I recently had a conversation with a student I wanted to share. She had just finished the 5 Day Content Challenge and had a long list of blog post topics she wanted to write about. She was so excited about this list and was just about to enroll in Content Made Simple, but… She hesitated in enrolling because she was worried about signing up and making the official decision to start her blog because she had a sudden burst of anxiety about having to create tons and tons of content.  In the blink of an eye she had convinced herself that in order to be a “real blogger” she’d need to write a thousand blog posts, spend all day on social media, and be chained to her computer all day, every day. This is a common fear among people who want to start a content channel. When we look at the “big names” in our areas of expertise we find content going back years and a huge social media presence. Naturally, we feel that in order to “compete,” we have to match their volume of work, which would be, to say the least, intimidating. I will freely admit that I fell victim to this trap when I was a new content creator, too.  When I first started my mom-lifestyle blog, I posted every day. Yes, you read that right. I wrote a blog post every day. For months.  It didn’t take long to realize that creating that much content was unsustainable. But, it wasn’t just unsustainable, it wasn’t the most efficient way to grow my blog. More Isn’t Better When first starting out, it’s common to want to fill out your content library so that your website looks more impressive. However, just like with chocolate, pizza, and tequila, oftentimes more is just… more. Instead, focus your efforts on creating high quality content that your audience will find value in and that makes people want to like, comment, and share.  When you spend your time trying to pump out new blog posts, podcasts, or videos, you typically end up with a large bank of mediocre content. This doesn’t serve your audience or your business.  Actually, it can hurt your standing as a go-to authority on your subject to publish half-baked content. You’ll also rank lower in search engines, making it more difficult for people to discover your site. If you think of my original blog schedule - also known as the fast track to burnout city - I was drafting 5 blog posts per week. That’s 5 posts, plus graphics, plus social shares, plus SEO and meta descriptions, plus… the list goes on. If instead of publishing 5 posts per week, including all the additional tasks above (and more I’ve likely forgotten about), I had published a single post I would have not only saved myself a ton of time, the post I put out would have been of a much higher quality, and I would have had the time and energy to do other tasks that would have benefited my business. Promote Your Content When you spend all your time creating new content, you leave no time to promote your posts or episodes, which is essential to growing your audience. After all, your content could be fantastic, but if no one knows about it, it’s not helping anyone. The generally accepted rule is that you should spend 20% of your time creating your content and 80% of your time promoting that content. So why do many of us focus so much of our attention on creation when promotion is where it's at? To a certain extent creating less feels counterintuitive, right? I mean, how can we promote our content if we don’t have a lot of content to promote? Well, for one thing, we don’t have to take the 80/20 rule completely on its face. Start by rebalancing your time so that, even if you’re not spending 4 times as much of your time on promotion, you’re at least spending slightly more time promoting than on creating. This will help develop the mindset of promotion, and you can gradually increase your promotion:creation ratio. According to Derek Halpern; “If you spend time writing a piece of content, and that content only gets 1,000 readers, chances are there are one million other people in the world who can benefit from what you wrote. Why, then, would you spend more time creating content when you already have something that your ideal customers can benefit from?” And he has a point. It’s far easier to find 10,000 more people who are interested in what you’ve already published than it is to write 10 more posts and get 1,000 people to read each of them.  At the end of the day it comes down to 2 essential ideas: Quality over quantity. A single piece of content that is fully flushed out, well researched, and thoughtfully composed is more valuable than multiple thrown together pieces - to both business owner and audience. The 80/20 rule rules. Finding new people who can benefit from your high-quality, proven content is easier than trying to draft new compelling content. 

Side Hustle Teachers

Reality Check: How Much Content Do You Really Need to Create?

When you make the decision to start a blog, podcast, or video show, you do so with the understanding that you’re committing to regularly create new content to share with your readers, listeners, or viewers. But sometimes the best laid plans… you know. We all have busy lives, and creating content can easily get pushed aside if you don’t have a plan to make it happen. I shared about the importance of regularly updating your content, so I won’t spend too much time beating that drum.  Content is important. Plan, craft, and distribute it every. single. week.  There. I’m done with that now. However, I completely understand that it’s not always easy to set aside time to get it done. Teachers are busy. Families require our time, too. There’s that self-care thing people are always talking about and, what am I missing? Oh, right. Sleep. So, what’s a busy teacher with a blog, podcast, or video show to do? The common expression would be to find the time. Others say you have to make the time. But I like Jon Acuff’s way of describing it. In his book, Finish, he said what you really have to do is rescue your time.  What does that mean? To put it bluntly. We waste a lot of time. Like… a lot of time. And I’m not just talking about time spent on Facebook or learning the latest TikTok dance. We do a lot of things that just don’t need to be done.  We grade every piece of work our students turn in. We spend hours searching on Pinterest for the perfect bulletin board. We stay up to tweak the slide show we’re presenting to our class tomorrow because the picture on slide 6 is not quite right. We learn something new for our businesses even if we haven’t implemented the last 4 things we learned. We tweak the colors in our logo. We hand wash the dishes instead of using the dishwasher. I’ve used this analogy before, but it bears repeating. Time is like a house. If you have a small house, you will have enough furniture, decor, and possessions to fill it. If you moved from that house to a multi-million dollar mansion, it might take a little while, but you’d eventually fill that space, too. We fill our time in much the same way.  If we find ourselves with free time, we will find a way to fill it. Therefore, we are “always busy.” In order to rescue your time so that you can create content, you have to identify things you’re currently spending your time on that don’t necessarily need to be done, or that can be done in a more efficient way. If that idea makes you want to fling your planner in my face, stay with me.  We’re not talking about rescuing hours at a time. Small bits of time can make a big difference. So let’s take a look at the 2 primary strategies for your  Daily Tasks Creating a blog post, podcast, or video episode is not a single to-do list item. Rather, there are many small things that need to be done, in order, so that your content can go out on time. If you list out those smaller tasks, approximate how long they take to do, then assign them to a particular day of the week. For example, for a blog post you might need to do the following: Decide on a topic (10 minutes) Write a title (10 minutes) Write your promise (15 minutes) Craft your post (1 hour) Create your content upgrades/freebies or downloadables (30 minutes) Write the email promoting your new post, schedule (30 minutes) Draft social media posts (20 minutes) Create your graphics (30 minutes) Upload the post onto your website, with graphics and descriptions, schedule (30 minutes) Schedule your social media posts (15 minutes) Using this timeline, you could set a schedule that looked something like this: Monday - Steps 1-3 Tuesday - Step 4 Wednesday - Step 5 Thursday - Step 6 Friday - Step 7-8 Saturday - Step 9-10 Following this schedule means that you never have to rescue more than 1 hour at a time and your post goes out on time! Power Through If breaking tasks up isn’t your style, you can always set aside one larger chunk of time in which to write your post.  If you’re doing some mental math (or you used a calculator like I did) and discovered that everything listed above takes just over 4 hours. That might seem like a lot of time, but when you do the work all at once, the tasks often go faster. Also, there are systems you can put in place to help you work more efficiently. For example, come up with your topics (and even titles) for several months at one time. This not only saves you time, but also helps make sure that your content is on point for your audience, and saves the frustration of not knowing what to share this week. If possible, design a system that not only supports your task list, but assists in making it easier. You could build a template for your content creation (or use the one I provide students in Content Made Simple) or create graphics templates to use and reuse each week. If this is a schedule you think would work best for you, you can still rescue little bits of time throughout the week rather than trying to free up 4 hours on a Saturday. The difference is that you’d use the rescued time to move some of your Saturday responsibilities to weekdays.  For example, you can go to the grocery store on your way home on Monday instead of on the weekend. Maybe you already drive past the grocery store on your way home, so you save the time it would take you to drive there on a weekend. Plus, Monday afternoon isn’t peak time for shopping, so you’ll likely breeze through the store in less time. Of course, sometimes our schedules aren’t static enough to choose one strategy or another and you may have to go week to week; one week you break up the process, the next you set aside a Sunday morning. There’s no one way to make time for your content creation. The important thing is that you decide, without any ambiguity or room for negotiation, that your content will go out every single week. Content is the easiest, cheapest, most efficient way to reach new people, and creating it on a consistent basis is the easiest, cheapest, most efficient way to increase your revenue.  Rescue your time. Repurpose this time to work for you and your business. Go forth and create.

2 Sure-Fire Strategies to Make Time to Create Your Content

Let’s start this blogcast with an important statement: You are enough. Right now. Today. You are enough. I say this because there are a large number of side hustlin’ teachers who want to start a blog, podcast, or video show, but don’t because they feel they’re lacking… something. Whether it’s education, experience, age, or something else all together, let me reassure you that there is nothing you need to get started on the journey of content creation that you don’t already possess. But, I know that understanding that may not be enough, so today I’m sharing with you 3 reasons that you should start publishing your content now… even if you don’t feel ready. Action Begets Growth As teachers, we know that the best way to get better at something is to do it… over and over again. Imagine teaching a student how to write in cursive, but never asking them to practice. They’d never get better at cursive, right?! The same is true for your blog, podcast, or video show. When you put your content out to the world, that’s your practice.  Why can’t you just practice on your own?  Some clients wonder why they can’t just write a blog post and keep it for themselves, or record a video and never upload it.  Well, you can. But it’s far less effective. If we go back to our cursive analogy, imagine again giving your students opportunities to practice their cursive, but never giving them feedback or guidance on how to improve. They may get better, but some will actually develop bad habits and learn things incorrectly, making it even more difficult to get it right later on. By sharing your content you’re opening yourself up for feedback. Your audience will help you get better through their comments, questions, reaching out, and sharing. They will tell you what they want more of, and what they need less of.  Without their feedback it will take longer for you to be your best, and you may get into some nasty habits that will be hard to break later. Newton’s First Law Full confession, I had to look up the order of Newton’s laws. Just in case you’re in the same boat, Newton’s first law states that an object in motion will stay in motion until acted on by an outside force.  What’s true in physics is also true in business. It’s hard to get into the habit of building a business if you don’t take the first step. Once you start putting your content out into the world, you can establish a routine that will help you hit publish every week. If you need some help with your routine I encourage you to check out Content Made Simple, in which I walk you through my 3-step content creation process and give you the Content Planning Worksheet I spent years refining. The other thing that happens when you start sharing your content on a regular basis is that your audience expects and looks forward to it.  At a conference I went to, Pat Flynn shared that one time he forgot to schedule a podcast episode to go out he got an email from a fan that read, “Hey Pat, it’s Wednesday, where the f@$k Is today’s show? Love your show. Thanks!” The expectation of other people - people who look to you for information and expertise - is kind of trippy. But it’s also great motivation to keep going and put out new content. Of course, the first thing you have to do before you form these habits is to hit publish for the first time. Cultivate Your Confidence Have you heard the expression, “Fake it ‘til you make it”?  That’s it. That’s everything. One of the biggest reasons many teachers don’t put their content out to the world is because we think that we’re not enough.  If you’ve ever hesitated to publish on a blog post, podcast, or video show, because you thought: I’m not an expert in this.  There are plenty of others who are better at this than I am. Who’s going to listen to me, I’m just a _______. If I write this post/ record this episode, people will see that I’m a fraud. I don’t have the right degree/ certification so no one will listen to me. You’re not alone. Those thoughts are completely normal, and while they don’t ever completely go away, putting your content out helps you push past them. The first time I stood in front of a class full of students, I just knew they were going to ask me a question I couldn’t answer, tell me they didn’t have to listen to me because I wasn’t a real teacher, or just fully devolve into a Lord of the Flies style tribe. But every time I stepped into a classroom and successfully survived, my confidence grew.  Now, after 20 years, I know that I can handle whatever the kids can dish out. The same is true with content.  Once you put out your first piece, you realize that the only one putting you down is you. Fake it ‘til you make it isn’t about faking success and putting on a show so others will believe in you. It’s about acting as if you are what you want to become… and then, one day, you are that person. Fake confidence until you feel confident. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “By acting as if I was not afraid, I gradually ceased to be afraid.” (Of course, Teddy was talking about Grizzly bears, but the principle still holds.) You came to Side Hustle Teachers for a reason.  You’re looking for more. More money, more growth, more personal fulfillment. To quote another great president, “Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.” So if you want more, you’re going to have to make it happen.

3 Reasons You Should Start Publishing Content Before You Feel Ready

One question that comes up all the time with my clients and members of the Side Hustle Teachers community is how I manage to consistently put out my blogcast week after week.  There are 2 things I rely on; systems and tools. I’ll address my systems in a future blogcast, but today let’s talk about tools. I’m going to walk you through my complete content creation process and tell you which tools I use for each step. Some are free, some have a modest fee, but all of them are indispensable in my business. Google Business Suite I use Google in a myriad of ways, but when it comes to content creation, I use it in 2 key ways. First I maintain a spreadsheet of blogcast topics. Every 6 months or so I draft a list of ideas to share, then organize it into a spreadsheet, organized by planned date of publication.  When it’s time to craft my content, I have created a Content Planning Worksheet that provides spaces for every aspect of my content, from title to the actual blogcast, to social media shares. (The Content Planning Worksheet is available to students enrolled in Content Made Simple.) I make a copy of the CPW for each blogcast, then craft my content in the doc.  I pay for Google Business Suite for the extra storage (it’s $1.99 a month), but it’s also available for free until you reach your storage limit. WordPress Once the blogcast is crafted, it gets pasted into a new post on my website.  My website is built on WordPress and it allows me to host all my content, sales pages, and everything else I need for an online presence. If you don’t have a website already, I recommend getting your domain and hosting through Siteground. I’ve been with them since I started my blog many, many years ago and have yet to be disappointed by their service. Siteground also makes it easy to install WordPress on your site for free. I use the Divi theme on my site, but there are many free themes to use as you get started. Each year WordPress releases a new theme of the year, which are typically well designed and audience-friendly. PicMonkey My next step in the process of crafting my content is to create my graphics. I make 6 graphics for each post, but that is not what I’d recommend when you’re starting out. Before deciding what graphics you need, consider what platforms you’re going to use.  I suggest you create a square and horizontal image for each post or episode. If you also want to utilize Pinterest, you also need a vertical image. For my graphics I use PicMonkey. It lets me save my brand colors, add videos to images, and I get access to a massive library of stock photos. Another option that many people love is Canva. You can try PicMonkey free for 7 days here. Social Warfare Within my website I use the plugin called Social Warfare. It allows me to create prepopulated shares for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and more, for each post. It also gives me the floating bard on the side of my website that allows people to share my blogcast with just one click.  Using this tool, when someone clicks the share button, let’s use Pinterest as an example, their new pin will populate with the image I’ve selected and the description I’ve created. They can edit the description, of course, but it gives me more control over the way my brand is presented. Adobe Audition There are hundreds of programs that let you record your voice for a podcast, but the one I like best, and use every week, is Adobe Audition. It’s part of the Creative Cloud program, so you may have access through your school.  I like Audition because it’s fairly easy to learn and it enables me to edit my own blogcast in minimal time - because anything that saves me time is awesome. I know it has a lot of features I don’t use, but the ones I do use save me time and money. Adobe offers a discounted rate for teachers. Scroll to the bottom of the linked page to find it. Libsyn Once the sound is recorded, I upload it to my podcast host, Libsyn (short for Liberated Syndication). I recommend using a paid hosting company like Libsyn (only $5 a month) over the free platforms because of the ease of use, customer service, listener stats, and multiple distribution channels. Libsyn also allows me to embed my episodes on the blog post page, making it easier for people to listen and helping to grow my listenership. ConvertKit Once the content is created, I draft an email to those signed up for my list. The email text is included in the Content Planning Worksheet, so I can simply copy and paste it into ConvertKit. One way I make my weekly emails easier is to duplicate the email from the week before, then adjust the sections as necessary. This also ensures that the correct people on my email list get the Side Hustle Headlines email. Those who are new to my list are in what’s called a nurture sequence, and to prevent them from getting an overload of emails I don’t send them the weekly messages. The ability to create nurture sequences, tag subscribers, and segment my list are what makes ConvertKit my email service provider of choice for 7 years now! Use ConvertKit for free until you have 1,000 subscribers! CinchShare The last step in my content creation process is to schedule my posts for social media. In my personal opinion a good scheduling program is essential for all business owners, but especially teachers. We aren’t available to post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linked In all day long.  Just imagine, “Hang on class, I just have to post this prompt to my Facebook group.” Ummmmmm. No. Each Sunday night I get all my posts for the week loaded into CinchShare, use their auto-scheduler to set up times for everything to go out, and click “schedule.” So before I go to bed I know that all my prompts, stories, posts, questions, quotes… you get the idea… will go out on time. Try CinchShare for 14 days for free. Using the right tools can have a massive impact on your business. It can take stress off of you and make running a business while teaching much more manageable. While it may take a small investment to get access to some tools, the time, energy, and effort you save will be well worth it. For a complete list of all the tools and programs I recommend, check out the resources page on my site.

8 Tools I Use to Make Content Creation Easier

Last week I suggested that you start creating and sharing your holiday content well before the holiday season actually begins, but what kind of content should you share? Oftentimes, the types of content you create at this time of year is going to mirror what you create throughout the year, but with a slightly different focus. Holiday content may also not have the evergreen nature of most of your posts, but remember that the holidays come every year, which means you can update and continue to promote this content year after year. So let’s dig into the types of posts and episodes you can share with your audience. Gift Guide Almost every side hustle can benefit from producing a list of gift ideas your audience might enjoy. This could be ideas your audience might want to give as gifts, or gifts your audience might want to receive from others. In your gift guide you can include both your own products and products for which you’re an affiliate, making every item on your list an earning opportunity. Here are some examples: Crochet or knitting specialists could create lists of homemade gifts their audience could give to their friends and family or a list of recommended supplies for those hoping to start crocheting or knitting on their own. Social media managers could share a gift list of social media tools like selfie sticks, clip-on ring lights, and possibly a gift certificate for a social media audit. Essential oil sellers could share gifts people could give that feature essential oils, like wreaths, diffusers, and jewelry. Holiday How-To Always a popular type of content to share, holidays provide an additional opportunity to teach your audience how to do something, this time with a holiday or end-of-year theme. You can teach a holiday craft or skill that your audience would enjoy, or take them through a process that will make their lives easier during this busy time, or even how to do end-of-year/ new year tasks related to your area of expertise. These types of posts or episodes can be another way to share your products and affiliate links as you share your products and those of others that you use in your how-to. Examples include: A cookware seller could share how to prepare Christmas dinner in advance so you can enjoy the day. An educational designer could show teachers how to design their own holiday lessons, and how to include all students in the holiday season in respectful ways. A photographer could share how to take a great family photo! 12 Days of YOU As a holiday special, you can create a series of posts centered on a specific theme that you share over 12 days. (Or 5 days, or 7 days… you do you.) Here are a few ideas: A bookkeeper could share 12 ideas for getting your finances in order before year end. A clutter coach could share 12 tips for getting rid of unneeded stuff before the glut of Christmas. An arts and crafter could share 12 holiday crafts to do with your kids. A tutor could provide educational activities to do over the holiday break. You can deliver this content through your blog, podcast, or video or via an email series, and even offer it as an opt-in to get people on your list each year! Extra Freebies Who doesn’t love free stuff around the holidays? There’s so much selling going on, people are extra appreciative of anything that doesn’t cost money, and are more willing to trade their email addresses for them. You can create downloadable guides, checklists, lists, instructions, etc. for people to use through the holidays or after. Examples of extra bonuses might be: A step-by-step guide to using CBD oil to reduce holiday stress. A checklist for what to bring with you on your holiday travel. Printable tips for how to boost your everyday beauty routine for holiday celebrations. Charity Drive One of the best things about the holidays is the fact that people are more generous and willing to give to others. With a platform like a blog, podcast, or video channel, plus your social media channels you can shine a light on charities that are important to you. You can run a straight-up charity drive, or give a percentage of your sales to a non-profit.  Share your connection to that particular charity and why you support them with your audience and encourage people to donate or up their purchases to support the cause. Holiday Favorites You’ve probably heard of Oprah’s Favorite Things, right? You can create something similar for your business! Holiday favorites could be something related to your business, or it could be something completely unrelated, like your favorite holiday traditions or Christmas carols. If you’re going to be sharing non-business faves. You likely want to keep that to social media so as not to confuse your blog, podcast, or YouTube audience. Year in Review Content engagement tends to drop in the weeks between Christmas and NewYears, so a good option is to create a year-in-review post or episode. This type of content is fairly low pressure to create and it also serves a good touchpoint for those in your audience who may have joined you mid-year, or find you after the fact. In your year-in-review you can share business stats, new things you’ve tried, tools you’ve used, wins and lessons learned, and other behind the scenes information. You can also share a roundup of your most popular posts or episodes. What’s Next? As an authority in your niche, your audience looks to you to know what’s trending in your world. What trends are on the upswing and are going to be even more popular in the new year? What trends are on the way out? If you're in a fashion or design field, think colors, textures, styles, etc. If you’re in business, what social media trends do you see and how can your audience get a head start on them? For those in real estate, share what’s trending in home buying, what buyers are looking for, and tips for getting ready for sale. Whatever you choose to share this holiday season, remember that as you make suggestions your number 1 job is to support your audience. Yes, you want to increase your sales and you may be adding more sales links than usual to your content, but if your content isn’t useful, it won’t do you or your audience any good.

8 Types of Holiday Content to Share with Your Audience

It’s Labor Day weekend, and that means, if you haven’t started thinking about your holiday content, you should! While it seems a bit early, this is the time you need to be preparing for the upcoming holiday season. So if you’re one who gets upset when Target sets up its Christmas section before Halloween, take a deep breath, and just go with me. Even if your business doesn’t seem like a good fit for holiday content, keep an open mind. Because while you may not be selling traditional gifts or services, it’s hard to ignore the fact that most people are in a spending frame of mind and have their credit cards at the ready during Q4. Why create holiday content now? There are lots of reasons to start prepping your holiday content well in advance. First, the holidays are a notoriously busy time of year for everyone, so it’s just good practice to get your content ready in advance. This way you have everything planned, crafted, and scheduled and have no excuse not to publish. Beyond that, however, you’re going to want to strategize about how you’re going to utilize the holidays to grow your business, then craft content that will serve your goals. Just like brick and mortar stores put out holiday items well in advance, you want to publish and share your holiday content ahead of time, too. Search engines need time to crawl and index your content before they can recommend it to people, and it takes a while for your loyal readers, listeners, or viewers to share, so putting out your post or episode earlier than you think it would be most useful is a good strategy.  Determine your holiday goals Depending on what you sell, your goals for the holiday season are going to be different, so your strategy is going to be different. Of course, you might be working on a variety of different goals, in which case, it’s even more important to be strategic. Sell your stuff. The most obvious goal for the holidays is to sell your products or services. Use this time to create content that is more directly sales based, share tips on how to use or gift your stuff, and include links to buy. Sell other people’s stuff. If you’re an affiliate for a person or company that offers holiday specials, you can create content around those items or services and encourage your followers to purchase. You may also use this time to increase your rates for promotional content and ads. Prep for what’s next. Maybe you don’t have holiday-related content that goes with the major end-of-year holidays, but you do offer products or services that are perfect for the new year. Use the last few months of the year laying the foundation for a new year’s sale. Plan your content around your goals Once you decide what you want your holiday content to do for you, you can start to plan your posts or episodes. Keep in mind the first rule of content marketing is to serve first. If your blog post, podcast, or video episode is not useful to your audience on its own (whether they purchase something or not), it’s not going to be consumed, engaged with, or shared. With most posts or episodes, you’re going to want a single call to action. Choose a single product or service to promote, and craft your content around it. There are some exceptions to this rule, like round up posts or lists, but for the most part, one post = one promotion. Promote your holiday content throughout the season I’ve mentioned before (and I’ll say it many times in the future), it’s not enough to just create good content. You must have a strategy to promote that content and get people to read, listen to, or view it.  Even if you don’t have a lot of holiday content to promote, you will want to make a schedule on which to share it across various social media platforms, including in your email, and encourage others to share it as well. If you’re new to holiday content, I suggest sharing one piece of content on each platform per week, even if you’ve already promoted it there. Let’s say you create 3 holiday-specific posts this year, and publish one a week starting in mid-October, and for the sake of argument, let’s say you publish on Mondays and your social platforms of choice are Facebook and Instagram. Here’s an example of how you could schedule and promote your new holiday content. October 11: Publish post #1, email list October 18: Publish post #2, email list, promo post #1 on FB October 25: Publish post #3, email list, promo post #2 on FB, promo post #1 on IG November 1: Include a link to post #1 in your weekly email, promo post #2 on IG, promo post #3 on FB November 8: Include a link to post #2 in your weekly email, promo post #3 on IG, promo post #1 on FB November 15: Include a link to post #3 in your weekly email, promo post #1 on IG, promo post #2 on FB November 22: Include a link to post #1 in your weekly email, promo post #2 on IG, promo post #3 on FB November 29: Include a link to post #2 in your weekly email, promo post #3 on IG, promo post #1 on FB December 6: Include a link to post #3 in your weekly email, promo post #1 on IG, promo post #2 on FB December 13: Include a link to post #1 in your weekly email, promo post #2 on IG, promo post #3 on FB It might feel like a lot of posting the same thing over and over, but remember that it’s likely that less than 5% of your audience is actually seeing your posts because of the algorithm. And you’ll be sharing other content, so don’t worry about people getting bored. Just mix up your graphics and descriptions, and you’ll be fine! Start thinking about your holiday content strategy now, and you’ll be all set when the busiest time of year rolls around! Next week I’ll be sharing different types of holiday posts or episodes you can share with your audience!

When to Create and Release Your Holiday Content

When you’re a side hustler, creating content to grow your business is essential, but there may be a piece you’re missing to really get the biggest return on your investment. What is that missing piece? Purpose. Creating content purposefully means that not only does it provide value to your audience, but it also deliberately helps build your authority, strengthens your relationships with your audience, or actively sells your product or service. Before we start digging into the 3 primary purposes of your content, let’s clarify what type of content we’re talking about. For today’s purposes, content refers to your weekly blog post, podcast, or video episode. Social media is a horse of a different color that we’ll talk about another day. Purpose #1: Build Your Authority Content that builds your authority is created to help your audience see you as an expert in your field. You want these posts or episodes to show off your wealth of knowledge and create the belief that you are the person that can help them solve the problem they have. In other words, you want to be the person that comes to mind when they have a question. Some types of posts or episodes you could create that build your authority are:  Tutorials Myths vs Facts Product or Tool Review Mistakes and Lessons Learned Lists Case Studies Monthly Updates & Stats Frequently Asked Questions A good call to action for your authority posts would be asking people to sign up for your email list with a free download. You can learn more about these and other types of content you can share in this post https://sidehustleteachers.com/types-of-content-to-share/  Purpose #2: Strengthen Your Relationships Another component of using content marketing is creating strong relationships with your audience.  Why is this important? Well, you may have heard the phrase, “Know, like, and trust,” because it’s the key to building a business. It’s not enough to be an expert. You also have to be a person they know, like, and trust.  Don’t get me wrong, you don’t have to be your audiences’ BFF (though that’s okay). You do have to be someone they feel understands them, and who can connect to them, and who has a personality they can learn from. This means that there will be people who aren’t a good fit for you, which is okay. Some types of posts or episodes you could create that strengthen your relationships are:  Mistakes and Lessons Learned Personal Stories Rants or Unpopular Opinions Behind the Scenes For relationship content, you may ask your audience to follow you on social media to get to know you better. Purpose #3: Actively Sell No matter how much your audience knows, likes, and trusts you, they won’t buy from you if they don’t know that you have something available for sale. That means you have to create content that is designed to move your audience to become customers. These posts or episodes should still provide value, but think about content that you could share in which your call to action could be to buy. Case Studies Monthly Updates & Stats Tutorials The Right Balance As in most things related to side hustles and life, there’s no one perfect equation you can use to figure out how to balance the purpose of your content. It’s not as easy as saying, “50% authority, 40% relationships, and 10% selling.” I wish it were. But there are some posts or episodes you may share that have a dual purpose, or you may be serving in an area that is more technical and needs more authority content, or more personal, which needs more relationship strengthening. As you go forward and create your content, keep in mind the purpose of each post or episode you share. Determine a purpose before you start to plan, and even go back through your old content to analyze how much of each type of content purpose. If you need to, go back and update your calls to action to match your purpose. Join me on Tuesday at 7:30 pm (EDT) in the Side Hustle Teachers Facebook Group for a LIVE recap, answers to your questions, and more information and examples of creating content with a purpose!

3 Content Purposes: Making Your Content Work for You

There are many people who want to start using content to grow a business. It is the most efficient, cost effective way to build authority, strengthen relationships, and increase revenue… so it’s no wonder.  And while I strongly suggest that everyone own and maintain your own website, I understand that it’s not always possible when you’re just starting out. That, however, shouldn’t be a reason to not create content and share it with your audience. In Content Made Simple I provide you with my content planning worksheet that helps organize your content from title to social shares, even before you have a website of your own. If you’re not a student of mine, I recommend you set up a system that will allow you to craft your content to share now, and keep well organized so you can easily post it on your website when you get yours up and running. If your primary platform is YouTube, YouTube itself will provide you with a place to store your videos that you can direct people to. That makes it easy to get started without a website. And while the description area on YouTube does give you a place to share details about your video, it’s not a great place to share a full blog post.  Check out this description from Nancy Taylor of Beyond Teaching Online. She gives a brief teaser of the video and clickable timestamps so you can jump to specific points in the video (not required for beginners), but there’s no written summary. [See show notes at https://sidehustleteachers.com/dont-have-a-website] Similarly, with a podcast, your podcast host will typically provide you with a “website” to host your podcast on. You can typically use these pages to share a full blog post, sometimes called show notes, for your podcast, but because they don’t generally appear in search results, it’s not the same as having your own website.  However, not every podcast app allows for full show notes to be shown to listeners. Apple podcasts, for example, will only show a small excerpt or blurb about your episode, as shown here. [See show notes at https://sidehustleteachers.com/dont-have-a-website] For those who want to have a blog, it’s not quite as easy. A blog sort of requires a website. But if that’s not in the cards right now, there are some things you can do in the meantime.  And these can also be done with your podcast or video show. Linked In. Linked In publishing allows you to post 110,000 character blog posts on its platform. You can also link to those posts on social media and readers do not need to be members to read them. With Linked In you need to keep in mind the audience. As it’s a professional networking site, posts need to be appropriate for business professionals and generally should have a more formal tone. Third-Party Sites. Some websites, like Medium.com allow virtually anyone to post content on their site. You can share your blog posts there and direct people to your sub-page to engage.  Facebook. As social media channels go, Facebook is the best platform for posting long-form content, like a blog post, since it has a character limit of 63,206, which is far greater than the next closest network, Instagram, with 2,200 characters. Regardless of how you choose to share your content, you will need to actively promote it on social media and via email. Drop links on social to wherever your content is posted throughout the week to remind people about your new post, episode, or video, and be sure to email your list to notify them, too. Remember, you ultimately should own your own website and publish your content there. Other people’s websites, whether it be Linked In, Medium, or Facebook, aren’t yours and, to be perfectly frank, they don’t have your best interests at heart. Their goal is to keep people on their site and engaging, but not necessarily your content. That said, these options are far better than the alternative of NOT creating content at all. Your blog, podcast, or video show is the fastest way to grow your audience and authority, so it’s best to start getting it out to the world as soon as possible. Here’s what I recommend if you’re starting to create content without your own website: For each new piece of content you create - no matter the platform - open a new Google doc. In the doc include the title of your content and a brief blurb about it that you can share on social media. If your primary platform is a blog, use the document to write the draft. If your platform is a podcast or video show, use this space to outline your content and to draft your show notes or accompanying blog post. Your written portion should be at least 300 words. If you want to be a gold star student you can also use this document to craft your social media shares to use. File each of these documents in a folder so that, when you get your website, you can easily copy and paste everything in it. The bottom line is that, while sharing your content on your own website is best, getting started is the most important thing. People can’t find you if you don’t put yourself out there, so find a place and start hitting publish. Join me on Tuesday at 7:30 pm (EDT) in the Side Hustle Teachers Facebook Group for a LIVE recap, answers to your questions, and a live content review of The Contemporary Educator!

How to Create and Share Content Without a Website

In the world of online marketing, a call to action is a common term that gets used in many different ways. But what is a call to action, and how can you use one (or more) to grow your side hustle? Let’s dig in! What is a Call to Action A call to action, often called a CTA, is a line of text or an image that directs your audience to do something. It helps your readers, listeners, viewers, followers, or website visitors know what to do next once they engage with your content. It can be simple text that is linked to another page or website, a button, or just plain text that is not linked (and simply gives instructions of what to do). Common calls to action include “Buy Now” or “Learn More,” but there are literally countless ways that you can prompt people to take action on your content. Where to Use CTAs Your website. On different pages throughout your website you should have various calls to action directing people to where they should go next. On the Side Hustle Teachers website I have different calls to action on different pages. On the homepage options to “Learn More” about the education, and connection I offer, and to “Join the Group” for the Facebook community. On the Podcast and Blog page, the call to action is to engage with the content. Your content. Within your blog posts, podcast and video episodes (and the show notes), you want to give your audience calls to action that fit with the content. It might be a general call to action, like follow you on Instagram, or it could be more specific, like downloading a freebie related to the content. Landing pages. A landing page is typically a very simple page designed to capture email addresses in exchange for a freebie. When people land here it’s often because they’ve clicked on one of your calls to action somewhere else. Therefore, this page will usually contain a form submission and a call to action to download the freebie. Social media. Since engagement is the name of the game on social, every post you share on social media should contain a call to action. Whether you’re asking people to engage with your content, leave a comment, share a post, go to a page for a freebie, or click a link to buy from you. Email. When you send emails to your list each week you should include links to your weekly content and any other pertinent information.  How to Create Effective CTAs Use action words. When telling your audience what to do you have to tell them… you know… what to do. Use language that is clear and instructive so your audience doesn’t have to guess what to do or what’s going to happen when they do. Create urgency or FOMO. If there’s a limited time to get your freebie or special offer, include that in your call to action. If there’s no time limit, don’t try to create false urgency. No one likes a phony. Instead, try to create a fear of missing out on a community or lesson. Make it easy to see. Whether it’s through a contrasting color, larger text, white space, or word choice, make sure your call to action is noticeable and won’t be missed by skimmers. What Not to Do with CTAs There are 3 common mistakes people make with their calls to action: Not using CTAs. Oftentimes new content creators hesitate to add CTAs because they feel like it’s too bossy or spammy and it will annoy their audience. However, well thought out CTAs are considered helpful because they give people instructions for what to do next. They can choose to disregard the instructions or, if they enjoyed what you shared, they likely want to know what the next steps should be. Asking people to do too many things. Having too many different calls to action is overwhelming and confusing to your audience. When you ask people to do multiple things - follow you on social, share the post, subscribe to your email list, download a freebie, etc. - you reduce the chances of them taking any action at all.  Putting CTAs everywhere. Even if you have a single call to action, when your page is so full of buttons and links that it makes it visually confusing or difficult to engage with the content, it’s very off-putting. Provide your audience a few places to take action, but remember that your purpose is first to serve.    A final word: Like most other things in business (and life), calls to action take testing, testing, and more testing. Every audience is different so you just have to try various strategies and see what works and what doesn’t. Join me on Tuesday at 7:30 pm (EDT) in the Side Hustle Teachers Facebook Group for a LIVE recap, answers to your questions, and examples of great calls to action! A replay of the video will be posted below the Friday after the live. ↓↓↓

8 Ways to Use a Call to Action to Grow Your Side Hustle

What is a niche? My favorite definition: A niche market is a subset of a larger market defined by its unique needs, preferences, and identity. - Kitty Shark Creative It’s the thing you do, in the way you do it, and for whom. There’s also some confusion about how to say niche. Some people say it in a way that rhymes with rich, others like it rhymes with sheesh, both are correct. So however you say it, you’re good. For example, in teaching, we’re all specialists. I teach music, that’s my specialization. Even though I’m certified to teach Pre-K through 12th grade, I teach middle school music. And to narrow that down even further, my passion is general music. There are lots of ways to narrow down your niche, but let’s focus on the big 3: Services offered Clients demographics Geographic area Services Offered. By choosing to focus on a specific set of services, you are narrowing your customer base and becoming known for a particular skill set. I was driving behind a tree removal company’s truck recently, and on the back of the truck it read, “Specializing in difficult removals.” Does that mean that this company can’t handle regular tree pruning and chopping? Not at all. But you can bet I took a picture of the truck to show my neighbor who’s been worried about the tree towering over his house. Similarly, a virtual assistant could niche down in social media management, a bookkeeper could focus on payroll, or a dog trainer could narrow his business to security dogs only. Client Demographics. Many products or services can be used by an overwhelming percentage of the population. By focusing on a group of people with a specific set of characteristics you become known in that particular population. I know several people in the health and wellness industry and none of them are competing for customers with each other. One serves CrossFit enthusiasts, another helps the elderly stay fit with chair workouts, and another works with stay at home moms who can’t get to the gym…  Other examples might include a seller of essential oils who focuses on Gen Z customers, a tennis coach who only teaches players who want to play in competition, or a business coach who only works with teachers. Geographic Area. Not every business is limited by geography, but if yours is, it’s best to take note and use that “limitation” to benefit your business. Recently I noticed a bunch of for sale signs in a neighboring town from a real estate company I’d never heard of. It turns out that this agent had left a nation-wide real estate company to start his own that was entirely focused on ONE TOWN. Word spread like wildfire that if you want to sell in his town, he’s your man. While you don’t have to niche down to a single town, if your business is done in person, defining a geographic area in which you work is not only helpful, it’s necessary. So furniture flippers, in-person tutors, notary publics, home organizers, etc. be clear about the locations you serve. Realistically, you’re going to want to mix and match the characteristics you look for in order to achieve your perfect niche. Here are a few examples of businesses that use all three techniques for parsing out their niche.:  Lawn and garden maintenance service for people with 3+ acres of land in Westchester County. Makeup and lash application for brides within 30 miles of St. Paul, MN. Electrician for commercial new builds in Phoenix, AZ Why do you need to niche down? “My product/ service can help anyone. Why would I limit who I market to?” This is a common objection of those who are hesitant to niche down and focus on a specific way in which you can help a specific group of people. And it’s understandable. Choosing a niche feels counterintuitive at first. But let’s think of it this way.. If you have a migraine, you’re not going to go to the medicine cabinet and look for the medicine that says it cures everything. You’re going to reach for the bottle that says, “Starts kicking your migrain to the curb in 10 minutes.” Why? Because you know that medicine is going to solve the exact problem you have right now. Here’s another example: I don’t use a travel agent to book travel just because I can. I use one because I am a worst-case scenario person. And when I imagine getting stuck at some airport in the middle of nowhere with my utterly exhausted child, ready-to-snap husband, and lost luggage, I want to be able to pick up the phone and have someone else make it better while I go to the gift shop for a KitKat. Someone else will use a travel agent because they’re going to Disney for the first time in 25 years and it’s insanely intimidating to try to plan that trip yourself. Another wants to make sure they are swaddled in luxury every inch of the way, while another just wants the cheapest possible everything. By defining your niche, you're able to identify the kind of travel you want to specialize in, the people you want to work with, and how you work with them.  You’re also able to zero in on the language used in your niche, where your customers hang out, what their goals are, and what’s getting in their way. Then you can market, through free content or paid advertising, directly to your niche market. Can you imagine trying to create content that connected with all those different types of travelers? Haggard Mom doesn’t want to hear about traveling in luxury while she’s got Cheerios stuck in her hair. Mr. Cheap doesn’t want to know about Disney - that's too expensive - and you lost Luxury Lady with the word bargain. Instead of trying to speak to everyone - and no one listens - a niche lets you speak to a smaller group of people who really want to hear what you have to say. When people engage with your content you want them to think, “Has she been spying on me? This is exactly what I was looking for!” That’s how you attract people who want what you’re offering. When you’re clear on what you do and who you serve, you provide your audience the opportunity to self-select into or out of your world. You don’t have to chase them down or convince them to buy from you. AND there’s a lot less competition in a small, specific niche than there is in a big general one. As a side hustler, you don’t have time to try to reach everyone, everywhere. Focus on a problem you can solve for a specific group of people who share common characteristics, challenges, and goals, and you’ll get a much better return on your investment (of time or money). Ready to jump into your niche? Check out my brand new freebie, The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Topic for Your Blog, Podcast, or Video Show: Define your niche so you can confidently create content that will build your authority and attract your ideal customers! Join me on Tuesday at 7:30 pm (EDT) in the Side Hustle Teachers Facebook Group for a LIVE recap, answers to your questions, and the 5 steps to take to determine your niche!

Your Content Niche: What Is It and Why Is It Essential for Your Business?

Some people will say that asking how long your content should be is like asking, “How long is a piece of string?”  And while they’re not entirely wrong, they’re not entirely right either. So let’s start with the obvious question; Does size matter when it comes to content? Yes, it does. The length of your content is one of the major factors in how it is discovered and recommended by search engines, meaning it plays a big role in how you rank on sites like Google. Additionally, you want your audience to feel as though they’ve gotten their question answered, problem solved, or “how to” fully demonstrated when they come to you for support. On the other hand, you don’t want to make your content longer just for the sake of making it longer… Are you starting to see why this is a tricky question to answer? While there may not be a hard and fast rule, there are some things to consider when it comes to how long - or short - to make your blog posts, podcasts, or video episodes. Here are some things for you to think about: Google’s 300-Word Rule In order for Google to discover, read, and understand your post, it needs a minimum of 300 words. If you’re writing a blog post this should be fairly easy to manage.  However, if you’re a podcaster or YouTuber, you’re not off the hook. For many reasons, I highly recommend maintaining your own website and sharing your episodes there as well as on their native platforms. That means that your podcast show notes or video description would also need to be 300 words or more in order for the post to rank on Google. Note: Even if you’re not ready to build and maintain your own website yet, I suggest that you start writing out your 300+-word show notes and/or video description as you create your content. That way, when your website is up, your posts are ready to go and you don’t have to go back and rewatch or relisten to all your old content to create discoverable show notes. General Standards There are always people coming out with studies about how long your content should be… and many times the studies contradict each other, so take them with a grain of salt. Blog posts that are between 1,500 and 2,000 words perform best when searching on Google. Podcast episodes between 20-30 minutes are more likely to be listened to in their entirety. YouTube videos of 10-15 minutes have longer watch times. Industry Standards I’m not a big fan of doing things just because everyone else is doing them, but I am highly in favor of knowing what others are doing so I can make an informed decision. With that I invite you to do some research into what other content creators in your area of expertise are doing on your platform (blog, podcast, or video). Who are the “big names” in your field who use your platform?  How long is a typical piece of their content? Hint: if they have a popular posts widget or playlist, start there. Is there a general similarity in length between all these experts? If so, you may want to start with content that is  as long or longer than theirs.  You Do You Before you start mapping out your content, we have to  talk about another important factor in determining the length of your posts or episodes. YOU!  Some people naturally lean towards wordier stories, while others are naturally more brief. Neither is right or wrong, good or bad, but it can be difficult to go against your instincts, so you have to consider them when creating your content.  I, for example, prefer brevity in my own writing, so my blog posts rarely exceed 1,200 words. I’ve gotten messages from people telling me they love how I get to the point on my podcast and in my blog posts.  Others I know and admire can easily pop out a 2,500 word post without breaking a sweat, and they’re likely getting fan mail about their style, too.  There is no one way. And remember, finding your “just right” content length is going to take practice and trial and error. You may also find that some of your content just naturally works in a shorter format, while other kinds need more meat. Maybe for one of your content pillars you keep things short and sweet, and with others you dive deep. You’ll never really know until you give it all a try. Join me on Tuesday at 7:30 pm (EDT) in the Side Hustle Teachers Facebook Group for a LIVE recap, answers to your questions, and 3 essential mindset shifts you need to make to create great content! A replay of the video will be posted below the Friday after the live.

Does Size Matter: What’s the Right Length for Your Content?

Creating content for your blog, podcast, or video show takes time, energy, and mental bandwidth, but it’s totally worth it, right?  Yes! As long as your content is getting found and people are engaging with it. Oh. Yeah. About that. Getting discovered online is not as easy as it used to be. There are billions of websites up and running now - with more going live every day - and you can’t just hit publish and hope people stumble on it. Because they won’t. But don’t worry. If you are intentional about how you create and share your content your ideal customer group will find you. Before we get started let's clarify what we mean by engagement.  For today’s purposes engagement refers to how people interact with your content. If you write a blog post, people engage by reading it. For a podcast episode, by listening. And a video show, by watching.  But there are other types of engagement we can consider, too. If someone leaves a comment on your post, that’s engagement. If someone shares your content with another person, that’s engagement. Social media likes, shares, comments… all engagement. Engagement is important because, well, what’s the point of creating content if no one’s going to read it, listen to it, or watch it? But getting people’s attention can be tough. There’s a lot of competition out there, and it includes cats who make friends with llamas.  So how do you get more people to engage with your content? There are any number of things you can do, some of them stranger than others. But today I’m sharing 5 tried and true ways to increase engagement for your blog, podcast, or video show. Email Your Audience Someone who has already read your blog, listened to your podcast, or watched your video show and opted in to your email list is obviously someone who’s interested in what you have to say. But many new entrepreneurs make the mistake of assuming that those people will keep coming back on their own.  Not true. Life is busy.  I don’t know about you, but there are times I forget why I walked into a room only seconds before, nevermind remembering to go check someone’s website!  Email your list every week. Each week when you publish your new content send an email to your list letting them know so they can check it out. This will not only let them know to go to your site, but an email is also something that can be forwarded - people have definitely found Side Hustle Teachers that way! Continue to grow your email list. Make sure you’re collecting email addresses in ConvertKit (or whichever email provider you use) so that the list of people you email each week grows.  Connect with Other Creators No matter your platform or topic, there are others who do what you do (or something close to what you do), and building relationships with them is not only great for your bottom line, it can help you grow as a content creator and business owner, too. Find others who share your area of interest and/or audience. Get to know other creators in your space, and the peripheral spaces (i.e. graphic designers can get to know web designers) and you can support each other's efforts. Some ways you can start conversations: Leave comments on their content Engage with them on social media Attend summits or conventions Optimize your relationship so it’s beneficial to both of you. Bloggers, podcasters, and YouTubers can all benefit from building relationships. You can be a guest on each other’s sites, and link to each other within your posts. Optimize Your Content for Search Engines Search engines, like Google, have a massive impact on whether or not our content gets found. Literally the first thing people do when they want to learn about something is to Google it. So it’s important to craft your content with this in mind and help Google help you. Do your keyword research. When you know what people are searching for, you can create content that specifically addresses it. Use a tool like Keywords Everywhere to find out search volume, related search terms, and long-tail keywords so you can create content that will show up in searches. Optimize your back end. Once you know your keyword or phrase you need to include that exact word or phrase in your content, the url for the post, the image title and descriptions, and the meta description. A tool like Yoast keeps all this organized on WordPress sites. Link to your own content. When relevant, create links to other posts, podcasts, or videos you’ve created. This not only keeps people on your site longer, but it also builds your SEO authority. Pro Tip: Your SEO authority is also boosted when links to your site appear on other people’s sites (as mentioned above). Plan, Craft, and Distribute Great Content Weekly No amount of optimization or connection is going to help if you don’t create great content consistently, people won’t engage with it.  Put content creation on your calendar. In my house, if it’s not on the calendar it doesn’t get done. Because of this I actually block off time on my calendar to work on my weekly posts. I even make it a recurring appointment so I won’t forget when things get busy (like when report cards are due) or when my schedule changes (like during summer vacation). Create a system. Blogs, podcasts, and video shows have a lot of moving pieces, so it’s essential to have a system in place to make sure you take care of everything. In my courses I teach my students a 3-step process to plan, craft, and distribute their content. You can even create content in batches to save time and get ahead. Harness the Power of Social Media Let’s face it, social media is essential for businesses these days. On the plus side, it’s also an amazing tool that can help you reach more people, connect with your audience in a more authentic way, and increase your influence. Pick your platforms. Rather than trying to be on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tik Tok, and whatever else is out there, your energy is better spent focusing on 1-2 platforms where you can share your content.  Post and engage. While social media is great for spreading the word about your business, what it’s AMAZING for is connecting with people. It’s not enough to just share links and wait for people to share them. When you start to engage with the people who are commenting on your work, you can form relationships, which are of course, the basis of business. Save time by using a tool like CinchShare to post, and then use that time to respond to comments and connect with your audience. In the end, there are a number of ways to increase engagement for your content, however you produce it, and you want to try a few of them to see what works for you and your audience. An effective content marketing plan is going to include multiple channels so people can discover your content across the internet. Of course, you can always start with just one thing, like creating great content, then add pieces as you get more confident and build your systems. Join me on Tuesday at 7:30 pm (EDT) in the Side Hustle Teachers Facebook Group for a LIVE recap, answers to your questions, and my recommendation for which of these steps to follow, in which order, and why!

5 Ways to Increase Engagement on Your Blog, Podcast, or Video Show

Ideal Customer Avatar (ICA) is a phrase that’s been used in marketing seemingly forever. Sometimes it’s replaced with buyer persona, marketing persona, or customer profile, but it all comes down to one essential idea; Who is your perfect customer? There are a number of reasons it’s worth taking the time to clearly define who your product or service is for.  A clear definition of who you’re trying to sell to:  Helps you create content that speaks to people who are actually interested in your expertise.  Increases your email open rate because your subscribers know it’s going to contain value. Assists in product development by helping you create products or services your audience truly wants and needs. Makes your paid marketing more productive by allowing you to more effectively target. Allows you to create a more user friendly experience for your followers. However, recently I’ve been rethinking the idea of an ideal customer avatar.  What’s wrong with having an ICA? A customer avatar, when conceived as a single person, limits our ability to imagine our potential customers as a diverse group. Even more troubling, the avatar that most business owners create is typically a white, cisgendered, straight person, even when those qualities have nothing to do with what they’re selling. If we instead think of our clients and customers as a group, we’re better able to envision that group containing people of color and with different gender identities and sexual preferences, and therefore create a more inclusive company. It’s important to note, however, that trying to define an ideal customer group (ICG), rather than a single customer avatar, is not an excuse to get loosey goosey with your description and understanding of that group.  In fact, by eliminating some superfluous facts usually contained in an ICA description, you can hone in on the attributes of your ideal customer group that will really make a difference in your messaging. For example, some proponents of ICA deep dives suggest you should know your ICA so well that you know what brand of toothpaste they use, what size shoes they wear, and how much money they have saved up for their second-born child to attend college.  But unless you are selling dental health products, footwear, or 529 plans, that information probably won’t help you. What should you know about your ICG? This is where defining an ICG is a little tougher than an ICA.  You can do a Google search and get more than a million returns for defining your ICA. Many of them will provide you with questions to ask to get to know him or her, as well as suggestions for things you can do to make them more “real,” like download a picture and create a dossier about them. But when you’re trying to define a group, it’s not so easy.  Instead of answering questions about a single avatar, which will have only 1 answer, your answers might have ranges, and instead of answering every question, you’re looking for commonalities. Here are some questions you can ask yourself about your ICG in order to create a more complete picture. Don’t feel the need to answer all of them. Instead, focus on getting quality answers to the questions that are truly pertinent to your business. How old are they? What gender are they? What is their marital status? What do they do for a living? How much money do they make? What’s their level of education? Where do they live? What kind of home do they have? Do they have kids? What are the ages of their kids? Do they have pets? What kind? Where do they hang out (online or in-person)? What are their hobbies? What magazines or books do they read? What gurus do they follow? What kind of personality do they have? Are they an introvert or an extrovert? What are their values?  Let’s take a look at a couple of these questions and see how our answers might change when defining an ICG as opposed to an ICA. How old are they? When answering for a single ICA, there is only one right answer (32), but an ICG may have a range (31-41).  What gender are they? This may or may not be relevant to your business at all. If you work with busy moms, you can specify women, but if your business, like mine, isn’t gender specific, you can say it’s a mix, or just skip the question. You can also choose to dig more deeply into some questions. For example, at Side Hustle Teachers, the question, “What do they do for a living,” is very important. But I also like to go a little deeper, asking how long they’ve been teaching, what are their favorite and least favorite things about teaching, etc. Similarly, if you have a values-based business, like environmentally friendly cleaning products, you can choose those to ask more questions about that and examine that aspect of your ICG more thoroughly. That said, what you absolutely, 100%, no excuses, must know about your ICG are the answers to these 2 questions (in relation to your product or service): What are their pain points, challenges, or struggles? What are their desires, dreams, and goals? If you don’t know the answers to those 2 questions, you need to spend some more time getting clear on what you do and who it helps. Clarifying your ICG as you go As your business grows and you get more data, your ICG may change. As you engage with people, work with clients, get testimonials and reviews, and your products or services evolve, you can adjust your ICG. Once you start to have customers you can use the data you get from them to refine your description and messaging, and your business will grow exponentially. But don’t let the fact that you don’t have “real” data prevent you from getting started. Make assumptions and educated guesses where you don’t have data, do research when you can, and remember that, just like everything else in business (and in life), your first ICG may not be your only ICG.  And let me also remind you that establishing an ICG isn’t just to attract people who want to work with you, but also who you want to work with.  As a teacher you have the skills to work with pretty much anyone who walks through your classroom door. But in your business, you don’t have to do that. You can pick and choose who you want to work with. Use the characteristics of your favorite clients to help define and attract more like them. Be picky, my friend. Create an ICG who will be a joy to work with.

No More ICA: How to Define Your Ideal Customer Group

When content marketing is part of your business strategy, it’s important that you stay focused on the ideas, resources, and processes that are going to be most relevant (and helpful) to your audience. That’s also what will be most helpful in growing your influence and your revenue. What Are Content Pillars? Content pillars are the large, overarching categories that ALL of your content falls into. That means that every blog post you write, and every podcast or video episode you record fits into one (or more) of your content pillars. If your content pillars are related to the care, health, breeding, and training of rabbits, your primary content must fit one (or more) of those categories. Posts about magic tricks involving rabbits in hats wouldn’t make the cut. A quick tip: You’re still welcome to share your magic tricks or bunnies dressed as people on social media, so don’t despair. Why Are Content Pillars Essential? Content pillars do a number of things for your business, but the most important is that they keep you focused. You’ve got a lot of knowledge in that noggin of yours, and it’s often tempting to share that knowledge on your public platform, even if it’s only loosely related to your business goals. Here’s an example from my own experience: When I had my mom-lifestyle blog, I had 4 content pillars; Home & Organization, Kids & Parenting, Well Being, and Recipes. Those were all things my audience was looking for in my kind of blog.  After a while I was so excited by everything I was learning about blogging and business that I started writing posts about my blogging stats and starting a blog.  Nobody read them.  My audience didn’t care how many page views I was getting. They wanted something to do with their kid when they’re too tired to play pirate ships anymore. Even though the content I created was good, I had wasted all that time because I wasn’t focused on my content pillars. How To Identify Your Content Pillars To identify the right content pillars for your business start with a piece of paper. In the center of the piece of paper write what you sell and who you sell to. Then draw lines out to 4-6 bubbles. In each of the bubbles write one category. One way to think of this is like school. The center of the paper is the subject you teach, each of the bubbles is the big standards. For me, as a music teacher, music goes in the middle and my 4 bubbles would be Creating, Performing, Responding, and Connecting since those are the anchor standards for music. Pro Tip: The clearer you are on who you serve, the easier it will be to identify your content pillars. Examples of Content Pillars Real Estate Agent Serving a Small Metropolitan Area: City Highlights - Given that real estate agents are typically location bound, and the number 1 rule of real estate is “location, location, location,” part of their content strategy could be to promote the local area.  What’s Trending - Because agents work with buyers and sellers, this content pillar could highlight what people are looking for, reasons people give for their decisions to purchase or walk away, and other tips to help sellers get top dollar for their property. The Home Buying Process - On the other end, there are home buyers who need guidance on what to expect when buying a home in this area. From making an offer to signing on the dotted line, there’s a lot that goes into a house purchase, and informed buyers are happy buyers! After the Purchase - Once you’re a homeowner, lots of things pop up that you weren’t expecting. Keep your connection to clients going with helpful tips on home maintenance and repair, maybe even strike up a referral relationship with some local professionals. Direct Seller of Cooking Supplies Serving Moms of Young Kids: Recipes - At the end of the day, people buy cooking supplies so they can cook, right? Help them out, and show them how to use some of the tools, with handy recipes that even picky eaters will love. Meal Prepping Tips - Young kids = busy, tired mom. Provide realistic tips for how to prepare dinner while kids are napping, or portioning out snacks for the week during Sunday morning cartoons. Kitchen Organization & Storage - A mom with young kids likely has toys in every room of her house. Give some tips to keep the kitchen user friendly to make cooking easier and less stressful. Kid-Friendly Kitchen Activities - Give mom some guidance on how to safely introduce their kids to the kitchen, tools, and cooking.  Have you thought about your content pillars yet? If not, I highly suggest that you give it some thought before you create another piece of content. It can make a huge difference in your business. Join me on Tuesday at 7:30 pm (EDT) in the Side Hustle Teachers Facebook Group for a LIVE recap, answers to your questions, and_______________________! A replay of the video will be posted below the Friday after the live. ↓↓↓

Content Pillars: What Are They and How Do You Identify Them?

Buzzwords abound in every profession – “rigor,” “differentiation,” or “backward design.” anyone? – and content creation is no different. You may have heard people say you need to have both “evergreen” and “seasonal” content on your blog, podcast, or video channel, but what does that mean? Seasonal Content Blog posts, or podcast or video episodes, that are related to a specific holiday, event, or season. This kind of content will typically see a large influx of traffic when you post it, and then again when that season or day comes around again (if it does). Some examples of seasonal content would be posts or episodes related to: Back to school, Summer, or Baseball season Mother’s Day, Christmas, or Teacher Appreciation Day World Series, Google algorithm update, or a Global pandemic Seasonal content is useful to your business in that it provides an immediate influx of traffic, and it demonstrates to your audience that you are striving to provide relevant and current events. This can generate buzz and allow you to show up in searches while they are trending. Evergreen Content When posts or episodes are referred to as evergreen it means that they are not bound by any day, event, or season. It is equally useful in August as it is in February and it generates a steady flow of traffic to your blog, podcast, or video show.  It’s timeless. The benefit of evergreen content is that it is always relevant. That means that no matter when someone stumbles upon your content, they can learn and apply what you’re sharing. Also, because evergreen content is searched for all year long, it can have a positive long-term impact on your search engine optimization (SEO). And since content creation is a long-term strategy, this is a big plus. These types of posts and episodes aid in building authority month to month because it takes time to to rank in search engines. You can also build backlinks to this type of content more easily because you can promote it year-round and other content creators or curators may reference your work at any time. Another benefit of evergreen content is that it can be prepared and scheduled in advance. As a busy professional, there are many times throughout the year that you can’t spend the time to create quality content. But if you have some posts or episodes in the bank you can publish them any time life gets busy and it will still be relevant. Striking a Balance Creating content that is a mix of seasonal and evergreen is beneficial to virtually every business, however, in most cases, focusing the majority of your content on evergreen has the biggest return on investment.  Exceptions to this would be content creators focused on deals and coupons, seasonal events (like a sports channel), or hyperlocal publishers. There’s no perfect balance of evergreen to seasonal content. But a good place to start would be to create 1 seasonal piece per month, and the rest evergreen. You can then see how your audience reacts and adjust as necessary.

Evergreen vs Seasonal Content: What’s the Difference?

A show for teachers who are looking for ways to earn extra money and possible career options beyond the classroom.

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