There is SO MUCH information on how to become a content creator, and the vast majority of it is, frankly, crap. All the advice seems to be geared towards people with infinite time and deep pockets.
We have a lot to get through, so I’m just going to crack on.
The first thing to do is:
1. Pick a platform
Actually, pick two. We want to cast a medium net.
I’ve learned over the past…way too long that me and short form content are not friends, so I always recommend starting a website and a YouTube channel.
I think consistency is a great goal but I have a full time job that also has exams that I have to study for outside of work so Instagram, TikTok and platforms of a similar ilk aren’t gonna work for me.
The biggest tip I can give you here is to post on the platforms you’re on the most.
Obviously I do use Tik Tok and Instagram (and Reddit and Facebook etc etc) but I’m almost exclusively a lurker on those channels and posting there is a chore so I only do it when the mood strikes. Posting is sporadic at best.
Also, in my experience, people are FAR more likely to follow you from long form content to short form. It doesn’t really work that well the other way around.
I don’t want to sway you away from what will work best for you, but also keep in mind repurposing content.
FOR EXAMPLE
I’m going to make a video of this article. When I have, it’ll be posted below. By writing this article, I have a ready made script.
CAROLINE, PUT THE VIDEO HERE WHEN IT’S DONE. THIS IS THE PERFECT SPOT FOR IT.
If I were to take up Tik Tok, I could make a series of videos out of the one article.
With Instagram, you could do a chunky carousel.
In short, pick two platforms that:
- You enjoy consuming content on
- That you can most easily cross post between
2. Plan your time
I love me a productivity guru on YouTube, but there’s an intrinsic problem with them.
The good ones get famous and start their own business.
Then they can create their own schedule.
There’s an AWESOME method for time management that I found out about from Ali Abdaal. Great guy, but living a VERY different life to the rest of us.
Anyway, the method is to plan out your default ‘perfect’ work week.
At the time, I appreciated the method, but I mentally bookmarked it as something that I could do when I had the time.
And here’s the issue: I may never have the time.
Also, and this is a secret, my perfect work week would consist of the same day, over and over:
Alas, this is not my reality.
So I entirely discounted doing the perfect week thing.
And then it hit me. An embarrassingly short amount of time ago. Ali probably even mentions it in the video.
You can still plan a perfect work day within the parameters of your current commitments:
Sure, this only amounts to three hours of writing time per week, but you can get loads done in three hours.
No naps, which is sad. I try to get in two on the weekends to make up.
There is a lot to discuss when it comes to carving out time to create your content. When I’ve written the article that goes into it WAY more deeply, I’ll link it somewhere. Probably in the heading. Who knows.
3. Choose what your content will be about
The general advice is to pick a niche so you can carve out a corner of the internet for yourself and become known for something.
You probs won’t know what your niche is straight away so you’ll need to consider two options:
Either keep your content cornerstones (that isn’t the right word, is it?),like your handle/domain name etc, quite vague – your own name or a cool name you make up is a good option.
Or plan to have multiple accounts.
It’s entirely up to you. There are pros and cons to both.
Things to keep in mind:
- Money can be made where there is a problem to fix
- The smaller your target audience, the easier it is to hit.
I’m not trying to be profound! I swear! It’s just one of those things about marketing. You don’t go trying to sell to everyone – you need to make an avatar of the ideal person for your product and try to learn where they’re hanging out.
You know that episode of Friends where Ross sells loads of cookies to stoned students? That’s the kind of (forgive me) synergy we’re looking for.
4. Make a content plan
I like to start any new website with a full content plan which I create using the following steps:
- Divide your chosen topic into categories – 3 – 5 is good to start with. This can be within a niche or just some random things you want to discuss
- Make a list of all the pieces of content you want to make – you need to make sure you cover your topic thoroughly. Ask yourself: if someone came to my platform looking for information on {niche}, would it be on my website?
- Now organise your articles/videos/pieces of content. Ask yourself: if someone came to my platform looking for information on {niche}, would they be able to find it?
This is SO important. Mostly for you in the future. It makes looking for content gaps much easier and, crucially, allows you to interlink each piece of content without driving yourself mad.
If you want more information on this, I really liked this video from Jaren Bauman on the topic.
This is not going automatically going to rank your website or increase traffic. But it’s one of those things you’ll regret not doing when you’ve got tonnes of posts.
I have no evidence for this other than…please just trust me.
If you’re starting a platform that lends itself to it, then consider making a list of posts that can apply to several different, er, items.
FOR EXAMPLE, if you write about tropical fish, then compile a list of posts that you can replicate for each species of fish. If you want to review products, come up with a list of posts that can write about each product.
So, you could write a long, in depth article on how to keep neon tetras. Then you can do separate posts on how to set up a habitat, what to feed, etc etc, etc.
I know this bit is boring but it is SO IMPORTANT.
6. Start your platforms
This varies depending on what platforms you pick, but there’s no reason you can’t do both in a day.
Websites are the most tedious, but I can confidently say that if technically challenged I can do it, you definitely can.
If you want to start a website but can’t afford a domain and hosting, start a Substack. I started on wordpress.com and it is was FINE. You can learn how to use wordpress – even write your first articles on a free website and then copy and paste them to your own domain later.
Come up with branding but do NOT waste too much time on it.
Pick a couple of fonts you like and pick a colour palette (search ‘colour palette’ on Pinterest – I keep the hex codes in Google Keep). Design a logo and a header image. I don’t even have a header for this website – it’s just my name typed into the box. DON’T get sucked into spending hours on this. They are SO EASY to change and so few people will actually give a crap.
I use Canva. I pay for the premium because it saves me the step of going to Unsplash to get images, but the free one is plenty for most people – I’m paying for convenience, not capability.
If you’re starting a website use Generatepress. I’ve tried many, many themes over the years and Generatepress is BY FAR the easiest. The free version is fine unless you’re a web designer.
5. Make 13 contents
One of the things I wish I’d had when I first starting in the content creation biz was someone to tell me what to do.
(btw, you know when you start a business and you have to visualise the EXACT person that you’re building the business for? Mine is me back when I was like, wow, I sure wish I could make money by writing.)
So, past me, write thirteen contents.
(I’m not writing ‘pieces of content’ when contents is FINE)
Why thirteen?
Well, I’m gonna tell you, but you will think I’m crazy.
Nine is a nice number. Nice and square.
But then if you’re gonna do nine, why not ten?
Ten is NOT a nice number. It’s not square. I can’t even believe it’s an even number.
Eleven is, I think you’ll agree, a ridiculous number.
Twelve is perfect. PERFECT.
So I made a list of twelve articles that I thought would best set off this venture. But I forgot the first one, which covers the points of the following twelve.
And then I thought, I’d better scrap one because thirteen is unlucky but then I realised that if Taylor Swift is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
So yeah, that’s why I’m making thirteen contents first.
You’re making thirteen because I told you to.
If you want to different that’s fine, but you won’t because you’re me from 2012.
- Plan them first
- Interlink them
- add images – and all the meta data gumph that goes with it (I actually don’t ever do this but I’m going to start. Maybe).
- Don’t worry about consistency – you want a sprint start. Try to get your thirteen pieces of content out asap.
7. How to write an article
This is a whole thing in itself, so I’m just going to list a few tips:
- If you’re crap at writing, pretend you’re writing a YouTube script. Do speak-to-text if that’s easier.
- Organise your work to make it easy to follow. WordPress does a little diagram down the side to help you keep on track. Use H2 tages, H3 if you need to break down blocks further. H4 is rarely needed.
- Write for your intended audience. I cannot emphasise this enough. This means not caring about Google, word length, photos, meta tags, yada yada yada. All that stuff changes all the time for the purpose of keeping someone in a job. Write. For. Your. Audience.
- Keyword research is important, but build a foundation first. Write articles you probably won’t rank for. They will be long and will feel like a waste of time but it would be weird if they weren’t there. With my houseplant website I wrote loads of care guides for plants like Monstera that I will never rank for BUT they’re great for interlinking opportunities.
- Split out writing and planning/optimising. I create a bare template with all my images and H1/2s first. Sometimes I plan several articles at once. Then I do the actual writing separately. Doing both on the same day is weirdly tiring because it exercises different muscles.
8. How to film a YouTube video
I’ll go into setting up a channel in the main article, but it’s easy enough.
In terms of gear, I recommend using your phone and a tripod. A stack of books works but isn’t as portable. A microphone is nice but not necessary.
You know what is necessary?
PLAN. YOUR. VIDEO.
If you’re new to videos, do a talking head first.
Write out a script. Review it. Have you missed anything? Then put it in.
Read your script again. Would it benefit from b-roll? Titles? Make notes.
Come up with thumbnail and title that aren’t clickbaity but do exude a bit of gentle mystery.
Film your B-roll. Make it longer than you think you need.
Make your thumbnail.
Film your video. Don’t read from your script unless you can think of a cool way of doing it. Use a teleprompter if you’re rich/can macgyver it.
Use the front camera if it’s easier, but fight the urge to look at yourself – look at the lens. A post it with an arrow works well.
Watch the video. Be critical. Refilm it if necessary.
Upload to editing software (I use Da Vinci Resolve, but as long as you can trim clips and add titles any will do).
Remove the gaps and weird breaths (just me?)
Export.
Upload to YouTube.
Fill in the description box.
You’re done.
DO NOT wake up on a Saturday, decide to film on the fly, spew a load of garbled crap at a camera, edit it into something…ok, make a thumbnail from a screenshotted still and then be surprised when you get 40 views.
Spend 80% of your time PLANNING.
Trust me, past Caroline, you are not a natural at this.
9. Set up your systems
I love this stuff. It’s honestly my favourite part of content creation.
I’ve tried every productivity system going and have painstakingly set up and then totally forgotten about every single one.
My tech stack has been honed over little decades and this is where we ended up:
- Google sheets
- Google Keep
- An A5 notebook – I plan my weeks in this.
- An A4 notebook – I like to handwrite content plans and article outlines.
I’ve tried them all. Evernote, Notion, Obsidian, Goodnotes, bullet journals, Bear. Probably more.
I’m not saying they’re bad. They’re probably not. But for a planner to be effective you need to remember to use it and…I don’t.
I do plan on sharing my templates (suc as they are) at some point, but for now, just start a Google sheet to record your content plan. A column for the URL, the title, the description, and anything else you think will be useful.
I’m not a Pinterest guru by any stretch of the imagination but I do have a good system for keeping on top of my pin scheduler.
In terms of schedulers, I’ve tried some, but I’m yet to be wowed. But as I said, I don’t really like creating shortform content, so unless there’s a tool that makes the content for me (good content, not AI slop), I’m unlikely to wowed any time soon.
10. Create more content
This is where you need to do things like decide on how often you need to post.
If it’s shortform content, you need to be looking at posting something every week day. I’m not an expert on this, but try checking out out Modern Milly and Katie Steckly.
For those of us with longform content, I actually have Views on this.
I am a writer, I like to write. I am, however, lazy. So I write in sprints. I make a long list of all the articles I want write. Then I write them. 30 articles in a month is a good one. But I do have to go back and add links and stuff – which is fine because long form content is typically pretty evergreen.
I have no relationship with consistency when it comes to producing content OTHER THAN I consistently plan content. I’m always trying to move forward.
I do understand the theory behind consistency on YouTube – you need to get your reps in. However, you’re talking to someone who has over 100 videos on her channel and 90% of them are crap because I prioritised consistency over improving over time. I watched videos on what to do to succeed on YouTube and…didn’t do it.
So if you’re serious about Youtube, but have absolutely no natural talent for it *raises hand* you need to throw consistency out of the window. If you have a good idea for a video then it’s work filming it over and over until you get it right. Get all your reps in with the first few videos, even if that means only producing a few in a year.
11. So you’re a content creator, now what?
The good news is that you’re over the first hurdle – you actually have some content creation under your belt. And if you’re enjoying what you’re doing, just keep at it. But if you want to make a business you need to start thinking about two things:
- Starting an email list
- Creating a product to sell
Everyone says to start an email list from the very beginning, but I just want to clarify that there’s no point in setting up an email list (or making a product) if you don’t have views.
The idea of setting one up from the beginning is that should you accidentally go viral then you’re already all set to capture emails. Once you have the emails you a direct pipe to your audience’s inbox through which you can funnel your product.
Two things:
- It’s not 2012. No ones wants to give you their email in exchange for colouring pages or a printable PDF
- A lot of content creation noobs start selling too early. And I don’t mean too early in terms of time – if you have a good product, of course you must start selling asap – I mean that they’re so obsessed with creating sometihng- anything – to sell that they sell crap. No one buys the crap and they get disheartened and quit.
So don’t sit down and try to think of a product to sell. Our brains just don’t really work like that. Just try to be aware of any friction within your niche, and see if you can create something to ease it.
So how long until the money starts rolling in?
Excellent question!
Er.
Ok.
With my first websites I made about £50 in, ooo, about eight years.
So yeah.
I started another website in July 2019 and I was making £40 a day by the following July. A few months later I was bringing in three grand a month.
You will note that this happened in 2020. There were various, er, events that year that led to a rise in interest in houseplants.
I was lucky that I had a website primed for such an event. Ina Garten is right – be ready when the luck happens.
That would be a really nice way to round this content but, I wanted to end by mentioning a few traps that content creators can fall into:
Content creator time wasters
- Trying to stay motivated – it just has to become part of what you do.
- Trying out other platforms that are ‘easier’ – anyone remember when Newsbreak, Medium and Stumbleupon were the thing? Flipboard was everywhere last year.
- Sharing content too early – it just adds to the list of things you have to do after you’ve published an article. I don’t even THINK about sharing until I have 100 articles. Though I do make my images pin-sized on the off chance anyone lands on my website and wants to pin it. Also I have pins ready to go when/if I decide to hit up Pinterest.
One weird tip to bear in mind
Some people (a LOT of people) can’t scroll past a picture without clicking on it. So add links to all your pictures. But be whimsical about it! Don’t just send them to your sales page (luckily this isn’t a trap I’ve ever fallen into because I’ve never had a sales page). Send them a fun article you wrote! Or a fun article you just enjoy. This is a great option.
If you notice that none of my pictures link anywhere, it’s because you’re here WAY too early. It’s my fault, not yours. I’m not expecting anyone to read this article (and certainly not this much of it) for a good six months.