There’s Never Been a Better Time to Be a Business-Savvy Writer

One of the most annoying things to me is the way writing is devalued, both by those who can do it, and those who seek to purchase the fruits of a writer’s labor. Of course, that’s just the way of the marketplace, right?

Well, at this point, I’d say the “marketplace” is suffering a case of retardation. Most clients will still hugely devalue excellent content, while if you can write with the right business angle, you can clean up all on your own at this particular point in history.

It all goes back to something we started talking about last year—are you creating content to fill up space, or are you producing something that readers determine is a resource?

Aurora Brown wrote a great post last week about commoditized online content. “Content” has never been cheaper—even stuff that is pretty good by web standards. But it’s still largely worthless, especially to a new domain without existing authority.

You need to be producing resources that readers affirmatively love:

Thus, the key in producing effective content will depend on how many people like it and how quickly it spreads virally. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean grammatically perfect, incredible prose; it means meaty, focused writing with a point, opinion, purpose, and attitude that speaks to users and makes them ‘vote’ for or link to it. This also means the use of social media will become increasingly important to how well content does on the search engines.

Frankly, most bloggers are cranking out “commoditized content.” Even if beautifully written, it lacks an angle that engages the reader and provides something beyond the author’s opinion du jour.

Other bloggers have developed into link and Digg-baiting machines right before my eyes. And yet when I ask them what the business goal is, they draw a blank. How will that website make you money with all that newfound Google authority?

Andy Hagens is literally giving away the key to affiliate marketing via organic search over at his blog. I wonder if anyone is listening?

Some people have incredible business savvy, and are focused squarely on angles that make money. Other people are great at research and writing. If you’re one and not the other, find someone with the other skill set and partner up.

And if you’re both, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be building hugely-profitable affiliate websites, or building up a blog that promotes your small business. Who knows what things will look like next year in social media?

Don’t miss the boat.