Wouldn't it be amazing to be a prolific writer?
The only problem is that not all of us are experts on everything. Not to mention that you don't want to be perceived as the pedantic sort, always trying to school someone on what they don't know.
The goal is to be well informed, and to be able to translate that knowledge into witty, intriguing, and valuable content that your readers, as well as potential new followers, will enjoy. The more they like, the more you'll have the opportunity to write.
So how do you go about getting started on this uber-knowledge adventure and get started writing?
Easy, read.
Cliff's Notes
Remember in high school when you had to read Shakespearean tragedy and then a week later switch gears to Holocaust Literature, only to be thrust into Fitzgerald's Roaring Twenties of the lost and damned?
Maybe you also remember either not being interested in half of it, or just not being able to keep up with all the homework so you'd rely on your trusty copy of Cliff's Notes for all the gory details to be prettily organized for you to consume and regurgitate on the exam.
The same approach can be taken now, in your professional career, as a shortcut to write better, more insightful pieces.
Have you ever checked out Google News? You may have just perused it real quick to get an idea of what headlines were taking over the world today, but you can also find a plethora of information on any topic, literally ANY!
Each of the articles you find on Google News is a short piece that provides most often just the facts about the thing you are interested in learning about. Everything is up to date too. You'll see articles that were published within minutes of your search.
Search It, Merch It
Don't know much about the newest awesome trend sending Twitter into a frenzy, but you want to write an article about how to apply it to social media marketing for SEO purposes to maximize your ROI?
There you have it folks, Cupping is the new Twitter trend. Let's wait and see what the trend is tomorrow. So what is this Twitter trend you ask? I'll show you.
You take a picture of someone so that it looks like they are in a cup. I have to say this is a lot safer than some of those planking pictures I've seen.
So now that you know one of the many options to go about searching for information, what do you do with this newfound information and how do you apply it to your original idea of an article?
What You Do Is This:
1 Compile Your Notes - So you've used Google News, Twitter's Trending sidebar, Pinterest's "Popular" tab, and you've even signed up for the Facebook Graph Search waiting list for the Beta launch. (Don't underestimate these tools, they connect you to people all knowledgeable and passionate in their niche - learn from them)
2 Find images - often times images will help guide your writing. People are more often than not visual creatures and images are going to help them better conceptualize what you're talking about.
3 Write your opinion - Without an opinion it's hard to write an article that people will enjoy reading. Your passion is your writing and if you're not passionate about what you're writing, it shows.
Following these steps will help you to write a thoughtful, insightful, and captivating article on how applying a Twitter trend like cupping to your social media marketing strategy will help you reach demographics that may have been unreachable in the past simply because you have the ability to connect with them on a social level as opposed to a purely commercial standpoint.
Make sure to take it one step further and take your own cupping image. Want to get really creative? Make a Vine video using this trend. You have 6 seconds to show someone in the process of being cupped, or 6 different people cupped, etc. Put it to the test and share your results in your article.
Spin Cycle
Putting your own individual spin on any topic is what makes the article unique. If you aren't really interested in a specific topic but you absolutely have to write an article about it, then find an aspect about it that you can identify with or that sparks your particular interest.
Mine relocation for example is an extremely dry sounding subject, but what if for instance you were to attack it from an angle that interested you, say the environmental impacts on the wildlife in the area being directly affected and displaced by the new mine, and why not make it a worldwide issue?
Using the tools mentioned before, look up information on environmental threats around the world, maybe throw an Al Gore quote in there. Take twenty minutes to research and READ, that's really all it takes.
Reach Prolific-ness
Being a prolific writer is about being a proficient reader. Don't concern yourself with becoming a master on every subject. Instead of aiming to know a lot about one thing, learn a little about a lot of things.
Little by little you'll build up a mental reserve of knowledge that others will be jealous of, and little will they know that it's just because you took the time to read.
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