In the 2020s…
Content is an entirely different beast.
Content doesn’t grow your business long-term if it’s just treated as a mechanism, a commodity to get you somewhere.
Content creation only works to exponentially grow your business when it’s treated like an ecosystem, and grown accordingly. 🌎
In today’s blog and video, I’m explaining and de-mystifying this.
Why You Need a Content Creation Ecosystem… and Why One-Shot Content Doesn’t Work
Is this you?
You publish…
- Two or three blogs
- A handful of emails
- One landing page
- A social media post or YouTube video
…and expect to see results from that amount of effort.
You think each of these pieces could potentially be your “one shot.” Your “viral hit.”
But in reality, you’re probably hearing crickets. 🦗
Sorry to tell you this, but you’re living in the OLD way of thinking about/doing content marketing.
You’re thinking about content as a mechanism, when really…
You should think of it as an ecosystem.
Don’t get me wrong – the one-shot approach can result in traffic or sales or clicks for a short amount of time.
But, eventually, you’ll flatline. Your shots in the dark will fade into nothing.
Then what?
If you want to build real momentum behind your business, if you want traffic and leads coming in on auto-pilot for the long-term, you need an ecosystem.
What Is a Content Creation Ecosystem?
A content creation ecosystem is a world of content you build on the foundation of your website. (Here at Content Hacker, I like to call this your content house.)
It’s not just a few pieces of content, either. It’s consistent content, published regularly. One piece on its own will advance your goals for the short term, but a whole interconnected web of content pieces will keep working together to advance your authority, grow your traffic, and convert leads over the long term.
Your website is the hub, the center where all roads lead. All of your content is either housed there or connects to it. That includes:
- Your blog posts
- Your social media posts
- Your podcasts
- Your emails
- Your sales pages
…And more. If it’s content, it needs to lead back to your website.
Why?
Why Your Website Should Be the Center of Your Content Creation Ecosystem
Because your website is real estate you own – no one else. You can build your platform there with the knowledge that no outside entity or boardroom of executives can one day pull the plug.
On the other hand, if you focus on building your platform on rented land, like Instagram or Facebook or YouTube or Medium, your growth and longevity remain at the whim of tech bigwigs and their fickle algorithms.
You can lose 10,000 followers in a day for no apparent reason. You can get shadowbanned. Your account can get hacked. You can get removed from these platforms altogether with little warning.
Your website, however?
You own it. Completely. It’s your home on the internet. Much like how an in-person business stakes out a brick-and-mortar location for their operations, you can stake out your own spot on the internet with your website.
It’s your virtual brick-and-mortar. It’s your content house.
How to Build a Content Creation Ecosystem (Your Content House)
How do you build a content creation ecosystem?
It’s not as difficult as it sounds.
Your ecosystem needs to be built on three main elements:
- Your website
- Your content
- Your skilled writer
With these in place, your brand can take off. Here’s how:
1. A Website (Your Platform)
Every single person who owns a business or runs a business needs an online platform. It’s just the way marketing works these days – it’s mostly done online.
As we’ve mentioned, the ideal online platform for ANY brand is a website.
If you don’t have one, you need to get one built – ASAP.
And it can’t just be any old website with your logo slapped at the top.
To get your pages ranking, to pull in traffic and convert them to leads, your website needs speed. Responsiveness. Good, UX-focused design. Keyword-optimized content and landing pages.
Since your website is your content ecosystem foundation, it MUST work well and look good.
Panicking about your messy site design and slow loading times right about now? We can help you get your site built with good UX, great design, and optimization for conversions and rankings. Talk to us today to get started with your custom website design.
2. Multiple Types of Content, Posted Regularly
Next up, to build your content creation ecosystem, you need to populate it with multiple content types regularly.
A good ecosystem doesn’t have just one or two pieces of each content type. It has a whole interconnected, sprawling web of content. 🕸
I’m talking about ALL the formats. You know the biggies: blogs, emails, sales pages, podcasts, etc.
Your ecosystem should be always growing and expanding. (The data on blogging frequency backs this up. For instance, consistently posting at least three times per week correlates with a huge traffic increase.) As this happens, your reach and authority expand, too.
Of course, you can’t expect to continually expand your content ecosystem on your own. Nobody can do it all. It’s a LOT of work.
You need help.
You need a writer.
3. A Skilled Writer Who Loves What They Do + Your Brand
Outsourcing your content creation is one of the best ways to free yourself from the content grind and build your ecosystem.
I’ll be the first to admit: It’s hard. It’s daunting. Especially if you’re starting from zero.
But it’s totally doable, as long as you have skilled help.
And yes, you DO need help.
For instance, you wouldn’t build your own house with your two hands – you would hire a builder. Because you know your house could COLLAPSE if a non-builder or novice builds it.
Writing is the same. If YOU write, it could actually set you back (read: your content falls flat), because of the nuanced audiences, delivery methods, platforms, etc. you need to understand for success.
Enter your writer. ✍
BUT – much like your website, not just any writer will do. Your writer needs some key traits/skills to be right for your brand. They should:
- LOVE to write
- Love to write for the BRAND they’re hired for (expertise fit, passion fit)
Once you find this writer, they can be trained on every single content format you need to produce.
Think of them like your Swiss army knife for content.
I have personally tested this in my business, and the results speak for themselves. 📈
Yep – I don’t write my content. I have dedicated writers who do that. They also write my emails, sales pages, and any other copy I need. I train them to write across formats – skillfully – and they do it all.
By the way, if you or your writer needs that kind of training, this course teaches you how to write for the top 11 content formats. And, my guide to the Art of Online Writing offers a free preview:
Your Incredible Content Creation Ecosystem Is Waiting
It’s true:
One piece of content does not make a content ecosystem.
One piece of content (or a couple of emails, or a single sales page or social media post) is not enough to grow your authority and skyrocket your traffic and leads for the long term.
These are shots in the dark. Pinpricks of light.
Instead, you need a revolving wheel of content that consistently spins and moves you forward. With each new piece published, your light grows brighter and steadier. The wheel keeps turning.
It grows over time. It’s all connected to your website, your content ecosystem.
And it’s all within reach…
Because I teach you exactly how to create a content ecosystem in my Content Transformation System.
This 12-month mentorship is ALL about learning to grow your business through a honed, well-oiled content strategy. You’ll learn not just how to create content, but how to build and oversee a content team to success.
If you’re ready to grow your brand through content, if you want 1:1 training and guidance on the path, this is your program. 👋
Apply today for your spot in the Content Transformation System.
