The Simplest Way to Create Unique Content
This is a guest post from @ChrisGuthrie from Make Money on the Internet.
If you’ve ever heard the phrase “Content is King” before, then you should know by now that the quality of the writing on your blog, website, ebook etc. is important.
Duh right?
In fact, you’ve probably heard it so often you almost hit the back button on your browser, but before you slam your head through your monitor or do something else drastic I suggest you hear me out. Instead I’d like to suggest the simplest way to write content that is both unique and worthy of being called king – case studies.
Why Case Studies?
In almost every niche on the web, readers can appreciate a good case study or in depth analysis on a subject because they’re designed to tell a story based on fact. They aren’t filled with regurgitated ideas based on someone’s feelings about a topic (like most of the blogs that clutter the web). Instead, case studies are a factual representation of a real life event.
On my own blog, for example, I wrote a post about earning $41,438.42 with Amazon Associates. Sure enough, that blog post has been one of the most popular posts every month because it’s based on data I collected over an entire year of trying various ideas to make the most money on Amazon. This is the same reason why I enjoy reading Pat’s blog. Most of his posts are based on actual experience that document how he earns an income online or teach lessons based on experience like how to earn money creating iPhone apps, for example.
Case studies can be very interesting and eye opening for readers because you can share information in a way so that people learn a lot about a topic they knew nothing about or were unable to find enough information on elsewhere around the web. The fact that you’re sharing a case study based on your own real life experiences already makes it a story they can’t get anywhere else and they can also do wonders for your credibility. If you claim you’re a Social Media Guru (just saying that makes me want to throw up) then show me who you are. What specifically have you done for your blog or a client that improved their ROI, number of Facebook fans Likes, Twitter followers etc., and how did you do it?
If you spend some time putting together a unique story based on facts from your own personal experiences, you’ll reap the benefits of grateful readers and improved credibility.
Chris is the owner of Make Money on the Internet where he shares the successes and failures that come from being a full time internet entrepreneur.
Pat Chiming In:
Hey – this is Pat just putting in a word after Chris’ post about just how important case studies are for the success of your blog or articles. Case studies BY FAR have been the most successful types of blog posts that I’ve written here on SPI. My monthly reports, keyword research experiments and Facebook studies (just to name a few) are all top traffic and comment generating posts. And the cool thing is…they’re really easy to write, since most of the information is factual or data that you’d already have in hand.
Can you think of any case studies you can do for your blog? If you don’t have any real life events or experiments to blog about, it’s about time you make ‘em happen for yourself.
Cheers!
Posted on : June 2nd, 2010
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42 Comments (Click Here to Leave a Comment Below)
Wow great post Chris Guthrie I can tell you are a genius and I should read your blog. (jokes)
Glad to hear you echo my passion for case studies though Pat. I knew you loved to cover them on your blog but it’s further evidence and fuel for the fire to hear they contribute to most of your traffic as well. I’ve found this to be the case in the blogs I run in completely unrelated niches as well so I don’t think it’s something only related to business / internet marketing blogs. I believe there’s just something special about a story that’s based on personal experience and/or hard data.
Wow, you must be one of Chris’s biggest fans!
Hey Chris,
Wow great post Chris Guthrie I can tell you are a genius and I should read your blog. (not a joke.. LOL
)
I think case study really works great, through i tried in past. Case Study are simply awesome. !!
Thanks for the kick buddy. I’m defiantly going to do a case study.
Thanks for sharing this awesome Post man.
lol thanks for playing along with my little joke. I work by myself in my office all day and rarely get out so I come up with odd ways to entertain myself lol…
Yes in almost every niche there is a potential to use case studies and I highly suggest you try it out.
I always see John Thornhill showing a case study on his blog. Case study is really important if you want to build your credibility online. You helped someone, and when he was able to achieve his goal because of you, you post it in your website to inspire others. Now, a lot of people are lining up to have your service because they know that it can be done.
Nice post Chris!
Regards,
Gary
Lots of bloggers and others in the “How to Make Money” business talk about their background in very broad terms or in an idealized way that doesn’t share the complications and hard work put into their enterprise. Case studies, when done well, can establish a bond with the reader because we can all relate to overcoming struggle to achieve an end. This is why I like Pat’s blog so much, he is very specific about what he does and how it makes him money and he allows a personal connection through his blog.
Yes I would agree with your first statement and the reason why people in the business say that is so that they can turn around and sell you the next new product that (if purchased) will bring you riches for nothing. That being said I’ll occasionally mention products on my blog but only stuff I actually use so in that way I like to think I’m somewhat similar to Pat’s style.
Brilliant, Chris.
The days of producing regurgitated content are fading away a bit….which is why blogs like Pats, and yours, are so refreshing. People connect with, and the stories resonate more, when they really ‘humanize’ the blogger, and show readers that it really is possible to do what they do. In an online world filled with people producing crappy products/reports/course, just to make a quick buck and not really foster a relationship, the bloggers who DO do those things are definitely standing out from the crowd.
Thanks for the post, man.
Thanks Howie. Yah, I know that type of content doesn’t work because from 2007 to mid 2009 I was one of those types of bloggers. I quit my blog when I wasn’t going anywhere and focused on other niches. Then once I started making a full time income and ended up getting fired from my job in October 09 I decided I’d come back to the niche in early 2010 and share what I had learned in going after building truly valuable income producing websites. Sorry for the random short bio there but thanks again for the encouragement.
Good post Chris.
I’ve started using case studies on my financial planning site as a way of making our services become more tangible to our prospects. They’re a great way to learn more things and get new ideas.
Allan
Very interesting that I came across this in my reader today. Before I started through my daily blog reads I was actually working on my first case study for Financially Digital. You are totally right though, there are too many blogs out there trying to pass “feelings” off as authority. I’m finding that a presentation based on actual facts is kind of refreshing. Spot on!!
I like your style Chris…Like we use to say back in my door-to-door sales gig “the proof is in the pudding”. Stop talking about how great you are and what you think you are…let others say it! Let others spread your word. If you’re good enough it will spread.
I with you on this one Chris…
I like it. I think I will work on a case study this week. So far I’ve done things like the “Pros” and “Cons” of my career, and full “Reviews” of products and services, but never something with collected data (other than what search topics bring people to my site). I’ll have to see how to fit this into the scheme of things.
I do find these types of posts very interesting because they are the real deal. Pat does a great job with being upfront and honest. That’s why I love coming here.
And Chris, that post you mentioned about Amazon I bookmarked weeks ago and it really is awesome. Great info. A must read for anyone. Who knew you could make that much with Amazon? Keep up the good work.
Hey Richard, well I certainly didn’t know it was possible to make that much lol. If you saw the graph in the post then you’ll know that things went from just ok to great pretty quickly after I rolled out Amazon across my niche sites. It all depends on what your website is about though, I don’t think Amazon is for every niche at all.
Wow great post Chris Guthrie I can tell you are a genius and I should read your blog.
Seriously, many of us run into road blocks and tend to regurgitate what’s already out there. Case studies can be a great source of content, but one must also be careful they don’t come off as a term paper. Pat does a great job here delivering valuable info and keeping the interest of his readers.
How the heck did you earn so much with Amazon? That’s amazing.
Hey Ms Freeman. Just read that post and it will give you some good starting ideas. I don’t make any of that money from this specific niche though. Internet Marketing / Business/ Entrepreneurship etc. because these are not worth bothering with Amazon affiliate links except for perhaps while writing a book review. I run a multitude of other websites in various niches and those are the ones I use to earn the money in Amazon. I make very little from my blog now as I don’t have enough readers to even bother with selling ad space etc. so I’ll probably wait until 10,000 readers before I do that on my blog.
Great post Chris (and Pat)! The numbers don’t lie do they? Thanks for sharing!
Chris,
Excellent. You’re right about case studies–I’m working on improving on this on my blog. The most entertaining reads on the blogosphere are case studies. Love reading income reports as well. Nothing as great as proof!
Case studies do make for very engaging content – great tip Chris. I’m already collecting stats and data for a case study on my new blog, so thanks for the encouragement to go with this.
~James
Thanks James! Also, I wanted to mention I checked out your blog and I really love the design and the information you’re sharing. I take it that your blog is fairly new based on the number of links / content but I’ll be sending you an email sometime soon for advice after reading your about page and seeing how you have built your business.
Chris
Deciding what to write about can sometimes be a challenge. Especially if you want your content to be unique and valuable to your readers. Case studies are always a great idea. They peak people’s curiosity and also provide motivation. Thanks Chris!
Hey Chris, Ironically, I recently went through my blog and trashed over 175 posts. Worthless content. I was left with 10 solid posts and 5 of them were case studies! I cleaned em’ up a bit and re-posted them and they have gotten some great feedback. I want to work on better documenting and displaying the work I’m doing, I know that Pat does an awesome job of displaying his case studies.
I would love to see one of you guys write a “how to” about creating an awesome case study article
~Mike
You (anyone) could write that “How-to” article on Info Barrel….
…and, don’t forget to use Pat’s Info Barrel referral link to Sign-up over there!
http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/the-next-best-revenue-sharing-site-to-write-for-is/
Good idea, but for the posts I do that are case studies I just draw upon my personal experience. I have over 5 years of experience in earning money online and most of those years were spent spinning my wheels and failing so I have plenty of failure stories as well as success stories to share on my blog. Moving forward there are always new things to discuss and document on a blog.
It all depends on your target audience and what your goals for the blog are. My audience is internet entrepreneurs and bloggers that are currently trying to make a full time income online (or are already doing so) so as long as I have that focus in mind when I write the case studies (or any post for that matter) I’ve found some reasonable success.
I think one of the reasons case studies are so popular is because someone is actually showing you HOW it was done instead of just spouting off about how he made a zillion dollars with no other information. It makes the income claim much more believable when someone also details how it was achieved.
Exactly. I think when it comes to topics like earning money etc. that deal with real numbers and figures it’s much better to address the topic with a story based on facts.
If you’re discussing something that’s far less intangible than feelings may suffice (even then I still prefer to look at the numbers).
right on point, Chris… Case studies are really engaging and your readers tend to immerse themselves into the stats while reading the post.
You’ve given me an idea of what I can add to make my email list building series more engaging. thanks!
Great I’d love to see what it is so be sure to link to the post in the comments below or just email me at my blog when it goes live.
James ~ completely off the subject of making money… I just wanted to compliment you on your Avatar. Every time I see one of your posts I think “what a great striking picture.”
Hey Chris,
Nice post I agree with you completely about case studies they do show who you are and also I believe case studies about your products are well received too. What did stand out for me here was:
“If you claim you’re a Social Media Guru (just saying that makes me want to throw up) then show me who you are.”
There is a lot of sales BS around at the moment (more than usual) and far too many so called internet gurus who claim they earn millions per year online without one shred of proof! I actually say stop wasting time with the BS and be honest about your business, people will respect you more!
Thanks Chris
Nice Amazon earning BTW. I think I made enough to buy a coffee last year:-)
Glad you see it the same as me Daniel. Thanks for the complements on the Amazon earnings, I actually just posted another income report in case you’re interested in how my earnings are split.
With Amazon though it really depends on your niche. i.e. Internet Marketing – not good. A tech blog about new gadgets etc. blah blah blah – very good.
Really great post Chris!
Case studies are always great and unique and that is why Pat’s case studies are the most popular post on this blog.
Thanks a lot for the great post,
-Onibalusi
Nice post Chris.
I admit that Case studies are a very powerful tool but in the same time not everyone can write a good Case Study. You need a bit of practice for that and most importantly you need some experience regarding the topic about what you’ll gonna write.
I’d like to add that case studies give readers specific figures instead of adjectives and huge words. Readers can also learn from errors and mistakes if you include them in your analysis and comparisons.
Agreed. Speaking of failures the stories I shared here are pretty funny and worth a read:
http://www.makemoneyontheinternet.com/my-top-7-worst-websites-created/
Case studies are great. Everyone likes them, because they can show how a person just like them can become successful. These become even more powerful when people turn them into podcasts.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
I hadn’t thought of doing a podcast before, in fact I haven’t even really done a formal video blog post on my blog.
Note to self: change that soon
Thanks for the reminder
Nice post!
Case studies are definitely one of the best ways to catch the attention of your readers. Because nothings more encouraging than results, right?
CJ
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I’ve also noticed that exact, actionable content based on FACT rather than theory is always a clear winner in terms of content that gets the best response.
And Chris’ advice definitely rings true for me. My most popular guest post of all time was a personal case study on myself, explaining exactly how I went from warehouse-worker to online entrepreneur.
Thanks for the awesome post Chris, and congratulations on your outstanding Amazon Associates earnings!
My blog is about a website that helps you make money. So I guess I can find people who have been extremely successful on that site and ask them some basic questions. Thanks for the idea Pat.