Welcome to the Content Revolution! Anyone with access to a computer and an Internet connection can start a blog. Whether you’re blogging about entrepreneurship or things your 17-year-old cousin Bennett texts you, the Internet is your sounding board.
This has given way to some great content. Content that makes you rethink your priorities, content that makes you laugh until you can’t breathe, content that helps you run your business – the list is endless.
Unfortunately, it’s also given way to some pretty terrible content. Content that is boring, content that is repetitive, content that lacks personality, content that just plain wastes our time – it’s everywhere.
Are you writing content that people actually want to read or are you just producing boring blog post after boring blog post? There’s only one way to find out…
Is There an Echo? Echo? Echo?
Remember the famous expression about beating a dead horse? Well, it’s famous for a reason. When you create content, be sure you’re not saying something that has already been said by every blogger in the history of ever. It sounds simple, but many of us still do it. If you don’t have something new to talk about or something new to add to a current debate, don’t bother writing about it.
No one likes the sequels anyway!
Bottom-line: Don’t write content that has been rephrased and republished 100+ times over the past five years.
To Be a Thought Leader, First You Need Some Thoughts
This goes hand-in-hand with the previous point. You don’t need to avoid popular topics. That’s the last thing I’m proposing. In fact, piggybacking on popular topics is a great way to get your content in front of a larger audience. Just make sure you’re adding something valuable.
If you want to establish yourself as a thought leader, you can’t be wishy washy. That’s not valuable. You can’t steal other bloggers’ opinions. That’s not valuable. Bring something new to the table or no one will offer you a seat.
Bottom-line: Have an opinion and don’t be afraid to voice it. Neutrality means you don’t really care.
Make Seth Godin Proud: Tell a Great Story
“Marketing is storytelling. The story of your product, built into your product. The ad might be part of it, the copy might be part of it, but mostly, your product and your service and your people are all part of the story. Tell it on purpose.†~Seth Godin
Blogging is storytelling too. What makes your entrepreneurship blog different from the thousands of other entrepreneurship blogs out there? Your story. It’s unique. No one else has it. No one else can tell it like you can. But so many of us are afraid to tell our stories, to get personal. If you’re not personal, you’re just another faceless voice.
Rand Fishkin writes very candidly about his struggles and his experiences at Moz. He’s arguably one of the most transparent bloggers I’ve ever encountered. And he’s killing it!
Bottom-line: You have a personality, you have unique experiences. Share them through your content!
Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should
Like I said, anyone with access to a computer and an Internet connection can start a blog. It’s both a blessing and a curse. Why? Because some people are blogging when they can and some people are blogging when they should. There’s a clear distinction.
If you’re blogging when you can, you’re blogging to ensure you have three posts a week, for example. If you’re blogging when you should, you’re blogging because you have something to say, something worth reading. You’re not sitting at your computer at 1 a.m. trying to come up with a good topic. You’re blogging about something of substance, something that matters to someone. More importantly, you’re blogging about something that matters to you.
Bottom-line: Don’t share content unless it’s amazing. Stop trying to fill an imaginary quota. Only write when you should, not just when you can.
Conclusion
It’s time to wake up, bloggers. No one wants to read your boring blog posts. Let’s all make a pact, right here and now. Let’s stop producing content for the sake of producing content.
Let’s start producing content because we actually have something to say.
Boy, ain’t that the truth! It seems so much content online is just a rehash of what we already have read. So true, if you tell “your story” your content then will be unique with personality. Be yourself and contribute honestly -add your opinion,take a stance. People will then want to listen and read what you have to share. I take the pact!
For every one piece of good content there are 100 of horrible worthless ones out there on the internet. The blessing and curse of the internet is that ANYONE can put stuff on there.
So many people do keep beating a dead horse on topics. Like right now EVERYONE is talking about the end of Flappy bird. It was just a game everyone needs to just chill out and stop OBSESSING about it.
Oh I love Seth Godin, one of the wisest men of our generation. I’m glad that you mention him.
I find it hard to consistently produce good content. Like you want to run on a schedule so that people know when you post but like you said you end up publishing content just to have it there when it really isn’t doing anything for you or your audience. Such a fine line to balance upon.
One way I’ve learned to spice up my blog is to bring in guest bloggers, much like you here on the ShoeMoney Blog. While I might not have something good to say others might and my audience can benefit.
I like this story many thank four sharing.
Dead on points. Content is king but if you content sucks then don’t even bother.
I love blog posts with actual figures and/or numbers to back things up.
More than posts, it’s all about how you market them.
Amen
Well, I would say this is a two-pronged piece. One it advises on how not write content and two, it reveals the many mistakes made by content marketers.
I would say the piece is informative as well as instructive!
This comment was left in kingged.com – the content syndication and content aggregation website where this post was bookmarked.
Sunday – kingged.com contributor
http://kingged.com/wake-up-nobody-wants-to-read-your-boring-blog-posts/
Shoemoney does has a point, everybody has an unique story, and you are the only one that can tell it like it is.
I live in the Netherlands, and when I do research the niche I want to target, all I see is faceless websites, blogs with no personal touch.
It is time to move in, and to be heard with epic content
I agree, but in some niches (i.e. insurance, investing, personal finance, B2B, technical industries), it’s hard to make something “interesting” without dumbing down the content or sounding very conversational. For instance, I just have a formal writing style. It is hard for me to tell narratives or talk about myself, but I can write 1,000 words on any SEO topic. Maybe sometimes “epic content” can also be “boring” if it is very high quality, unique, and educational.
Well said Shanelle, if your blog is just another replication of every other blog in your niche then there is no one that will be interested in reading your post.
If you are written about a topic that have been written about many times then you have to add value to it, write about how you find that post is right or wrong and list the reasons.
A good piece of writing, I like it so much because its pretty useful for me.
Thanks for sharing such useful info with is