How To Create Good Content: 4 Questions To Ask Yourself

 Have you ever wondered what makes good content, or how to actually create content that people want to read?

The reality is that there is SO much content out there nowadays. Podcasts, YouTube videos, blogs, ebooks, courses, digital downloads, Facebook ads, and the list could literally go on and on.

So the question is: How do you make your content stand out? 

How do you ensure that people are going to come to you? 

There are 3 main types of content out there:

• Inspirational
• Education
• Entertaining

You can be primarily known for one or a combination of them. But chances are, the type of content you create falls into one of those 3 categories. 

When it comes to creating good content, there are 4 questions to ask yourself.

1. Is it helpful? Does it solve someone’s problem?

We’ve all done those ideal client avatar worksheets. And if you haven’t, I suggested doing one.

One common mistake people tend to make (and I’m definitely guilty of this myself) is forgetting that the content isn’t for you, it’s for your reader.

It’s to help make their lives easier – figuratively or literally.

Maybe you make their lives easier by filming your dog, which is entertainment. Truth to be told, I LOVE watching this dog on IG. Owners do a really good job of narrating her in her IG stories.

Or maybe you provide step-by-step tutorials on how to set up a blog for beginners.

Or maybe it’s something like this, where I help you with creating good content that people will want to read and share with their friends.

At the end of the day, you want to make sure you’re creating content that’s solving someone’s problems. And to do that, you first need to know who you’re helping. Because from there, you can figure out what they’re struggling with.

2. Is it detailed / valuable or just fluff? Does it have depth?

I’m sure we’ve all read those fluffy articles, where… by the end, you realized they actually haven’t helped you with anything. It’s worse when they try to sell you at the end without first providing any value.

Have you ever attended one of those webinars that showed up as a Facebook ad? Where they spend the 15 minutes talking about their story, another 15 minutes about what they’re going to talk about, maybe 10 minutes of actual information, and the last 15 minutes are about this product that they’re selling you and why it’s soooo awesome.

Yeah, don’t do that.

It’s easy to think that someone won’t buy your products if you give all your information for free, but that’s not true.

Case in point? One of my online favorite creative souls, Caroline over at MadeVibrant, wrote this absolutely incredible and in-depth post about creating your first online course.

Caroline’s article just goes to show that you can give away a lot of valuable information for free and still sell products.

Isn’t it better to first build trust with your audience?

Also, I wanted to note something that I hear Gary Vee say a lot: If you don’t do it, someone else will. When you choose to keep “all the good stuff” to yourself, remember that someone else is willing to give away what you’re not.

3. Is it organized and easily digestible? Is it easy to follow?

If you are creating a how to list or any tutorial of some kind, please make it organized.

Example:

Step 1 is…

Step 2 is…

Step 3 is…

Because what I’ve found is that most people like (and need) structure.

Think of it as creating a recipe. First, people need to know what to get at the grocery store. Well, actually, I guess the first step would be writing down a list of all the ingredients they need to get and seeing which ones they already have at home.

But you wouldn’t tell someone to add seasoning when they don’t have anything to add the seasoning to first, right?

It’s the same thing with your content. You want to prepare people and guide them through.

Take another look at Caroline’s blog post on “How To Build And Sell Your First E-Course” again. Not only does she break it down into steps with clear dividers, but she uses headings and subheadings as well.

Make it clear what step 1, step 2, step 3 is. Use formatting. Write an introduction and summary.

Also, make it easy for people to skim.

4. Is it shareable? Do people want to share it?

The best kind of marketing is word-of-mouth.

When people share your content with others because it resonated with them or made them feel some type of way.

Maybe it helped them learn a new skill (education).

Or maybe it made them laugh when they were having a bad day (entertaining).

Or maybe it made them feel motivated to do something with their lives (motivation).

Because the truth is… what’s the point of creating content if no one ever sees it, right?

You want to create content that people see and want others to see.

So to recap, when creating valuable content, make sure it’s:

Helpful – it solves someone’s problem and/or makes their day better.

Valuable – not just fluff. Provide real information that people can use and apply.

Organized – people aren’t here to go through a maze. Make your information easy to digest and read.

Shareable – word of mouth is the best marketing. Encourage them to share it with others.

Benefits of Reading

 Amongst other things, we have been so preoccupied with social media and the internet that hardly anyone contemplates reading books. While some maybe too busy to read, others merely don’t care to read.

There are many benefits to reading, from making you smarter to improve your reading and writing skills. If you want to understand what benefits one could reap from developing the habit of reading, then we have enlisted the top benefits here.

1. Stimulation For Your Brain

When you read every day, you stimulate your mental activity. Numerous studies have been conducted to understand the benefits of reading.

As per a study, one of the prime benefits of reading books is slowing down mental disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia . It happens since reading stimulates the brain and keeps it active, which allows it to retain its power and capacity.

Every part of our body needs exercise to stay healthy, and the same goes for our brain. Reading gives it regular exercise and keeps it healthy and sound.

Even playing games like chess or solving puzzles results in cognitive stimulation .

Atomic Habits: The life-changing million copy bestseller

2. Stress Reduction

Everyday concerns will keep bothering you unless you do something to divert your mind. Reading gives you that mental space to occupy yourself with something more interesting.

When you read a great story, all your stress seems to slip away and relax you since you tend to travel mentally in a different realm. Sometimes while reading, you come across valuable advice or solutions to your problems.

3. Knowledge-Enhancement

Reading Important to Enhance the Knowledge

Since the onset of civilization, we have grown and developed mentally. Many learned scholars give credit to the erudite tomes written by our predecessors for our knowledge. The importance of reading books is now more than ever since. Not everything is available in digitalized form.

There are numerous ways to learn more about life, from self-help books to reading fiction. Even when you feel demotivated, you can read an inspirational biography to lift your mood. One of the great benefits of reading books is that the knowledge you gain from them can never be taken away from you. Unlike worldly possessions, your knowledge will stay with you till the end of time.

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4. Vocabulary Expansion

If you are not yet convinced on why reading books is important, this might interest you. When you develop the habit of reading, you enhance your vocabulary. Reading any type of book can improve your vocabulary to an impressive extent.

Having great command over the language is known to help many in their professional and academic life. Moreover, with better vocabulary knowledge, you get to fill yourself with self-confidence when sitting in a group with a knowledgeable audience.

You can also expect to learn new languages when you develop the habit of reading various books every day.

5. Memory

Regular reading is a great exercise for your brain. If you read a fictional book, your brain is forced to remember the names and nature of various characters. Going back to their history and remembering events or plots is fun and improves your memory.

One of the greatest benefits of reading daily is that your brain becomes super powerful. An amazing fact about our brain is that it can retain a great amount of information, and with every new memory, your brain creates new brain pathways or synapses. .

Moreover, it strengthens your existing memory, helps to recall short-term memory, and stabilizes mood. . How cool is that?

If you are intrigued by this information, how about learning to boost your memory and become 10x smarter by checking out this technique!

Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life

6. Stronger Analytical Thinking Skills

If you are still wondering what other benefits of reading regularly are, consider this! One of the most amazing benefits of reading every day is that it can improve your analytical skills. Reading mystery novels helps you develop skills that can assist you in problem-solving.

While reading a novel, the disclosure is pretty slow, and your mind is forced to predict or make guesses. Upon disclosure, you get to connect the dots. It’s fun to make your brain smarter and enhance your analytical skills.

Subconsciously the brain is trained to think more smartly and develop strong analytical skills. You can expect to gain from this in your personal and professional life.

7. Focus and Concentration

One of the worst things that technology has done is make us lazy. Almost everything is available with ease. We hardly make an effort to focus on solving issues or concentrate on bringing about any improvement.

You can see where we are going with this. You can agree that we even tend to get lazy and don’t even put an effort to remember things. Simply put a reminder on the phone, and that’s it!

While reading can bring back the lost power of focus and concentration. If you feel that using modern technology lowers our productivity, then develop the healthy habit of reading every day.

Keeping yourself occupied with reading for about 20 to 30 minutes can be great for your brain. It can help you with better focus and concentration. You may have been doing it wrong for those who still find it difficult to develop focus or concentrate properly

8. Better Writing Skills

If you read more, you will naturally become good at writing skills. Since your vocabulary and pronunciation improve by reading regularly, it eventually makes you a better writer.

We are not just talking about writing fiction, books, novels, etc. Even when writing something in everyday personal and professional life, your writing skills would have improved with regular reading.

The more you read, the better your writing skills will become. You would tend to focus on various aspects of writing that would allow you to write more effectively than others.

9. Tranquility

Don’t you sometimes feel like just getting away from all the hustle and bustle of everyday nonsense? But it’s not always cost-effective to plan a trip to get some time in solitude.

Reading a book allows you to gain similar tranquility. What’s more interesting is that people suffering from high blood pressure or anxiety can find peace in reading.

Reading self-help or spiritual texts uplifts your soul and makes you feel better. Whereas people suffering from mood disorders can also feel better with reading habits. 

10. Free Source Of Entertainment

We do spend on movies and music, but why? It is for entertainment, isn’t it? Then why not simply read books with the same purpose? You would be surprised to know that some of your favorite movies or TV series were made after getting inspiration from some of the greatest novels.

What’s more interesting is that reading books would cost a lot less and keep you entertained for longer. Just At to the local library can introduce you to numerous entertaining novels. You can find books on any topic that you find interesting and keep yourself entertained.

If you cannot go to the library or do not have access to any library nearby, you can even scout for them on online sources. Numerous online stores have free e-books to read.

Final Thoughts

From health benefits to getting smarter, there are numerous benefits that regular reading can offer. You can expect to enhance your knowledge about so many things if you just develop this habit of reading books regularly. It might appear boring unless you start, but once it is assured, once you get a grip of reading, you will be thanking yourself for this habit.