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content creation

Quizzes: More Than Just the Best Lead Magnet with Deidra Helmig

Quizzes: More Than Just the Best Lead Magnet with Deidra Helmig

Deidra is on a quest to help online entrepreneurs find success on their own terms. She is helping them build a business that will feed their soul and bring them freedom and ease into their lives.

In this episode, Deidra answers these questions:

📝 Why are quizzes THE best lead magnet out there?

📝 What are the different ways you can use a quiz in your business?

📝 What type of business is a quiz perfect for?

📝 What's the first thing you should think of when you want to do a quiz?

📝 What are the biggest mistakes that people make when they build their own quiz?
📝 If you’re promoting your own products, what would be a good next step after the quiz?

📝 How techy does someone have to be to set up a quiz funnel?

How to Create Content When You are Stuck

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SHOWNOTES

In the world of blogging, content marketing, and online entrepreneurship, sometimes one of the biggest challenges we face is trying to figure out WHAT TO TALK ABOUT.

I know I’m not the only one who has spent the better part of a morning staring at a blinking cursor on a computer screen and feeling discouraged. It happens.

When I’m really stuck, I have a go-to list of exercises and resources and I’m going to share those with you today.

💡 Go to Amazon bestsellers section and look in the comments for questions that might help you.
💡 Type on any search query in Answer the Public and discover an untapped goldmine of content ideas.
💡 Enter your subject in Portent Idea Generator and it will give you clickable headlines.
💡 Take a peek at what’s trending on YouTube and Google Trends.
💡 Go see what topics Dummies Research have published books on. 
💡 Search through Alexa Flash Briefings top sites by category
💡 Use Social Bearing a search engine powered by tweets.
💡 Explicit searches in Google.

e.g. [topic/niche] + forum
[topic/niche] + discussion
[topic/niche] + community
[topic/niche] + blog

💡Leverage Twitter Advanced Search. Even if you are not a big Twitter user, when it comes to looking for ideas, it’s a gold mine and worth having an account if only for that purpose. 
💡Pick up the phone and call a customer or client and ask them what they want to know. 
💡Work on something completely different: catch up on that online course you never finished, read a book (fiction, even!), listen to music, organize your workspace and go for a walk and listen to a podcast that is outside of your niche.
💡Use the Voice Typing feature in Google Docs and just start talking about something. Something is bound to come out of that.
💡Write morning pages. 
💡Create 3 months of consistent, compelling and strategic content in a few hours with the Front Row CEO Content Planning System.
💡Go into a Facebook group that is filled with your ideal customers, click on the search bar and type in "I'm struggling with" or "I need help with". (Be sure to use quotation marks.) See what pops up and let that guide you in your content creation.

If you aren’t feeling motivated, you might be a little burned out and/or this pandemic might be zapping all of your umph. On days like this, acknowledge what is happening and trust that the fire in your belly will return. In the interim, try some of the stuff I mentioned, or just WALK AWAY for a little bit.

RESOURCES

 
 
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10 Content writing tips when you are stuck (or slow)

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10 Content Writing Tips when You are Stuck or Slow

Recently, a member of my online community, The Front Row posted a question that received such amazing tips, tools, and feedback that I wanted to make sure and capture it all and share it with the world at large! (Here’s the original thread.)

The Question:

I’m looking for some advice on something that's really getting me down. Basically, I need to learn to write faster! I tend to be the slow and fastidious type when it comes to writing, both for myself and for my clients, but struggling to produce a single blog post in a day is harming my profitability and stopping my business from growing further. Does anyone have any advice please?

The Responses:

Batch writing! Writing several pieces in one sitting/in a row, rather than trying to write one a day? Also "writing prompts" can be very helpful -- just to get your mind flowing. If you are writing about a specific industry, try journaling/brainstorming a list of topics and then break each topic down into different ideas. Also, just old-fashioned story telling works -- sharing personal stories, defining moments in career, hurdles overcome, crazy things on the journey, etc are always a hit -- people love to read about other people's stories. Give yourself permission to free-flow write -- a lot of it will be junk, but you will find the treasures in there too!!! http://www.serped.com/client-blog-post-ideas/1903  

Contributed by April Adams Pertuis

Give yourself permission to write a shitty first draft (maybe using April's ideas above for prompts, batch writing, etc). Print out what you've written, read for clarity and punch, and edit.

I'm suspecting you are putting undo stress on yourself by thinking you are letting your audience down and ultimately hurting your credibility and bottom line. If you write out of stress and anxiety- it shows. It sounds to me like you would benefit by resetting your expectations of your blog to something realistic so that you can work on other higher priorities. Chin up. There's only 24 hrs in a day and 12 of them are reserved for your personal strength. Yes?  

Contributed by Colette Noelle Micrae

Recording yourself talking almost always reduces the stress, gets ideas flowing, and gives you a ton of material to revise and edit later. A key to making this work is not to try to edit or revise as you speak. Just talk and record. Also Dragon dictation, Google Voice, or Evernote recorder can help, too..  

Contributed by Marnie Ginsberg

Repurpose. Write it. Take out lines and make great quotes. Write a riveting intro for people to click to read the rest. Can you make 5 ways to do this or 7 ways to do that out of it? Break it out. Squeeeeeeze all the juice out of it you can. Write a blog about getting stuck. Repurpose the heck out of it. Share your solutions and continued challenges. Another trick I have is I write my rough and leave it. Then I might another 2 or 3. I give it a good day. Then I go back. Give myself 20 mins on it and break again. Over and over I come back, until it's either complete or I become more inspired. Something about the limited time and upcoming break helps.  

Contributed by Isabelle Baker

Next time someone does something nice for you, make mental notes on how you would tell this story to a child or someone with a very short attention span. If you only have a few minutes to make your point and get to the "feel good" punch line, you'll have to be brief. When you edit, make sure that most of the story is about the person and the kind act. It’s best to start at the end of your content by asking the question, “What is the main purpose of this piece of content?” Once you know the purpose of your content, for every sentence you write, ask yourself this question, “Am I going off track and confusing my reader, or is this sentence helping achieve my content goal?” When you know the ultimate goal of your content, you’ll find yourself writing both faster and better. (Source:  http://www.influencewithcontent.com/writing-engaging.../ )

Contributed by Brian Lee Rouley

I do a lot of outdoor activities (walking, running, biking, dog play) and find that some of my best "writing" happens when I'm in motion. I don't make any record of it, analog or digital, but rather just rough out main points in an outline in my head. Key phrases tend to get memorized easily too. I think anyone can benefit from this, as I think it's not a gift but rather a craft. Just the other day, columnist Connie Schulz had a nice post about walking, thinking, and writing       

Contributed by Tony Ramos

Anytime I'm stuck, I go to my dragon (google voice works too) and start talking thru what I want to say - sometimes I start with " I'm trying to explain XX and I'm having trouble - here's what I wish I could get people to understand ... talk it thru. Then I leave it alone for a couple of hours (or a day if deadlines permit) and go back to reframe and edit. It works. Also - HUGE fan of SFD - it's the only way you're going to get words out of your head some days.

Contributed by Phyllis Stubblefield Nichols

Write drunk. Edit sober. . ? Also, I use 750 Words http://750words.com/  Contributed by Yves Dropp

 
Content Writing Tips When You Are Stuck
 

Start with the single thought that guides all your storytelling and strengthens the conclusion. Divide it into three blocks, to make it simple for you to write and the others to read. Make three titles and subtitles first, that are explanatory and interesting. Then comes the central text. The first one is "intro block", where you may start with one strong phrase that describes and intrigues at the same time and contains also your keywords. Like saying something about the issue and then start with a question. In the intro, you can make three phrases, not more. The second block gives more details and you can make the list of terms that you will use to explain it deeper (bullet points). The third block is the conclusion that has at the end the call to action. You can use also the self-explanatory images for each block. If you start with this simple structure, it will help you to take out the "image" you want the others "see" and "accept" about something. Imagine you have a friend who would like to know "what happened". Just like that. Once you have this "habit" to take out the structure, you can work on formats. And this way will help you to shorten your time and finish the article in max few hours. (Put some good music on while writing.)

Contributed by Valerija Brkljac

What are you best tips? I'd love to know. Comment below or send me a message.

Other posts on this topic you might find helpful:

How to find Ideas for content when you're stuck

How to Make a content assembly line

How to write a content marketing plan, step by step.  



 

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HOW TO FIND IDEAS FOR CONTENT WHEN YOU ARE STUCK

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How to Find Ideas for Content When You Are Stuck PINTEREST

In the world of blogging, content marketing, and online entrepreneurship, sometimes one of the biggest challenges we face is trying to figure out WHAT TO TALK ABOUT.

I know I’m not the only one who has spent the better part of a morning staring at a blinking cursor on a computer screen and feeling discouraged. It happens.

When I’m really stuck, I have a go-to list of exercises and resources and I’m going to share those with you today (Make sure to download the comprehensive cheatsheet and workbook below.)

  1. Amazon (the Bestsellers section and the Most Wished For categories — just make sure you drill down!) Look in the comments for questions that might help you.

  2. Answer the Public http://answerthepublic.com/

  3. Portent Idea Generator https://www.portent.com/tools/title-maker

  4. Take a peek at what’s trending on YouTube (type in your topic) https://trends.google.com/trends/hotvideos

  5. Google Trends

  6. Hot Trends

  7. Graphiq Search (alternative to Google Squared)

  8. Yahoo! Answers

  9. Dummies Research (what topics have they published books on?)

  10. Alexa (specifically their Top Sites by Category)

  11. Social Bearing (a search engine powered by tweets)

Also search on Google:

[topic/niche] +forum (example)

[topic/niche] +discussion (example)

[topic/niche] +community (example)

[topic/niche] +blog (example)

And of course, Twitter. Even if you are not a big Twitter user, when it comes to looking for ideas, it’s a gold mine and worth having an account if only for that purpose. Here’s what to do: (watch the video)

The very best way to come up with great ideas is to ask your audience. Even if your audience is very very small. Pick up the phone and call a customer or client and ask them what they want to know! Yes, the good old fashioned telephone works wonders!

If you have a list of ideas, but you just aren’t feeling motivated, you might be a little burned out. It happens to the best of us. No matter how passionate you may be about your business, some days are just blue days and it’s hard to get excited. On days like this, acknowledge what is happening and trust that the fire in your belly will return. In the interim, WALK AWAY for a little bit.

Work on something completely different, such as:

E-learning. Catch up on that online course you never finished.


Podcasts. Go for a walk and listen to a podcast that is outside of your niche. Find something inspiring.


Ted Talks. Listen to a random Ted Talk. These are marvelous for inspiration.


Listen to music.


Watch this.


Read a book (again, outside of your niche.)


Organize your workspace.

What do you do when you need a little motivation? I’d love to know. Reply below or send me an email jennifer@jenlehner.com

 

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How To Use IFTTT TO Automate Your Life and Business

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HOW TO USE IFTTT TO AUTOMATE YOUR LIFE AND BUSINESS

How to Use IFTTT to Automate Your Life and Business.

In this video tutorial I will be talking about how to set up your IFTTT applets. What is IFTTT? It stands for IF THIS THEN THAT. In essence it connects applications and devices together to automate things and make your life just a bit easier. These "applets" as they are called are "recipes" that trigger certain actions between apps and/or devices. 

There are literally hundreds if not thousands of combinations of these applets you can set up to help you manage lots of mundane, day-to-day tasks.

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How to Use Meet Edgar

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How to use Meet Edgar

Meet Edgar is a social media auto-scheduler. What makes it unique from Buffer and Hoot Suite is that it allows you to put content in one time, and then it circulates that content around the clock (based on a schedule that you set). 

You can send content out to Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. 

There is a similar service, called RecurPost. I'll be doing a demo on that later. Big difference is that RecurPost is less expensive.

CLICK HERE FOR MEETEDGAR

 
 
 
 
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How I Use Evernote to Manage My Biz & My Life

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How I Use Evernote to Organize My Biz and My Life

Evernote is one of the most important tools I use in my business, and my life.  Although I do still love a nice sharp pencil and a clean pad of paper, nothing beats Evernote for keeping things organized. The secret to using Evernote successfully is in it's tagging feature. Yes, you can create oodles of notebooks and categories, but if you are anything like me, you will forget where you put something as soon as you put it there. Tags allow you to simple type whatever logical word comes to mind into the search bar, and if you tagged your item, it will pop up instantly. 

I created this video, below to demonstrate.

 
 
 

How do you use Evernote? I'd love to know!

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