Create If Writing

With a crowded internet filled with blogs and podcasts and websites to browse, it can be really difficult to stand out. Today on the podcast I'm bringing you tips for building traffic! I'm also going to share why I don't think traffic is the bee's knees (as in, my main goal is NOT to build traffic). 

As a quick note, I am spending a whole MONTH talking about traffic in my paid membership community. We'll have exclusive interviews and resources and a guide to traffic. If you want to see what this exclusive community and training is all about, you can try your first month for $1! You'll have access to hours of video trainings and join our private Facebook group, plus get weekly email check-ins from me. Check the Create If Community Membership!

When we talk about traffic, we are talking about how many visitors you have on your blog, usually measured monthly. There is a difference between pageviews and unique monthly views, but for now, I'm talking about pageviews. 

(If you REALLY want to know, pageviews are the number of times your site literally loaded and unique users separates out multiple visits from the same people, so you'll get a more accurate number of how many different people are reading your stuff. Sessions are kind of in-between-- the same user could have two different sessions and view six total pages, resulting in two sessions, one user, and six pagviews. Read this great breakdown here!) 

In the old days of blogging, you wrote blog posts and people came. I like to think of this as Field of Dreams blogging: if you blog it, they will come.

When I started in 2007, that's how it worked. People found me. I didn't seek them out, and I certainly didn't promote my blog. Social media wasn't really used for self-promotion back then.

2017 is a different world. If you write a blog post, hit publish, and do nothing else, chances are that maybe like 10 people might read your post. No one will just "find" it (unless you do a great job with SEO). Few people will share it (unless you first share it yourself). These days, you have to WORK to get traffic.

There are two main ways that you can build traffic to your site. 

1. Get found by utilizing SEO best practices. This means optimizing your post with keywords so that search engines like Google or Bing and even platforms like Pinterest (which is really a visual search engine) will suggest your post. (Pinterest is considered social media, but I'll get into why I put it in this category. Keep reading.)
2. Bring people to you by promoting on social media. This means actually pushing your link out over social media so that other people will see it, click to read, and maybe even share.

The best idea is to use a combination of these two methods. When you have your SEO working for you, after the initial setup, you can expect to have traffic continue, no matter what you do. It's passive, long-term traffic. (Not to say that you shouldn't do updates or that you can't strengthen your game.) 

Combine great SEO with promotions on social media, where you will see short-term spikes of traffic. It's great to diversify your traffic sources so that you can have a more secure foundation in case something major shifts or an algorithm kills off your traffic. 

How can you grow the traffic you currently have?

In theory, this is simple. Choose #1 & #2 (or, ideally, both) and work on your game. In practice, this is obviously not as easy as it sounds. SEO is more of a long game, which means that you can put things in place now and hopefully see some increases in the coming months. But the benefit is that after you set up SEO, it keeps going.

Social media is more of a short game that will result in temporary traffic spikes. I've had a post go "viral" on Facebook that resulted in 50k pageviews in a few days. But then it dropped to 2k and then 500 and then...nothing.

Social media is something you need to do once and then do again and then do again. In fact, a lot of people will say that you should spend 20% creating content and 80% PROMOTING. Yikes.

If you are building an ads-based monetization strategy, straight-up traffic is what you want. Numbers = $$$. But it takes a LOT of traffic to make a significant impact. For reference, one of my sites gets between 10k-20k pageviews per month and I get about $200 or less in ads revenue.

Traffic is fragile. So if you are building on straight traffic and straight ads-based revenue, you are building something delicate. One algorithm change and everything shatters.

So it's important to think about how to capture traffic and what you want those visitor so DO on your site. My biggest recommendation is (surprise, surprise): EMAIL. The most permanent way that you can connect is by getting people on your list. Email is also a third, not as often talked area in terms of building traffic. 

You also may want them to read more posts, check out your about page, or generally hang out for a while. So you can work on optimizing your site in a way that encourages reading, clicking around, and signing up for your email list. It makes #5 on Neil Patel's great list of ways to build traffic!

Make sure as you think about ways to build traffic that you are thinking about WHY. You need a purpose. You want people to DO something. At the least, try to connect in a more permanent way with your readers by getting them on your email list. 

This is NOT an exhaustive list, but a few things that have been working for me in 2017. Also! I want to make a big note that in these things that are working, not ALL of them are about building traffic to my site. Many of the things I'm doing are about sending people to a landing page for my email list.

So...why am I including them? 

The reality is that whether you are asking someone to click to a blog page or a landing page for email, these tips ask people to click through to something. And these tips are working right now to get people clicking. I am simply focusing on my list right now and making that a priority over blog traffic. 

Again...WHY?

As I mentioned before, traffic is fragile. It can be awesome, and there is something powerful about having millions of pageviews a month. I have friends doing that and they are making more than full-time incomes on their blogs through ads and sponsored posts and other revenue streams. Since my main revenue streams are NOT related to ads or sponsored posts, I utilize my email list primarily to build relationships and offer products and services that fit their needs. Yes, I'd like to build my blog traffic. But it's not my main thing. 

Utilize timely or time sensitive things. I did an experiment with social media over the last month. I scheduled out daily posts to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn advertising one of my big freebies, Seriously Simple Social. I found that I got less than 50 in total for the month. Meanwhile, I held a webinar and started signups for Summer School, a 6-week free class I'm holding this summer. In just a few days, I more than doubled the other signups. Even though these were events with email signups, you could try something similar by promoting timely blog posts-- like my boredom busters for kids, which I promote more heavily at the beginning of summer. 

Post to popular Facebook pages.  I've seen the power of large Facebook pages sharing your posts. See this list of pages who allow or encourage sharing HERE. Basically, you can post on their page wall, where the post isn't super visible to regular visitors, but the page owner will see it. If it's a good fit, they will share it themselves on their page so it IS visible. When I had that 50k pageviews in a few days, it was from several large pages sharing my post. 

Post with GREAT DESCRIPTIONS to Facebook group share threads. If you are a member of 1 million Facebook groups like I am, you'll know that there is usually a no-promo policy. This keeps everyone in the group from posting their blog links 100 times a day. (As a group owner, trust me that I delete a billion of these every day.) There is often a thread once a week where you can share your links. Many people miss this opportunity by just literally pasting a link in that thread. The people who see the most engagement and clicks are those who put a description and actually talk about their link and give a mini pitch. 

Get excited about your own content. This is a tip from Paula Rollo of Beauty Through Imperfection. (She shared it in her Quick Blog Tips Group, which you should join!) She pointed out that often when we promote other content, we gush and give a great testimonial for why people should read. Then, for our own content, we say something like "Read my latest post." We can tell people our content is great without being smarmy. I know it's often hard to talk nicely about ourselves and it can feel...off. But if you believe in your own content (and you should), then give people a reason to read! 

There are TONS more tips for building traffic, but these are a few specific actions that are helping me see results! 

You can choose to focus on SEO, Blogging, or Building Your List (or all three!) after you register. You don't want to miss these classes, which start on June 15!

There are so many ways to publish a book these days that when it comes to publishing tips, it seems okay to say: choose what works best for you! But it's great to trust those who have found success before us. Honoree Corder just released her FIFTIETH book and shares practical launch strategies, whether you should use a hybrid publisher, and more publishing tips in this episode! Read more or listen below!

Official bio: Honorée Corder is the author of dozens of books, including You Must Write a Book, The Prosperous Writer book series, Vision to Reality, Business Dating, The Successful Single Mom book series, If Divorce is a Game, These are the Rules, and The Divorced Phoenix. She is also Hal Elrod’s business partner in The Miracle Morning book series. Honorée coaches business professionals, writers, and aspiring non-fiction authors who want to publish their books to bestseller status, create a platform, and develop multiple streams of income. She also does all sorts of other magical things, and her badassery is legendary. You can find out more at HonoreeCorder.com.

This post contains affiliate links!

• Start building your list from the time you consider writing a book. It's the one thing you need for short-term and long-term success.
• Each book launch may look different. It depends on the outcome.
• The launch starts 2-3 or even 6 weeks before the book with the formation of an advanced reader team. This will be made up of your ideal readers, not just friends or random people who say yes.

PRO TIP: Make sure your ideal reader team is targeted to the audience who would be likely to actually BUY your book because of interest. Not just friends or your mom. Probably NOT your mom. When these people buy your book, it can skew your also-boughts underneath the sale area on Amazon, which means that your book may not get shown to the right audience!

• You can gift a free advance copy to your reader team, but also ask them to buy and review and explain WHY it matters.
• If people cannot afford your book, consider how they might help you out in another way.

For a moment, let's define the terms. Traditional publishing is when you have one of the big five publishers or a small press publish your book. They pay you an advance and royalties if you sell more copies than the cost of the advance.

Indie publishing is the new term for what we used to call self publishing. It means that the author takes control for all aspects of the book (though often this means hiring an editor, a cover designer, etc) and publishes the book without an outside publisher.

Hybrid authors is a term NOT to be confused with hybrid publishing. These authors may have some traditionally published books and some indie books.

Hybrid publishing is when a company asks for an upfront payment from authors in exchange for publishing, printing, distributing, or other aspects of the publishing process. The contracts and terms vary.

There are horror stories. Many. I hear them all the time from authors who paid thousands of dollars to get hundreds of copies of their book that may or may not even look professional. At best, you may end up with a book that has been formatted and have a cover designed...both things that you could do yourself or pay someone to do for MUCH less.

For more warnings on companies to avoid, here is a great site! Hat tip to Elle Mott for this one!

But one of the big points to consider is WHAT ELSE COULD YOU DO WITH THE SAME AMOUNT OF MONEY? (Or even less.) You could hire a top cover designer, editor, and even pay for Facebook ads or AMS ads for less than you would pay a hybrid publisher.

• For non-fiction authors, consider how you can intentionally network. (See Business Dating.) Find 11 other professionals who serve the same client or ideal reader, but are not your competition. Then you can support each other and share clients. Intentionally seek them out. Then if you REALLY like them and connect well, ask for referrals. Practical tip: offer them copies of your book.
• For fiction authors, consider making a square cover that you'd be using for ACX (audiobooks) and have your followers and readers change their profile image to your book cover on launch day or as they finish the book. Consider having stamps made with this same image and use them to send mail.
• Ask yourself if you could spend your money in a wiser way.
• But don't think about trying to be CHEAP. Consider the way you send money as an investment. Your covers will be helping you sell books and bring in money for YEARS.
• Hire a professional copywriter or invest time to learn this. A cover gets people's attention. Copy converts people into buyers.
• You must write a book. Even if it's ONLY for your family and the people that follow you.

Can I just say that I LOVE that Honoree burned her own books? There is something freeing there. And humorous.

You Must Write a Book 

Amazon's Media Breakfast Honoree attended

The Prosperous Writer's Guide to Finding Readers

Whether it's a podcast or a blog or a book or a course, launching can make or break you. Break is a LITTLE extreme, but your spirit can definitely feel broken after a not-so-hot launch! According to Jenny Melrose of the Influencer Entrepreneur podcast, it's all about the strategy. In this episode we are going deep to learn tips for a successful launch!

And don't miss a live workshop with Jenny (and me!) on May 24 at 9am CST where she's going to teach us how to run a successful challenge-- a key component to her launching success. Register HERE!

The Influencer Entrepreneur Podcast

Jenny Melrose dot com

The Melrose Family

There are so many kinds of launches. You can launch tons of different products, first of all, and then you can choose to launch just to your list or do a joint venture (JV) launch with someone else. You can launch with affiliates. You can use ads. You can have open and closed cart or evergreen. You can use webinars. You can go on podcasts as a guest. YOU CAN DO ALL THE THINGS.

But what really works? 

It will vary depending on what you're launching and what your goals are, but here are some great tips for a successful launch from Jenny Melrose, who has done a number of launches for different products and in different ways.

I've busted the Field of Dreams myth with books, blogs, and even podcasts that I thought would naturally bring in the right audience in DROVES because they were quality. Nope.

Without a strategic plan, your launch is not likely to be a huge success. It seems obvious, but I think most of us have done this at least one time. Do NOT build a book or product that you assume everyone will want and find without strategic planning.

Note: If you have something you truly love and want to build it for the sheer love of it, go for it! Just realize that this is not the most strategic path for launching success. 

Jenny creates evergreen challenges so people can come as they want to. The challenges up engagement, give people a taste for the content and quick wins that make them feel successful.

To promote her challenges, Jenny utilized Facebook groups, but not in a smarmy way. (Read my full post on how to not be smarmy in Facebook groups.) She searched for questions that people were asking related to her challenge, answered the question as fully as she could, then let the person know she had a challenge and invited them in a no-strings-attached kind of way. After some time of this, even group owners started tagging her as the expert when people had questions related to her topic.

The purpose of the challenge is to show them that the next step is your product, whether that's your tripwire or your bigger course or product. You don't overwhelm with information, but give just what people can handle in a 5-10 day period. 

Evergreen challenges connect to evergreen products or that add people into a group in your email list that you target with a related launch. Another option is to have a live challenge that runs during the launch of a course where every person in the challenge starts and ends the challenge on the same day. 

Another place to use this same kind of strategy is Quora. See this post from Teachable for ideas!

Jenny recommends using a tripwire product, one that's less than $20.This could be an ebook or a video training that's evergreen. Many people fear selling too much, but this early introduction to an affordable price gets people primed as customers. Once people have given you money once for a product, they are much more likely to give you their money again (assuming you're creating quality content). 

Start with what your final product will be and work backwards to the smaller, tripwire product, and then to the challenge (or other kind of funnel you'll be using to attract people). For an evergreen launch, you can pitch your larger product sometime after the time after the challenge (or email series) ends.

Evergreen or Open-and-Closed Cart?

Jenny has found better results with the open-and-closed cart, where there is a limited time for the sale. This urgency results in more conversions. People (like me!!!) wait often until just before the cart closes to make that decision. Other people know going into a webinar that they are planning to buy something. 

The first failure you have can really keep you from doing more (read about my failed launch and thoughts on this), but you should consider where you can fix things.

• Were you using a strategy?
• What could you tighten up?
• Can you ask your audience?
• What tweaks and changes affected the sales from one launch to the next? 
• Were you in front of your audience enough? 

Jenny found that doing more Facebook lives and webinars really helped with her launches. People don't expect Facebook live videos to be perfect, so you can put less pressure on yourself. Instead, they help people see the REAL you and are often winsome and attractive to people because they see the real person behind the product. Being authentic builds trust. 

• Find a way to engage with your audience as soon as possible, whether through a challenge, welcome sequence, or live videos in a group 
• Remember people purchase because of the WHY (see the link to Simon Sinek below), so show them YOUR why

Links mentioned in the interview: 

• Simon Sinek on Start with Why
• My podcast episode: When Your Launch Fails
• My interview on Jenny's podcast
• The 80/20 Rule for Sales & Marketing by Perry Marshall
• Buy Our Future (currently closed) from Jason Zook & Caroline Zook 

If you've been around for a while, you know that at Create If Writing, I'm all about growth without the use of smarmy tactics. The kind that make you feel gross in your SOUL. Who better to talk about non-smarmy marketing than Nathalie Lussier of Ambition Ally, one of my favorite companies, both in terms of products and values. In this interview, Nathalie shares about starting her company, what's working in list growth right now, and how she commits to non-smarmy marketing.

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you purchase something after clicking through, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you!

Links from the Show:

• Our Sponsor, PopUpAlly Pro from Ambition Ally
• This week's free training: Email Automation

Nathalie recently shared a post on her blog about the dangers of income-claim marketing. This is essentially selling your product based on the success you've had in the past, not the value or service or outcomes they've provided.

These numbers CAN be a good thing because we are curious. We'd like to know what goes on behind the curtain and behind the scenes. But those same numbers may not be the best way to get people to BUY. It can be a trap for both the consumer and the producer because neither may be able to replicate those numbers. The consumer may be disillusioned or dissatisfied and the business may find themselves trapped trying to go bigger or repeat the same numbers. It's not a sustainable way to grow a business. 

Whatever we are offering needs to solve the problem that people are having. Go back to your core values. For Ambition Ally, the values are solving problems through software.

(PS- I LOVE how simple that description is. Can you describe what you do in this concise, clear way??)

• Start by solving problems
• Test and find what works before you market it (like Nathalie did with the 30-Day List Building Challenge)
• Consider marketing by sharing the outcome, not based on your own past successes
• Don't lose sight of your core values & your WHY

Exit Intent Pop-Ups - Since Google has made its update penalizing sites that are using intrusive pop-ups on mobile, it may be a good idea to consider that desktop might be next. An exit intent pop-up shows up when someone moves to click away from your site and doesn't impact the user experience while reading the post.

Scroll-Based Pop-Ups - On mobile, these don't show up until someone has scrolled through 80% of your post. This keeps you Google-friendly and is great also for the reader. 

Content-Based Pop-Ups - Using a tool like PopUpAlly Pro, you can choose for certain pop ups to show up on certain categories of pages. This gives a more targeted invite to your email list. 

Vanilla Calls to Action - When you run across a sign-up form that says "Sign up for my newsletter," there is no REAL incentive. Write unique copy that is inviting and clearly shares the incentive for signing up.

Make It PERSONAL - Your language should speak to a person so they read it and KNOW it's speaking to them. Being specific and speaking to exactly to what people are looking for really helps. 

Don't miss the Idea Sanctuary, the newest video series from Nathalie Lussier helping you sift through all your ideas and refining and polishing them so you can launch them. (I just finished the first video and love it!)

What is YOUR biggest non-smarmy marketing tip? Share in the comments or hop into the Facebook community so we can discuss! 

This episode is sponsored by Ambition Ally, the makers of PopUpAlly Pro! Learn how you can target subscribers by category and page on your site, rather than just throwing a random freebie at them. Learn more here: http://ambitionally.com/kirsten

Thanks to Jasmine Commerce for the tunes for this show. Find more here: http://www.jasminecommercemusic.com

And sign up for my workshop on automated email series: http://createifwriting.com/auto 

This month, I'm running a case study on how my list grows over social media with the same freebie! I'll return with Part 2 down the road to share my findings. 

Thanks to my sponsor, Ambition Ally, the makers of PopUpAlly Pro! Find out more here: http://ambitionally.com/kirsten

Can you help with my survey? http://createifwriting.com/2017survey

Today's show is sponsored by Ambition Ally - Check out PopUpAlly Pro HERE! http://ambitionally.com/kirsten

Take the survey for this year - http://createifwriting.com/2017survey

Register for the Profitable Blogging Summit, which ends April 26 - http://profitablebloggingsummit.com/register 

Join the community! http://createifwriting.com/community 

A few weeks back I told you to stop creating content. Now I'm telling you to stop buying courses. What gives? Keep reading! Or listen to this latest episode.

Thanks to our sponsor: AmbitionAlly, the creators of PopUpAlly Pro! I use and LOVE this plugin. Check it out HERE.

Confession: I'm a course junkie.

Not even just a course junkie, but a resource junkie. I love to learn and I love to buy resources that help me learn. These days that's mostly courses. I LOVE courses. So why am I telling you to stop buying courses?

First, for context, you should check out my post about why you should stop creating content. The main point there is the same main point here: Be a good steward of what you HAVE. Whether you are creating or buying more, first take care of what you've got.

So...if you're a course junkie like me, what do you do? How can you be a good steward with the courses or information sources you have?

1.Make a List. Whether you are a spreadsheet person or something else, you need to make a list of the things you've purchased. Am I the only one who has bought a course and then FORGOTTEN I BOUGHT THE COURSE? Yep. Done that. So keep a running list in a Google doc or somewhere of what you own. Don't waste your money! Track it.

2. Make a Plan. There are two parts to this. The first is that you need to think about what gives you the most ROI. (That's return on investment.) What will bring you cash or benefit first? Consider what course might bring you a return for the time or money invested first.

The second part is that you may need to go in order. If you want to make money with Facebook ads, you need to drive them to something. So you might need to take the course that helps you to create a product that you'll sell through webinars through Facebook ads, you'll need to first take the course on courses, then the course on webinars, then the course on Facebook ads. Make sense?

First, plan around ROI. But within that, you'll need to plan in the order of how the pieces fit together.

The actionable part of this is that you need to plot this out on a calendar. Make an actionable plan to complete the courses & resources so that you have the space to apply it.

3. STOP BUYING COURSES. Once you have your list and have your plan, do not invest in any more resources. Yup. Stop buying courses until you've complete the plan and the list.

The caveat, of course, being if you find a really great deal that will expire. But you should ask these questions:

Do you NEED it?

Can you FINISH it?

Will you have time to APPLY it?

Ask those questions before you invest in any new resource or even tool. (Because often tools take time to learn and set up.) On then should you ignore the advice to stop buying courses. 

With all this in mind, I DO hope that you'll sign up for the Profitable Blogging Summit. It's not a course, but it's a summit with 30 + actionable sessions that can act as a course in terms of training and information.

So why would I tell you to stop buying courses and invest your time in the summit? 

I ask you this because you can go in with a plan. You can apply the three pieces of advice I gave you in a smaller sense with investments you make. Make a list of the schedule. Make a plan of what sessions you'll watch. And take some time off during the summit week to invest your time in the summit. 

I recommend this not just because I'm biased as one of the hosts. But because it was so hard NOT to take notes during these interviews. That's how actionable the sessions are. I plan to watch them again and to watch the ones that I didn't record. This is GOOD STUFF. 

So despite my advice to stop buying courses, you should invest your time and money in the things that move you forward. I really do think that the Profitable Blogging Summit will do that!

Whether you love to take your own photos or not, most bloggers need to find free stock images or free photos for their blog at some point. But as a few recent horror stories have shown, how to find free and legal images for your blog is NOT so simple. Here are three things you need to know!

Thanks to PopUpAlly Pro for sponsoring this episode! Find out more about PopUpAlly Pro!

Before I get to the tips on how to find free and legal images for your blog, I want to share the horror stories. You MAY have already read these, but they are scary. The first is from Allison Puryear who shares that she was sued for using an image that she got from a stock photo site. (Language warning in case that offends you!) Her malpractice insurance saved her, but the interesting thing to note is that the lawyer she spoke to said that this is COMMON. Because photographers are doing this on purpose as a cash flow. That stinks. But it's legal. 

The second post is from Chrystie of Living for Naptime and she shares how several years ago, she used a photo from a Google Search (hey- a few years ago MANY of us did that ignorantly) and lost $7500. She also explains that this was an intentional practice of the photographer. 

You might think that this won't happen to you, but there are three key things that everyone need to consider if using an image that they did not take. Let's get into it. 

1. Permission - if the photo is able to be used by a third party (that's you)
2. Attribution - how you need to give credit for the image source
3. Usage - in what ways the image may be used legally

Often people stop at permission. We KNOW now that we shouldn't use an image we find on Google. But we may NOT consider the fact that we still might have to put a line underneath the image that tells where it came from and who took the photo. We also might assume that because we find a free photo or even PAY for a stock photo that we can use it on the cover of our book or sell t-shirts using the image. 

But PERMISSION does not mean that you can use an image without attribution or anywhere you want. You MUST consider all three. 

Every site for stock photos is different, but you want to look for the licensing and attribution information. It may help to email the company itself if this is unclear. This may vary from image to image on ONE site, which is the hard thing. You might get used to no attribution on a certain site because most don't require it and then not realize that ONE of the images does. Pay attention!

Or use a site like Pixabay, where all images fall under the Creative Commons 0 license, where you can use it for commercial purposes with no attribution. Be sure if you are searching for Creative Commons photos that you STILL read the license, as there are several different kinds of Creative Commons licenses. 

Be sure that even if you are PAYING for a photo, you read the fine print. You want to be as careful as possible, especially considering that some photographers are intentionally using this as a means to make money. Smarmy, but they can. WE need to be the ones doing our due diligence on our photos!

I'm a big dreamer and an ideas person. But today I'm going to tell you to stop creating content! Yes. I said it. Stop. Keep reading (or listen to the podcast) to learn why AND what you should do instead.

A big thanks to our sponsor, Ambition Ally, the makers of PopUpAlly Pro!

I'm the kind of person who loves to START. If I could hire a team of finishers, I would be the most productive person on the planet. I have half-finished books everywhere-- both books I'm reading and books I'm WRITING. I like to paint and I have half-finished paintings stacked up against the wall in one room. I even have a half-finished hallway.

So creating content is my jam. I DO finish blog posts (though I have a ton of drafts in my lifestyle blog, waiting for an image or a few more paragraphs) because they are shorter. As a lover of starts, I can just keep on churning out blog posts. I used to post every day of the week, multiple times a DAY. Then I moved down to once a day, seven days a week. Then five days. Then three days. Then one day a week.

And you know what? My pageviews didn't drop. (Not until I became a blogging derelict and stopped posting weekly at all...)

There are two main problems with creating so much content:

1. You get stuck on a hamster wheel of creation and feel like you can't stop.
2. You don't give each piece of content the attention it deserves.

When you create content over a period of weeks, months, or years, sometimes you get to a point where it's like the schedule owns YOU instead of the other way around.

If you've ever ruined a vacation because of your blog, you know what I mean. (Yep. I've done it.)

It's time to stop creating content when the content owns YOU. 

If there is guilt when you don't post every day. Or every week. Maybe you should STOP. Take a breath. Take a break. Remind your content who is boss. (Spoiler alert: it's YOU.)

If you feel constantly behind and stressed and rushing for a deadline or to get that Instagram post up at just the right time, then maybe you should stop creating content.

I don't mean forever, by the way. I'll get to that later.

One other way you may know you need to stop creating content is if you are not giving each piece of content the love it deservers. If you are rushing to post. Not proofing. Not creating awesome content because you don't have time and just want that post up.

Or if you don't have time to promote the content. Because let's be honest: this isn't 2007. If you create content and write a blog post, people DON'T just come. (Unless you rock your SEO and Fred-- the new Google update-- doesn't hate you.) You must promote posts for people to find them.

If you aren't promoting your content well, then you are just tossing it into the abyss.

Don't waste your content. Share your content well so that it gets the attention it deserves.

This means that you need to set up some kind of system by which you are constantly sharing your content and promoting it. (More on that in a minute.) If you aren't being a good steward and sharing your already existing content, maybe it's time to stop creating content.

If it's time to stop creating content (even for a bit), here are two big things you can do instead.

1. Repurpose existing content
2. Set up an evergreen sharing system for your content

I love, love love repurposing content. It can be a fine art. I'm going to share a few really helpful posts on that here instead of going into detail in this post.

Repurpose existing content into a paid product. Read my post, listen to episode 90, and download the free case study on how I took a few live trainings that were free and turned them into over $1500 worth of income.

Update old content to increase traffic. This post from Becky and Paula goes into great detail about how you can update old posts to see more results. It's super detailed from your title to the amount of whitespace in your post!

The point of repurposing existing content is to take something that is already working and make it work better. Do more with it. Change and tweak rather than starting from scratch. It saves you time and it makes better use of your old posts. Which brings me to the second thing you can do instead of creating new content.

In order to be a good steward of your content, you should set up an evergreen sharing system. This is not simply scheduling every week in something like Hootsuite or Buffer. This is setting up automation that means your posts will keep on sharing after you set it up ONCE. (Read more about the difference between automation and scheduling.)

You can use tools like Social Jukebox (which I use), Recurpost, or Meet Edgar to create sort of content libraries with your links and images and even how you want to word the post itself. Set a schedule of how often you want it to post and where, and then YOU'RE DONE.

For Pinterest, you can use something like Tailwind or Board Booster. These aren't quite automation, but close. You can set things up for a long time and even loop things in Board Booster.

You are not being a good steward of your content if you aren't sharing it well.

Unless you want your blog to be a diary that only you read, you need to get it in front of people. This should happen with the double-edged sword of SEO and social promotions. If you aren't doing these things for your current content, maybe you should stop creating content until you have a system in place.

So...what do you think? Are you on board with this movement to stop creating content? Are you treating your current content well?