrity in our approach to content and each others' sites, you get to decide that every day in what and how you publish to your site and your WA blog. Content theft can become like an infectious disease if you let it.
Niche Mastery: Robbie Williams leads the way!
Take a look at his Let Me Entertain You video on youtube , and try to count how many bands he pays tribute to in one song - but this goes way beyond 'just another tribute band' here!
- He covers the entire history of Rock 'n Roll, you can see Mick Jagger's swagger, you can see Freddy Mercury's strut, Ozzy Osborne Black Sabbath, Meatloaf, and more - yet he is not copying any one of them, he is not duplicating their content or writing it in his own words to outrank them on google, or plagiarizing them as if they never existed, nor stealing nor making a half assed no follow nod in their direction either.
Instead he is demonstrating a deep mastery and knowledge of the history of music and entertainment, he is paying visible tribute here in an unmistakable way, it's almost an insult not to 'appear' in this song, and academics have their own way of doing that, and bloggers need to find a good way to do it too - the field is divided on that right now, do we cite references, do we ask first cite later or cite first and hope they never find out, the answer may lie in not lying to yourself about how you'd like people to treat your hard work.
And then Robbie goes way beyond what any of his predecessors did, his message is one of love as he kisses the dove instead of biting the head of the bat, he brings the past into the present with those dancers, and then the climax at the end is such a comic laugh at sex rather than some of the drug induced bravado of the sixties and seventies ...and eighties...
Robbie knows his niche. He's clearly spent hours researching it. He doesn't try to erase others who went before him but he furthers the work. Inspired mastery, original, genius, the sort of results that come with effort, not laziness. If you think you need to copy then you are saying you suck at your niche and being a parasite is the only way forward.
ps Interesting Question: Why am I taking courses on content creation?
Why do I need to take courses on content creation - I can already land a health niche article on page 1 very quickly, though it has been said by some members here it can't be done. I've already taken about 7 practitioner level courses across the health niche, I'm not stuck for content ideas, and I already come from a background of creating grade A content in the academic world across several other niches, so why do I still take courses ?
- Because I consider informing my opinion is always going to be necessary and there's no shortcuts to knowing any niche, including bootcamp.
- And whether that's free courses or 10 bucks here or there on what is actually going on in my niche is better than going to your website to copy what you copied from someone else, or worse, stealing your hard work, like what happened to our fellow member here who got bumped out of page 1 position 1 this week by 'his WA family' of bootcampers setting a very bad example imo
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/kevinv91/blog/i-will-never-b...
Research vs Copying
If 10 people read 10 identical books and write an essay on them, they will see different things, and communicate different things and come to varied conclusions getting different inspiration as they go along. If 10 people rewrite a the same blog they will end up with bland useless material that serves no purpose and is a waste of their life and ours, the readers.
On the other hand, the transcripts I made up that were a great help to understanding the training had to be disabled precisely because of copying.
Unless people get behind the lazy thieving aspect of content theft to create a standard then on the bright side, I've thought up strategies to work that to my favor too. Copy me and I own you, be yourself and you own you ;)
Mary
Recent Comments
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This is a marvelous post, Mary. I now feel better at the length it has taken me to write content for building my website. I guess I could have done it quicker, but the research has competed with other aspects of making a living. And even after more than a thousand words, I am taking time to review to ensure I can recognize myself in the content. Integrity in writing is so important.
Awesomeness!
Mojalefa.
Thank you Mojalefa!
You are so right about other aspects of life competing for our time in this so I admire your persistence!
Also, we do get quicker once the foundation is in place.
I left a reply to Mel's comment here that I also notice different types of posts we can do on our site, some of them very research heavy, but some more communicative and engaging to our audience as a result of being immersed in our niche, which likely can only happen when we are immersed in our niche anyway.
Thanks, Mary. I am, indeed, hoping that after this first website, it will go quicker. There will be some familiarity with the process and flow.
I really hope so. And yes, I do agree. There are posts we can do that are unique yet more about us to hold the attention of the reader.
I don't know if it's a coincidence but suddenly we're all talking here about the need to maintain originality in our writings. Only yesterday I had written a short post here in very much the same lines. Then I'm reading this brilliant post of yours. I also read Mike's (MKearns) post on duplicate content today. I think it's a good sign. I'm appalled at what happened to Kevin and how his content got cloned by our own WA members. Hey, is there something called subconscious plagiarism where, you know, the writer, after having read many blogs, just transfers other people's writings or ideas unconsciously into his own posts? Hahaha...The downside of too much research?? You're no mean writer yourself and so it's nice to learn that you are taking courses on content creation. A good lesson for people like us on the need to constantly improve on our writing skills. And a reminder that there's no end to learning in our blogging journey. By the way, love the Robbie Williams analogy. In fact, it was your header image that caught my attention. Another proof of how images are powerful elements to grab the eyeballs!
The new dashboard here makes it hard to find content so I don't see many posts any more, I'll be interested to see yours. Though the duplicate content one was the opposite to what I'm saying here and we've many people in WA who are not on the same page regarding content creation, even though the official line very much is quality original content.
Lol, glad Robbie pulled you in :D
Boy he is a great example of niche mastery!
Thank you Mary. I've always believed we (humans) need to be original in all aspects of life. Life is a learning curve and if we copy others opinions, behaviours or business styles, we better be sure they had it right. Copying wrong information is tantamount to suicide, be it business or other. Copying good content is robbery. It's okay to learn from others, as long as you have approval to access their property and implement what you learn. If you are not willing to take the time to review, learn, put your own spin on an idea, then you are one of those people who are not only lazy, but doomed to fail. Some may seem to benefit from copying others, but in the end they will suffer. I remember a friend at high school who always copied my assignments. On one final assignment the teacher left a big red comment that read "see me after school". When I saw him he told me he would let my friend pass even though he was aware he had copied my work, but that he would fail the next year because we would be having external exams, where you can't copy. That's exactly what happened. I blamed myself as well. I should have made him learn to review and gather his own information and compose his own articles. Same can be said for those that teach people to copy content. They are training people to fail. Jim
ooh, very nicely put Jim - training people to fail, ...missing the learning curve of life, ...and stripping them of their human originality...so many nuggets to be picked up here, clearly you are an original!
let's hope they copy that then! ;)
I totally agree with you. If someone can't create their own content, then they need to decide if this is really the business they should be in. Quality will always win in the end, I believe, and you won't get quality with rehashed articles.
Janelle
Hi Mary,
Do you mind if I use your article here to make a post to land page 1 for my website please?
Please tick - Yes, or No. Either ways, I am still going to do it and not let you know - its a joke. hahahaha.
Its a Money Vs Morals thing I guess.
If you moral in reality surely you can't lose it when you are online and see the potential to make $10,000+ a month in a relatively short amount of time? Can we ... hmmm.
No matter what, solid foundations last. Sites ghosting others the whole time will fade.
Why?
Because in time we will see a something that we can't be proud of for time that we can't get back! Perhaps it is just a maturity thing that new comers will learn to take greater pride in their work and do their best to create something unique as much as possible.
Though, in the beginning, I think there is a way to help all of our referrals not to do this. I will PM you, just got a brain wave - ITS RARE!! So please enjoy it.
LOL! You are the WA content king and traffic king Philip, the last person on the planet who is going to steal content! :D
Love the way you phrased the question, people do need to translate their request/desire to see it for what it really is lol!
Looking forward to hearing the brainwave, but it won't be lonely in your noggin!
Well, my idea was, that if our sign ups can go the whole first year of their membership with WA without ghosting, we will give them kudos!
No,thats not it - sorry. Getting old. I PMed you anyways.
Haha, thank you!! Seems to be drawing some attention. Would highly recommend trying one of you’re ever near a Japanese restaurant... Particularly on a cold day.
I really do think this is a very important article, and something that should be pinned somewhere on the front page of WA!
Enjoyed the Robbie Williams case study, bit of a unique spin on the topic.
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you nailed it. I want to present UNIQUE content, not stuff that has been written and rewritten. That is why i only post once a week as opposed to 2-3 times a week. I won't compromise the quality for the quantity. Thanks a bunch for this fantastic post!
Thanks Mel, I admire your good foundation for your site!
A little trick I'm noticing though is that it is possible to do different types of posts, the research ones take time and they are the backbone of our site and niche mastery, but there's other ways we can communicate our journey and observations to create engagement on our site too and bump up our output without extra work, it's like maximizing what we already have or who we already are as you'll find people want more of the person behind the quality content.
I saw this recently with a fellow member whose content was so good I just wanted more of him on his site in between the brilliant articles, as his insight was so unique, even just where'd he'd been that week as he immersed himself in events in his niche or what he was noticing that he intended to pursue, and sometimes certain types of reviews become real easy when we know our niche and have that research foundation in place.