Content Creation For Newbies Part 1

byTheCatherine

13.9K followers

Updated 3 years ago

Eliminate Content Creation Distractions

One of the biggest hindrances to your online success is not being able to block out distractions. When it comes to Internet marketing, you have a lot of content that has to be created, and if you’re constantly having your attention pulled away, you won’t get very far.

Content creation for your online pursuits includes blog posts, email autoresponders, social networking posts, info product creation, lead magnets, sales copy, product reviews, and more.

Plus, it’s not a one-time creation process. If you’re in this business for the long haul, then you’ll need to churn out content on a regular basis so that your site and your lists don’t go stagnant.

You have to identify the real distractions that are inhibiting your content creation, and then learn how to manage or eliminate them so that you’re free to generate ample content for your target audience that converts.

Learn How to Stop Procrastinating

One thing people do when they feel overwhelmed is avoid whatever it is causing them anxiety – in this case, the sheer workload of content creation you have to carry out. In order to face it head on, it helps to have a calendar that maps out bite-sized tasks.

Use a calendar for your overall monthly projects and have one per project as well. So in other words, if you have a date that you want to launch an info product, put that on your main calendar, along with any other important big dates, like launching a new squeeze page or blog series.

Then, have the bite-sized tasks mapped out on another calendar. This would be every task you plan to carry out daily for each project, like “create eCover for info product” one day or “write chapter 1” on another day.

It’s much less intimidating to see a chapter than it is to just look at the project as a whole and get overwhelmed thinking of everything you have to do before the launch date.

The overview helps you stay on track, so it’s best to have both. You can use printable, downloadable calendars that are free like the ones you find here: http://www.pdfcalendar.com/monthly.

When procrastination sets in, go ahead and take breaks to accomplish other things rather than avoiding all work. Do household tasks or answer your emails. Switch gears to different projects when you need a brain break.

Use a reward system, too. If you work for 15 or 20 minutes straight, then you get to do something else - or if you create 1 full page of something, then you get to do something else. But push yourself to start completing things in micro-sizes rather than avoiding them altogether.

Has Boredom Stalled Your Content Creation?

Some people just don’t enjoy writing content, period. They find the whole process boring – but they want to make money. When you’re in various niches, sometimes you get bored because these are topics you already know and you’re just sharing with those who need to be informed.

Sometimes a topic or niche might be highly profitable, but it’s not necessarily anything you want to be writing about on a yearly basis. If you can delegate some of it, that’s great – but sometimes, you have to create it yourself.

The first thing you can do is sprinkle your tasks with a bit of fun while you have to carry them out. For example, go to a new location. Instead of working at home, take your laptop to an outdoor location that has beautiful or peaceful scenery.

Add another activity to your content creation process. For example, let’s say you have to write a lead magnet, but it’s so gorgeous outside that you really just want to go on a hike and forget about work.

You can do that! There are many speech to text alternatives that allow you to enjoy your time while you’re creating content. You can use your smart phone and go on a hike or go rollerblading while you dictate your content.

Use a free tool like this one to get you started: https://www.speechtexter.com. Part of your content creation is the brainstorming process, so even if you don’t feel like you could fully “write” (or speak) a piece of content on the go, you can certainly brainstorm ideas while you’re being active and having fun.

There was one woman who realized she wasn’t getting her fiction writing completed at home. So she would buy a round trip train ticket somewhere and use that time on the train to complete her book!

Sometimes you need to change your style to eliminate boredom. Maybe you’ve been sticking with text-based content, and you dread sitting down to a keyboard and typing a full eBook.

Nothing’s stopping you from creating video modules instead. You might end up having fun and churning out more content by switching technology – or even your personality. If you’ve been approaching your niche all serious minded, maybe taking a light-hearted, fun approach would serve you better and make you look forward to content creation rather than avoiding it.

Make sure you’re in the right niche so you won’t be bored, too. If you chose a niche that doesn’t interest you, then you may need to find another one. Or, it could be the right niche, but not the right project.

Instead of just creating affiliate product reviews, you might get more excited coaching people or having your own info products. Just gauge your enthusiasm and cut things loose that don't make you happy.

That’s what this career is all about – making you happy and giving you the freedom to create the kind of job that you want. You chose to be an entrepreneur so you’d enjoy things more and earn more, so tailor it to what you like.

Don’t Let Self-Doubt Distract You from Being Productive

Self-doubt is a big source of pain for many online entrepreneurs. If you tallied up all of the time you spent hesitating because you doubted your decisions, you’d probably be shocked at how much productivity is being lost.

With content creation, you may feel like everything you create isn’t good enough. You keep comparing your work to others in this industry. Or you don’t feel like you’re qualified enough to teach or lead an audience.

Your audience online is not judging you as a corporation would when looking to hire you as a professional in your field. They’re looking for someone who resonates with them. This means you won’t appeal to everyone, but you will be able to find those who feel like you get them – like they can learn best from you over other marketers.

You only want to get feedback on how to improve from your actual target audience and maybe from potential JV partners, if they have some tips that might improve your efforts.

Don’t listen to the voice in your head that beats you up worse than you would ever speak to an enemy. That’s not to say you don’t always try to improve, but the minute you let it stop you in your tracks, you have to stop doing it.

Sometimes it helps to compare yourself to sub-par competitors. There will be plenty of people making money in your niche who you know you can beat in terms of content creation.

Remind yourself of their existence, and know that everyone has potential to have a loyal target audience. You can even give away a freebie and get some feedback about how you stack up compared to other leaders.

Go to a forum where your niche congregates and see what they say. You won’t have as much pressure to create it, since it’s free and you’re not charging people for it, but you’ll be able to get the feedback necessary for true improvements that are unrelated to self-doubt.

For many, perfectionism is what kills productivity. You can always tweak and fix things on the fly with online content. If your blog needs to be updated, you can log in, tweak it and republish. But if you never allow yourself to complete anything, you’ll be sabotaging your success.

If you’re afraid of putting your content out there, do it as a pen name. Sometimes, you just have to do it afraid. No one ever ridiculed action takers. The beauty of entrepreneurship is that you get full control.

Learn How to Stop Non-Stop People Distractions

People are a big distraction, and sometimes, we don’t want to admit it – because some of these people are your loved ones. But when you’re trying to launch and succeed with a work-at-home career, you have to put boundaries in place.

You may not have the opportunity to go to a separate office to work, so when you recognize that you’re having a people problem, with endless interruptions, you need to take control and put an end to the issue.

First, let’s start with the kids. If you’re a parent, your kids are bound to interrupt you at times. If they’re old enough, you can give them a serious conversation about your need to support the family and get your work done.

But if they’re not, you may need to develop ways to keep them occupied and work during times when they’re not actively trying to get your attention, such as when they nap or during other times when they’re preoccupied.

Those moments might only last 10-15 minutes, so having bite-sized tasks that you can complete in short bursts of time will work well. It may take a little time for you to get the hang of working in short bursts like this, but it is possible to train yourself to be highly focused and productive during these moments.

It might be your spouse, your neighbors or other friends and family who interrupt you while you’re trying to get your work completed. For these individuals, you need to be blunt and firm, yet friendly.

Many people assume that because you’re home, it means you’re available. You have to set the boundaries up and then stick to them. Instead of just slamming the door shut on conversations, let them know when you’ll be free to get in touch and then make sure you do that.

You also want to find a place to work to keep people interruptions at bay. You can either work separate from your family, in a home office for example, or right out in the open, immersed in the chaos of your home.

If you work with everyone else, then you have to train yourself to let the noise and talking in the background take place like white noise in your mind. Sites like Coffitivity.com can help you get used to it, and you can also employ the use of sound reducing headphones while you work on your content out in the open.

Sometimes, you can eliminate people interruptions just by timing your work schedule right. Working in the wee morning hours, while the kids are at school or late at night can help prohibit others from constantly trying to communicate with you.

Timing Your Tasks for Increased Productivity

Timing plays an important role in your content creation and productivity. You can either work in large blocks of time or in mini blocks, depending on your personal preferences. You might be the kind of person who only has two hours a day to devote to content creation so you can work the whole time with maybe 1-2 brief breaks woven in.

Or, you might have eight hours a day to work on it and be able to give yourself several major breaks during those eight hours. There’s even a case to be made for those who need micro sized tasks, such as completing one paragraph or one page at a time.

If you’re a stay-at-home parent with a baby and you have to catch glimpses of time to get things done, then you can work on creating an outline for your content and produce a mere paragraph or page in one sitting before you take a break to take care of other things.

As long as you’re moving forward, it’s okay! Keep in mind that you can use those tools like dictation on your smart phone, etc. for more than just whenever you need an outdoor activity.

You can create content using that while you’re running errands, handling carpool, taking a bath, cooking dinner or doing laundry. If you want it bad enough and life seems chaotic, you can find a way to make it work.

Knowledge Will Help You with Productivity

Sitting down trying to figure out what to write about can drain you in even a short amount of time. Instead of floundering, beef up your knowledge in your niche and you’ll have so much to share, you’ll be bursting at the seems to spill the information.

Look for books in your niche. Even Dummies and Idiots guides are great to add little nuggets of insight to your arsenal of content creation abilities. You can also read other peoples’ blogs, too.

Your competitors make great resources to educate and inform you so you can do the same for your audience (in your own words and with your own slant, of course). Also check out news articles and trade magazines to see what you can share with your audience.

Videos are rich sources of information, too. YouTube is an enormous search engine. They’re not the only one, either. You can absorb videos at times when you can’t sit down to write and just increase your knowledge as a niche leader.

There are many other distractions you may have that warrant a plan of action. If multi-tasking prevents you from getting to the finish line, because you’re doing 10 things at once instead of one, change it up so that each project gets your full attention for a short amount of time.

That way, you still feel like you’re working on many things (and you are), but during the time you’re working, your mind is fully devoted to one single project, helping you get to a point of completion faster.

Some people struggle to complete content because they keep wanting to add to their original idea. Go ahead and jot the ideas down on the side, but commit to finishing the original project as is first.

Then, when you’re finished, decide on whether you want to add to the original or make it a second product or bonus. If you keep getting new ideas, even on different projects – jot it down and promise to get to it later. Don’t let it interrupt your work flow at that moment.

Some distractions are things you do out of obligation, like working on someone else’s projects to help them out, and avoid your own work. You have to make sure that you are your most important client and that you’re dedicated to helping yourself.

Many marketers report that shiny new object syndrome is what keeps them from completing their content. If there are too many good courses, then you can bookmark them as a reward for completing your own project.

Social networking, which is where some of your content needs to go, can be a distraction in itself. Use it as a reward system. Write a page of your content and then quickly check email and Facebook.

Then go back to writing. You don’t have to research or write an entire eBook in one sitting. Always remember that saying “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” You’ll feel so good getting some progress done, even if it’s smaller than you eventually want it to be – compared to getting nothing done and beating yourself up about it. And eventually, you’ll have your tasks completed. It all starts with a can-do mindset.

Part 2 available here https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/thecatherine/blog/content-wr...

Part 3 is here https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/thecatherine/blog/content-wr...