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When was the last time you can remember blogging or writing an article being fun? It’s almost a silly question. But personal satisfaction plays a huge part the success or failure of the content marketer. In the blogging world we talk all about geeky, mundane tactics for more traffic, how to make more money from blogging, how to rank in the engines, how to write great content.
But when was the last time, if ever, that you expected content marketing (blogging) to be fun? To be fulfilling and satisfying?
Most people have a short shelf-life doing something that feels too much like a job. We’re on the web because we’re different from people who don’t seem to mind going to work for others every day. Living by other peoples’ rules.
But it is all too easy to slip into “job mode” with our content production. As if, after awhile, it isn’t as thrilling to have a reader to comment on how helpful or interesting your last post was. That thrill should never go away, no matter how common it becomes to get multiple comments on your posts. A comment is a vote for you to continue living the internet lifestyle. It means you’re doing something right and won’t be going back to the factory any time soon.
But with all the technical junk we fill our minds with (SEO, keyword density, link building, social marketing tactics, etc.) just to keep our content publishing businesses thriving and growing, it is no surprise when we feel less-than-thrilled with the job of content marketing.
Blogging, reporting, and curating should be fun! You’re allowed to have fun in this business even if it seems like you’re getting away with murder for enjoying the freedom of working online. Don’t feel guilty about that and start looking at it as the same thing as your old job. It’s not. One day back in the “real” world will teach you that lesson. But don’t forget that you should always be looking for new ways to create and publish valuable content that get the job done while also making your job easier and more enjoyable.
If you’re not looking back through your latest post just before you publish it and feeling 100% satisfied with what you’ve created and what you’re about to deliver to your readers most of the time, then there’s something wrong and you need to fix it. Because if you don’t, you’re headed to burnout-ville and your life depends on you being happy with what you’re doing.
How to keep content marketing fun and gratifying:
- Try new tools for curation (hint hint)
- Check out new ways to stay caught up on the news and things you like to track which make their way into your upcoming posts.
- Try out new services that pop up which promise to keep you informed and make research more entertaining for you.
- Start a group on Facebook or a hangout in Google+ to connect and network with fellow publishers to bring a sense of reality to your virtual life.
- Have people to talk to who understand your online work; the good and bad things about content publishing, so you don’t feel like the lone wolf no one around you understands.
- Be on the lookout for new plugins and apps that can help you with things that get boring and repetitive.
It’s up to us to make the most out of the opportunities we’ve been given with online publishing, blogging, and curation.
It can be fun or it can feel like a mountain of work and responsibilities.
Anything you do to make what you do more fun is very likely to improve your results. A happy blogger is a more successful blogger. That means you need time to yourself while also being able to do the big job of content marketing. And that means you need to have fun and automate as much as possible so that you produce quality stuff and have a life outside your business to stay healthy and sane.
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