If you're building a site with WordPress, there's one thing you'll definitely need: content. Unfortunately, content is hard. But it doesn't have to be. This session from WordCamp Toronto 2016 walks through the process of planning, producing, and promoting content. It's easy to follow and includes recommendations for a bunch of free tools.

1. Content Creator’s Toolbox
Andy McIlwain @ WordCamp Toronto 2016

2. @andymci
#WCTO16
#toolbox

3. Stop putting content
on a pedestal.

4. Let’s focus on the
process instead.

5. Seven P’s
• PREPARE your goals.
• PLAN your topics.
• PRODUCE your content.
• RE-PURPOSE your content for different channels.
• PROMOTE your content.
• PARTICIPATE in communities.
• PROVE that your goals are being met.

6. Prepare your goals. Reach & Discover
(Shared Content)
Teach & Learn
(Educational Content)
Sell & Decide
(Set Expectations)
Reach new audiences. Ride trends, break
news, write guest posts, be present in
different places so they can discover you.
Prove that you know your stuff by teaching.
Share useful information, solving problems,
and helping visitors learn.
Sell your visitors on the idea of becoming
customers, leads, or subscribers. Help them
decide by setting expectations about what
they’ll get in return.

7. Different perspective…
Sell by setting
expectations
Teach by solving
problems
Reach by being
present and
relevant
Further from center = less about you.

8. Create an
editorial calendar.
Topic Title Share Inform Convert Notes URL
Topic: What subject are we covering?
Title: What are we calling this thing?
Share: Is this top of funnel?
Inform: Is this mid-funnel?
Convert: Is this bottom-of-funnel?
Notes: What is this post about?
URL: What’s the published post URL?

9. Plan your topics.

10. A different perspective…
Sell by setting
expectations
Teach by solving
problems
Reach by being
present and
relevant
Further from center = less about you.

11. …guides planning.
Start with what
you know.
Think like a
teacher.
Repurpose,
promote,
participate.
But start with you.

12. Start with what you
know.
Topic Title Share Inform Convert Notes URL
Products X What we sell. /shop
Services X What we do. /services
Subscribe X Why sign up. /join
About Us X Who we are. /about
FAQs X Common Q&A. /faq

13. Think like a teacher. Content
• Strategy
• Development
• Promotion
Community
• Organizing
• Planning
• Managing
WordPress
• Themes
• Plugins
Brainstorm. How would you introduce an
absolute beginner to your subject?

14. Identify topics.
See what people are searching for.
Use your brainstormed topics as a starting point.
Search for more ideas in Google AdWords’
Keyword Planner.
Export the suggestions as CSV files.

15. Generate post
ideas.
Take topics from the Keyword Planner
suggestions and drop them in. Use
Ubersuggest, KeywordTool.io, Answer
The Public, and faqfox. These will give
you ideas of what to write about.
Export the suggestions as CSV files.

16. Validate and
prioritize your
posts.
Copy the keyword suggestions into the
spreadsheet workbook you created.
Review them. Eliminate the obviously
irrelevant ones. Highlight the good ones.

17. The structure…
Topic Title Share Inform Convert Notes URL
Products X What we sell. /shop
Services X What we do. /services
Subscribe X Why sign up. /join
About Us X Who we are. /about
FAQs X Common Q&A. /faq
How To… X Guides. /guides
Tools for… X Downloads. /tools
Thoughts on… X X Editorials. /blog
Twitter X Tweets @you
Facebook X Updates fb.com/you

18. The structure…
WordPress
WordPress
Themes
Free
WordPress
Themes
Free
WordPress
Themes for
business
Free
WordPress
themes for
artists
Premium
WordPress
Themes
premium
wordpress
themes for
photographers
premium
wordpress
themes for
authors
WordPress
Plugins
Best
WordPress
Plugins
Best
WordPress
plugins for
blogs
Best
WordPress
plugins for
nonprofits
Free
WordPress
Plugins
free wordpress
plugins for
photo gallery
free wordpress
plugins for
ecommerce
• Top: Longtail content that supports your
expertise in broad topic aspects.
• Middle: Aspects of the broad topic.
• Bottom: Broad topic you want to
demonstrate expertise for.

19. The structure…
WordPress
WordPress
Themes
Free
WordPress
Themes
Free
WordPress
Themes for
business
Free
WordPress
themes for
artists
Premium
WordPress
Themes
premium
wordpress
themes for
photographers
premium
wordpress
themes for
authors
WordPress
Plugins
Best
WordPress
Plugins
Best
WordPress
plugins for
blogs
Best
WordPress
plugins for
nonprofits
Free
WordPress
Plugins
free wordpress
plugins for
photo gallery
free wordpress
plugins for
ecommerce
• Top: Longtail content that supports your
expertise in broad topic aspects.
• Middle: Aspects of the broad topic.
• Bottom: Broad topic you want to
demonstrate expertise for.
Shared content endorses
your work & feeds traffic in

20. Produce your content.

21. Research first.
Who’s ranking for your topics?
Check Google. You’ll need to create
something better.

22. Research first.
What’s getting shared?
Use BuzzSumo to find out. Create
something better than that.

23. Find sources.
• Find credible data to cite in your work.
• Google Scholar
• Statista
• Zanran
• UNdata
• Census.gov (US)
• Data.gov (US)
• Statcan (Canada)

24. Outline your
draft.
Google Docs and Word Online are free,
run in your browser, and let you
collaborate with others (great for getting
feedback & editing).

25. Edit your work.
Hemingway Editor is a free app that runs
in the browser. (Paid desktop app
available.)

26. Create a
featured image.
You can do this in Google Slides or
PowerPoint Online.

27. Need more images?
Try these sources:
• Compfight (searches Flickr)
• Unsplash
• Creative Commons Search
• Foter
• Pexels
• Public Domain Archive
• Jay Mantri
…and many more! Just Google it.

28. Optimize your
images.
• Use these sites:
• CompressPNG
• CompressJPEG
• And this plugin:
• WP Smush

29. Add a call to
action.
All content needs a primary call to action,
an instruction that pushes people to do
something.
Ask for shares:
• AddThis, SumoMe
• Jetpack (sharing buttons)
Capture info, like emails:
• Ninja Forms
• Formidable

30. Re-purpose your content.

31. Create a presentation.
Presentation
Host a webinar
Export slides as
images, embed
in post
Stack slides for
image asset,
share on
Pinterest
Record
presentation for
video, share on
FB or YouTube
Publish audio
recording as
podcast on
Podbean
Using your written post as the outline, you
can do a lot with a presentation:
• Present at an event.
• Host a webinar.
• Export slides as images and embed them
in your post.
• Stack the slides vertically to create a
standalone image asset.
• Record the presentation as a video.
• Publish the audio recording as a podcast.

32. Create a
newsletter.
Curate your posts alongside content from
other sources and share it with your
subscribers.
Over time, you can identify engaged
readers and reach out 1:1.

33. Syndicate your posts.
Medium lets you add rel=“canonical” to
published stories, giving your content more
reach through the Medium network while
preserving SEO integrity of the original post.
Enabling Jetpack on your blog lets
WordPress.com users follow you, so your
posts appear in the WordPress.com Reader.

34. Promote your content.

35. Self-
promotion.
Start by promoting it yourself.
WordPress plugins:
• Jetpack Publicize
• Revive Old Posts
• CoSchedule
Other useful tools:
• Buffer

36. Outreach.
Find bloggers, influencers, existing sites
that are writing about your topic. The
more prominent the target, the more
impressive your content needs to be.
Find contacts:
• Submit.co
• Hey Press
• Help A Reporter Out
• BuzzSumo (freemium)
• SEMRush backlink analysis (freemium)

37. Advertise.
Content is a long-term play. If you want to
accelerate the exposure of your content, turn
to the almighty dollar.
Starting points:
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google AdWords
• BuySellAds
• Niche ad networks, e.g. Carbon

38. Participate in communities.

39. A.B.H.
Always Be Helpful

40. Twitter Chats
Weekly, hour-long conversations about a
defined topic. Also the backchannel for
events (e.g. #wcto16 or #wcto).
Use TweetChat for easier wrangling.

41. Facebook Groups
Go where the people are! Find Facebook
groups relevant to your topics. Lurk and
comment.

42. Slack Groups
Intended for private teams, but also widely
used for real-time conversation in different
communities. (Note: Mostly tech-oriented.)

43. Blog
Comments
Disqus is one of the most popular 3rd
party commenting platforms on the web.
Explore new places to comment.
• https://disqus.com/home/explore/
Comments on Medium become their own
standalone posts that can be shared or
reacted to.
• https://medium.com

44. Discussion
Forums
• Search for forums on Google using
“forums”, “community”, “message board”.

45. Prove that it’s working.

46. Analytics
Map metrics to your goals.
Shared Content
• Engagement (Likes/Retweets/Favourites)
• Clickthrough Rates (CTRs), Referral
Traffic
Informational Content
• Pageviews, Sessions
• Bounce Rates, Time On Page
Conversion Content
• Sales, Leads, Subscriptions

47. Understand
Your Audience
Trends (Google Analytics)
• Where are people coming from?
• What technology do they use?
In-Depth Analysis (Hotjar)
• Recorded visitor sessions
• Heatmaps
• Polls, Surveys
• 1:1 conversations

48. What tools
help?
• Google Analytics (+ Monster Insights)
• Teacup Analytics
• WordPress.com Stats (Jetpack plugin)
• Hotjar
• Quantcast Measure
• Leadin
• Typeform

49. It’s a repeating process.
Once a month or once a quarter, start over.

50. Rinse and repeat.
Prepare
goals
Plan topics
Produce
Re-purpose
Promote
Participate
Prove it’s
working
Revise goals
if needed
1. PREPARE your goals.
2. PLAN your topics.
3. PRODUCE your content.
4. RE-PURPOSE your content for different
channels.
5. PROMOTE your content.
6. PARTICIPATE in communities.
7. PROVE that your goals are being met.

51. andymci.com/toolbox
for the full writeup, links, slides and more.