How To Write Online

So much of my success in business, relationships, and life has come as a result of publishing my writing on the internet.

In my view, there are 3 different strategies you can use for effective online writing.

In this week’s issue, I will break down these 3 strategies, tell you why they work, and teach you how to execute on them.

LFG.

1. Write As A Conversation

Fred Wilson recently published a post called “Writing Online Is A Conversation.” If you’re thinking about becoming an online writer, I highly recommend you read this post and take it seriously.

The concept behind conversational writing is that you are not publishing polished ideas or work. Rather, you’re engaging in an online conversation. Think of it as an online journal.

This is what we see in the writing of Seth Godin or Peter Zeihan.

What holds most of you back is the idea that you need to be polished or professional in your writing. Have you ever written something and not shared it with the world simply because you thought it wasn’t good enough?

It happens all the time, but the beauty of conversational writing is that being rough and “off the cuff” is exactly the point. You simply write like you talk and invite others to join.

When you share your ideas with the world, good things happen.

Note* – For what it’s worth, my “conversational writing” on Sober Nation is how I met my wife. So I can attest first hand how valuable this is.

2. Write For Inbound Search

Although conversational writing has created the most value in my life, “SEO writing” (or writing with the intent of generating inbound search traffic) has made me the most money.

To write in this way, you do need to be more polished in your writing. You need to publish long form, written pieces that are informative, accurate, valuable and entertaining.

This is the kind of writing I do for Stodzy and for Copyblogger.

What’s great about SEO is that you don’t need to generate a lot of traffic in order for the traffic to generate revenue.

For instance, on my Stodzy Internet Marketing website, I only generate between 50 – 100 hits a day, but the site itself generates millions in revenue because of how specific it is.

For example, I rank #1 for the keyword “drug rehab marketing.” Because of how specific that search query is, I’m only ever going to generate traffic from people who are specifically looking for (you guessed it) a drug rehab marketing company.

Over the course of the last 10 years, that page alone has generated millions.

I also rank in the top 5 for multiple healthcare marketing type keywords, such as drug rehab seo, mental health marketing, ketamine marketing, paid search for drug rehabs, and more.

Now look, SEO is not as easy as it seems. It takes a lot of work and you have to be methodical.

But if you stick with it, and you’re extremely intentional about the content you create and the type of traffic you want to attract, it can change your life.

3. Curated Writing

I absolutely recommend starting with a curated newsletter if you want to be involved in a specific industry or explore a business idea.

First, what is curation?

Curation means collecting various articles, videos, and resources, then organizing them into an easy-to-read piece of content. (This is a non Websters definition, clearly).

For extra points, you can add your personal insight to the information that you’ve compiled. However, to get started, it’s perfectly valid to simply create a newsletter of bullet points, links, and short summaries. This makes it easy for people to stay informed about whatever the subject matter is.

Next, why should you start with a curated newsletter?

• The act of curating is, within itself, a way to become an authority in an industry.

• Curating is much easier and less mentally taxing than creating original content.

• People enjoy curated newsletters because they create a centralized place to learn about all the recent events of an industry.

Let’s see some examples.

• The Census: This is a recent project that we launched. It’s a weekly curated newsletter that provides news and recent events for the behavioral health industry.

• Austin Kleon’s 10 Things: Austin Kleon curates and gives insight to whatever it is he experienced over the course of the week.

• Morning Brew: Yes, this is a curated newsletter which centralizes all the recent tech news and compiles it into one place.

Currently, I see insane opportunity to create a newsletter in the spaces of esports, gaming, space, (as in outer space) climate tech, stem cells, Southeast Asia, hormone therapy, South America, and local media.

How To Get Started

Writing online is simple, but it’s not easy.

Here’s what happens.

First, you create a Substack or a LinkedIn account. You post online for 4 days and then all the sudden you run out of ideas. So you start thinking that you have nothing good to say and you quit.

Please don’t do this. Remember, you are going to publish a lot of bad writing before you start to publish good writing. Trust the process.

To build up any kind of following, you should expect to write online without any recognition for at least a year.

However, if you’re willing to stick it out and you’re willing to delay gratification, I can promise you that your habit of consistent online writing will be the best investment you ever make in yourself.

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