How to Create Superb Content by Answering Questions
I had an interesting conversation last week with a mover and shaker in the coworking community. This particular person is having trouble coming up with blog post ideas.
She said that although she knows a lot about coworking, community and collaboration, when she sits down to write a post, she finds herself staring at a blank screen.
Have you been there? I know I have, probably more times that I’d care to admit.
Here’s a quick fix to generate a ton of targeted, useful blog post ideas that speak directly to your audience.
Have someone start asking you questions about your work. Start with big picture ones: Why do you do this work? What are you working on now? Who do you work with?
From there, have them start diving down into more detailed questions. When do people need your services? What challenges are they facing? How do you help people reach their goals?
With my coworking pal, as soon as we started talking about how to build community, she let loose with a ton of valuable information. Ideas were just flowing effortlessly from her. She had all kinds of insights about the challenges of creating a vibrant community, common mistakes people make, tools to implement, what to read, who to talk to, where to focus. It went on and on.
When I pointed out that she was a fountain of information and that she had just inadvertently generated about a dozen blog post topics, she was shocked.
“See,” I said, “All you needed was a prompt.”
Next time you’re stuck, have someone ask you questions about what you do. And remember, the things that seem easy and obvious to you are pure gold to someone else.
Share your knowledge, share your insights, and start writing. You know more than you think you do.
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Photo: Mario Mancuso (CC-BY)
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Comments
Great post Cat! I really appreciate how you pointed out to this pal that she could create content by answering a prompt. (wink, wink)
Question: Do you have an opinion on stream of consciousness writing vs. a structured argument? I tend to struggle with the structure of a post, feeling like I’m not doing a good job of getting my point across.
Hi Iris
Sounds familiar, eh?
Re: stream of consciousness vs. structure: What you might want to do is do a braindump stream of consciousness session, either writing or recording yourself, then go back and pick out points that make good standalone posts.
It’s good to focus on one topic/point in a post. That way, your readers (or listeners) know what they’re getting from the start, and then get that. It also helps with SEO to stay focused on your topic/keywords/point. Your headline should be a concise, keyword-rich description of what you’re going to cover.
I suggest doing stream of consciousness session then seeing what stands out as separate blog posts. You may end up with 5 or 10 focused points you can make from one good brainstorm session.
Let me know how it goes 🙂
Cheers,
Cat