And having a constant inspiration for all this… The struggle is real.

Being unique and innovative in creating and managing content feels like finding the right piece of a very complicated puzzle. Content creation is the process that requires dedication, good strategy, and organization whether you are a marketing team leader or a writer yourself. Maintaining a unique voice for your brand or yourself as a writer, embracing the latest content standards is a challenging thing to do.

How to get things and content (well) done?

Let’s keep our eyes on the main goal — having well-written content and keeping a content writer motivated.





Strategy — doesn’t sound motivational at first, but...





Let’s remind ourselves that having a strategy and good organization is a must. But, don’t organize everything too much like you’re having some kind of OCD. Too much pressure is a motivation-killer. If you are a team guide, a lead or the boss, tighten the ropes, but not too much.

Give some freedom to the content writer, therefore he’ll have the more comfortable working environment and will deal with less stress and pressure on his mind. Still, maintain a clear content strategy by focusing on your main goals and deadlines. Let’s say finding a proper balance is the recipe for success.





A sense of importance





A sense of project-ownership could also serve as a powerful source of motivation. Having the content writer involved in the decision-making process and allowing him to present fresh ideas could make the writer feel more empowered and appreciated. Being a part of something big or being a big part of something can really boost motivation.





Want motivation - speak motivation





One of the best ways to keep the content writers motivated is to perform some kind of a motivational speech for them, from time to time. Hey, don’t be a cheapskate - indicate on the great work that writers do. Let them know you admire them, their talent, make sure they know why they are the valuable link in your chain.

Anyway, who doesn’t like compliments and being appreciated?





Challenging tasks and mind-tricks

From time to time, anyone can find his job boring by doing the same thing over and over again. People like to test their abilities and push the boundaries by embracing new challenges.

To motivate a content writer you could suggest some more complicated and challenging tasks. Or even better, spice it up with the reverse psychology by slightly indicating the complexity of the task. For example, you can say something like this: ’’I am not sure about this one, if you can do it, it is a bit complicated’’. But, don’t ever be harsh and directly say to the content writer ‘’You can’t do it’’, otherwise his role makes no sense.





Let them be in the spotlight





Visiting some multiple-author blogs and seeing that everyone writes and declares just as an ‘’author’’ feels a bit cringey. If you want your content writers to stay motivated, give them the credit they deserve. You’ll make them feel proud of themselves, so, let them shine bright! Being transparent is trustworthy for you as well it is for them. You will get your readers’ trust and affection by letting them know who is the person behind the curtains.





Create an interesting schedule





It isn’t hard to find creative tools and apps for making your schedule. Why bother? Well, it’s a powerful psychological moment where the things we find visually appealing and beautiful grab our attention. Ideally, amongst those ‘’moments’’ is your working schedule. No matter how passionate you are about your job, let’s be honest out here - plans, tasks and deadlines can give us a headache. Well, make them look prettier, at least! Otherwise, we risk getting that same feeling of frustration and boredom, even while doing what we love.





Use a proper CMS solution





CMS could be a relief for writers or pain in their neck. Writers like to write, and the more steps there are in writing and publishing a post, the more frustrating they get. Choosing a proper CMS makes the whole workflow better as writers feel more comfortable in doing what they do best. Headless CMS is also a great solution, because of its content-first approach. Content writers, developers (the whole team) can simultaneously work on the project the way they want, which is agile and less time-consuming process. Everybody likes shortcuts, right?





By the way, if you’re a CMS fan, we might have a great solution for you - it’s called EUSI. Check it out and see why Eusi RESTful API makes your content easy to deliver and manage across all platforms.





Change your mindset before going Headless





Now, when you’re aware of Headless CMS benefits, you need to change your mindset to use its full potential. The point is - you need to think of a content-first approach and what you want to say and leave the presentation for a bit later. First, you should start with a strategy. Determine who is your audience, what content do your customers ‘’need’’ for making them choose you, which channels you want to communicate through, etc.





Once you have the strategy, you start by creating content, then create the presentation layer for the same content on any channel you want.





Artificial Intelligence - The Future Is Now





As artificial intelligence and machine learning evolve, it's obvious that content management is going to play a role in that. Why? Well, we know that humans are not that skillful at organizing massive volumes of data. AI comes as a great solution since machine learning algorithms actually work better with more data. This will fundamentally change how we manage content and that’s not a bad thing at all.





Allow technology to be the backbone of making your content robust. With AI, you can reduce the repeating of time-consuming tasks that stretch over lots of data, or automate them to follow a logical roadmap. Humans will still create amazing content, including the emotional storytelling and social insights.





And Now, Content Writers, This One Is For You

Let’s jump straight to the point - how to be a good content writer ( read between the lines - how to write like a pro).





From Your Inner Peace to Writing a Masterpiece

If your mind is not at peace, you can’t completely focus on your goal, you don’t see the bigger picture, and your head is about to explode.





If you feel like you have the “writer’s block” and you don’t feel productive, take a deep breath and give yourself some space - sometimes literally. Take a break, go for a walk, change your environment, you’ll be surprised with how this affects productivity. Just move aside things on your mind that bother you and deal with them later.





Let this be your practice before you start doing anything - “Note to self: I can do it!”.

Even if you fail at times, you’ll keep your head cool and have the patience to do the next thing better.





Do the research, then do your magic





Whether you are a major expert on your subject matter, or you don’t have that much of a domain knowledge, research is a must.





Actually, research is a half-way through because you will check your knowledge and get more facts about some topic. You’ll have some fresh ideas and inspiration to produce quality content. Needless to say, you need to know who your readers are, in order to match your writing with your reader’s interests and literacy level.





To sum up, don’t forget to do your homework - it’s gonna be your name on it!





Serve it when it’s cold





If you decide to make some food - make it tasty and serve it warm, but if you want to serve a well-written content, do not rush, do your editing and serve it cold. Let’s keep it that way.





First, work on your organization to respect the deadlines for writing your content (and to enjoy other things in your life because balance is the key).

After that, give yourself some time and go through your content several times, edit and modify something if needed, and when you get that “This is it!” feeling, then you can proudly show-off like a peacock.





Jokes aside, build your reputation with the quality of your written content and with both feet on the ground. That’s the best recipe for a long-term success.





For the end, here’s some extra advice:





If you really don’t feel productive no matter what - do nothing!

Things are not gonna get any better if you force them.

Give yourself some time (not too much, you still have some work to do).





Another thing, make peace with not knowing everything, you’re just human.