How to Be a Content Generating Machine

If you have been blogging for very long then you might already know how difficult it can be to generate content day in and day out. There are many theories on the subject pertaining to posting frequency vs. quality of posts etc but the bottom line is this, if you are going to be successful then you need a plan to generate content.

Content is the lifeblood of your blog and without it you will quickly lose visitors, feed readers, advertising dollars and quite frankly your own interest will likely dwindle. I see dead blogs everywhere I go, week long lapses between posts are not uncommon and many of these turn into months and years.

I have a simple system that I am working on that helps to keep me focused and on topic. I am one of those bloggers who needs to build up a draft file so I have something already written when I simply don’t have time. I travel extensively during the week so maintaining a regular blog schedule can be a challenge. I’ll share my system if you share yours.

Flow Charts:

I use flow charts, mainly because I use them often in my business so it seems like a natural transition into my blogging endeavors. You could maintain these flowcharts on a whiteboard if you wish but I personally use a simple notebook. Being mobile often necessitates the use of something mobile and a whiteboard doesn’t pack very well.

Let me share. I start out with a Foundation topic. Something that is aligned with the mission of your blog, in this example we will use “Ways to Make Money With Your Blog”. I put it in the center of my flowchart like the picture below.

Once I have my Foundation Topic….I list out a number of topics related to the main topic that are more specific. Take a look at this.

For this example I have 4 specific topics to discuss that are based on my main “Ways To Make Money With Your Blog” foundation topic. Each of these 4 specific topics are a blog post themselves. We can still take it another step though as your specific topics can easily generate even more specific content. Like this:

Private Ad Sales was one of our original 4 specific topics but we’ve easily generated 3 more topics from that one. You can probably see how this is developing but this is where we are currently in the process. I apologize for the pictures, MS Paint is only so good and I am no artist.

So as you can see, we’ve quickly developed 7 topics quite easily, but are we done yet? Heck no. Once you get on a roll, you need to stay on a roll. You can flesh this out even further for each of the original 4 specific topics. Your chart would look something like this. I didn’t bother filling in the boxes as I think you get the idea.

In case you haven’t already figured this out, you could still again develop a sub topic off one of your sub topics. It’s an endless supply of content topics. Of course, this is kind of the easy part, you still need to write prolificly in order to flesh out these topics with valuable content.

That’s another challenge in itself, but it’s also one I can’t help you with.

If you put a bit of time and effort into this system you can quickly lay out a plan for your site for weeks and even months down the road. Like any other tool, it will only work if you use it.  Get Started Today.

This is the system that I use but I am always open to reading about yours. Anyone have any better ideas?