142: How to Create a ‘How to’ Post [Challenge]

Challenge: Create a 'How to' Post This is 5th challenge in ProBlogger’s 7 Days to Getting Your Blogging Groove Back Challenge that we kicked off back in episode 138. If you’re new to the challenge - this week I’m nominating a different style of content for you to create each day over the week and the challenge is to create a post within 24 hours of hearing about it and then sharing it with us in our ProBlogger Challenge Group on Facebook. Listen to this episode in the player above or here on iTunes. This week has been amazing so far. In the first few days we’ve done ‘list posts’ (there were something like 300 posts written), FAQ posts, Review posts and Story posts. I’m LOVING reading as many of them as I can and encourage you to keep going. The weekend is upon us now so for some of us its about to get tough - but I encourage you to keep at it! Good things are happening - keep it up! Before I tell you about today’s challenge…. I also quickly want to tell you about something that is happening in a couple of days time - we’re putting virtual tickets on sale for this year’s ProBlogger event. We hold an annual event for bloggers here in Australia each year and this year - by popular demand - we’re bringing back our virtual ticket so that those of you unable to get out to Australia can come along virtually and get all the amazing teaching we offer live attendees. The virtual ticket will be available early next week at problogger.com/virtualticket where you can now sign up to be alerted when they go on sale. Today your challenge is to publish a ‘How to’ post. How to posts work well because: It’s one of the main reasons people go online - to learn, seek help As a result they tend to rank well in Search and can be really shareable They also tend to be evergreen in nature When you teach someone how to do something they tend to remember who taught them and have gratitude towards them. They also become evangelists They build credibility How to content can come in any form you like: Written - blog posts, articles, list posts, essays Video - can be great for walking people and showing them how to do something rather than just telling Screen capture video - for something you do online Images - a series of good images Gifs - putting a series of images into a gif Slideshow Podcast - most of my podcasts are how to Infographics A few approaches you might like to take: How you do something How to Build an Efficient Social Media Workflow to Increase your Traffic How you did something $72,000 in E-Books in a Week – 8 Lessons I Learned Share it in a story Analysis of someone else’s technique Content on the result of your research How to Cut Out the Subject From the Background in Photoshop Write about a very simple concept How to Hold a Camera Write about a very advanced topic 6 Advanced Composition Techniques to Improve Your Photos It could be a very practical tangible thing How to Clean Your Camera Sensor and Lenses It could also be something less tangible How to Overcome Fear of Speaking, Podcasting, Live Streaming, Webinars and More A post on straight theory, without inserting yourself How to Start a Blog in 5 Steps A few quick tips: Base it on a real world need Base it on an FAQ Break it down into steps Show as much as possible A Powerful Exercise inside Google Analytics to Set You Up for a Successful Year of Blogging Anticipate questions Add a call to action Add depth The Challenge: Create your ‘how to’ post - publish it Head to the ProBlogger Challenge Group on Facebook and share the link with us on this thread Check out some of the other ’how to content people have written. Comment, like, share Update: Here are the rest of the Challenges in the Blogging Groove Series Challenge 1: Create a List Post - Listen on iTunes here - Submit to the Facebook Group Her...