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7 Top Content Tips for Bloggers ? Part 4: Challenge Yourself!

Contributed by: Roger C. Parker

I?d like to show you how - - by challenging yourself - - you can create the content you need for weekly blog posts as well as the content you need for your other marketing content and new product development.

Necessity, the mother of invention

Like so many other important inventions, the following story is based on necessity. Back in May, I was in a difficult place. In April, my wife experienced a sudden heart attack and subsequent bypass surgery. The whole experience took its toll, and I was finding it difficult to get back on my 5-day a week blogging schedule as well as my weekly content creation tasks for Published & Profitable.

So, what I did was challenge myself to get back into serious content creation mode.

But, in order to succeed, I had to do more than simply issue a personal challenge. In Chip Heath and Dan Heath words, i.e., I had to make it stick. (Note: the title of their book about effective writing is Made to Stick.

The power of a public commitment

Through a series of public announcements on my Published & Profitable blog and Twitter.com, I challenged myself to create a weekly, Tuesday at 4 PM EST, live conference event on topics that I wanted to write about, but was having trouble getting started.

More important, I added the first 12 topics to my Published & Profitable calendar. As a result, I was not only promising a weekly teleconference, but I was also promising which topics I would cover each week for the next 12 weeks.

I didn?t know what I was going to say each week, but I knew I was going to have to say something!

How commitment compels completion

As I had hoped, my public commitment ended my temporary ?content paralysis;? it provided the stimulus I needed to get back to work. In short, my public commitment triggered my survival instincts.

Since I didn?t want to embarrass myself by inviting Published & Profitable friends and members to an event where I had nothing to say, I was forced to create an efficient process for promoting and producing each week?s teleseminars. My commitment thus became the catalyst I needed to become more efficient. The following is a brief description of the resulting teleseminar promotion, content creation, and leveraging process:

• Step 1: Promotion. Since I knew what each Tuesday?s topic was going to be, I would start to explore upcoming topics during the previous week so I could promote the call in my weekly newsletter and in my Friday Upcoming Events blog post. I begin by identifying the relevance of the topic to Published & Profitable friends and members. Focusing on the relevance of each week?s topic not only provides me with the marketing copy I need to promote each week?s call, it also helps me focus on the content I?m going to deliver during each week?s call.
• Step 2: Content maps. Next, I created a mind map for each call. Mind maps provide a visual to follow during each call. The mind map for each call followed the same basic organization, beginning by describing the relevance, or importance, of each topic. This was followed by my describing a 3-step process callers can use to address the topic. I follow the 3-steps with a list of recommendations and tips, followed by resources to learn more. I end each call with questions intended to stimulate caller comments and questions.
• Step 3: Handouts. Handouts play a major role in each call. The week before each call, as I am preparing the content maps, I create a note-taking sheet plus locate any existing resources, like examples, newsletters, or worksheets, that will help callers better understand each week?s topic. If I don?t already have what I need, I find it relatively easy to create a worksheet or simple report from scratch, since I have the motivation of the upcoming call. The handouts are uploaded the morning of the call, and I announce the URL where the PDF can be downloaded.
• Step 4: Presentation and recording. There are several important benefits to recording each call. Like many others, perhaps like you, I find it very easier to talk than to write. Creating a mind map and handouts for each topic provides the structure I need to comfortably address each topic. In addition, by recording each call, I can better listen and respond to callers without needing to take notes. This helps me better understand the caller?s knowledge of the topic and discover the questions they want answered.
• Step 5: Leveraging. By recording the call, I am simultaneously creating new content for Published & Profitable. I immediately post each call in the member area. In addition, I can have each call transcribed, so I can use it as the basis of articles, newsletters, and special reports.

Would this system work for you?

I suspect this commitment-based process, or a similar one, would work for you because you- -like me- -are a subject area expert. Like me, you probably know your area of expertise inside and out. You not only know your topic, you probably enjoy discussing it with great passion to others interested in it.

Equally important, you probably want more time to develop and explore new topics in your area of expertise. However, weeks go by when you spend most of your time ?working? on day-to-day-activities, instead of developing and exploring new ideas.

Publicly committing to a weekly teleseminar series may be the catalyst you need to push yourself to the next level of achievement!

Knowing that you have an audience waiting for you each week forces you to be more efficient. The weekly deadlines force you to take action without the procrastination and stress that often accompanies ?writing from scratch.? Instead of worrying about doing something, you just- -as Nike would say- -do it!

Finally, the 5 steps described above break the content creation process into a series of simple, easily-accomplished tasks. At each step, you know what has to be done, and you know how you?ve done it because you?ve done it before- -last week, in fact! Best of all, the steps remind you of the deadline for completing each step.

Try it and tell me how it works!

Challenge yourself! Schedule a month?s worth of weekly teleseminars. Develop your own system for promoting, presenting, and leveraging, and let me know when your teleseminars take place, and how they went for you. Keep me informed via comments, below, or e-mail me at Roger@publishedandprofitable.com. Let me know what worked, and what didn?t work.

Together, we can move forward by pooling our ideas and share the results with others!

Author bio

Roger C. Parker is the 32 Million Dollar Author, writer?s coach, and e-course developer. Get his free, 14-page, Write Your Way to Success white paper at Published & Profitable.

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Full post as published by Blawg for Profit on November 03, 2009 (boomark / email).