Your 2017 Content Excellence Challenge: The January Prompts

Your 2017 Content Excellence Challenge: The January Prompts

Reader Comments (15)

  1. Hey Sonia,

    Crafting the better headlines would be effective. Everyone should set some task to finish for a better output.

    I would go with writing the blog posts and the infographics. The prompts of creative and productivity are really needed.

    People need to get encouraged to develop their skills.
    Thanks for sharing with us.

    ~Ravi

  2. I love this idea of monthly prompts. It will really help me with my writing. My only concern is: I’m not notified when these posts are published, and I don’t see a way to subscribe anywhere. Is there a way to be notified when you publish the next month’s prompts? Thanks for creating this challenge Sonia!

    • I think, Annaliese, if you “Join the free training” block above, you will receive updates. I also drop Copyblogger’s feed in a feedly board so I don’t miss a post. Hope that helps.

  3. Thanks for the challenge, Sonia. I brainstormed ideas for upcoming posts yesterday, but I agree that choosing the headlines can help me create a more focused plan. Since my site is fairly new, having a long list of headlines will keep me moving in the right direction.

    • Great! I do think you’ll find it’s a great blessing to have a stack of headlines handy when it’s time to sit down at your keyboard and get some content created.

      Also be sure you’re following Brian’s posts on content strategy, because that will spark lots of ideas you can add to that headline stack …

  4. Thanks for the prompts, Sonia. Question. I know there is no “right way” to do this. However, when writing the 20-30 headlines, am I seeking major changes?

    Sometimes I find it is only a slight tweak, replacing one word or a rearrangement of the sequence of words. Other times it is pretty much a whole new headline.

    In your experience, are both productive on the journey to find the killer headline?

    • You’re right — it’s often that one-word tweak that makes a massive difference. So yes, I think it counts. πŸ™‚

      When I do this exercise, I often end up with a bunch of different approaches, and then a few tweaks or shifts on individual attempts.

      • Great. That is exactly what is happening. Definitely, doing them “en masse” has generated some interesting leaps to ideas I never would have thought of otherwise.

  5. Hi Sonia,
    I agree with you about the headlines & being creative as well as productive.
    The thing I liked most, “Make this decision relatively early in the day. Before lunch is a good time.” I want to add that we should write a whole article at a single time. It makes a great copy because I’ve personally tried that.
    I’ll definitely work on infographics too. It seems better to boost the content share.
    Thanks for nice article.
    Best regards,
    Ankit

  6. Well at first i was skeptical about following this platform on getting grounded in content creation but i said to myself; “just stick around, that won’t hurt”. I did, now i stuck here. I am very pleased with the different lectures that i have received especially from you Ms Sonia. I am grateful, as an advertiser on the INTERNET, i have gained a great deal and now my contents are more catchy, precise, sometimes simple but strong in drawing attention.. And yes i am going to take up the challenge. Thank you very much!!!

  7. I am excited about this challenge! This is a great exercise for me to apply to my live streaming content which supports my written content.

    I listened to your podcast about the challenge and came straight over to get the additional info and to let you know to count me in!

    I started writing headlines in an Evernote notebook a few months ago and have continued the habit of writing down new headlines some of which have been added to my content calendar and have become Live videos.

    Now I can go and re-work those headlines to make them stronger with all the tips & resources you left here. Nice!

  8. I started the Content Challenge warm-up last month, and I am thrilled with this new installation.

    I find it difficult to write headlines first. But, after reading Brian’s article you linked to, it makes perfect sense. Without the promise to keep trying to fulfill, the content I write can tend to become fluffy and not direct. I’ll be taking this challenge and crafting headlines first from now on.

    Also, I listened or read something you wrote awhile ago about using index cards to capture ideas and then transferring them to a more permanent location. I think that tool would be a great strategy to employ in this challenge.

  9. Good challenge.

    I’m in.

    I’ve been focusing on scheduling the creative work first thing in the morning and it really does work better. I’ve also found that writing out my three most important goals for the week and then daily (the night before) in my journal really works.

    Thanks.

  10. Great! I haven’t had a lot of time lately, but headlines are something I desperately need to work on.

    I mean, they look okay when they come out on paper. But when you consider the fact that it might have taken me HOURS to write a headline, well…

    I sat there and watched my editor crank out 20 ridiculously awesome headlines in the time that it take me to do, I don’t know, five?

    But I’m sure we’ve all been there. πŸ˜‰

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