Last week, I talked about the first reason it’s so hard to create content consistently.
It’s because we make our individual messages much too complicated, both for ourselves and for our audiences.
(Here’s the link if you missed it: “Nobody goes there any more, it’s too crowded.”)
The second reason is that writing is hard.
Now, there are a lot of tricks to making this less painful. But in the interest of last week’s message, I won’t drop them all on you today.
I spent ten years with Copyblogger, and we had “one weird trick” that let us publish incredibly consistently — year after year.
It wasn’t discipline, or the fact that we were all horrified by the idea of disappointing Brian Clark.
(I mean, we were all terrified of letting Brian down, but that can only take you so far.)
The “secret” is a flexible (but not too flexible) production framework
It goes something like this:
- Have absolutely predictable slots of time when you can do specific writing tasks, and get them into your calendar. (There’s an example below.)
- Make those tasks relatively easy. If it takes more than hour, it might be too long. But you know your brain — crack the project into the kinds of steps that work for how you think.
- Have a writer/creator buddy you can sit down with (virtually is fine) for the harder parts, like getting the draft written.
- Know what “done” looks like for you. There’s no such thing as perfect content, so work to your own professional standard and then go to the next piece.
Major pro tip: If you aren’t able to publish consistently on your content plan, simplify it.
Write shorter pieces, with fewer ideas and probably less research.
➡️ Simple is not dumb! Simple is smart, because it lets your audience move forward without overwhelm.
Here’s what a workable content plan might look like. In fact, this is the one I use to write and publish The Fierce every week:
- Monday: Decide what I want to write about and figure out a headline.
- Tuesday: Sketch out a short outline. (I can change this the next day if I want to.)
- Wednesday, when I meet with other writers every week: Write the draft — letting it be terrible if that’s how it’s going.
- Thursday: Edit the draft, check facts, queue it to run in my system on Friday.
- Friday: Promote the content, but otherwise … relax and prepare for a good weekend.
The longest step here is 90 minutes. (Writing the draft.)
It’s also the easiest one to put off — so I do it in our virtual coworking group.
I can’t “write it later today,” because there are other human beings sitting in a Zoom room and we’ve made the commitment to work together.
Keep in mind, that 90 minutes of draft time includes the usual popping up from my chair to go do something terribly urgent like pet the dog
She’s a good dog. She deserves all the pets.
Now, there’s just one more part of your process
Have a backup plan for the weeks when it’s Just Not Happening.
Often, that’s going to be re-publishing an older piece of content.
But if you don’t have a giant bank of work to draw on, have a few prompts for summertime-easy content options — like asking your audience a question, or sharing a takeaway from a really good book you’re reading.
Give yourself grace!
If you haven’t published consistently in the past, give yourself some grace.
It takes time to troubleshoot what’s getting in your way.
If this is frustrating you right now, drop a comment below. Depending on what’s messing you up, I may have a more specific idea that can help you out.
But I’ll refer you back to problem 1 of 2:
The most common reason we don’t publish content consistently is that we’re radically overcomplicating it.
One small, useful suggestion will be immensely more valuable to your audience than the 3,000-word term paper you sweated blood over.
I promise.
Need some help with that?
One of the best things you can do to make your content marketing feel like you’re being ultra-consistent is to have a great welcome email sequence in place!
You get to make a great first impression, and start your relationship off on a great foot with every single person who signs up for your list.
If you’d like a hand with that, I can write something great for you (fastest) — or you can join us for a small-group cohort to get it planned, drafted, and done (most affordable).
If you’re interested in the group, make sure you’re on my email list — the sign-up is below, in the ochre-colored box.
We’ll be kicking off the next cohort in June! 🎉
Photo by Pavel Herceg on Unsplash
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