Content Creator’s ToolboxAndy McIlwain @ WordCamp Toronto 2016

@andymci#WCTO16

#toolbox

Stop putting contenton a pedestal.

Let’s focus on theprocess instead.

Seven P’s

• PREPARE your goals.

• PLAN your topics.

• PRODUCE your content.

• RE-PURPOSE your content for different channels.

• PROMOTE your content.

• PARTICIPATE in communities.

• PROVE that your goals are being met.

Prepare your goals. Reach & Discover(Shared Content)

Teach & Learn(Educational Content)

Sell & Decide(Set Expectations)

Reach new audiences. Ride trends, break news, write guest posts, be present in different places so they can discover you.

Prove that you know your stuff by teaching.Share useful information, solving problems, and helping visitors learn.

Sell your visitors on the idea of becoming customers, leads, or subscribers. Help them decide by setting expectations about what they’ll get in return.

Different perspective…Sell by setting expectations

Teach by solving problems

Reach by being present and relevant

Further from center = less about you.

Create aneditorial calendar.

Topic Title Share Inform Convert Notes URL

Topic: What subject are we covering?

Title: What are we calling this thing?

Share: Is this top of funnel?

Inform: Is this mid-funnel?

Convert: Is this bottom-of-funnel?

Notes: What is this post about?

URL: What’s the published post URL?

Plan your topics.

A different perspective…

Sell by setting expectations

Teach by solving problems

Reach by being present and relevant

Further from center = less about you.

…guides planning.Start with what you know.

Think like a teacher.

Repurpose, promote, participate.

But start with you.

Start with what you know.

Topic Title Share Inform Convert Notes URL

Products X What we sell. /shop

Services X What we do. /services

Subscribe X Why sign up. /join

About Us X Who we are. /about

FAQs X Common Q&A. /faq

Think like a teacher. Content

• Strategy

• Development

• Promotion

Community

• Organizing

• Planning

• Managing

WordPress• Themes

• Plugins

Brainstorm. How would you introduce an absolute beginner to your subject?

Identify topics.

See what people are searching for.

Use your brainstormed topics as a starting point. Search for more ideas in Google AdWords’ Keyword Planner.

Export the suggestions as CSV files.

Generate post ideas.

Take topics from the Keyword Planner suggestions and drop them in. Use Ubersuggest, KeywordTool.io, Answer The Public, and faqfox. These will give you ideas of what to write about.

Export the suggestions as CSV files.

Validate and prioritize your posts.

Copy the keyword suggestions into the spreadsheet workbook you created.

Review them. Eliminate the obviously irrelevant ones. Highlight the good ones.

The structure…

Topic Title Share Inform Convert Notes URL

Products X What we sell. /shop

Services X What we do. /services

Subscribe X Why sign up. /join

About Us X Who we are. /about

FAQs X Common Q&A. /faq

How To… X Guides. /guides

Tools for… X Downloads. /tools

Thoughts on… X X Editorials. /blog

Twitter X Tweets @you

Facebook X Updates fb.com/you

The structure…

WordPress

WordPress Themes

Free WordPress

Themes

Free WordPress Themes for

business

Free WordPress themes for

artists

Premium WordPress

Themes

premium wordpress themes for

photographers

premium wordpress themes for

authors

WordPress Plugins

Best WordPress

Plugins

Best WordPress plugins for

blogs

Best WordPress plugins for nonprofits

Free WordPress

Plugins

free wordpressplugins for

photo gallery

free wordpress plugins for

ecommerce

• Top: Longtail content that supports your expertise in broad topic aspects.

• Middle: Aspects of the broad topic.

• Bottom: Broad topic you want to demonstrate expertise for.

The structure…

WordPress

WordPress Themes

Free WordPress

Themes

Free WordPress Themes for

business

Free WordPress themes for

artists

Premium WordPress

Themes

premium wordpress themes for

photographers

premium wordpress themes for

authors

WordPress Plugins

Best WordPress

Plugins

Best WordPress plugins for

blogs

Best WordPress plugins for nonprofits

Free WordPress

Plugins

free wordpressplugins for

photo gallery

free wordpress plugins for

ecommerce

• Top: Longtail content that supports your expertise in broad topic aspects.

• Middle: Aspects of the broad topic.

• Bottom: Broad topic you want to demonstrate expertise for.

Shared content endorses your work & feeds traffic in

Produce your content.

Research first.

Who’s ranking for your topics?

Check Google. You’ll need to create something better.

Research first.

What’s getting shared?

Use BuzzSumo to find out. Create something better than that.

Find sources.

• Find credible data to cite in your work.

• Google Scholar

• Statista

• Zanran

• UNdata

• Census.gov (US)

• Data.gov (US)

• Statcan (Canada)

Outline your draft.

Google Docs and Word Online are free, run in your browser, and let you collaborate with others (great for getting feedback & editing).

Edit your work.

Hemingway Editor is a free app that runs in the browser. (Paid desktop app available.)

Create a featured image.

You can do this in Google Slides or PowerPoint Online.

Need more images?

Try these sources:

• Compfight (searches Flickr)

• Unsplash

• Creative Commons Search

• Foter

• Pexels

• Public Domain Archive

• Jay Mantri

…and many more! Just Google it.

Optimize your images.

• Use these sites:

• CompressPNG

• CompressJPEG

• And this plugin:

• WP Smush

Add a call to action.

All content needs a primary call to action, an instruction that pushes people to do something.

Ask for shares:

• AddThis, SumoMe

• Jetpack (sharing buttons)

Capture info, like emails:

• Ninja Forms

• Formidable

Re-purpose your content.

Create a presentation.

Presentation

Host a webinar

Export slides as images, embed

in post

Stack slides for image asset,

share on Pinterest

Record presentation for video, share on FB or YouTube

Publish audio recording as podcast on Podbean

Using your written post as the outline, you can do a lot with a presentation:

• Present at an event.

• Host a webinar.

• Export slides as images and embed them in your post.

• Stack the slides vertically to create a standalone image asset.

• Record the presentation as a video.

• Publish the audio recording as a podcast.

Create a newsletter.

Curate your posts alongside content from other sources and share it with your subscribers.

Over time, you can identify engaged readers and reach out 1:1.

Syndicate your posts.Medium lets you add rel=“canonical” to published stories, giving your content more reach through the Medium network while preserving SEO integrity of the original post.

Enabling Jetpack on your blog lets WordPress.com users follow you, so your posts appear in the WordPress.com Reader.

Promote your content.

Self-promotion.

Start by promoting it yourself.

WordPress plugins:

• Jetpack Publicize

• Revive Old Posts

• CoSchedule

Other useful tools:

• Buffer

Outreach.

Find bloggers, influencers, existing sites that are writing about your topic. The more prominent the target, the more impressive your content needs to be.

Find contacts:

• Submit.co

• Hey Press

• Help A Reporter Out

• BuzzSumo (freemium)

• SEMRush backlink analysis (freemium)

Advertise.Content is a long-term play. If you want to accelerate the exposure of your content, turn to the almighty dollar.

Starting points:

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Google AdWords

• BuySellAds

• Niche ad networks, e.g. Carbon

Participate in communities.

A.B.H.Always Be Helpful

Twitter ChatsWeekly, hour-long conversations about a defined topic. Also the backchannel for events (e.g. #wcto16 or #wcto).

Use TweetChat for easier wrangling.

Facebook GroupsGo where the people are! Find Facebook groups relevant to your topics. Lurk and comment.

Slack GroupsIntended for private teams, but also widely used for real-time conversation in different communities. (Note: Mostly tech-oriented.)

Blog Comments

Disqus is one of the most popular 3rd

party commenting platforms on the web. Explore new places to comment.

• https://disqus.com/home/explore/

Comments on Medium become their own standalone posts that can be shared or reacted to.

• https://medium.com

Discussion Forums

• Search for forums on Google using “forums”, “community”, “message board”.

Prove that it’s working.

Analytics

Map metrics to your goals.

Shared Content

• Engagement (Likes/Retweets/Favourites)

• Clickthrough Rates (CTRs), Referral Traffic

Informational Content

• Pageviews, Sessions

• Bounce Rates, Time On Page

Conversion Content

• Sales, Leads, Subscriptions

Understand Your Audience

Trends (Google Analytics)

• Where are people coming from?

• What technology do they use?

In-Depth Analysis (Hotjar)

• Recorded visitor sessions

• Heatmaps

• Polls, Surveys

• 1:1 conversations

What tools help?

• Google Analytics (+ Monster Insights)

• Teacup Analytics

• WordPress.com Stats (Jetpack plugin)

• Hotjar

• Quantcast Measure

• Leadin

• Typeform

It’s a repeating process.Once a month or once a quarter, start over.

Rinse and repeat.

Prepare goals

Plan topics

Produce

Re-purpose

Promote

Participate

Prove it’s working

Revise goals if needed

1. PREPARE your goals.

2. PLAN your topics.

3. PRODUCE your content.

4. RE-PURPOSE your content for different channels.

5. PROMOTE your content.

6. PARTICIPATE in communities.

7. PROVE that your goals are being met.

andymci.com/toolboxfor the full writeup, links, slides and more.