Content Creation Archives

52 Instantly usable Blog post ideas to have your year covered [Works for ANY niche]!

December 23, 2019 by Jane Sheeba 15 Comments

A New Year means a new opportunity. And for content marketers this means a lot.

If you are an online business owner or a content marketer, creating content is something you do regularly.

Planning your content ahead gives you an edge definitely. And I’m a fan of planning ahead.

When you plan your content ahead, preferably in bunch, you can batch process a lot – which is an efficient way of doing repetitive stuff and stuff that can be combined to similar categories.

Also, you can be sure you publish consistently when you plan ahead.

So how about planning ahead for a year?

There are many obstacles to publishing consistently. I discuss about some in this video here:

One of the main challenges you face when you plan content in advance is to come up with content ideas!

That’s a big, big challenge. And to help you with that, I have come up with 52 blog post idea templates that you can use to brainstorm for ideas.

Now, when I say brainstorming, I don’t mean you start from scratch.

I’ve done all the heavy lifting for you!

You just have to fill in the blanks, and voila you will have 52 content ideas that you can work on.

Assuming you publish one post a week, this should have you covered for the year.

And yes, before you ask let me tell you – these idea templates work for ANY niche, all you need to do is fill in the blanks!

Go on, plan your New Year’s content ahead and make the most out of your content marketing efforts.

Plus publish content consistently like a pro!

How to do _________ better than the others
How ________________ has changed over the years
Why ________________ is so hard and what to do instead?
_________________ is not as hard as you think if you follow these tips
Why ____________ is better than ___________ and how to choose
____ Ways to __________
How to master the art of _______________
_____ Things to know if you are a _________
How _______ plays a crucial role in _________
Why _______ is so important for your ________________
How to fix ________ before it ruins __________
Advanced guide to __________________
______ Things about _________ no one told you
______ Working tips for busy ________
________ Handy tricks to make _______________ easy for you
The beginners guide to _________________
Simple, yet effective ways to __________________
How to position yourself as a ____________________
How to make _______________ easy for you
_____ instant fixes for _____________________
What is the importance of _____________ in _____________
___________ Tools that will make ____________________ a piece of cake!
How being blind to _______ makes you a _______
How to get rid of _________ in your _________
Why you must learn to _______ to succeed in ______
_______ Inevitable traits of _________________ you need to know about
______ Ways to use ________ to improve your __________
How to eliminate ____________________ from your ________
How can you benefit from ________________
_______________ Vs ______________: A Faceoff
The DIY way to ________________
All you need to know about ____________!
How to be patient and persistent to succeed in _________________
_____ Ways to be a pro in ___________________
How to beat __________ with your ___________________
_______________ Unconventional ways to do ____________________
Why ___________________ is intimidating and what to do instead
A complete guide to _____________: Look no further!
________ Mistakes that are killing your ________________
________ Pitfalls to watch out for to succeed in _______________
How to beat _________________________ with your ______________________
How to develop your _____________? A step by step guide
______________ Handy resources to help you with ____________________
The pros and cons of _______________ you need to know!
How to make the most out of _______________________
________________ Free tools for __________________
Here’s the secret to _______________________
Major ________________ mistakes that might destroy your __________________
How I ___________________________
_____________ Crucial factors that contribute towards _________________
______ Reasons why you should ____________________
______________ Myths associated with ___________ and here’s a reality check!

The pros and cons of NaNoWroMo – Should you do it?

November 20, 2019 by Jane Sheeba 5 Comments

It’s November, so its time to talk about NaNoWriMo, right? No. Not necessarily.

While its true that we all end up talking a lot about NaNoWriMo during November, some of us also end up participating it.

And even more, some of us even end up winning the race, right?

Right!

But it is not at all easy. And it is not at all necessary to be so addicted about the rules.

As I’ve discussed earlier in a couple of videos, NaNoWriMo is all about writing.

It doesn’t matter whether you are writing a novel or not, whether you write 50000 words in a month or not, whether you start on November 1st or not.

Watch these two videos to understand what I mean and also to get killer tips to get the writing going if you are a PANTSER writer/blogger.

Have you watched the videos? Right, now let me share some of the pros and cons of NaNoWriMo that you need to know!

The pros of NaNoWriMo

The spirit

When you are into writing – a writing that’s THIS serious, you need a lot of spirit.

You need a lot of motivation, commitment, accountability and what not!

So while it is so true that you can do writing all year round, taking up writing with a spirit when the NaNoWriMo spirit is highly prevalent is a brilliant idea.

When thousands of writers, all around the world, are taking up on this writing spree, it is only wise that you take it up as well!

Because you get a lot of emotional and moral support.

You see how people try, how they fail, how they manage to get their word count goal every day and so on.

You can follow the #NaNoWriMo hashtag on Twitter to see those realistic struggles 🙂

And when you see people doing it amidst all the odds, it is highly motivating.

Also, when you see how the struggle is real when people talk about their owns struggles, it is really soothing!

NaNoWriMo gets you into a habit

Writing every day for 30 days straight is HUGE.

30 days is a wonderful length of time for you to get into the habit of writing.

It doesn’t matter, really, if you manage to write 1667 words a day according to the NaNoWriMo rule.

If you manage to get some writing everyday, that’s a GREAT thing.

I personally write every day. And I got this idea or inspiration to write daily from the NaNoWriMo a few years ago.

And I share the WORKING tips on how to write every day here in this video:

With NaNoWriMo, you get into the habit of writing everyday.

Once you are done with the NaNoWriMo, it will be much easier for you to continue to write everyday even if it is not 1667 words a day!

Writing every day is very important if you are having a blog – you might know this already.

Your writing speed will be improved

With NaNoWriMo, you write with a goal every day.

And when you strive to hit that goal every day, you need to definitely write faster than usual.

If you are into NaNoWriMo, you definitely track your word count and compare it with your word count goal (or the NaNoWriMo goal).

In that case it is like you are running a race.

You wake up everyday with a set word count and you write to hit that goal.

Even though it doesn’t matter whether you have hit that goal or not, you would have written pretty faster than usual in an attempt to hit that goal.

And even when the NaNoWriMo thing is over, you will find that your writing speed has improved substantially.

A great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction

With so much of writing done than usual, it is quite normal to feel good.

Whether you win NaNoWriMo or not, you would have made a lot of progress in terms of writing.

That will surely give you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

Be it a novel draft, content for your e-book, or e-course, content for your blog – whatever, the words you have accomplished because of the NaNoWriMo drive are worth feeling satisfied for!

Right, now on to some cons.

The cons of NaNoWriMo

It is not easy to write that much

1667 words a day or 50000 words in a month is not an easy goal.

Considering that you have your regular day-to-day activities to take care of, NaNoWriMo makes it really hard to keep up.

It doesn’t take a mere “showing up every day” and writing, but even more than that.

Hitting that word count takes a lot of sacrifice, discipline and hard work

NaNoWriMo can disrupt your other projects

It is reasonable to accept the fact that NaNoWriMo takes a lot of time.

And if you are already working on or in the middle of another project, NaNoWriMo will definitely disrupt that.

It is nearly impossible to continue doing all of what you would do on a daily basis and still get on with the NaNoWriMo goal.

So that means you have to give up on other stuff.

But I have a workaround for this. Since I don’t personally use NaNoWriMo for writing a novel, whatever I write (your other projects) goes into the word count of NaNoWriMo – except those emails 🙂

You can feel a lot of pressure

Yes when you have a word count to hit on a daily basis, you need to make a lot of adjustments to your routine.

A lot of your day today activities could get hit

Yet, you have that number to reach. You need to write with a lot of speed than the usual.

The rules, the goals, the target and the reality put you in a lot of pressure.

However, I personally take this pressure as a good thing.

When I am in pressure I get a lot done – so some pressure is good for you.

Just make sure you don’t take NaNoWriMo way too seriously so it pressurizes to the point of rising your BP or giving you a heart attack lol.

But jokes apart, seriously, you can bend the rules – all that it matters is you write.

I hate the winning/losing idea

If there is one thing I hate about NaNoWriMo, it is the idea of winning or losing.

When every one is giving their best to hit that word count, I see that as winning and it doesn’t matter if a person hit that word count or not.

But rather, by giving a strict win/lose rule, I see that intimidating. It can disappoint people who don’t hit that word count yet, tried so hard to.

Personally it doesn’t matter to me whether a person wrote 50000 words or 30000 or 10000 words for NaNoWriMo they win.

Also it doesn’t matter if they could only put a big fat goose egg on their word count tracker for a few days during this period.

As long as the struggle is real, every body wins.

So what are your thoughts about this? Agree or disagree with me? Let me know!

NaNoWriMo success tips for all those pantser bloggers out there

November 13, 2019 by Jane Sheeba Leave a Comment

Well it is almost two weeks into November, and it is NaNoWriMo.

If you are hesitant (still!) about whether to embrace the NaNoWriMo thing or not, this post might help!

Let me briefly tell you this though – NaNoWriMo is not ONLY for those who write novels, as the name suggests.

If you are a non-fiction author – a bogger, in particular, then you can make use of NaNoWriMo spirit this month.

NaNoWriMo for bloggers – Don’t be intimidated by the whole idea

There are of course pros and cons to taking up on the NaNoWriMo stuff, which I will share next week.

For now, let me share some of the success tips that has worked for me over the years when I had participated (unofficially) in the NaNoWriMo marathon.

Before that let me tell you this – I am a planner and NOT a pantser.

So who is a planner and who is a pantser?

A planner is a person who plans out things in advance.

For instance, for this NaNoWriMo people around the world do the prep in September!

And yes, it does involve that much preparation.

If you are writing a novel you certainly need to plan it out, get the outline done, and character etc. done too.

If you are a blogger who is looking to write a few blog posts, e-books or content for videos, courses etc. you need to get the tentative titles (brainstorm), get the reference materials handy, outline the blog posts or courses and so on.

So it doesn’t matter whatever you are going to write for NaNoWriMo, you need to do the prep – no doubts.

And that’s how I’ve done it all these years.

This year though, I had to face NaNoWriMo as a pantser.

So who is a pantser? A person who flies by the seat of their pants.

A person who faces a big chunk of work without any planning – and somehow manages to get it done!

Although I don’t usually appreciate a pantser approach to anything, sometimes you gotta embrace things.

I believe if you want to get something done, you gotta do it some way – not necessarily always using a plan or a strategy.

But sometimes, you just have to jump in hoping to tackle things as you move on.

That’s the pantser way of doing things. And at times, it works.

Recently I have to do a lot of things the pantser way because I have a hyper-active toddler around me most of the time.

So I don’t really get to plan a lot of things with my business. But I still get a lot of things done.

If you want to know how, watch these two videos:

So if you are a pantser blogger out there – you can still succeed with NaNoWriMo, or at least give it a try. What say?

Here are some working tips you absolutely need!

Make it a commitment

Writing loads of words, 50000 in a month to be precise, is a gigantic goal. And a goal this big needs a lot of commitment.

Even though you are a pantser, you cannot do this without the commitment.

So make sure you dedicate some amount of time EVERYDAY to get your writing done.

No matter whether you write by giving a focused time chunk of 2 hours a day, or whether you write in sprints by getting your writing done in ten minute breaks here and there, you NEED to write EVERYDAY.

You choose however it works for you. But you DO it.

Make it a commitment, a non-negotiable one.

Free up yourself

You see, with NaNoWriMo you have a gigantic goal. And it involves a LOT of writing.

So you cannot possibly write that much word count while also attending to loads of other stuff on a day to day basis.

Which means you have to free up some time so you can devote that time into writing – just be practical.

Cut short the amount of time you spend on one or two daily tasks and you will get some more time to write.

I am NOT saying you should stop doing your regular stuff to get to writing – if you can do that, great.

But just by carving some time off, you can make the time to write. That’s my point.

You can give up watching TV, give up Facebook (apart from using it for business promotions, connections etc.), reduce a bit of your napping time, perhaps give up a few outings and so on.

Remember, you also need to live your life 🙂 And life happens too.

Accept the reality

As I just said, life happens. You could get sick. Your kids could get sick.

You might have to participate in get-togethers. And November is a month of celebrations too.

No matter what happens, give it your best shot to get your writing done for the day.

If you can not write in a day for any reason, accept the fact and don’t get demotivated.

You can simply catch up the next day.

Accept the reality and embrace it.

Plan in short spurts

Even though as a pantser, you jump into action without a plan, it really does help to make short term plans.

For instance, you may not have done the prep for NaNoWriMo in September, but that doesn’t mean you can not get on with it.

You could brainstorm for what you need to write tomorrow, today. And then you tackle each day like that.

You think this is stupid? That’s how I am doing it this for year’s NaNoWriMo and so far I’m doing great!

As a mother who takes care of two toddlers, who is responsible for ALL of the household (I have no maid), and as a full time business owner (which is a multi-passionate business by the way) – I cannot do everything with a plan.

So I plan for the short term and go with the flow.

Build the momentum and then use it

The very first day of NaNoWriMo is very tough. Even though you are super motivated, it could be pretty hard to hit that word count.

And then, when the first weekend arrives you could really see a dip in motivation because you would slightly lag with the word count if you spend your weekend with more family time.

But when you manage to run the first few days by hitting that word count, you build momentum.

Once the momentum is up, you will find that it gets easier in the consecutive days to hit the word count.

Just like the muscles in your body that adjust to your vigorous workouts for a few days, your writing muscles will adjust too.

And you will find to have improved with your writing flow over the consecutive days.

You build the momentum first and then, use it. Just like surfing on a giant wave.

Be very flexible

This is a counter advice if you think of yourself as a planner. But this works great if you are a pantser.

Do not be rigid with your writing schedule.

If you hate to have a fixed word count goal for each day, or if you think you cannot make it work that way, feel free to set a weekly goal.

Rather than setting a word count goal of 1667 words a day, you can set a word count goal of 11669 for the week.

May be you can spend 3-4 days a week in “writing” mode and get this word count done, and carry on with your regular works for the other days of the week.

Also allow yourself to write any where.

While it is true that your writing would be a lot easier and the flow would be smooth if you write in a dedicated place, you should also be prepared to write anywhere.

Are you commuting? (Assuming you are NOT driving) You can write using your laptop – also helps when you are stuck in traffic.

Are you waiting for your turn to see your doctor? You could write using your phone or tablet.

Whatever works for you!

Define YOUR NaNoWriMo

I see this as the most important tip of all.

If you are like me, you have a 100 other high priority things in life to tackle right now, other than NaNoWriMo.

Kids occupy the top most position in my list. And then there’s family stuff as a whole.

And then there are my other business activities that can’t wait. An important email from a client needs to be replied on time.

My regular blogging activities need to be done too.

I regularly publish on multiple blogs and I run three YouTube channels.

These are the things that I cannot stop doing for NaNoWriMo’s sake.

And then there are regular social media promotions of all the content I publish!

There are family get togethers that I cannot avoid.

And I am sure you are like me too!

So define your own NaNoWriMo. It doesn’t have to be 50000 words of novel. It can be 30000 words – say, 30 blog posts that you can use for the next few months.

It can be 20000 words – say, a free ebook that you can offer your subscribers (to build your email list).

It could be 40000 words – say, a high quality course that you can sell on your blog.

Your business has its own requirements and you know what’s needed now.

But your goals and your schedules need not match up with that of the official NaNoWriMo.

Got my point?

Got my tips? Time to get on with your writing! Happy NaNoWriMo (your way).

NaNoWriMo for bloggers – Don’t be intimidated by the whole idea

November 6, 2019 by Jane Sheeba Leave a Comment

Well its almost one week into November and the NaNoWriMo fever is all over.

Let me be honest here, I have never ever officially participated in ONE NaNoWriMo so far. Not even ONE.

But I do participate unofficially. Why? Because I AM intimidated by the whole idea.

For one, the name NaNoWriMo gives you an impression that you got to be writing a Novel this month if you participate.

But in fact you don’t have to write a freaking Novel if you sign up to this (unofficially).

If you are a business owner and hence, a blogger – who is not into the fiction world, you would have felt intimidated by the NaNoWriMo call!

I’ve seen many bloggers totally ignore this concept of NaNoWriMo because it says it helps you write a novel.

But the whole point of NaNoWriMo is more about writing, more than writing a novel.

If you are blogger, you know how much writing is involved.

There are blog posts for your own blog, guest posts, newsletters, scripts for video content, social media content, content for your products and much more.

There IS a lot of content that needs to be created on a regular basis if you are an online business owner (running a blog).

And you must be making use of NaNoWriMo to help you with that.

So what is NaNoWriMo?

It is a global event, where millions of writers gather (virtually) on a writing marathon.

The goal is to write 50000 words in the month of November.

I know that sounds really big, but when you break it into smaller chunks it is just 1667 words per day.

And you start from November 1, and end by November 30 – ideally.

But you know what? You can start any day in November.

Even better, you can start any day of the year – and run this marathon for 30 days straight!

I started this year only on the 4th of November and I simply maintain a Google sheet with dates and the corresponding word counts.

Talk about keeping things simple.

How can you make use of NaNoWriMo as a blogger?

Well as I said, (non-fiction) bloggers usually don’t participate in NaNoWriMo thinking that they are not going to be writing a novel.

But the fact is that, you can get a lot of content written for your blogging business, if you participate in this.

When I say participate – you don’t have to do it officially. You can do it unofficially too and be your own judge!

The point is – whatever suits you.

Ultimately if you make use of this NaNoWriMo’s surge of energy and motivation that’s happening all over the world, you could end up having a lot of content under your belt.

Don’t believe me? Let’s do some maths!

How much content can you create with NaNoWriMo as a blogger?

Let’s say you stick to the NaNoWriMo tempo and get on with the writing and end up achieving your goal.

You now have 50000 words of content (assuming you managed to hit up the goal). And that could be,

25×2000 word blog posts
33×1500 word blog posts
50×1000 word blog posts
50×1000 word video scripts
2 Freebie e-books that you can offer your readers
1 solid e-course (scripts and promo content) to offer your readers for free (or paid).

Doesn’t that sound a lot? It is indeed!

If it is blog posts, you could end up creating nearly 6 months’ worth of content for your blog, assuming you publish weekly.

That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?

So if you are a blogger and are hesitating to get on the NaNoWriMo wagon, just because you are not interested in writing a novel, you are missing out big time.

Isn’t it already late to join NaNoWriMo?

You might ask – Jane its already one week into November.

Well, it doesn’t matter. You can still start and nearly reach the NaNoWriMo goal (say, 40000 or 30000?) – even if it is not necessarily 50000 words!

And, if you can manage to hit up 50000 words, that would be awesome too.

Having said that, I also understand that it is not going to be a road of roses.

50000 words in a month IS a lot, and writing that much words require a lot of commitment and discipline.

But since you get a lot of inspiration and motivation regarding writing this month, you could as well use that up.

What could you do now to join the NaNoWriMo bandwagon?

Now that it is already November, don’t back off.

They say you need a lot of prep to do if BEFORE November if you want to hit that word count goal.

So you are going to jump on without any prep, and that can slow you down.

But you can spend a day or two before the first week ends, to prepare your blog post idea list.

Ideally, if you are planning to write content for an e-book or a course, then you will need the core idea plus the rough outline.

I am pretty sure, you can manage to do that prep – be it the bog post ideas or the outline – in a day or two.

Remember, whatever you are writing in this NaNoWriMo marathon is a going to be labelled a draft.

You will still need to edit that content so it will be ready for publishing.

And hence, it doesn’t have to 100% perfect.

Just get the content out of your mind, through your fingers to the screen and you should be good to go!

I will hit you up with some late-for-NaNoWriMo survival tips later next week!

How to write blog posts that sell like hot cakes?

August 12, 2019 by Jane Sheeba 2 Comments

How to write blog posts? – This question leaves every blogger wondering, right?

Over the years blogging has become one of the important and well known tools for earning money online.

But as a blogger, you need to understand a few things before you can start writing and thinking about earning money.

Before getting into detailed discussion, you have to understand one thing very clearly – to earn money from blog posts, you need to choose a topic that will actually help you sell things or get people interested into buying something else.

So, here are the steps to follow which can help you sell via your blog posts and make money:

What are you trying to sell?

Depending on what you are trying to sell, you will need to choose the kind of topic that will be perfect for your blog.

You will have to find out a way to create content which will solve your readers’ problem and then you will be able to direct them towards a paid offer that you wish to sell.

Do not force your product into your content rather guide your readers towards it to automatically engage them.

Who’s your audience?

Knowing your audience is really important. Understanding your audience’s need and requirement will certainly help you post something they are looking for.

This will give you chance to sell your product.

To understand your audience in a better and efficient way, you will need to follow them on social media, check out on what they are looking for, and only then you will be able to understand their requirement.

How to write blog posts? Do a bit of research

Research is always an integral part of writing content, but when it comes to blog posts, it’s a bit different from just writing some content.

Doing a good research can actually help you in finding valuable information, charts, data analysis, and a lot more that you might need to put into your content to compare and promote your product naturally.

Choosing an eye catching title

You have to understand one thing very clearly, when you readers search online for certain topics, they are not going to have a chance to read your post; instead they will have a look at your title only.

So, choosing a well crafted title is really important. This can certainly give you an edge over all your competitors online.

You main goal will be to choose a title that will answer your reader’s question, or maybe you can put up a title that will explain the benefits of particular thing or a product to a reader.

Whatever you choose, make sure that the title is catchy and it is capable of attracting your reader’s attention.

Starting the content like a Pro

Starting your content in a positive and efficient way can be the key to the fact whether the reader will continue reading or not.

It does not matter how intriguing or engaging your title is, having a good start is the only way to keep your readers engaged.

You can start with a nice success story, or may be with some questions, may be share some stats, or even starting with a myth is really great to get the attention of your readers.

Setting up the call to action

This is the most important part of your blog writing. You will have to find out the right situation to inject your call to action button or may be link.

For this you might have to use some statistical comparisons as well, so that at the end you can put the call to action naturally.

Show your credibility and expertise

There is no shame in putting in some words about your experience, expertise, and capabilities.

This might actually help your readers to understand what you are up to, what kind of work you have done, or what kind of credibility you have to discuss a particular topic.

Putting on social media links for direction communication is welcomed by the users as well.

Introduce the solution

You can just put your solution or the product right away in your content. You will have to put it in a Q&A format.

Ask a question that might interest the reader and then you can actually put forth your solution.

This should not be forced into the content; the reader knows that it’s an obvious fact to find a solution of your choice at the end of the content, but you should not make it an obvious choice.

Make sure to include it naturally and discuss the situation or the problem genuinely to reach out to your readers a bit more.

Engage the call to action

The call to action is not something that you can put in just as a link and hope that your readers will be interested in buying or following your choice of solution.

For this you will need to do some homework, make sure you design it well to attract the user, and then only you can hope for the best.

Provide enough proof to strengthen your sale

Users are ready to visit your blog posts on a regular basis.

Some might even start following, but to ensure that your readers are getting valuable info and something that can be helpful for them, you will have to ensure that you are providing enough proof to strengthen your writings or your claims.

Make sure to include stats from different sites and reviews as well, so as to consolidate your claims.

In case any well-known social media figure has said something about your product or solution, remember to put it as a quote which will really be an additional touch to your blog.

So, now that you know how you can put your blog post to good use and make sure you are able to sell products via every post you make, get ready with your resources, and get going with your blogging.

Be smart, be brave, and blogging will certainly bring you the success you need.