How to create delicious content, time after time
Introducing the ‘cannelloni method’ of content creation. Image Bermix Studio. Unsplash.
Even if you’re committed to the idea of creating content to build your business, when it comes to actually doing it, writing can feel like a huge chore. We find all kinds of excuses to avoid it. Whether it’s no ideas or no time, or something else entirely, it’s really easy to find a hundred reasons not to write.
Sometimes, even if you make the time, and you have a couple of hours blanked out in your diary, the daunting glare of a blank piece of paper or a new document with cursor blinking on screen is enough to turn you away to other, easier, tasks on your to-do list. Like tidying up your desktop. Or making another cup of tea. Or staring out of the window.
I think that beneath a lot of the excuses is the simple truth that writing and publishing a blog is hard work. Or rather it’s a lot of different kinds of work. Writing and publishing requires a list of tasks and mind shifts that are difficult to carry out simultaneously.
Let me explain, using the medium of pasta
I made cannelloni for the first time at the weekend. On Sunday morning I made the pasta dough and the ricotta and roast squash filling. Neither of them are difficult jobs. Some mixing and kneading, and then into the fridge for a while. In the afternoon I used the pasta machine to roll out the dough (I needed an extra pair of hands for this bit), and I filled small sections of the sheets with the filling I’d made earlier. Then I left it, and made tomato sauce. Again, easy to do, if you do this sort of thing a lot. Listened to music while I was doing it, and it was all very calm.
Basically, I was Nigella, floating around the kitchen. Once the sauce had cooled, I combined the two, and put it in the fridge. A couple of days later I made the cheese sauce, poured it over the top, and cooked the dish. Because there wasn’t much actual cooking to do, I had time to make salad, with a really nice vinaigrette dressing.
Because it wasn’t rushed, the whole process was relaxing and enjoyable. And the cannelloni tasted delicious.
Slow down
If I’d tried to cram all of that activity into a couple of hours, it would have been a different story. If I was rushing, I wouldn’t have kneaded the dough for long enough and the silky elastic texture would have been wrong. If I hadn’t taken my time over the filling to make sure it was seasoned right, the taste would have been disappointing. If I’d tried to roll the pasta in a panic it would have been a disaster. (I have tried to do it really fast before, and it never works. A relaxed frame of mind is conducive to good pasta!) If I’d tried to make two sauces at once, I’d risk spoiling one or both of them. If I’d left it all until the last minute I might not have cooked it for long enough, so it wouldn’t have that lovely golden bubbling top. And I wouldn’t have had time to make a salad as well, which made the whole meal look and feel complete. You get the picture.
Breaking the process down into easy steps not only made the experience more enjoyable, it made the end result better.
Writing and publishing a blog is quite a lot like this. It’s not one job, it’s a series of smaller jobs, which you can tackle individually and make your life a whole lot easier.
What are the ingredients for a good blog?
What does a blog need? A good idea. A sound structure. The right tone of voice. A hook. A great headline. A strong opening line. An image to give it more impact. A clear call to action. Proofreading. Getting it up on the website. Making it look good. Tagging for SEO. Publishing. Sharing on social channels.
Some of those are pure writing jobs, but not all of them. Some of them need creative fire, others need a cool eye for detail. Some are admin tasks. Try and tackle that whole lot in one go and you’re not giving yourself the best chance of success.
Space out the tasks
A simple way to make it easier is just to factor in time between the planning, the writing, the editing, the final proofreading, and the publishing. Don’t aim to write and publish on the same day. Just doing that alone takes away some of the fear, and a lot of the procrastination.
You can go further, and if you’ll permit me to go back to the kitchen analogy, by batch baking some of the elements. Like this.
Give each task space
The first and most important thing a blog needs is a good idea. Good ideas don’t necessarily appear when you’re staring at a screen worrying against the clock that you don’t have a good idea. (They hardly ever happen that away.)
Prioritise creative ideas time
Plot ‘ideas time’ into your calendar and do whatever it takes to get your ideas flowing. Remember to write each blog for one reader, have a real person in mind when you’re writing.
Get moving. Take yourself off for a walk. Think about the person you’re writing the blog for, put yourself in their shoes, think hard about their challenges and what answers they’re looking for. Phone a friend. Phone a client. Read a book. Play music. Do whatever it takes to get you in the right creative frame of mind.
Push beyond thinking of just one idea. Come up with more. Try and plan a series of blogs.
If you’re inspired to start writing one of them straight away, go for it. If not, try jotting down rough blog plans for your favourite ideas.
Batch bake headlines and blog images
Go back to your list of ideas with fresh eyes and see how you feel about them. I find that writing headlines for blogs is a good way to see which ideas hold water, and also for making your life easier when it comes to writing them.
‘Batch baking’ headlines, using a tool like Co-Schedule’s Headline Analyzer helps start to shape the ideas into something with a hook. Play around and see where you can get a higher score. When you’ve got the score as high as you can, write yourself a few notes of what you’ll include in the blog. Don’t plan to write the whole thing yet, just capture the ideas that this headline exercise generates for you.
You can do the same thing with images. Look for a handful of ideas in one sitting. Think about how you can illustrate a series of blogs, rather than one blog at a time.
Use a content calendar and plan your writing time
Get the ideas up onto a content calendar so you can see the pathway of content you’re going to be creating, rather than getting stuck on one idea.
The content calendar will give you a big picture view of the content you’re writing. It also helps you stay focused on who you’re writing for, and why in each individual blog.
Planning out a blog before you start helps even more, and can take away the pressure away from the actual writing bit. It gives you confidence that you’ve got enough to say, a map to follow, and a clear call to action.
Writing to a plan becomes more an exercise in filling in the blanks, rather than carving out something completely new. It’s much easier.
Banish the white paper fear
Now when you sit down to write a blog, you’ve done a lot of the hard work. You know what you’re saying and why, you know who it’s for, you’ve got a great headline and an image, and a plan. It’s far easier to write with those elements already in place.
To go back to the kitchen analogy, you’re now Nigella. You have all the ingredients chopped up beautifully and laid out in little bowls in front of you.
Write a first draft and then leave it to rest. Edit and rewrite with fresh eyes. Walk away. Proofread when you’re clear headed and not rushing. Publish with confidence.
Happy cooking!
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