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Content Creators Toolbox #WCTO16
The document outlines a content creator's toolbox, emphasizing a process-oriented approach to content creation through seven key steps: preparing goals, planning topics, producing content, repurposing, promoting, participating in communities, and proving success. It suggests tools and methods for brainstorming, researching, and optimizing content, along with strategies for effective promotion and community engagement. The content is designed to help creators reach and educate audiences while setting expectations for potential customers.
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Content Creators Toolbox #WCTO16
- 1. Content Creator’s Toolbox AndyMcIlwain @ WordCamp Toronto 2016
- 2.
- 3. Stop putting content ona pedestal.
- 4. Let’s focus onthe process instead.
- 5. Seven P’s • PREPAREyour goals. • PLAN your topics. • PRODUCE your content. • RE-PURPOSE your content for different channels. • PROMOTE your content. • PARTICIPATE in communities. • PROVE that your goals are being met.
- 6. Prepare your goals.Reach & Discover (Shared Content) Teach & Learn (Educational Content) Sell & Decide (Set Expectations) Reach new audiences. Ride trends, break news, write guest posts, be present in different places so they can discover you. Prove that you know your stuff by teaching. Share useful information, solving problems, and helping visitors learn. Sell your visitors on the idea of becoming customers, leads, or subscribers. Help them decide by setting expectations about what they’ll get in return.
- 7. Different perspective… Sell bysetting expectations Teach by solving problems Reach by being present and relevant Further from center = less about you.
- 8. Create an editorial calendar. TopicTitle Share Inform Convert Notes URL Topic: What subject are we covering? Title: What are we calling this thing? Share: Is this top of funnel? Inform: Is this mid-funnel? Convert: Is this bottom-of-funnel? Notes: What is this post about? URL: What’s the published post URL?
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- 10. A different perspective… Sellby setting expectations Teach by solving problems Reach by being present and relevant Further from center = less about you.
- 11. …guides planning. Start withwhat you know. Think like a teacher. Repurpose, promote, participate. But start with you.
- 12. Start with whatyou know. Topic Title Share Inform Convert Notes URL Products X What we sell. /shop Services X What we do. /services Subscribe X Why sign up. /join About Us X Who we are. /about FAQs X Common Q&A. /faq
- 13. Think like ateacher. Content • Strategy • Development • Promotion Community • Organizing • Planning • Managing WordPress • Themes • Plugins Brainstorm. How would you introduce an absolute beginner to your subject?
- 14. Identify topics. See whatpeople are searching for. Use your brainstormed topics as a starting point. Search for more ideas in Google AdWords’ Keyword Planner. Export the suggestions as CSV files.
- 15. Generate post ideas. Take topicsfrom the Keyword Planner suggestions and drop them in. Use Ubersuggest, KeywordTool.io, Answer The Public, and faqfox. These will give you ideas of what to write about. Export the suggestions as CSV files.
- 16. Validate and prioritize your posts. Copythe keyword suggestions into the spreadsheet workbook you created. Review them. Eliminate the obviously irrelevant ones. Highlight the good ones.
- 17. The structure… Topic TitleShare Inform Convert Notes URL Products X What we sell. /shop Services X What we do. /services Subscribe X Why sign up. /join About Us X Who we are. /about FAQs X Common Q&A. /faq How To… X Guides. /guides Tools for… X Downloads. /tools Thoughts on… X X Editorials. /blog Twitter X Tweets @you Facebook X Updates fb.com/you
- 18. The structure… WordPress WordPress Themes Free WordPress Themes Free WordPress Themes for business Free WordPress themesfor artists Premium WordPress Themes premium wordpress themes for photographers premium wordpress themes for authors WordPress Plugins Best WordPress Plugins Best WordPress plugins for blogs Best WordPress plugins for nonprofits Free WordPress Plugins free wordpress plugins for photo gallery free wordpress plugins for ecommerce • Top: Longtail content that supports your expertise in broad topic aspects. • Middle: Aspects of the broad topic. • Bottom: Broad topic you want to demonstrate expertise for.
- 19. The structure… WordPress WordPress Themes Free WordPress Themes Free WordPress Themes for business Free WordPress themesfor artists Premium WordPress Themes premium wordpress themes for photographers premium wordpress themes for authors WordPress Plugins Best WordPress Plugins Best WordPress plugins for blogs Best WordPress plugins for nonprofits Free WordPress Plugins free wordpress plugins for photo gallery free wordpress plugins for ecommerce • Top: Longtail content that supports your expertise in broad topic aspects. • Middle: Aspects of the broad topic. • Bottom: Broad topic you want to demonstrate expertise for. Shared content endorses your work & feeds traffic in
- 20.
- 21. Research first. Who’s rankingfor your topics? Check Google. You’ll need to create something better.
- 22. Research first. What’s gettingshared? Use BuzzSumo to find out. Create something better than that.
- 23. Find sources. • Findcredible data to cite in your work. • Google Scholar • Statista • Zanran • UNdata • Census.gov (US) • Data.gov (US) • Statcan (Canada)
- 24. Outline your draft. Google Docsand Word Online are free, run in your browser, and let you collaborate with others (great for getting feedback & editing).
- 25. Edit your work. HemingwayEditor is a free app that runs in the browser. (Paid desktop app available.)
- 26. Create a featured image. Youcan do this in Google Slides or PowerPoint Online.
- 27. Need more images? Trythese sources: • Compfight (searches Flickr) • Unsplash • Creative Commons Search • Foter • Pexels • Public Domain Archive • Jay Mantri …and many more! Just Google it.
- 28. Optimize your images. • Usethese sites: • CompressPNG • CompressJPEG • And this plugin: • WP Smush
- 29. Add a callto action. All content needs a primary call to action, an instruction that pushes people to do something. Ask for shares: • AddThis, SumoMe • Jetpack (sharing buttons) Capture info, like emails: • Ninja Forms • Formidable
- 30.
- 31. Create a presentation. Presentation Hosta webinar Export slides as images, embed in post Stack slides for image asset, share on Pinterest Record presentation for video, share on FB or YouTube Publish audio recording as podcast on Podbean Using your written post as the outline, you can do a lot with a presentation: • Present at an event. • Host a webinar. • Export slides as images and embed them in your post. • Stack the slides vertically to create a standalone image asset. • Record the presentation as a video. • Publish the audio recording as a podcast.
- 32. Create a newsletter. Curate yourposts alongside content from other sources and share it with your subscribers. Over time, you can identify engaged readers and reach out 1:1.
- 33. Syndicate your posts. Mediumlets you add rel=“canonical” to published stories, giving your content more reach through the Medium network while preserving SEO integrity of the original post. Enabling Jetpack on your blog lets WordPress.com users follow you, so your posts appear in the WordPress.com Reader.
- 34.
- 35. Self- promotion. Start by promotingit yourself. WordPress plugins: • Jetpack Publicize • Revive Old Posts • CoSchedule Other useful tools: • Buffer
- 36. Outreach. Find bloggers, influencers,existing sites that are writing about your topic. The more prominent the target, the more impressive your content needs to be. Find contacts: • Submit.co • Hey Press • Help A Reporter Out • BuzzSumo (freemium) • SEMRush backlink analysis (freemium)
- 37. Advertise. Content is along-term play. If you want to accelerate the exposure of your content, turn to the almighty dollar. Starting points: • Facebook • Twitter • Google AdWords • BuySellAds • Niche ad networks, e.g. Carbon
- 38.
- 39.
- 40. Twitter Chats Weekly, hour-longconversations about a defined topic. Also the backchannel for events (e.g. #wcto16 or #wcto). Use TweetChat for easier wrangling.
- 41. Facebook Groups Go wherethe people are! Find Facebook groups relevant to your topics. Lurk and comment.
- 42. Slack Groups Intended forprivate teams, but also widely used for real-time conversation in different communities. (Note: Mostly tech-oriented.)
- 43. Blog Comments Disqus is oneof the most popular 3rd party commenting platforms on the web. Explore new places to comment. • https://disqus.com/home/explore/ Comments on Medium become their own standalone posts that can be shared or reacted to. • https://medium.com
- 44. Discussion Forums • Search forforums on Google using “forums”, “community”, “message board”.
- 45. Prove that it’sworking.
- 46. Analytics Map metrics toyour goals. Shared Content • Engagement (Likes/Retweets/Favourites) • Clickthrough Rates (CTRs), Referral Traffic Informational Content • Pageviews, Sessions • Bounce Rates, Time On Page Conversion Content • Sales, Leads, Subscriptions
- 47. Understand Your Audience Trends (GoogleAnalytics) • Where are people coming from? • What technology do they use? In-Depth Analysis (Hotjar) • Recorded visitor sessions • Heatmaps • Polls, Surveys • 1:1 conversations
- 48. What tools help? • GoogleAnalytics (+ Monster Insights) • Teacup Analytics • WordPress.com Stats (Jetpack plugin) • Hotjar • Quantcast Measure • Leadin • Typeform
- 49. It’s a repeatingprocess. Once a month or once a quarter, start over.
- 50. Rinse and repeat. Prepare goals Plantopics Produce Re-purpose Promote Participate Prove it’s working Revise goals if needed 1. PREPARE your goals. 2. PLAN your topics. 3. PRODUCE your content. 4. RE-PURPOSE your content for different channels. 5. PROMOTE your content. 6. PARTICIPATE in communities. 7. PROVE that your goals are being met.
- 51. andymci.com/toolbox for the fullwriteup, links, slides and more.