Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

What your blog categories say about you

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While it may not be something you’ve paid much attention to, your blog categories are a very important part of your content marketing strategy.

Before you write, blog categories help you to generate balanced content in a variety of sub-topics of your main area of expertise.

When you’re setting up your idea catchers, you may even create sub-folders or blank pages labelled with your category names – creating that space can help attract the ideas to fill it!

After you write, blog categories help both you and your readers to quickly find previous posts in a specific topic area.

Planning your blog categories allows you to create a body of work that tells a broader story – showing your ideal client what you know and what you can help them with.

In that sense, your blog categories are a natural extension of your brand, revealing what’s important to you and what you stand for in your business.

Isn’t it time to make the most out of your category list?

While writing this post, I cleaned up my own category list and pared it down to 15. To avoid broken links or confusion, I’m going to tread carefully before I make any other changes, and I suggest you do as well.

Read more: How to Choose the Best Business Blog Categories.

Does this look right? How to use intuitive editing

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I'm not a formally trained editor. So how do I help my clients improve their written content? I've learned a lot from the seminars I've taken at the Editors' Association of Canada. I have some favourite online and offline references. Sometimes I will even Google (with caution) to find an answer.

In 2008 I researched and wrote a style guide so I could have all of the most common editing questions at my fingertips, and so you could, too!

My editing – like any other skill – has improved the most by doing lots and lots of editing. But it all started with an intuitive gift for seeing that something just didn't "look right."

Here are some ways to hone your own intuitive editing skills so that you can express yourself professionally in your written content.

1. Take the time. The most important step is to read through your work carefully – preferably out loud – before you publish or email it. No matter how much of a hurry you're in. No matter how inspired you felt as you were writing. No matter how gifted a writer you are.

2. Trust your gut. When something doesn't look right to you, check it out with someone else or browse through a list of common writing errors to see if you can spot an example of what you're looking at (there is a helpful editing checklist included in Write Your Way to More Clients Online).

3. Immerse yourself. When you come across examples of people who write well, subscribe to their blogs/newsletters and make a point of reading them. It's amazing what you soak up through osmosis. That will naturally raise your standards and help you notice when your own writing falls short.

4. Set a limit. Having just completed the final (I hope) proofread of my newest book, I can tell you that the intuitive editing process never ends – until you end it. There will always be something that catches your eye and has you wondering, "Does that look right?" At some point you need to either let it go or turn it over to someone else.

By using these tips to harness your intuitive editing skills, you can improve your credibility, confidence and results. And that will spur you on to keep writing!

It will all come out in the wash

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I don't like clutter. That was the topic of the first article I ever wrote as a self-care coach and budding content marketer.

Right now there is a HUGE mess building up around me in my home/office. Only it's not clutter; it is all of my material possessions, separated into small cardboard boxes in preparation for my move to Barrie.

(I was going to include some photos of my messy apartment – in fact, I even snapped them with my camera. Then I realized I have already packed away the dock that connects my camera to the computer – oh well, that must be perfect, too!)

As uncomfortable as it is to be in this chaos, mess and clutter, it will all come out in the wash. In just a few days I will begin unpacking in my beautiful new home in Barrie. And in a few weeks, these cardboard boxes will be a distant memory and I will send you some "after" shots.

How does my messy apartment relate to your content writing? When you're publishing consistently (I recommend 2-5 new pieces of content every month), things are going to get messy on occasion. Despite your intentions and hard work, you're still not going to make a L.O.V.E. connection with every new article. Why not? Because you're human. You're going to:

This is another strong case for consistency. When you've been publishing relevant, well-written and helpful posts on a regular basis, one messy post won't be the end of the world. If you get right back on track with your usual quality, it will all come out in the wash.

Perfection is overrated and unachievable – so please just keep writing!

Yawn! Are you bored with your own writing?

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Have you been blogging for awhile? Maybe even posting 2-5 pieces of new content per month? Congratulations, you're a real content marketer now!

Hopefully, you're consistently revisiting the same topics. Plus, you're reinforcing the keywords and phrases that your target market identifies with. But after all this time, how do you keep from getting bored with your own writing? Here are a few things to remember:

  1. It's not about you. What feels old to you is still new to someone else who has just discovered you. Keep things basic for them and get your ya-ya's elsewhere.
  2. Short and simple does not have to be boring. I love the challenge of finding new ways to explain the same lessons – Michael J. Katz consistently does a beautiful job of making interesting connections.
  3. There are plenty of ways for you to grow, stretch and improve your writing. Put some effort into cultivating your creativity and expanding your vocabulary.

When you keep these things in mind, there is no reason to be bored with your writing (but if you still are, consider outsourcing your writing to someone who loves it).

Missed a step in your editorial calendar?

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As I was tooling around Barrie this morning taking care of some last minute details before the move, I was reminded of a great article I once read. It used the analogy of a GPS system for how to get through the inevitable twists and turns of life.

What do you do when life throws you these curves? Just “recalculate,” like the voice of the GPS machine says (mine sounds like a very friendly lady, although I haven’t given her a name yet).

It’s the same with your editorial calendar. It’s a plan, after all, not a court order. As a tool to assist you in publishing consistently (especially during busy times), I’ve also found it helps me balance my blog. I plot out when I will post in different categories, as well as which of the three types of online content I will use.

And then life happens, and sometimes I don’t follow through with a planned post. The topic lost its appeal, I was busy with an urgent client project, or another reason.

Jump right back in and keep posting

I see too many people suffer from blog fade, abandoning their blogs after a few of these missed posts or false starts. Like any other setback in life, it’s important in these moments to just get back on track.

You may want to replace the planned post with another spontaneous topic, or just skip to the next item on your calendar. You may even tear up your whole plan and start from scratch – and sometimes that’s not a bad thing. You definitely want your blog to remain relevant to what’s going on – in your industry, for your readers and in your own life.

P.S. If YOU are the one who wrote that article about the GPS, please comment below and include a link! I hope you’ve continued to write and publish, and haven’t faded away…