7 Ideas About Creating Content

1. All content isn’t created equal. The best content is helpful. The worst content is not helpful. You want to produce content that benefits people in some way, whether it is by entertaining them, educating them, persuading them, or inspiring them. The very best content serves the consumer.
2. Negative content may get you a bit of attention for a very short while, but it isn’t a long-term strategy. Over the longer term, the trail you are leaving behind you defines you, and a wake of negativity isn’t going to serve you. Trolls sometimes get attention, but they never develop and audience of their own.
3. There are three strategies around content. You can be a creator and write, record (video or audio), or create some other way. The Internet runs on the work of creators. You can also be a synthesizer. We don’t make enough of this role, but people need someone to tie the pieces together and point them at the bigger themes. You can also be a curator, sharing the work of creators and synthesizers and pointing people at useful content.
4. Any attempt at short cutting the process of gaining an audience works against you. If you title anything “And you won’t believe what happened next,” you will be known as someone with weak content and a willingness to sensationalize and overstate value. Over time, you will teach the audience you are trying to develop to ignore you. Guest posts might do a teeny bit to build your brand, but you need to do the real work yourself.
5. Consistency counts. Consistent quality counts. Predictable publishing counts. It’s a sign of professionalism. If you write on Sundays, write on Sundays. If you publish daily, publish daily. If it’s three times a week, that’s what it is.
6. Content works while you are sleeping. You aren’t creating content only for today. The content you create will be working for you years into the future. People underestimate the half-life of content and dramatically undervalue evergreen content. Your ideas are right for the people who need them, when they need them, and where they need them. Google brings people to the content they need when they need it. But only if you create it, synthesize it, or curate it.
7. Your content, if you are a creator, gives people the experience of what it might be like to work with you. Your content gives them a clear idea of what you think, what you believe, and how you approach things. Producing the right content attracts your dream clients to you.