5 practices to create content that your audience is dying to read

Most business owners want to create quality content faster - discover 5 practices that make you faster and better at writing content

As a copywriter, I shouldn’t have any problems with creating content. I should have a stash of topics to write about and then be able to crank out your content at record speed.

But the truth is, that for a long time I struggled with content creation. I sat in front of my laptop and stared at my blank screen, feeling useless, and doubting myself as a writer because – here I was, trying to write and I just couldn’t.

The whole process was painful because I sat down to write with all my copywriting knowledge, my Masters in English and Russian Literature & Linguistics and still found it hard to write a single page.

I made myself write, I looked at my MBA notes and found some topics that I found interesting, I read some other copywriter’s blogs, and I even bought a couple of mini-courses with 365 daily content prompts.

That got me writing but I found it hard to be consistent and inspired. It took me too long to write – sometimes the one blog post that I wrote was all that I did in one day.

I felt really discouraged because I thought that writing at this speed is not sustainable.

The other issue I had with my writing was that the topics were often more related to what I wanted to write about rather than what my audience needed to hear and wanted to read.

I was missing the point and I was questioning my existence and abilities as a writer.

What else was I missing? Why was writing so darn hard for me? And if it was hard for me – how hard must it be for people who haven’t got a writing background like me?

That’s when I started to research what exactly I was missing. I even signed up for an AI writing programme!

After a decent amount of research and trial and error, I came up with five practices that I have implemented to write fresh and relevant content quickly.

Practice #1 – Connect your topics to 5 focus areas

Finding topics is not hard when you tie them to knowledge that you already have in abundance. You are providing a service and that service is taking your clients through a transformational journey.

The steps that you take your clients through on that journey are your content pillars. These are the areas that your clients need to master – and for that they need knowledge.

Your knowledge.

Take a look at your services and programmes and find the five steps that lead your clients to mastery.

Here are the five areas that I am tying all my content to (with my focus on brand messaging clarity and content/ copywriting):

YOU – understanding yourself, your strengths, experiences, expertise, knowledge, intentions, purpose, values…
YOUR AVATAR – understanding demographics and psychographics and what they “mean” for creating copy and content.
YOUR OFFER - the 5 steps that lead to your client’s transformation – from where you meet them right now and where you take them when they have achieved their goals
YOUR BRAND – Who are you as a brand? Including your purpose, vision, mission, values, voice, story, message…
WRITING – the knowledge you need to write copy and content that makes you visible, heard, and loved

ALL my content is related to these five focus areas. I pick up tiny aspects of each area to create my content. There’s never a shortage because I already have a lot of knowledge and experience in these areas. I have stories to tell, tools and techniques to share.

All that I have to do is to how I find my topics within these focus areas.

I’ll share one practice that I have with you here and you might want to try it out for yourselves.

Every morning I take my dogs for a run or a walk. It is on these runs where I get the space to think about topics and plan out the arguments in my head.

But I don’t start my runs from an empty space. Either on the drive to the forest or when I’m making my cup of tea in the morning, I am listening to a podcast. And somewhere in these podcasts is an idea or thought that I can take into my space and tie to one of my 5 focus areas.

I start my run with an idea or inspiration and now have 40-60 minutes of space to map out this idea in my head.

Sometimes I stop a few times for a minute to type a thought into my phone. But at the end of my run, I have a full blog post plus a couple of social media posts mapped out in my head.

Back in my car, I take 5 minutes to take a few more notes and then I’m fired up and ready for content creation.

The writing is so much faster when you sit down with a topic and a roadmap for your content.

I am quite weird about my rituals and one thing that I learned that has made writing a lot easier for me is…

Practice #2 – Create your perfect writing environment

Writing good quality content takes focus. And I realised that I write best in a quiet and uncluttered environment. In a space where I can focus.

That can either be in a café (the noise there is like white noise that I can blend out), my desk in my office (I keep my desk uncluttered and my office extremely tidy), or any other place where you find enough space to focus.

You also need to acknowledge how you prefer to create your content. That could be writing on your laptop, writing on paper or maybe voice recording.

Another important aspect of a productive writing environment is that you create an uncluttered and distraction-free space. Have everything ready that you need for a good long writing session.

Have a pot of tea, maybe some relaxing background music, all your paper and your favourite pen at the ready.

Create a space where you don’t get disrupted by phone alerts, other people, calls, social media notifications etc.

Every time your creative flow is interrupted, it costs you up to 40 minutes to get back into your flow.

You need to protect your space and lay it out in a way that it fosters creativity and thinking.

And that brings me to my next practice…

Practice #3 – Block writing time in your calendar

Things that are not in your calendar usually don’t get done. It is absolutely necessary that you block big enough chunks of time in your calendar.

Measure how long it takes you to write a blog post and block that time in your calendar. Nothing is worse than blocking too little time and then feeling that you’ve fallen behind, failed to complete your task in the allotted time and then having the need to catch up all day.

You should also get into the habit of blocking writing time when your brain is at its freshest. That is usually in the morning or after a break that allowed you to recover.

And then lastly – honour your commitment.

You committed yourself to writing time – not honouring the promise that you have made to yourself prevents you from achieving your goals and it also gives rise to negative emotions.

Practice #4 – Have a writing process

Earlier I wrote about how I clarify my topic before I even start writing and how I already map out my content in my head.

But where do you go from there? I have a blog post where I share a writing process that works really well for me and that you can modify so that it works for you.

Click on the image below to read my post about a writing process that works every time and helps you create amazing content:

And finally – or this is rather something that you should do at all times…

Practice #5 – Listen to your clients

Writing content that resonates and connects with your audience is related to their information needs. Which, in other words, means that you need to write about the issues, problems, and challenges that your clients are experiencing right now.

It also relates to the outcomes, goals, and dreams that your audience wants to achieve.

And finally, it relates to how your audience wants to achieve their goals. Which type of journey they want to take and which qualities they want in the expert who guides them through their journey.

You can answer all these questions by listening to your audience. That means more than following groups but also having 1:1 conversations with your prospects and clients but also with other experts in your area.

All that is left now is translating the knowledge you’ve gained into messages that your audience wants and needs to hear.

If you need help with any of these areas or want to build up your whole system from scratch – then send me a message and we can discuss how we can make that happen for you.

Categories: Content Creation, Contentwriting, Copywriting, Copywritingskills, Creative Flow