| Because this is our 9th day together I feel like we can be a bit more real with each other. This is the email that is going to get some of you to throw up your arms and call me crazy. Some of you might even call me a lunatic but I have to be honest with you. I want you to keep something in mind when you read this email. Everything is a remix. What does that mean? You'll understand by the time you're through. The Cult of Originality There is a danger to starting a blog. The danger is that you start a blog to make money. Not just a little bit of money but a lot of money. Why is that a danger? It's a danger because you get so caught up in this idea of original content. Content that nobody has seen before or even thought about to write. Content so original that it makes you the one-stop shop for that content. The problem is that anybody can write original content but how often does it serve the purpose of the audience? WIIFM. What's. In. It. For. Me. That is what your audience is asking every time they visit your site. What's in it for them? Your super wonderful, original content might read well but does it provide your audience with anything? Do they leave a better person because of it? If every blog post that you write can't provide your reader with one tangible thing that they can leave with then what's in it for them? When bloggers keep this question in mind they often freeze up. They think, "hell I'm screwed because I don't have enough experience in this topic to write about it." Psh. My two most successful blogs are on health and personal finance. Before starting those two blogs the only things I knew about the subjects were that junk food was bad and that you should save more than you spend. Yet here I am. Proud owner of two blogs that do over 100,000 page views each month and make money on topics that I didn't know much about. How is this possible? The Skyscraper Technique. The Skyscraper Technique A couple years ago, SEO guru Brian Dean, wrote an awesome post detailing the Skyscraper Technique. The basic premise behind this technique is that you find a blog post that has done decently well in your niche and you write your own version that is much better. Usually, the only thing that is required is being able to do a bit more research. Everything is a remix. Time for an example. Let's say you are going to start a food blog and you know that Pinch of Yum is one of the top food blogs around. It's one of the top not only because of the cool pictures but they know what topics their audience is interested in. Instead of blindly writing about food hoping you find a topic that your audience loves, why not piggyback off of Pinch of Yum? How do you do that? - Head on over to Buzzsumo.
- Type in pinchofyum.com
- See what the top 3 blog posts are about
The first result that I see (your results may be different) is Healing Bowls with Turmeric Sweet Potatoes, Poached Eggs, and Lemon Dressing. Cool! Why don't I create my own healing bowl and write my own post with a couple of different changes? Even better if I can over the topic and do a whole giant meal using this recipe and other recipes. The goal is to understand what your audience wants to read and provide it for them. The goal isn't to copy other blogs. Some people use this technique maliciously and just copy blog posts changing a couple words around. Don't do that. I will be very mad at you if you do. What you're trying to do, especially at the beginning of your blog's life, is provide your audience with WIIFM posts. After some time you'll start to understand what really works with them and then you can write posts without referring to this technique. However, every single big blog post that I've ever written is because of this technique. If you can't write posts that address the urgent needs of your audience then you aren't going to attract anyone. Blogging isn't about you. It's about them. Does this mean you should never write your own ideas? Well first of all everything you write should be your own idea. Just because you remixed an idea doesn't mean it's not your own. Secondly, when an idea for a blog post pops up in your head and it gets you excited then run with it. In the Billionaire Blog Club, I talk about the Jungle Vine Technique and how you can use it to build from one blog post to the next. The Jungle Vine Technique Let's say you wrote a blog post on the Top 10 Running Shoes for People with Big Heads. In that post, you briefly mention that running technique plays a huge part in how your feet feel after running. It's only a paragraph because the post is supposed to be about the shoes. However, that's a topic you can dive into more so you should write a whole post about it. In that post, you talk a lot about posture and how sitting down all day at a desk can screw up your running form so you link to your other posts on yoga poses for runners to help them with their posture. In that post, you talk about the benefits of meditation so you link to your post on meditation. One post connects to the other. You're taking your reader on a journey and also practicing good SEO techniques. Tomorrow, we will cover Part II on content. It's a pretty big topic which makes sense considering it's the lifeblood of your blog. - Scrivs | 
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