Why We Create The Content We Create

A little reflection from me and a question for you.

It was sparked by some comments in various places by "Serious" writers which I am sure are well-intentioned even though they may not realise how they make some of us feel.  There tends to be an inference at times that those of us who create product focused content, or things like my just published Craft Ideas for Christmas, aren't "serious" writers but just marketers.

That has prompted me to think about why I create the sort of content I create and I think it comes down to three reasons:

1. I actually enjoy creating content which provides solutions for people - whether that's a parent looking for craft ideas to keep their kids entertained or a grandparent looking for a toy for their much loved grandchild.

2. I am looking to replace part of my offline income or indeed supplement it so that I can do more of the pro-bono work I enjoy doing by bringing my professional expertise (L&D, Business Management and Marketing) to some of the charities I support.

3. I spend a lot of my offline time writing Strategic Papers, Board Papers, Whitepapers and the like - and the last thing I want to do in my own time (generally speaking) is to create "learned content" - in other words I love creating content but want to relax as well whilst doing it.

So why do you create the sort of content you create?

I have to admit that I write online to pay my share of our mortgage and monthly bills. This is the only way that I've really ever made a living. I try not to let the serious writers hurt my feelings too much. It seems that that debate will always be on sites such as Hubpages or Wizzley.

Until I found HubPages, I always worked by myself and never had any debate with myself over it. Several people in my family also make their living off of affiliate marketing. So it was never an issue.

While I sometimes write more thoughtful pieces, I have to admit that I've never made enough money from them to pay any bills. The comments are fun and I enjoy them, but I can't afford to write too many of them.

I noticed that during the recent economic downturn, after some of the serious writers lost their job or had husbands who lost their job, they started to try to be more commercial. They were frustrated because they thought it would be easier than it is.

I enjoy writing on a number of topics - but they all interest me or else I find it a bit of a slog to write about them! 

I have never written about products before, but I have to say I find it very enjoyable, the few that I have written  Again, I write about things I like myself, or things that might help people, hopefully!  However, I wouldn't turn my nose up at writing about something that I myself might not want to own!

I agree that writing about products isn't easy...I read other people's articles and try to learn from them.  It's a new experience for me, but great fun!  I am sure on Wizzley there's room for all kinds of writing - that's why I like it here! 

KathleenDuffy: 06/03/2013 - 01:40 PM

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I agree that writing about products isn't easy...I read other people's articles and try to learn from them.  It's a new experience for me, but great fun!  I am sure on Wizzley there's room for all kinds of writing - that's why I like it here! 

 

Kathleen I think both you and Digby touched on the fact that it's a lot harder to write about products than a lot of people realise and there is definitely an approach.  What I have found is that I actually apply a similar approach promoting/marketing online as I have used for years.  I summarised it recently as follows:

What the average buyer wants and I am not going to say anything different here than I have been saying for years:

A page which speaks to their Situation (so as an example a grandparent wanting to buy a learning toy for their grandchild); The Problem the visitor has (finding a selection of toys/single toy which will provide the best learning opportunity for their grandchild); the Implications if they don't choose the right toy(s) (at worst disappointed grandchild or slightly less troublesome a continued search online) and the Solution(s) to their problem - the perfect learning toy for the age of the child. 

That's a very simplistic take on it but at it's core that is what selling is about.

To make it even more simplistic selling is about highlighting the Features but selling the benefits e.g. Features - this toy speaks out 15 common words and a cupcake pops up each time the child says the word right  Benefits - your grandchild will be able to learn the words by listening to them and repeating them and will be rewarded with a cupcake

That's a brilliant simple analysis!  Thanks for that .  I am noting it for later.  I don't mind learning to sell on line through writing, biut if it ever came to doing it for real, I.e talking to people, I wouldn't want to do it.  So this suits me fine!

By the way is there really a toy that rewards a child learning to speak with a cupcake? If not, there should be!

KathleenDuffy: 06/03/2013 - 02:35 PM

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That's a brilliant simple analysis!  Thanks for that .  I am noting it for later.  I don't mind learning to sell on line through writing, biut if it ever came to doing it for real, I.e talking to people, I wouldn't want to do it.  So this suits me fine!

By the way is there really a toy that rewards a child learning to speak with a cupcake? If not, there should be!

You are very welcome and thanks for your kindness Kathleen.

Wouldn't that make a great toy!  I think when I used that explanation I was teasing a group of people about cupcakes and it just fitted the example - but if someone gets inspired and creates it let's you and I stake a claim for 50% of the first year's profit for inspiring them

Case in point: I am looking for a good juicer at a fairly low price.

Browsing through Amazon, I see there are so-called masticated juicers with low RPMs. Supposedly, the lower rotation protects enzymes and what-have-you.

But is it really worth it to spend a lot more money for those? Are there any low-price mastodons ... err ... whatever?

When I sort them "low to high" on Amazon, they show a lot of juicers without masticated in the name, although I had specified it in my search query. Do I really need to click on each one of them to find out whether they're mastified or demasticated? That would be frusticating.

These are the kind of questions we can answer on our sales wizzles, instead of simply rewriting (rehashing) Amazon product descriptions. That's when our product articles become very valuable to searchers. 

Absolutely Chef that's a great example of when we really can match the solution seeker's needs with a solution or set of solutions that meet their needs.

I write to earn to supplement my personal pensions, which I took early due to illness. I am not looking for huge sums and I make more through writing than I get from pensions which took me 30 years to build up. So, I look at the income in a different way than most - each £ I earn = about £1,000 built up in a pension (before 5% increase p.a.).

I write (and create) to take advantage of as many diversified sources of income as possible (to ensure that if one source depletes, it does not influence the overall income too much).

I have written sales pages, content pages, and pages for my own amusement. Each is different. Each is as relevant as the next (in overall context). Most are written on subjects that have at least a chance of earning some income. The one thing that I am grateful for, from those that write/wrote for a living income, is having been told early on that the subjects I had started out writing about were not those that would produce (much) income. Being told to look to find subjects that at least had a chance to earn was the best piece of advise I have received.

Whatever you write, whether it be sales or content pages, is as relevant to the Internet as anything anyone else writes: and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Just as Google has no right to determine how the Internet should progress, so nobody has the right to tell others what is, or is not, that which should be made available to Internet users.

Matter of fact, I just gave an EC Award to this new article: http://wizzley.com/gmo-bee-costume/

It combines interesting, engaging and serious information with a light-hearted approach to product ads. I really like that.

humagaia: 06/03/2013 - 03:25 PM

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Whatever you write, whether it be sales or content pages, is as relevant to the Internet as anything anyone else writes: and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

100% Agreed!

chefkeem: 06/03/2013 - 03:26 PM

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Matter of fact, I just gave an EC Award to this new article: http://wizzley.com/gmo-bee-costume/

It combines interesting, engaging and serious information with a light-hearted approach to product ads. I really like that.

That really is a super page and well deserved EC

pkmcr: 06/03/2013 - 03:02 PM

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KathleenDuffy: 06/03/2013 - 02:35 PM

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That's a brilliant simple analysis!  Thanks for that .  I am noting it for later.  I don't mind learning to sell on line through writing, biut if it ever came to doing it for real, I.e talking to people, I wouldn't want to do it.  So this suits me fine!

By the way is there really a toy that rewards a child learning to speak with a cupcake? If not, there should be!

You are very welcome and thanks for your kindness Kathleen.

Wouldn't that make a great toy!  I think when I used that explanation I was teasing a group of people about cupcakes and it just fitted the example - but if someone gets inspired and creates it let's you and I stake a claim for 50% of the first year's profit for inspiring them

I just remembered - there's already something that does that sort of thing - it's called a mum! 

Nite nite!

PS:  That bee article is brilliant! 

I write whatever I'm feeling at the time. I've tried to write what I think would be popular, but I just don't do as good a job. So you can tell whatever is striking my fancy at the moment by what I am writing :)

The writing I most care about, now that you've asked, Paul, is my poetry and my children's stories.

My paid jobs have always centered around children, families, and education, so when I found myself without employment over a decade before I thought I should "retire" (whatever that means), I looked for ways to share information online about child development and parenting issues. Honestly, those articles have not been very popular, so I branched out to write product articles geared mostly towards parents and grandparents. I'm not all that happy about those articles either.

If I were to write what others are calling "serious articles," I would probably bore everyone to tears, as the subjects I would write about would have more to do with theology, philosophy, and stuff. I'm not sure I want to expose myself that much, though maybe I should be more courageous. Who knows? I'm getting a little tired of writing about products.

Like so many others here, I write online to chip away at the bills. Successfully? Not really. It sounds as if a few people here are finding their rhythm that way. Congrats! I hope it continues for you. I hope the rest of us figure out the formula.

You'll get snobs in any business.  To me, writing is writing.  Whether it's 'War and Peace' or a shopping list.  Good writing isn't in the subject or field, it's in the words.  If an author is good at what they do, then that will be the Best Shopping List Known to Humanity.

As for whether 'sales' or 'non-sales' articles are easier, I'd say the latter hands down.  I have really struggled with writing good sales copy, as half of Wizzley can testify.  I've had the likes of Katie practically holding my hand through writing them in the past.  I find non-sales ones so much easier, because they are basically telling a story.  I do try to mix and match the sales and non-sales though.

I write because I love it and I want to make a living writing. I've wanted to be an author since I was a kid.  I choose my subjects generally because I'm interested in them.  I've had people tell me that you shouldn't do that, because interest doesn't necessarily equate lucrative.  But the pay off is passion. I've made sales on articles which I've been told outright aren't money-makers. They really, really were. The analysis was basically that I'd made them interesting.

To my mind, this is me at my best, and well within my comfort zone. And this is me trying to boost commission. The latter was so far out of my comfort zone that I had Katie check it over the second it went live. Ditto this one, which still sounds more like Chaz than me, for the simple reason that he sat and pointed out precisely what I should be writing. Particularly on the titles and sub-headings. Sales articles are hard!

Thanks all for sharing your own perspectives and thoughts on the subject - they all make interesting reading and show what a diverse but focused group we are.

Just an observation for those who are struggling with writing product pages - there is one three letter word which makes a massive difference to the success of pages - at least in my experience.

That word is.................You

When I read pages which have phrases like:

• What are You looking for?
• Who are You buying for?
• Which features do You like most?
• How many of them are You looking to buy?
• Which is Your favorite xxxxx here

....and so on and so forth then I know that the writer/creator is aiming to connect with the reader.........and do you know what? It Works!

Asking questions of the page visitor, phrasing things on the basis that they are going to make a purchase all lead to an increase in sales/conversions.

One final thought in this short post..... don't be afraid to ask the visitor to buy! 

So which of your pages are you going to go and change? Will you come back here and share it with us?