Most people who I've seen that do content marketing aren't like me. They are creative types or sales people. They're good at telling compelling stories and paint beautiful pictures with words.

That is not me.

Most people see me as an computer plumber. I usually come in, build the foundation and guts of “the house”, and make things work better. My professional background is with computers programming, administration, and some systems design. I put things together that makes the business work. Someone else usually runs the business.

I even confused myself when I decided to create a blog about Internet Marketing . Most of my articles will probably be about the WordPress platform, plug-ins, themes, and autoresponders. This articles is about my process for writing those articles… Something I'm not at all comfortable with, but I've at least got a process.

This is how I was taught to write in school

• Start with an idea
• Create an outline
• Perform research (taking notes)
• Create a draft from notes
• Revise draft for intended audience

This is how I usually write today

• Start with an idea
• Jot down the major points or steps
• Fill out the major steps with details
• Add relatable background
• Remove as much jargon as possible

Writing with WordPress

• Create a post
• Jot down the major points I plan to including in the post
• Organize the points into sub-headings
• Fill out rough drafts of the sub-headings like independent, but related, mini-posts
• Of course… re-organize as needed
• Add categories and tags
• Assign or add a featured picture
• Create a graphic for social media (Did I mention that this really is like writing and editing a newspaper?)
• Save draft and walk away
• Return once head is cleared and edit
• Repeat until it looks like someone that knows what they are doing has fixed it

What I have started to learn

The main takeaway that I've made from doing this process a few times is that I start as soon as possible. Most of the best blogs tend to read like you're having a conversation with them. It just flows on the page like it's how they wrote it for the first time. That's because they went through this writing and editing several times before they post their articles. I'm sure there are a few that can just sit down and write it in a single setting like it's a template or form letter, but I seriously doubt that there are many.

I usually have several articles that I have drafts for at any one time. One of the best things that I've found is that saving your draft and walking away can be one of the best things that you can do to improve your writing. When you come back to it you will see your errors and ways to make it better every time you return.

In other words… Edit, Edit, then edit some more.