099: Content Creation: 15 Quick Writing Hacks for Blog Posts and More

Today's Sponsors: Income Machine, Podcast Crusher and Make a Product

"You are rewarded in public for the things you practice in private." -- Tony Robbins

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:48 — 46.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

Catchphrase of the Week: Content Piggy Bank: What Would It Take For You to Record Just One Quick Video Per Day?
Resource of Week: X-Mirage to mirror iphone/ipad and record it on your computer
Quote of the Week: "If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way." -- Napoleon Hill
Quote of the Week #2: "Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out." -- Robert Collier
Quote of the Week #3: "Don't wish it was easier. Wish you were better." -- Jim Rohn
Become Better: 30 minutes to say something that could be said in 1 minute?

System & Routine

1. Small goals: 10-minute spurts or 500-word days. Create a sense of urgency to avoid Parkinson's Law (and possibly run a countdown timer)
2. Update an editorial calendar so you know what you're writing each day (Seinfeld productivity where you want to "avoid the broken chain of events")
3. Use writer's block to perform more research
4. Wake up an hour earlier (Elmore Leonard)

Tools & Mechanics

5. Delegate transcription and speak it out instead (MakeAProduct.com)
6. Use Google image search to find relevant images (don't forget to source them)
7. Grab a YouTube video and explain your reaction to it (before or against)
8. Break down pages into paragraphs, into talking points + time

Mind Hacks

9. Read a lot
10. Unplug distractions
11. Write your chapter/article titles as questions and paragraphs as questions, then delete the questions later (record yourself and send questions and answers to yourself via instant messenger)
12. Use a daily prompt
13. Break up your monotonous routine: go for a drive, walk, swim, run
14. Combine a task you don't like to do with one you do like to do, i.e. Write a quick blog post by the pool
15. Set a fake meeting schedule on your calendar and use the time for yourself

Bonus: Toughen Up That Writing

• Avoid "ing"... say "set" instead of "setting"
• Repetitions: remove "click here" every 2 sentences. "Please" every 2 sentences.
• Words to stop using: Try, start -- Trick, loophole, hacked -> secret -- Work, learn -> discover, uncover
• Tone down these words: Money-back/refund
• Words to use: System, formula, roadmap, blueprint, Machine, Push button, Secret weapon, Magic bullet

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:48 — 46.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

Filed in: Archive 1: 2012-2016 • Blogging • Content Creation • Podcast