When I finished uni I wanted to travel.
So I went overseas for 15 months. I remember backpacking through Turkey with a student archaeologist, walking through Alhambra in Spain before it became the set for Game of Thrones, the smell of Italian coffee in a small hostel in Rome. It was an incredible life experience.
When I returned I realised I had to work. So in my early twenties I started a job. I worked for the money.
A few years later I started thinking beyond a job. I wanted a career. I picked up some more study. I decided to specialise in digital. I did things to get ahead.
As social media boomed I started a blog. I participated on Twitter. I did all the right things on Linked In. Everything ran like clock work. I posted regularly. I shared regularly.
I scoured news feeds until late into the evening. I read ‘how to’ tips on Copyblogger. I learnt all I could about successful digital content.
Then several years ago I realised I’d settled into a routine. Lots of time writing. Lots of time scheduling posts.
When I thought about it, I realised the routine I had settled into could have easily been boring. But it wasn’t. I always found something interesting in writing.
Yet there were people I knew who hadn’t found it inspiring it all. Many of them had started a blog or ran an online business where digital content was important. And after a year or two they told me writing content had become a real drag.
This is every blogger’s digital content dilemma. When we write online content for the sake of sharing or winning traffic, and not to express ourselves….we can easily find ourselves in a bind.
Suddenly in this scenario the content is driving us and we’re not driving the content.
It’s an easy trap to fall into.
My younger self loved to explore the world. He would wake up and decide where he wanted to catch the train to that day. So I try to do the same with my content.
I ask questions about what I write. Is this different or unique in some way? Will this content appeal to my audience? Do I want to write about this? Does writing this help me express myself?
The first two questions are relevant to the audience. The second two are relevant to the content creator.
When we write like this our writing gives us energy, instead of taking it away.
It’s not always easy to answer these questions. But when we can answer ‘yes’ to all four, we know we’re on the right side of the content dilemma. Our content strategy will have the best chance of success because there’s something in it for the audience as well for ourselves.
When we write like this our writing gives us energy, instead of taking it away. Energy is a strange thing to talk about when it comes to writing good digital content. Yet it’s fundamental for success.
The vast majority of blogs take years before they start to see real results from organic traffic. A well executed content strategy full of great content ideas is more like running a marathon than a sprint. This is why its so important to be inspired by what we write.
