John Chow dot Com

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Many times, you’ll have great ideas, however, getting them down on paper can be a mission. Many bloggers will agree organizing your ideas is the most important factor before you start publishing. If you can create a solid outline of what you’ll like to write about, then the actual creation process has been simplified. If you have an outline, you have to simply follow the outline and you should be able to create something special. Now bloggers are facing another problem, which is publishing before your competition. It’s no secret competition in every niche is evident, however, you need to find ways to produce content quickly while maintaining the quality Google is looking for.

The secret is in the way you organize your idea and how you gather your facts. If you can streamline the entire process from the beginning research to the final product publishing, you can save enormous time, even days in between. Over the years, I written 2,000 blog posts and learned a few tricks to organize my information.

Let’s jump right into it….

Keep Your Mind Focused

Many people are unaware your quality of content will suffer if you are going through a mental burnout. This is why it’s important to work in habits that constantly sharpen your mind. You have to find ways to avoid mental burnout, which can be accomplished by adjusting the way you think ideas through.

For example, constantly worrying about the “small” issues will not produce the desired results. If you understand the mechanics of writing, you’ll know each content produced is often generated through “1” basic idea. It’s your job to locate the target keyword and branch out. This way, your mind stays focused and organized around that simplistic thought process. You’ve probably heard the saying, “Don’t worry about the small things!” Right? This can be applied logically when writing content. Here are a few examples…

First, when translating your ideas into content, it’s important to stay focused on the main keyword. Choose a keyword that represents your content so you can branch out afterward. If I want to write content on “SEO”, then I’ll focus on keywords like “link building” or “high quality content”. I know both those keywords represent SEO and are valuable in increasing my ranks within search engines.

Next, having a “target” keyword in mind will allow me to branch out more smoothly. From the keyword “link building”, I can branch out to guest blogging, article submissions, blog commenting, and even include high quality content. In the end, I’m creating a pattern that will help me avoid mental burnout. It will stop me from thinking about things that don’t matter when I’m trying to translate my thoughts into content.

Curate Content

For those of you not familiar with this terminology, “Content curation is the process of sorting through the vast amounts of content on the web and presenting it in a meaningful and organized way around a specific theme.”

Writing high quality content means to be able to generate high value content ideas. Top bloggers are awesome at writing content, but their true strength is in their ability to organize the information they’ve read to produce valuable ideas. I can’t count the number of times I’ve read content and it gave me a brilliant idea but I forgot to bookmark or write down the URL or topic. For you to translate your ideas into something valuable, you need to find an effective way to curate content so it’s organized and easy to translate into something special. Without this ability, you’re going to run out of ways to produce effective content that resonates with your readers.

Here are some tips to help you get organized…

• When you visit high value webpages, be sure to bookmark them. If you don’t like bookmarking, then…
• Keep a notepad open so when you find content that could be useful, mark down the URL and write down why it’s valuable. It’s no good to write down a URL if you’re going to forget why you can use it.
• Many top bloggers are using Evernote.com, which is a suite of software and services designed for notetaking and archiving.
• Get into the habit of writing down everything and be ruthless in your approach. Keep URLs, notes, and follow-up case studies that will help you create content. Using this approach will ensure you haven’t missed anything.

Mind Mapping

Many people are often lost on the concept of mind mapping and its effectiveness in creating high value content. We know competition is looming so it’s important you get your content published quickly, but it should be high quality at the same time. So, what’s mind mapping?

It’s the process of mentally mapping out your content so you don’t need to create an outline on a piece of paper. Many top bloggers, once they generate a topic, are amazing at mentally planning everything out. Those who are effective can start writing immediately, going through a mental outline as they progress. When mind mapping, you’re essentially outlining:

• content length
• images
• layout
• title
• sub-headings
• colors
• keywords

In the beginning, you’ll have a hard time mentally mapping content. However, over time, you’ll become efficient. Start slow and divide the different elements up. You should know from experience what factors matter when writing content so make sure to go through them in order.

Change Your Habits

Bad habits hold you back and can restrict your flow of creativity. It’s no secret high value content needs to be different so you need to be writing when you’re optimal. By now, you should be able to figure out what strategy works well and should implement it right away when you write. If you write better in the morning and have a habit of sleeping in, then you might want to start changing your schedule. Next, if you are using tools and haven’t switched them around in a few years, you might want to check what other tools are available. You’d be surprised how adopting new tools to help write content can make you more effective.

Here’s a good exercise:

Over the next 1-2 weeks, it’s time you start experimenting. Write on paper what time throughout the day you are most productive. Factor in everything like exercise time, dinner, lunch, family time, and sleeping pattern. After 2 weeks, you should be able to see a trend that reflects your productivity pattern. Once you are able to see when you are writing the highest value content, it’s time to stick to that strategy.

Next, during this same period, you can test new tools to organize information. What you’ve used for the last “5” years might be outdated and there might be something better that increases your productivity 2x.

Ask For Help

Having an idea and writing are 2 different elements, however, if you don’t have the experience to put it down on paper, then you can ask someone for help. The Internet has opened up enormous avenues, allowing us to exchange information and thoughts. If you have something valuable that you want to publish, then hire someone with experience. It’s important that before you get someone to translate your ideas, you have an effective way to communicate what you need done. Your idea is only of value if you can communicate it the right way. Take your time writing out an outline or even get on a call so it can be communicated correctly. Remember, the more experience the freelancer has, the easier it will be for them to understand your pitch.

Hiring someone will require a financial investment. However, the more valuable your content, the better your ROI. Again, this is your last resort, but, personally, I recommend taking the time to create your own content as it helps build experience and communicate the message clearly.