A Guide to Creating Great Content for Your Small Business

It turns out that content is king only if you have content. Bummer, right? Actually, it doesn’t have to be that huge of a chore, I promise. Creating great content consistently is doable when you have a plan and some starter tips.

As you craft and build a library of information to use in your marketing, you are creating a highly valuable resource. This asset is something you can leverage in many ways to boost your brand, your authority, and your bottom line. But first, you have to create it.

If you’re interested in having expert help with your content creation, reach out to Kristin Ratten Content Services to schedule a discovery call. I geek out when talking strategy and would love to see how I can serve you.

Blogs Are the Starting Point

Hang on! Don’t go away just because I mentioned blogs. 

If you’re a small business owner, writing articles for your website might be the very last thing you ever want to do. But I promise that you’ll be glad when you do it. This one piece of your marketing strategy is incredibly valuable, and I want to help you take advantage of it.

You might be convincing yourself that you’d rather just focus on social media content instead, and I understand. After all, those posts can be short and easy. But hear me out.

First, you don’t really own the content you put on your social platforms. If anything happens to your account, you lose all of that valuable work. Second, your blogs are going to make it so much easier for you to create your other content consistently. That’s why I say they should be your starting point.  

Many biz owners despise blogging for their sites because they completely overthink it. They fuss over what to write about or worry about keywords and SEO and all the things. You could spend HOURS researching topics and optimized keywords. And SEO experts do just that.

But there is no reason for you to spend your precious time on those endeavors. You will spin your wheels, get frustrated, and never create anything. 

Instead, focus on one thing you wish your clients knew or that you’re excited to teach them. Now write about it until you’re tired of writing about it. Voila! You have a blog. Repeat this process a couple of times a month, and you’re golden.

Creating Great Content Just Got Much Easier

Once you have articles on your website, it’s time to leverage them. You are about to see just how critical those blog posts can be in your marketing endeavors.

Whether you are conscientious about planning your content (do as I say) or not (do as I do), you have so much power at your blog-filled fingertips. Here are six ways you can leverage one article, ranging from simple to complex.

1. Post It - Create a social media post that simply tells your followers, “Hey! Check out my latest blog post here!” Link to your article and call it good. If you have accounts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, you can link to one a day to cover most of the workweek. And if you have a blog that utilizes lists of facts or helpful hints, break it up and reuse it. A listicle of eight items can give you eight different social media posts.

2. Condense It - Do you have an email list that you dread nurturing because you aren’t sure what to write? Send out a newsletter that highlights a couple of main points from your blog, with a link to the article. Done.

3. Expand It - Do you feel like you have more to say on a particular blog topic? Add more and flesh it out into a small ebook. You can monetize it or use it as bonus content when people purchase from you.

4. Magnetize It - Choose a blog article that answers a common question your clients or customers have. Streamline the main points of the piece into a guide or checklist to use as a lead magnet for building your email list. 

5. Speak About It - Are you particularly passionate about a topic you have in your list of blogs? Do you want to pursue speaking opportunities? Take a topic and turn it into a presentation that you can offer to networking groups or trade organizations or as a podcast interview. Or do a live training from the content that you can provide for your clients.

6. Teach It - If you feel excited and confident about a particular blog article, or feel like it barely scratched the surface, consider turning it into an online course. The actual post can be your starting point for building a course that earns you passive income while you lay on a beach somewhere.

One and (Mostly) Done

If you own a business, you are probably wearing too many hats. Sometimes you can take some off, but many times you can’t. 

And if you’re in charge of your own marketing, you have to make it simple. By spending some time crafting blogs for your website, you take the pressure off creating great content consistently. One article of 800-1200 words could provide a week or two of marketing content for your business without you needing to reinvent the wheel each day. 

And on top of how much simpler your planning will become, your consistent blogging will also boost your website’s rankings and sales conversions. Before you know it, you’ll be able to hire out your marketing after all and take that hat right off your head.

Let’s Talk

Marketing in the digital era can feel overwhelming and tiring. But with a strategic foundation, you can streamline and simplify the process. 

At Kristin Ratten Content Services, we engineer excellent content for you to use in your business. From blogs to emails to content calendars, we have you covered. Reach out today to get started.