Why oh why do I have to create content

Put your content crown on

This is a subject I can and have ranted on for hours about and the original title of the blog was ‘Why do I have to create fucking content?’ expressing my frustration and the only reason I changed it was because it doesn’t rank as well on Google.

I have written previously, in my blog, 10 Ways to Recycle Your Content about how to take one piece of content and repurpose it into several different types of content for different platforms. 

In this blog I really want to reiterate, even more, the importance of why you have to create a continuous, consistent stream of fucking content to let people know who you are, where you are, what you are and your what your business and brand is all about and why they should consume your content. 


It is one of the top things I say to anyone starting a business and more often than not women have been running businesses for a long time. Content, content, fucking content. If you think you are creating enough content, you are not creating anywhere close to enough. 

Content is queen, it is so essential to your business and brand so no more excuses. It is time to get your content crown and start creating.

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Content crown

The Stats

  • 55% of bloggers who take the time to update old content, 74% of them are likely to see a positive change in results
  • 77% of internet users regularly read blogs 
  • 60% of marketers publish at least one piece of content a day
  • Content marketing gets three times more leads than traditional marketing
  • In the age range of 18 – 49 almost half get their news online
  • If you are a small business and your blog you get 126% more growth via leads than those that don’t 
  • Add the word video into the subject line has shown to boost click-through rates by up to 300%
  • 61% of consumers will make a purchase after reading recommendations on a blog
  • Websites that take time to write regular blogs have 434% more indexed pages than those that don’t.
  • Research shows that there is an 80% increase in conversion rates when a landing page has a video
  • TikTok is only three years old and already the app has been downloaded over 1.5 billion times. 
  • Podcast ad revenue in America alone is forecasted to be $659M
  • The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast has just signed an exclusive deal with Spotify for $100M a year.

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What the hell is content

What the hell is content?

It is a word thrown around so much but the true definition of content is, yes I looked it up,  something that can be expressed through a medium. Whilst in this post I am going to talk more about online content creation, there is still a place, in a well thought out strategy, for more traditional forms of content. 

For example, to deliver your content via the medium of a book is a powerful tool for your business and brand. Ever wondered why IKEA still produces its catalogue? Because it works. 

My point, with this post, is to get across the fact that you can’t be in business today or be a personal brand without a prolific content output. 

Ever looked at Gary Vaynerchuk, (I know I mention him a lot) like him or not, his output is ridiculous.  As I was drafting this post I actually started to listen to Gary’s book Crushing It again. He said it himself. He said that he deliberately upped his game when it came to content output and it had a noticeable impact on his already very successful life.  I beg you to do it, just follow him on all platforms for a day and see how much content he puts out. He is a huge fan and advocate of online content but Crushing It is his 5th book and he is also a prolific and one of the highest-paid speakers in the world. 

So to make my point, whilst his content is predominantly online he understands the needs for more traditional mediums for content as well.

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What and how

Website: 

Most website content is quite static, but you can change it up on a regular basis. Add new images, new testimonials, add lead pages, change up your downloads. Just keep it fresh within your brand guidelines.  At the moment I am going through a change in my website to freshen it up and make sure it is up to date with how I run my business and how you work with me.  Keep the content moving because it helps with your Google rankings. At least every six months make a change to the static content in one way or another. 

Blog post: 

This is still, today, one of the most popular and successful forms of content. If you look at any successful blogger you see that their blog production is prolific compared to the average female entrepreneur. You see the stat about indexed pages and blogs. I tell my clients at a minimum they need to produce one blog post a week.  Make a decision about how you want to do it. Blog posts over 2000 words rank really highly but the more blog posts mean you will have more indexed pages. 

Brian Dean of Backlinko only published a blog post once every six weeks but each of his posts holds a huge amount of content, so much so that it has chapters. Seth Godin, on the other hand, publishes a blog post most days but they are short a succinct not even four paragraphs.  So the choice is yours but your website is one of the few places that you truly own all of your content.

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Podcast section of post

Podcast:

These may seem like a new medium but they have been around since around 2004. The number of people, business, brands podcasting is growing in popularity as well as those listening to podcasts. As I showed in the stats, there is huge amount of money in podcasting. That deal that Joe Rogan has just signed shows the power and popularity of this content medium. At least 51% of the US population has listened to a podcast and the split is pretty even between men and women almost being 50/50. It is an incredibly powerful form of content because people can listen to you anywhere. In fact, the stats show that most people listen to podcasts in their car. 

Personally I love podcasting, it allows me to really show what I am about in my business, life and lifestyle and I also love the chance to interview amazing and inspiring women.  People can really hear your voice, not just literally, but what you are about. 

You can catch my podcast, The Angela Harkness Show on this website or subscribe via iTunes

More and more people are setting up a podcast. What tends to stop people is they don’t think they have something to say and that people may not want to listen to. Another reason is I don’t know how to do it, I don’t have space.

I am the most non-auditory person and it certainly stopped me because I was worried about the sound quality. Then I felt I just had so much I wanted to say that I thought, fuck it, be prolific, not perfect.  I sit in my office and try and record and I may find that my Dad is downstairs banging on the window to get the squirrels off the bird table or Amazon arrives. The other week I was trying to record and opposite the house is not just Dave and Sparkle the huge pigs but there is a small business park and they were repairing their car park and I swear every time I pressed record they started the pneumatic drill. But I have learned to J.F.D.I (just fucking do it) and not worry about things I can’t control.

If you have something to say get yourself a microphone and press record.

Video:

Video used to be a one platform option with YouTube but now it is everywhere and it is powerful. As one-third of time online is spent watching videos you can not ignore the power of video. 

You don’t need a fancy SLR you can record video on your phone or tablet. You can use video to create a YouTube channel. You can see how much success you can have just from doing this. You can post native videos to Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitters just for starters. You can use video in your online course or you can create free how-to videos using something like Camtasia. 

These are a few people/brands who have created incredible success from their videos. Sorted Food. I have spoken about them before their twice-weekly videos are incredible and garner huge followings. Subscribtions to the channel at the writing of this blog sit at 2.38M. 

Kevin James, American actor, only a couple of months ago created his own YouTube Channel and already it has grown to 500K followers. Each video is so creative and like watching a mini film. 

Lydia Millen influencer has 850K followers and has created a very nice lifestyle from her vlogging. It has garnered her many incredible partnership opportunities. 

Marie Forleo didn’t even go down the YouTube channel route, she just set up her own channel on her website and is one of the most successful online business women.

Hold your phone up, press record and start your own channel.

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Instagram:

With six in ten online users having an Instagram account you can not ignore it for publishing your content. What I hear constantly is my business doesn’t really suit Instagram. I think that is rubbish. 

If you are able to make a non-visual brand, visual on Instagram then I promise you will be streets ahead of your closest competition. Take an account like Hubspot with its 309k followers and Inc Magazines 763k followers. (At the writing of this post).

Instagram is steadfast a platform that if used in the right way has the potential to help the growth of your business and/or brand. Just look at Mrs Hinch in only a few years she has created a following of 3.4M because of her love of Hinching and Zoflora. 

Twitter:

Whilst it appears Twitter maybe dwindling it is still a great place to post your content on a regular basis and have it be retweeted and start a conversation about it. I have actually got back into Twitter recently and I find it is a platform that people still really engage on. It really is also the go-to place for breaking news so it definitely should have its place in your content plan. 

Facebook:

Still the Grand Dame of the of the social media world. Whilst it seems at time it is an uphill battle and 90% of the content on your timeline may be just inane stupidity. You can’t ignore the volume of users and with a clever strategy, you can still target and attract the right following on Facebook. 

Claire Mitchell has grown an incredibly successful business around a clever and consistently executed Facebook strategy which eventually got her invited to Facebook headquarters in Ireland to meet Sheryl Sandberg.

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn although not Facebook numbers is still a powerhouse. 44% of LinkedIn users earn over £55,000 and it is upped its game in terms of what and how you can post. 

Allowing people to publish articles has been a great success and is a great place for you to repurpose and republish blog content.  

Also, videos, as I said above, are becoming a powerful LinkedIn tool and over 55% of marketers plan to use video on LinkedIn this year. 

Lewis Howes is a LinkedIn expert and contributes LinkedIn for creating his success because he learned how to use it and maximise it to grow a powerful network and create business opportunities that have made him a multi-millionaire.  

TicTok:

This is the new kid on the block but is growing at an incredible rate. I would research it, understand, work out how your brand would work on it and get posting. People are growing massive followings overnight.

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We are all made of stories

Stories:

Stories have become so huge, especially on Instagram who seem to have pushed SnapChat aside. They are a great way of showing people a behind the scenes look at what goes on in your business/life.

They are about being real, being you, posting about your life. 

If you look to any influencer on average they post over 10 stories a day, exponentially greater than normal users. So one thing you can do to start to boost your content is to post more stories. 

Newsletter (although I hate that word).  

This is where I need to get better and have just been through the painful process of trying to come up with a name for my weekly email and really need to get on and build my list.  For every $1 spent on email marketing, you can get a return of $42. 

It is business 101 to grow a list because it is a much greater loyal following. They have given you something, their name, their email address. They have made the effort to sign up, so they are further down the path than someone who just comes across your content. So don’t undervalue email marketing. 

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Content into products:

Other things that are traditionally considered assets more than content. Can become an extension of the content you create for examples books, ebooks, brochures and the one I have been researching a lot is merchandise. 

Merchandise is a powerful tool. If you look at a company like Barstool sports. Any funny statement, a phrase becomes merchandise in the form of teeshirts, hoodies, hats and in coronavirus days a face masks. 

Content on merchandise means that people outside of your content bubble will get to see it.

There are so many on-demand merchandise sites these days so creating it is not a high-cost endeavour like it used to be.

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Content planning

So to end 

As my business becomes more of a media content business about business and life rather than full-on coaching. If you want to know why then please listen to Ep009 of my podcast where I talk about the mini relaunch and reinvention of my business.  I have been spreading myself across all platforms. It is a lot, I get it,  to try and create and find content that I think will be of value to you but I have a plan and understand the need for it and how I will build my team. 

I do understand if you are a solo person running your business that trying to be everywhere is impossible and not necessarily right for your business. BUT, as always, that I may put on a tee shirt is content, content fucking content. To not do it is to do your business/brand a disservice. In a 2011 white paper, Google research showed that people need to spend over 7 hours with you, with over 11 interactions in 4 different locations in order to be able to trust you and want to part with their money. 

To not do content is like setting up a business and saying I am not going to do sales.  It is one of the only ways that people will know who you are. You have to choose your platforms, where your audience is, plan your time, plan your content and at some point down the line find your team.  But a tweet a week does not a business make. 

Time put on your crown and create some fucking content. 

If you have any questions or have something to say please leave it in the comments. 

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