{"id":3374,"date":"2014-06-13T10:26:47","date_gmt":"2014-06-13T15:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/blog\/?p=3374"},"modified":"2014-06-13T11:12:35","modified_gmt":"2014-06-13T16:12:35","slug":"suck-at-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/?p=3374","title":{"rendered":"How to write if you suck at writing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s 5:02\u00a0a.m. on Friday as I am writing this. The dog is on the floor licking\u2026something (he likes to lick ALOT!) and my wife is asleep beside me in bed.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Screenshot_6_12_14__7_53_AM_1949DA68.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"346\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Screenshot_6_12_14__7_53_AM_1949DA68.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"346\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don&#8217;t let his cuteness deceive you<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>The last 10 minutes have gone something like this:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 What&#8217;s happening on Twitter? Boring.<br \/>\n\u2022 How about Facebook? Someone else got engaged. Yay for them.<br \/>\n\u2022 Any new emails? Delete. Delete. Inbox Zero!<br \/>\n\u2022 Hmm\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Then I opened up the Buffer iPhone app <!--more-->(forgot I even had that installed).<\/p>\n<p>When you are looking for mindless wastes of time, you get desperate.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s when\u00a0I ran across the analytics section of the app and\u00a0had a light bulb moment.<\/p>\n<p>\ufffc<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Screenshot_6_7_14__7_32_AM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"366\" height=\"351\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Screenshot_6_7_14__7_32_AM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"366\" height=\"351\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>See, writing has been harder lately. I\u2019ve still been \u2018hitting publish\u2019 twice a week but it\u2019s been a struggle.<\/p>\n<p>There have been two core issues:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Coming up with topics that my audience is interested in<\/li>\n<li>Beating writers block and writing above a 3rd grade level<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><strong>1. Enter&#8230;The &#8220;Buffer\u00a0Validation Method&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>After spending 15 minutes in the app, I\u00a0realized I could see the exact topics that my readers are interested in by looking at what they interacted with on social media.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For example:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Most of the tweets on my\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/harris_bryan\" target=\"_blank\">personal account<\/a>\u00a0get\u00a03-5 clicks. They might\u00a0get a retweet or\u00a0the occasional favorite or two.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Buffer.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"769\" height=\"159\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Buffer.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"769\" height=\"159\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Buffer2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"205\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Buffer2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"205\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>While\u00a0I was thumbing through the analytics in the app, I ran across several\u00a0anomalies.<\/p>\n<p>Some\u00a0of my Tweets were 5-10x more popular than others.<\/p>\n<p>While most\u00a0tweets got 3\u00a0clicks others\u00a0received 15-30.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here is an example:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Buffer3_png__770\u00d7190__194B31BD.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"158\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Buffer3_png__770\u00d7190__194B31BD.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"158\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p><strong>The lightbulb moment was this:<\/strong> These traffic engagement spikes\u00a0validate that my audience is interested in reading about this\u00a0topic.<\/p>\n<p>So, if I write a post about this subject\u00a0the chances of it getting traction are\u00a0high.<\/p>\n<p>Buffer analytics = Blog Post Ideas<\/p>\n<p>Just\u00a0schedule tweets in Buffer about topics\u00a0that you THINK would be popular and measure the response.<\/p>\n<h2>The exact workflow to do that<\/h2>\n<p>I am playing around with the idea of doing an in-depth analysis post on Facebook Ads next week.<\/p>\n<p>It would show you examples of 20 Facebook ads and\u00a0break down the posts into a simple framework so you could create effective ads yourself.<\/p>\n<p>It would\u00a0also include a gigantic swipe file of 200+ Facebook ads as a giveaway.<\/p>\n<p>Seems like a decent idea right?<\/p>\n<p>But, what would it look like to validate that post before I spent all that time to write it?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Step 1:<\/strong> Goto Quora.com and find someone that has asked\u00a0a question around that topic<\/li>\n<li><strong>Step 2:<\/strong> Buffer a link to that Quora post with their question as the body of the Tweet<\/li>\n<li><strong>Step 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Wait a day and\u00a0look at your analytics to see how many people interacted with it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I put together a video <strong>showing<\/strong> you\u00a0this process.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/E4ITmkM0c9Q\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If there is above average interaction (2-3x normal), write the post.<\/p>\n<p>If not, reform the question, pick a different headline and Buffer it again.<\/p>\n<p>Do this 5-10 times until you find the right &#8216;hook&#8217; to form the post around.<\/p>\n<p>As soon as you see a spike in interactions, start writing.<\/p>\n<h2>2. Ok, great. But how do I write the freaking post?<\/h2>\n<p>Now you\u00a0have a headline and are\u00a0reasonably confident your audience will resonate with it.<\/p>\n<p>But you\u00a0still have a problem&#8230;writing the actual post.<\/p>\n<p>As soon as you start to try to write, everything freezes up.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/bloggersupportgroup.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/03\/funny-pictures-cat-has-writers-block.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"332\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/bloggersupportgroup.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/03\/funny-pictures-cat-has-writers-block.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"332\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>How can you fix this?<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t write.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Instead, answer questions.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Think about it like this:<\/p>\n<p>If my wife asks me \u201cBryan, why do you think most people never act on their ideas?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I would answer in less than 5 seconds with at least 3 minutes worth of dialogue.<\/p>\n<p>No prep. No outline. No research.<\/p>\n<p>However, If I were trying to write an article entitled \u201cThe 7 Reasons Your Idea Will Never Become A Business\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gridlock. All dry. Words \u2026 are \u2026 hard.<\/p>\n<p>There is something fundamentally different with\u00a0writing about a TOPIC\u00a0as opposed to answering someone&#8217;s specific QUESTION.<\/p>\n<p>What if instead of writing &#8216;blog posts\u2019 you just answered questions.<\/p>\n<p>Then format\u00a0those answers into blog posts.<\/p>\n<p>(Seth Godin <a href=\"https:\/\/sethgodin.typepad.com\/seths_blog\/2011\/09\/talkers-block.html\" target=\"_blank\">agrees<\/a>)<\/p>\n<h2>How do you turn a topic into a question?<\/h2>\n<p>Let&#8217;s use the tweets that I found in Buffer analytics and try spinning it into a question.<\/p>\n<p>This was the original tweet.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Buffer3_png__770\u00d7190_v2_194B4318.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"158\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/Buffer3_png__770\u00d7190_v2_194B4318.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"158\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>Spinning that tweet\u00a0into a question would give us something like this:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;What was the biggest influence in quitting your job and starting your own business?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>OR<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Is there a\u00a0single\u00a0thing you could identify that gave you the kick the butt to quit your day job?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I can answer that!<\/p>\n<p>To take it one step further I went to Quora to try to find an actual\u00a0person\u00a0with that exact problem.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 601px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/_1__Search_-_lost_my_motivation_startup_-_Quora_1949DEA6.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"601\" height=\"246\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/Skitch\/_1__Search_-_lost_my_motivation_startup_-_Quora_1949DEA6.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"601\" height=\"246\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Example question I found on Quora<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> I&#8217;ve found that the more specific the person is and the more real they are in my head, the freer the words flow.<\/p>\n<p>The absolute easiest way is to have an actual person ask you the question. However, answering peoples questions online can work just as well.<\/p>\n<h2>Now that I have a question how do I start writing?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Step 1:<\/strong> Don&#8217;t write, record<\/p>\n<p>First, fire up your iPhone voice recorder app.<\/p>\n<p>Next, have your wife or roommate ask you the question you came up with in the last step.<\/p>\n<p>Last, press record and answer the question.<\/p>\n<p>Just have a normal conversation about the topic. Give your answer, ask for questions and then answer those too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 2:<\/strong> Transcribe your audio<\/p>\n<p>Take all of the audio you just recorded and write it down word for word into a Google Doc.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;ll take a few minutes, thats fine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 3:<\/strong> Pretty it up<\/p>\n<p>Edit out all of the &#8220;umm&#8217;s&#8221; and &#8220;ahh&#8217;s&#8221; and format it so it looks pretty (I&#8217;d suggest grabbing this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0989895300\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0989895300&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=videofruit-20\" target=\"_blank\">$3 book to help you with that<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Include pictures to further describe the question.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PRO TIP\u2122<\/strong>: If you don&#8217;t need pictures to describe what you are discussing in your post, go deeper until you do.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 4:<\/strong>\u00a0Write 5 different headlines<\/p>\n<p>Your headline is VERY important. Quality is huge but your headline is even more important.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a simple process I use for coming up with\u00a0headlines:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8Seqa-BF4qg\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 5<\/strong>: Publish<\/p>\n<p>You are done.<\/p>\n<p>Proof it and hit publish.<\/p>\n<h2>I wanted to test this workflow on someone else<\/h2>\n<p>So, I enlisted Videofruit <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/price242424\" target=\"_blank\">intern<\/a>\u00a0AJ and asked him to &#8220;answer a question&#8221; about a recent project he completed.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of asking him to write about it, I flipped on my webcam and started recording.<\/p>\n<p>Here is the raw footage:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YRQuYG7b7d8\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Then he transcribed the video and cleaned\u00a0it up. (<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/a\/videofruit.com\/document\/d\/134rDAGb5nmTQBN7YbZHdHUXysVbt-1JyUmC0SMkH0Is\/edit\" target=\"_blank\">see the transcription<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Next, he read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0989895300\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0989895300&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=videofruit-20\" target=\"_blank\">this book<\/a>\u00a0and went through a short <a href=\"https:\/\/kopywritingkourse.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">copywriting course<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He was able to go through the transcription\u00a0and rearrange it to a blog post friendly\u00a0format.<\/p>\n<p>Then he brainstormed 5 headlines using the method I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8Seqa-BF4qg\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">mentioned above<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>These 4 Easy Steps Will Have Your Logo Set In No Time<\/li>\n<li>How Logos Should Actually Be Created<\/li>\n<li>What Should Your Design Process Be?<\/li>\n<li>Creating What YOU Want: Cheap and Simple<\/li>\n<li>Steps Non-Creative People Take To Create A Design<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>He spent a total of\u00a02 hours writing (and 3 hours on\u00a0learning about copywriting).<\/p>\n<p>This is\u00a0the first\u00a0draft: <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/a\/videofruit.com\/document\/d\/1bbGU9BZRR1kVjZgySPIWcP9AzqTWwgUpVmc1JaisvYU\/edit\" target=\"_blank\">How to create a logo if you suck at design<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Not bad for the first time to ever write\u00a0a blog post.<\/p>\n<h2>Wrapping it all up into a pretty package<\/h2>\n<p>That&#8217;s a lot of stuff, so lets review what we&#8217;ve learned<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Use your Buffer account analytics to get post ideas by looking for engagement peaks.<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t start your post by writing. That encourages writers block.<\/li>\n<li>Instead repurpose the ideas in Step 1 into a question then answer that question (record yourself).<\/li>\n<li>Transcribe your answer on paper and then reformat it and pretty it up.<\/li>\n<li>Press publish.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I have used the &#8220;record first&#8221; workflow for the past two weeks and it has been great.<\/p>\n<p>It saves 1-2 hours per post and helps me to write even though I suck at writing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PS:<\/strong> Do you have a writing hack that you use? Share it below. I need it! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s 5:02\u00a0a.m. on Friday as I am writing this. The dog is on the floor licking\u2026something (he likes to lick&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3374\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.growthtools.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}