How to Gain Momentum
It seems like no matter what we do, starting is always the toughest part. My background in Physics taught me that a body in motion tends to stay in motion and momentum is a powerful force. But I never think to myself before I start to walk and say “This first step will be the toughest”. How many people say that the toughest part of a marathon is the first step? This makes no sense, but just ask someone who works out routinely. Going to the gym the first time is the toughest step. It breaks our current routine and forces us to change direction, and move to a new routine.
Getting Started on Content
The same thing happens when it comes to content creation. We are always asked what is better — great quality content or quantity. The answer is yes. Everyone wants to write and read great quality content. Let’s face it, everyone wants to pen the next piece of content that will go viral. If I only had a dollar for every time that someone asked me to produce a piece of viral content. Obviously we have to adjust their expectations. But good, meaningful content cannot be over emphasized.
You need to realize that in today’s world there is so much content and every piece is vying for the reader’s time. Your content needs to draw them in, and give them value in exchange for their time. Again, a whole lot easier said than done. The truth of the matter is there is no secret formula. Why? Because the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There are some general guidelines that come into play that help with SEO, readability, and the like. But at the end of the day what may interest me, and what I might find of interest might bore the pants off of my colleagues. My business partner is a golfer and can tell you just about everything about the game. The way that the courses are laid out, how they handle water runoff, the best clubs to use, and the best times of day to play. I could go on and on. To me, it’s just a game to try to get a small white ball in the hole that is more frustration than it is worth.
Avoid Analysis Paralysis
You cannot sit around and get into analysis paralysis trying to write the perfect piece of content. At some point you need to just do it. Start writing. It seems like this is always the advice of writers block classes. , but it’s true. Here at IMA, we usually start with a working title to get us started creating content around our targeted keywords. It is important not to be married to this. We usually go back and change our title after we’ve written an article for it to be more captivating, and to make sure that it represents the content. No one starts out to write a piece of lower quality content, but sometimes it just doesn’t come together the way that you expect it to.
But we cannot tell you how important it is to get in the content game. The more content that you create, the better that you get at it. Additionally, if you have the resources, we always have a different person in the office review our blogs before they go up.
Share the Content Responsibilities
It is also important that you share the content duties. No matter how good of a writer you are, your content can become so singularly focused and repetitive that it becomes less interesting. Everyone comes from different backgrounds, and they have different perspectives on whatever the subject matter is. Additionally, people love to know about your company — who your employees are, and what makes them unique. You need to remember that you are creating content for people. Yes, there is SEO and HubSpot guidelines, but at the end of the day people are who make the difference.
So just like learning to ride a bicycle, you need to jump on and go start creating content. Your quality and quantity will improve over time.
image credit: zuizuillo/freedigitalphotos.net
Read more: Targeting the Decision-Maker: How to Blog Effectively to the C-Suite