I am good at many things, great at maybe one or two things, and horrible at the rest.
Well, let me rephrase that…I’m un-learned at the rest. How do I know if I’m good, great, or horrible.
But all the books, blogs, etc. say you have to become an expert in a niche to have a successful blog, right?
Well I say it’s upside-down!
The Problem: Writing Like An Expert is REALLY Tough
My Editweapon.com blog is allegedly about software and website usability and learn-ability, something I am great at.
But I almost never write about that. Why? Nuance causes massive writers block and I start writing like an “expert.”
The Solution: Write Like An Idiot
In helping start-up Ashley’s new real estate website, Scottsdale AZ Homes For Sale, I realized there was actually a lot of things I didn’t really know about internet marketing, SEO, PPC, etc. And it just occurred to me one day, “Well, I’ll just write ‘How To’ posts as I go along since I know those get good link juice.”
Most People Are Idiots Un-Learned
Who cares if there are 500 different version of How To Buy a Domain Name. Not every single person has read all 500 articles. In fact, it’s pretty much guaranteed that 99.9% of the population has never read a single one of them. Which means 99.9% of the population might find my take on the subject useful.
Writing As I Learn
Writing about the topic as I’m learning about the topic has completely removed my writers block. And I’m starting to see that these posts are some of my best work. (As judged by me, the amount of comments, etc.)
I don’t even have to reach a conclusion, and yet I’m still providing value in the content. (For example, see my work-in-progress review of thinkBIGsites from yesterday, or 5 Steps To SEO Domination from August.)
Research. Write. Publish. Repeat.
I research things well. In fact, now that I think about it, I over-analyze everything. Well, on second thought, not quite everything. Probably 70%…no, 65%…well, hmm…let me export my posts to a spreadsheet and categorize them by on a keyword…
(You see what I’m talking about?!?!?! I’m a menace to myself.)
Seriously though, just like so many other small business owners, I have to research a very wide variety of topics to get myself learn-ed.
But now, instead of researching until I’m an expert (which never really happens anyways), my content creation strategy is to write and publish while I’m still an idiot.
What’d you think? Am I an idiot for suggesting this as a winning content strategy? And by that I mean, good for inbound links.
