Patrick is an inspiring entrepreneur and writer who generously shares what he learns. His writings have taught me how to be a smarter, more effective business person.
“Making Your Writing Work Harder For You” is one of my favorites. Please read the whole thing; in the interim, here are some of my notes!
- calling it “content” often devalues it
- write things which retain their value over time (less news-y, less sensational)
- remove dates from your work
- call your best work “essays” or “comprehensive guides”, not blog posts
- build your best work into the core navigation of your site so it’s easy to discover
- have a goal for each piece of writing; often, it’s to continue the conversation via an email newsletter
- provide something of immediate value to readers for giving you their email
- build a library of your best content that you can re-use and remix (e.g., a case study, data)
- types of content:
- high-quality beginners’ guides (e.g., Moz’s beginner’s guide to SEO)
- next steps for intermediate learners
- dedicated task-oriented content (e.g., how to setup Rails on your new MacBook)