Okay so you’ve decided to start creating content or maybe you have started and you’re at a loss about what to do next….
No matter where you are in your content creation process, you can use this list to help you create content that is high quality, meaningful to your audience and helps build your business.
Here are the Top 10 Things to Do In Your First 3 Months of Creating Content
Or at any time for that matter!
1. Set goals
When content, you need to know what the goal is for your content
Setting goals is essential and actually, I believe that you should have this done before you’ve launched your website & started creating content so you have already built a great visitor experience when you start driving traffic to your content.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Am I creating to share my story?
- Help others by publishing useful information:
- Make money as an affiliate?
- Promote my products and services?
Knowing this in advance will ensure that you’ve set up the right pages and have links to your content so that you make the most of your traffic.
2. Create an editorial calendar
Knowing the answers to #1 above before you create your editorial calendar will make this step that much easier!
You’ll have the who and why done in advance and this will help direct your topics and research when creating an editorial calendar.
It doesn’t need to be set in stone or filled out for a year in advance.
My rule of thumb is to start with 3 months and then look at your metrics before planning your next 3 months on your editorial calendar.
Your editorial calendar’s purpose is to give you a strategic plan on the type of topics you will create content around and when.
3. Build Your Social Media Platforms
You’ll need to set up your social media platforms when starting to create content and before you write your first piece of content as this is the prime place for you to share your content and start building traffic back to your website.
I highly recommend creating Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to start with.
Depending on your business type I would also add LinkedIn into the mix, making sure you are part of as many groups where your ideal client is as this is a prime source of traffic for many businesses.
Pinterest is also another place you will want to post your content as well. Make sure you understand how to use it as it is more SEO-driven. Just haphazardly posting out on Pinterest will not get you any traction.
4. Find a Tribe
Connecting with others in the same niche is the smart way to get more exposure to your content.
Your tribe members can give you advice, critique your work, promote a post for you and just be an overall support system.
Look for groups on Facebook that aren’t overly spammy or self-promoting.
5. Build Your List
It is never too early to start building your own list. This is one of the most valuable marketing assets you can have.
Social media platforms and followers may come and go but your list is the only thing you truly own and can use to nurture your prospects.
Take the time to get to know your list and build deep connections with them by sending them valuable content.
6. Start a newsletter
It doesn’t matter if you have 1 or 10k on your list.
You need to send a newsletter to your list on a regular basis. It is a great source of traffic and a good way to convert those warm leads into paying customers.
Be sure to be consistent with your newsletter and deliver great content. Resist the urge to be overly promotional and to promote other people’s content to your list unless it is something you really believe will help them.
I tell my clients to use Aweber to build their email list…
7. Write Content
Research and write great content that will interest your ideal client.
I like to use buzzsumo.com as a great way to find hot content ideas. Don’t overlook this critical step when starting out creating content.
8. Find Great Images
Social media is all about the pictures and the first thing that catches your reader’s eye is your image.
Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook all focus on images first, so having great photos will give your content better exposure.
You don’t need to be a professional photographer but you do need to use high-quality images with your content.
3 tips to help you select great images:
- Pick a relevant image
- High contrast Images
- Add a copy to your image
**Unsplash.com, Bigstockphotos.com, or photodune.net are great go-to sources for hi-res images….
9. Basic SEO
The basics of on-page SEO are important when creating content on your website.
It doesn’t have to be hard or time-consuming….I’ve broken it down into some simple steps in this blog. SEO in 10 Minutes or Less
I suggest that you start with adding the SEO By Yoast Plugin to your website and then.
10. Set Up and Track Your Metrics
Lots of people make this mistake when starting out and they miss out on a lot of valuable information that will help them to grow their audience faster.
You’ll want to install the following plugins to your website:
- Jet Pack – the set up the site stats, it’s full of great information
- Google Analytics – first set up your account and then install the plugin and follow the instructions to get your account connected.
What you want to track are your top posts each month and start creating more content using the same topic when building your content calendar.
Here’s the recap list of the top 10 Things to Do In Your First 3 Months of Creating Content
- Set goals
- Create an editorial calendar
- Build Your Social Media Platforms
- Find a Tribe
- List Build
- Start a newsletter
- Write Content
- Find Great Images
- Basic SEO
- Set Up and Track Your Metrics
Back over to you, are you just starting out with content creation or have you already gotten started and needed some tips?
Are you missing something from this list?
Please leave me a comment and let me what you are going to do to get your content creation efforts under way!
