Writing for profit on the Internet, even if you're not a great writer
There's no shortcut. Just write great content that solves a problem, even if you're not a great writer.
I’ve blogged on the internet for the last 5 years, as a non-professional writer, without a ton of experience or talent.
Yet I’m able to consistently rank in the top 5 in Google for just about any keyword I go after, get published in the largest Medium publications, and on occasion, garner millions of reads and shoutouts in the traditional media.
So, how do I do it? It’s not like at any point I developed a talent for writing, or editing. I’m not on my way to getting my first book deal, and if I had to change careers and become a professional writer, I would be a complete failure.
I have one secret, to ranking on Google and getting your content in front of millions of readers, so that you can drive the highest-quality, targeted traffic to your products.
But, you’re going to hate it. You ready?
Publish useful content that helps your readers solve a problem they’re currently experiencing.
My full writing process
1. Research a problem that lots of real people on the internet are experiencing.
There’s no secret to gaming the system to force your content to perform well. The secret is to pour all of that energy into writing better content.
Google & Social Media aren’t mysterious black-box systems you need any expertise to “win” at.
Google has spent millions of dollars to make their software product the best recommendation system on the internet for whatever problem you’re searching for a solution for.
Find a problem without a great solution, write an effective (but not necessarily polished) article that your readers can use to solve their problem, and put it out there. Let Google know about it.
You don’t need backlinks, and you don’t need to hire SEO specialists. You need people to engage with your content (and you need them to actually read it). Google looks for people to engage with your content as a signal that your content is good. And then it’ll go out and find those other people searching for a solution to the problem you’ve demonstrated an ability to solve, and bring them to you.
And Social Media? They’re just people.
Help them out by actually solving their problem, and they’ll sing your praises on social media all day long. Because that’s just what humans do.
2. Talk to a couple of those people and get inside their head. Learn everything you can about their problem.
I guess this step is optional, because I only actually do this 50% of the time. But if you have any doubts about your proposed solution to your reader’s problem, do the research and have a few conversations with potential readers before starting out. It will save you way more time than it takes.
You don’t have to set up a video call, and you don’t have to get them to read drafts of your article. Just ask them a few questions to learn more about their problem, and see if you can help them solve it.
3. Do a tiny amount of keyword research on Google to verify how many people experience this problem, and when they do, what they search for on Google.
Here’s where you put on your “SEO Expert” hat (I’m kidding), and do some “technical research”.
Open Google Trends.
Type in a few simple variations of what your users might search for.
See which ones they search for the most.
Boom. There’s your headline. As a bonus, you can type in something else, completely unrelated, to see what they might be searching for, to see how many people (comparatively) search for a solution to your problem.
Boom, there’s validation.
If you want something more advanced, look into keyword research for SEO. Google provides advertisers great tools to let you spend more time optimizing this, once you get a handle of the entire process. You can even plug in tools like UberSuggest to generate keyword and content ideas, based on a single-word topic.
Bonus: UberSuggest Keyword Ideas
I make a Meeting Room display product. One of the keywords I’d like to rank for is “Meetings”. But, wouldn’t we all?
The problem is, that’s not specific enough for a Medium article. No one wants to read a 5 minute Medium article if they type meetings into Google. Single-word keywords like that are for definitions and spellchecking.
What I want to find is something related, more specific, and actionable, that I can write a short article about, so eventually my writing will become an authority for a bucket of keywords related to meetings.
That’s where related keywords come in:
Once you scroll down to position 10 or 12, something interesting happens. You find out that people are searching for simple agenda and meeting minutes templates.
You imagine novice leaders running meetings for the first time, who want a template they can use in their own meetings.
Then, you take a look at what the top results are today on Google. If you can improve on them, take a day, write a short article, and grab that first-page position.
I might title it: “Create a great Meeting Agenda using this simple Template” or “How to create a great meeting agenda for your next meeting”.
4. Writing a great tutorial that explains, in simple terms, how to solve that problem, based on your experience.
This is the MOST important step. Succeed here, and you can get away with screwing up every other step of the process.
Just spend a lot of time writing the best version of the article you’re capable of.
Aim for a mix of the qualities you yourself want to see: straightforward, relaxed, delightful, helpful.
5. Re-read your article and remove everything that’s not absolutely necessary.
Cut out everything that isn’t. Proof read everything three times. Revise anything that doesn’t feel right or breaks the flow.
I can’t tell you how to be a good writer. Because frankly, I’m not. But you don’t need to be. You just need to provide your solution the best you can, and see if it helps people.
6. Add screenshots, diagrams, videos, or at least one high-quality stock photo.
Go to Unsplash, and grab at least one high-quality stock photo. It’s free, and it’s hard to pay for something better these days, without a lot of creative direction.
Put it above the fold, and use this as your thumbnail. It only has to be vaguely related to your article.
Next, add as many videos and diagrams as you can find (as long as they’re relevant).
You can add a Resources section if you have a lot.
And credit the original authors.
That’s it. No tricks. No games. Anyone can do it.
I can’t make it any simpler. Really, I’m not talented enough.
Just write the kind of content you want to read, and over time, you’ll get better at it.
And even when you’re just starting out, if you faithfully attempt to solve the problem at hand, your readers will reward you for it.