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How To Start Writing Online: The
Ship 30 For 30 Ultimate Guide
Introduction
Getting Started
Framework #1: Adopting The Mindset Of A Digital Writer
Rapid-fire Feedback Loops
Build Your Audience As You Write Online
"Scaling Yourself"
Clarifying Your Thoughts
Building A Library Of Content (That Pays Dividends)
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Treat Your Writing Like A Startup
Becoming A Prolific Digital Writer
Framework #2: The Endless Idea Generator
How The Endless Idea Generator Works
Step 1: The Topic
Step 2: The Credibility
Step 3: The 4A Paths
Step 4: The Proven Approach
Topic + Credibility + 4A Paths + Proven Approach = The Endless Idea Generator
General Audiences vs Niche Audiences
How To Make General Topics, Niche—And How To Make Niche Topics, General
Other Ways You Can Make General Topics More Niche:
Framework #3: Writing Headlines Readers Can't Help But Click On
The 5 Pieces Of Every Headline
The Curiosity Gap
"Isn't That Clickbait?"
Clear > Clever
10 Proven Headline Formats
The Golden Intersection: Answering The Reader's Question x Telling A Personal Story
Framework #4: Formatting Your Writing For Skimmability
Skimmability = Readability
Skeleton Your Piece (Before You Write It)
Lists, Bullets, and Bolded Sentences
Proven Writing Rhythms
1/3/1
1/5/1
1/2/5/2/1
1/3/1 + 1/3/1
Writing Rhythms That Sound BAD!
Rate Of Revelation
Framework #5: Content Differentiation
"The Tequila Test"
Write The Ship
Framework #6: Twitter Threads
The Lead-In Tweet
Stories
Frameworks
Actionable Takeaways
Formatting Matters
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The CTA
The TL;DR
Recommended Tool: Typeshare
Framework #7: Rewriting Your Bio
Your Bio Checklist
Framework #8: Naming & Claiming Your Category
Using Data To Refine Your Category Over Time
Changing Your Category
Introduction
There are two types of writers in the world today.
The first are legacy writers. These are people who still believe in the days of
Hemingway, Faulkner, Dostoevsky, and Bukowski (among others). To become a
writer, they believe, you must wear a chapeau, smoke a corn cob pipe, stare out the
window and wait for inspiration to strike. Better yet, you must detach yourself from the
world, find a cabin in the woods (God forbid it has Internet), and dedicate the next 10
years of your life to writing the next Great American Novel. And if you die doing it, even
better. You have lived, and suffered, the life of a true "writer."
We think that's a bunch of bologna.
The second are Digital Writers. These are people who, in the age of the Internet, have
realized the inefficiencies that kept so many talented writers from being heard 30, 40,
50, 100+ years ago. Digital Writers don't run away from life and seek refuge in a cabin—
they incorporate their writing into their daily lives. Digital Writers don't write by
themselves (hiding away in their apartment)—they Practice In Public using social
publishing platforms like Twitter, Quora, Medium, etc. Digital Writers don't guess what
readers want to read about—they gather data, learn what works in real time, and iterate
on a daily basis.
We believe there has never been a better time in human history to be a writer.
As long as you're a Digital Writer.
Getting Started
Whether you are a legacy writer looking to transport yourself into the future and become
a Digital Writer, or you understand the benefits of writing online but are brand new to
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writing, this document will give you everything you need to know in order to get
STARTED. Becoming a Digital Writer is a journey, but it's one we have lived ourselves.
We have also helped thousands of writers start publishing online with our
program, Ship 30 for 30—co-founded by Dickie Bush and Nicolas Cole.
Ship 30 for 30 is a 30-day cruise from legacy land (Hemingway Harbor), taking writers
on a 5-week journey up the Digital Coast. Together, we will sail to 8 ports, each one
allowing you to learn the fundamental building blocks of writing online. By the end of the
journey, you will no longer live in the legacy writing world. You will live in the digital
world, and your entire writing trajectory will change forever.
Once you sail Ship 30 for 30, there's no going back.
Everything we are about to share with you, we have tested, proven, and continue to use
& teach every single day.
These are the fundamental principles and frameworks for writing online and becoming a
writer in the digital age.
Unfortunately, all beginner writers face the same 10 overarching problems:
Distractions: "I need to do my laundry" is a common one. So is, "I need to give my
friend a call" or "I've been working so hard lately, I could use a night watching
Netflix." There are an infinite number of distractions, and writers tend to be masters
at finding distractions to keep them at bay.
Over-editing: Writers love switching out adjectives, debating, "Should I say
'amazing' or 'astounding?'" The short answer is: it doesn't matter. In fact, one of the
first big principles we teach in Ship 30 for 30 is that, in your first year of writing
online, you shouldn't worry about editing at all (and we'll explain why further in this
guide).
Perfectionism: Ah, a writer's favorite excuse. "It's not ready yet." OK, when will it
be ready, then? One of the biggest obstacles writers need to overcome early on is
realizing that "perfect" is an unreasonable milestone. More importantly, aiming for
"perfect" slows you down—so much so, that other writers who aren't aiming for
perfect end up zooming right by you. (Here, we encourage writers to create "junk,"
and we'll explain what that means a bit later.)
Procrastination: "I'll start writing tomorrow." We have a saying in Ship 30 for 30,
and it goes like this: If you fall off the ship, that's fine, but just make sure you don't
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stay swimming for 2 days in a row (because your writing habit will drown and die).
The secret to writing is to train and nurture your Daily Writing Habit. And in order to
build a Daily Writing Habit, that means you need to get back on the ship every
single day. If you miss a day, that's fine. Don't beat yourself up. But climb aboard
and get back at it tomorrow. Otherwise, too many "tomorrows" will go by.
Self-confidence: How do you build confidence in yourself as a writer? You write.
It's so simple that it's complicated. The reason why writers struggle with selfconfidence at the beginning of their journey is because they are still sitting on the
dock, waiting, imagining. They haven't yet confronted the brutal reality that, once
they begin, they probably aren't going to be great at writing. It's going to take
practice. So in order to overcome this fear and START gaining self-confidence, you
need to rip the band-aid off and begin.
Generating ideas: A lot of writers have this fear that someone is going to "steal
their ideas." But writers who are afraid of other writers stealing their ideas are afraid
because they don't know how to create more ideas. Said differently: they value the
ideas they have SO MUCH because they don't have the skill of creating more ideas
on command. Well, that's why we created an Endless Idea Generator for writers to
use anytime they feel stuck. (We still use the Endless Idea Generator every single
day with our own writing. Why? Because it works.)
Impostor syndrome: The reason writers experience Imposter Syndrome is
because we are taught that writing is all about "fitting in" where readers already are.
It's about becoming a "better" writer than the next person—which is what leads to
the feeling of being an imposter. We don't believe this is a productive path forward
for writers, and instead, we are going to show you how you can CREATE your own
category as a writer (not compete against someone else in their category). After all,
how can you be an imposter if you created something completely different for
yourself?
Writing consistently: Consistency is the key to success as a writer—and it's a
cliché because it's true. Look at any successful writer, author, or even YouTuber,
content creator, musician, artist, etc. Anyone who has stood the test of time did so
because they were able to create prolifically over a prolonged period of time.
Consistency, in itself, is a powerful differentiator. So if you have trouble being
consistent, don't worry: we have plenty of exercises that will help you (and if you
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know yourself and feel like you need a community to help you stay motivated, then
we encourage you to sign up for Ship 30 for 30).
Choosing a platform: Where's the best place to write online? The honest answer
to this question is: anywhere except your own blog. Why? Because your own blog
doesn't have a distribution flywheel. No one knows it exists, and you are 100%
responsible for driving traffic there yourself. Instead, you want to write in social
publishing environments like Twitter, Quora, Medium. Or, if you want to set up a
Social Blog, we encourage you to use Typeshare (so you get the benefits of both a
personal blog and social distribution). If you want more insight into why starting with
a blog is NOT the best place to begin writing online, grab a copy of Nicolas
Cole's, The Art & Business of Online Writing.
Finding time to write: And of course, one of the biggest reasons writers don't write
is because they "don't have time." Well, here's the thing—not just about writing, but
about anything in life: when it comes to making progress on things that are
important to us, you don't "find" time. You make time. We call these hours
your Sacred Hours, and encourage writers to make time where they are a) most
likely to be productive, but b) least likely to be disturbed by the outside world. Your
Sacred Hours might be early in the morning, at lunch, or at night. But it's on you to
pinpoint them, and then protect them.
If you resonate with any of the above, don't worry. You're not alone. In fact, you are part
of the majority. These are the issues keeping MOST people from clarifying their
thoughts, writing them down, and hitting publish. The good news is, they're all easy to
fix—once you learn a few basic frameworks for writing in the digital age.
The question is, where are you in your journey?
1. Sitting On The Dock
Have you wanted to start writing online, but aren't sure the first step to take? Are
you overwhelmed with the number of different platforms, topics, and strategies out there
for writing online?
2. Sailing A Boat With A Leak
Have you already started writing online, but now feel stuck? Are you hacking away
at blog posts, publishing into the void, never gaining any traction?
3. Afraid To Go Sailing!
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Or maybe you have plenty of ideas, but struggle to put yourself out there. Do you
find yourself creating draft after draft, never hitting publish?
If you are feeling ready to start taking ACTION, there's no better way than to dive right
into Ship 30 for 30: our cohort-based online course & community teaching you the
fundamentals of becoming a Digital Writer. But unlike other writing courses, you will put
your learnings into practice by writing and publishing online every day for 30 days.
Otherwise, we have put together this master document for you to get started on your
own.
This is the Ultimate Guide to START Writing Online.
Framework #1: Adopting The Mindset Of A
Digital Writer
Here are the 5 big benefits of becoming a Digital Writer:
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Rapid-fire Feedback Loops
Before the Internet, writers had to try to figure out what worked and what didn't within
their writing with very slow, manual, squeaky wheel feedback loops. A writer would work
on a draft of their novel or short story, bring it to the local pub, and see if any drunkards
would be willing to listen to them read a page or two. How they learned if the writing was
"working" was whether audience members doubled over laughing or crying, or found the
work so boring and repulsive they forcibly shoved a mug o' ale in their faces and told
them to shut it. (Not exactly an easy way to learn.)
As a result, writers would spend months or years working a piece of material. Then wait
months (or years) for a magazine or publishing house to consider it. Then wait months
for editors to comb through it. Then wait months for the piece to finally be published.
Then wait some more to gauge the public's reaction.
One entire cycle of feedback could take anywhere from a year all the way up to a
decade.
In the Digital Age, writers don't have to suffer this way anymore.
Digital Writers can publish a 280-character Tweet and instantly get feedback as to
whether or not their idea has merit. If it does, and readers are clearly engaging with it,
they know that idea is worth exploring. And if readers don't, and their idea falls on deaf
ears, they know to move on. These rapid-fire feedback loops have transformed the way
writers learn what works in their writing and what is engaging audiences.
In fact, there's no reason to spend 1-5+ years working on a piece of writing today,
wondering whether or not readers will like it. With rapid-fire, digital feedback loops, you
should be able to validate every single one of your ideas as you write—allowing you to
learn faster, grow your audience faster, and create a writing style that engages readers,
faster.
Build Your Audience As You Write Online
The second major benefit to writing online and living as a Digital Writer is that instead of
working on a piece of writing and then trying to figure out how to get people to read it,
you can find your readers as you explore and refine your ideas.
We call this Practicing In Public.
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While most legacy writers focus on creating a piece of work and then (in the final hour)
scrambling to put a marketing plan together to attract readers, Digital Writers build their
audiences as they go. They share snippets on Twitter. They test excerpts on Quora and
Medium. They turn pieces that clearly engaged readers online into new book chapters
or long-form blog posts (like this ultimate guide here). They write, publish, gather data,
and double-down on what's working—and attract readers the whole way.
For example, when Nicolas Cole started writing a business book with two other
business leaders, they didn't go the conventional route, seek out a publisher, and lock
themselves in a room for a year to write their book in private. They brought their
business book idea into the digital age and started writing book chapters online as
newsletter excerpts. The result? Their paid newsletter, Category Pirates, has
generated the same amount of revenue as they would have received from a book deal,
while simultaneously building an audience of thousands of readers. By the time the
book comes out, die-hard readers will be ready to buy it.
This is the power of building an audience as you write online.
"Scaling Yourself"
Writing online is the most effective way to scale who you are as a human being.
Think about how many times you meet up with someone for coffee and repeat the same
stories, the same life details. Think about how many times you jump on a call with
someone (a friend of a friend, or a networking opportunity) and give them the same 30second background info. Think about how many times you manually explain to people—
on the phone, on Zoom, over lunch or dinner—aspects of who you are, your past, your
experience, how you think, how you solve problems, etc.
Every time you write and publish one of those stories or insights online, what you're
really doing is "scaling yourself."
You're taking a detail of your life you would otherwise have to manually explain to
someone in conversation and making it accessible for anyone and everyone online.
The result?
You are giving people a fundamentally different understanding of who you are, how you
think, and how you became "you," from the very beginning. The more people who know
things about you (to whatever degree you feel comfortable sharing), the more
opportunities will come your way. The more people will say, "Wow, I didn't know you did
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that type or work" or "Wow, I didn't know you had that experience," which will prompt
them to a) reach out to you directly in hopes of bonding over a shared
interest/experience, or b) introduce you to someone they feel would get a lot out of
connecting with you, and vice versa.
We can't tell you how many times we hear from Shippers, halfway through Ship 30 for
30, how the simple act of writing and publishing online prompted someone in their
network to reach out with a job offer, a potential client, a new friend they should meet, a
speaking opportunity, and so on.
All of these rewards come as a result of "scaling yourself."
Which is as easy as writing & publishing stories and insights online.
Clarifying Your Thoughts
If writing is a forcing function for thinking, then writing online is a forcing function for
measuring how your thinking resonates with readers.
While we certainly believe there are benefits to using writing to think more clearly, the
real "stress test" happens once you publish your thinking in the world. That's when
people have an opportunity to follow your train of thought, think about it themselves, and
then share their own interpretations. And you arguably learn more by listening to the
way your writing/thinking resonates with other people than you do by writing and
thinking about the topic all by yourself.
Which is why we are such huge advocates for Practicing In Public.
Building A Library Of Content (That Pays Dividends)
And finally, writing online has compounding effects that legacy writing does not.
Every time you hit publish, you are "spinning the wheel" and playing the game of Digital
Distribution. You have no idea whether the thing you write & publish today will fall flat—
or if it will be your most viral, most-read piece of writing in history. Wouldn't you like to
find out?
Furthermore, when your long-term focus is on building a library of content that can
stand the test of time, your daily average number of views goes up, the bigger your web
becomes, the easier it is for new readers to get exposed to your work, and on and on
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the flywheel spins. At a certain point, your library will get to be so big that any reader
who steps foot in or around your category of topic will inevitably come across your work.
You will "own" that part of the Internet.
Treat Your Writing Like A Startup
The other way we like thinking about online writing is like this:
As a Digital Writer, you are (essentially) an entrepreneur.
And your writing is your startup.
Digital Writers iterate quickly:
Make small bets
Listen to the data
Double-down on what's working
Repeat
As a result, Digital Writers are usually the ones who go from never having
written anything online before to suddenly accumulating hundreds of thousands, even
millions of views—and more importantly, turning those views and proven content
buckets into paid products, newsletters, services, and businesses. Why? Because
they're the ones with the data. They don't have to guess what readers want. The data is
telling them, objectively, "When you write about X, readers fall off. But when you write
about Y, readers go crazy. Do more of Y, and less of X." They treat their writing like a
science experiment.
It's no longer sufficient to just say, "Someone will spot my genius," and go on writing by
yourself, alone in your apartment.
If you are a writer in the digital age, you are an entrepreneur, and your writing is a
startup.
Which means you need to get your product out in front of customers, gather feedback,
and iterate.
Becoming A Prolific Digital Writer
Finally, becoming a Digital Writer is all about letting go of perfectionism.
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Forget holding yourself to The Michelangelo Standard or believing anything you publish
must warrant praise from The United States Library Of Congress. Digital Writers
understand that progress is more important than "perfection," because progress gives
them data, and data gives them confidence in what they should write next.
If you want to learn how to become a prolific Digital Writer, then keep reading.
These are the frameworks you need—to come up with new ideas (every single day), to
publish consistently, to make your writing easy to read (and easy to fall in love with), and
to build a timeless library of content. And if you are ready to take ACTION and want to
put all these frameworks into practice, grab a seat aboard the next cohort of Ship 30 for
30.
Grab your sailing gear, Shippers.
It's time to sail up the Digital Coast.
Framework #2: The Endless Idea Generator
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At the beginning of every Ship 30 for 30 cohort, we encourage writers to pick 3 Content
Buckets they'd like to explore over the next 30 days.
General Audience: For example, if you are interested in writing about Productivity,
then the Productivity is a massive category that can appeal to lots of different types
of readers. This would be your General Audience.
Niche Audience: Then, under the umbrella of "Productivity" you would pick a niche
to explore. Maybe it's "Productivity Hacks For New Moms Trying To Find Work-Life
Balance" or "How To Be A Productive Manager In A Large Organization." These
clarified audiences are, by definition, "smaller" than your big General audience—
and that's a good thing. Your Niche audience should be smaller, more specific, and
hyper-targeted to a certain type of reader.
Industry Audience: Your Industry audience is then content designed to speak to
the future of whatever industry you are writing about—General and/or Niche. For
example, if you are writing about Productivity, you would write content here about
"How We Will Define Productivity 20 Years From Now" or "These X Software Tools
Will Change The Way We Measure Productivity In 2030." This futurism content is a
great way of establishing yourself as a leading voice in your category/industry.
Now, of course, everyone's big question right out the gate here is:
"Well what if I don't know who my audience is? What if I can't pick a niche? What if I
don't want to pick a niche?"
That's fine.
But let's start somewhere.
By going through the exercise and forcing yourself to commit to 3 defined Content
Buckets for 30 days, you will learn (very quickly) what's working and what's not. Then,
as your flywheel starts to spin, and as you start to gather data on your writing, you will
be able to make conscious decisions as to how you want to pivot your writing over time
—and what audiences are clearly engaging with your work. But you have to plant your
flag and start somewhere.
Now, with your 3 Content Buckets defined (again, you can change these later), here's
how to start generating ideas.
We call this our Endless Idea Generator.
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How The Endless Idea Generator Works
The whole idea of the Endless Idea Generator is to create a system for endless
ideation.
Why?
Because creating systems to ease (and strengthen) the repetition of content creation is
how you remain consistent for years into the future. It’s very difficult to come up with
“new ideas” on the fly, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after
year. It’s even harder when you feel like, once you’ve written about a topic, you can
never write about it again.
This simply isn’t true.
It just means you don’t have a system for turning one idea into ten ideas into one
hundred ideas into a thousand ideas.
Which is exactly what The Endless Idea Generator is all about.
Let’s dive in.
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Step 1: The Topic
The Endless Idea Generator works best with specificity.
As a rule of thumb: the more general the topic is, the harder it will be to see all the
potential combinations for things to write about. Conversely (and maybe
counterintuitively), the more specific or niche the topic is, the easier it will be for you to
see all the potential combinations for things to write about.
For example: let’s say you want to write about “money.”
It’s fine to start there, but right away you probably realize how BIG the topic of “money”
is. “Money” could mean everything from investing money to saving money to picking
stocks to buying real estate to even the emotional relationship you have with money as
a societal construct. Which means you need to niche down: pick one direction, and get
more specific.
V2: “I want to write about investing money.”
V3: “I want to write about investing money in your 20s.”
V4: “I want to write about investing money in your 20s so you can buy your
first rental property in your 30s.”
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As you increase the level of specificity, you gain clarity (at each step) as to what exactly
you want to write about.
Specificity is the secret.
Here’s another example: let’s say you want to write about “teaching.”
V2: “I want to write about teaching online.”
V3: “I want to write about teaching online to scale knowledge.”
V4: “I want to write about teaching online to scale knowledge so you can have
a bigger impact, work less, and exponentially increase earnings.”
The goal here is to get so specific that you feel like you actually can’t get anymore
specific. You’ve made it abundantly clear who (exactly) this piece is for, and more
importantly, who it ISN’T for. A lot of writers shy away from this level of specificity. Don’t
be one of them.
Step 2: The Credibility
You don’t need to be Oprah or Tony Robbins for people to see you as a credible source
of information.
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In fact, on the Internet, it’s actually the opposite. In some cases, you might be the expert
—you’ve been doing something for 10 or 20 or 30 years, know it inside and out, and are
ready to share your knowledge with the world. But in many other cases, you might be
the one curating the thoughts, stories, opinions, and perspectives of experts. Or in some
other cases, you might just be sharing your personal thoughts on a subject—but your
opinion matters because you’ve personally experienced the thing you’re writing about.
These are the 3 types of credibility online:
I’m the expert
I’m curating the experts
I’m just speaking from personal experience
A good way of thinking about credibility is: imagine you are at a dinner party. Someone
comes up to you and starts telling you about something random, like fly fishing.
Eventually, you are going to ask, “How do you know that?” At which point they are going
to give you one of three answers:
“I’ve been fly fishing since I was in middle school. I actually won a fly fishing
competition when I was in college.” (They’re an expert.)
“My dad loves fly fishing and I’ve had to listen to him talk about it for years.” (Their
dad is the expert, and they’re curating their dad’s insight.)
“Honestly? I’m just obsessed with watching these fly fishing shows on Netflix.
They’re so fascinating.” (They’re just speaking from personal experience.)
That’s really all credibility is, and can be communicated in a single sentence.
Here is another example:
Expert: “I am Roger Ebert and Don’t Look Up was the best movie of 2021.”
Curating Experts: “According to Roger Ebert & 9 other famous movie critics, Don’t
Look Up was the best movie of 2021.”
Personal Experience: “I’m no Roger Ebert but I have watched over 900 Netflix
movies and shows, and I think Don’t Look Up was the best movie of 2021.”
So don’t overthink it.
Just let the reader know where the information is coming from, so they have context.
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Step 3: The 4A Paths
When most writers sit down to write, they usually say to themselves, "I want to write
about X."
Well, X is usually a pretty broad topic. And there are lots of different ways of
approaching X.
For example, let's say you sit down and say, "I want to write about achieving financial
freedom." OK, well that's a pretty big topic—so how do you want to slice the pie? Do
you want to explain to readers how they can start saving & investing money to achieve
financial freedom (actionable)? Did you just read a study about financial freedom in the
United States and do you want to explain what the numbers mean for people who are
afraid they don't have enough money saved up for retirement (analytical)? Did you
overcome a mountain of debt to become financially free yourself, and do you want to
motivate others to do the same (aspirational)? Or do you want to explain to readers
why the root cause of financial illiteracy, and why so many people struggle to achieve
financial freedom, is because of the emotional relationship they have with
money (anthropological)?
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When you slow down and really break a topic down, you start to realize there isn't
enough clarity in saying, "I want to write about X." And the reason so many writers sit
down to write, only to give up 5 minutes later, is because this is the first BIG realization
they have to confront. They thought they knew what they wanted to write about, only to
get into the writing and realize, "Wait, there are a hundred different ways I could say this
—and I don't know which one is right."
Which is why we encourage writers to start here, first.
Take your topic, and then challenge yourself to pick a direction.
Actionable (here's how)
Analytical (here are the numbers)
Aspirational (yes, you can)
Anthropological (here's why)
The idea here isn't to write about one topic, one time. The idea is to take whatever you
want to write about and write about it over and over again using different frameworks:
you should write about it through an actionable lens, an analytical lens, an aspirational
lens, and an anthropological lens (because each piece will yield a different result).
Then, as you write and publish each kind, you will start to learn which ones readers
enjoy the most. You'll learn (objectively through data), "Oh, when I write actionable
pieces about how to achieve financial freedom, readers love that. But when I try to write
aspirational pieces, readers don't seem to engage with that content very much."
This is how you start growing exponentially as a Digital Writer.
Step 4: The Proven Approach
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Once you've chosen a direction, the second step is to figure out how you want to
organize your writing.
Is this a "How To" article? Then it should be organized in steps (Step 1, Step 2,
etc...).
Is this a "Lessons Learned" essay? Then it should be organized in lessons
(Lesson #1, Lesson #2, etc...).
Is this a "Mistakes" Twitter thread? Then it should be organized in mistakes
(Mistake #1, Mistake #2, etc...).
The key here is to structure your piece in a way where all the main points &
subheadings follow the same pattern. What you don't want to do is write a "How To"
piece, but then have your first main point be a "Step," and your second main point be a
"lesson," and your third main point be a "mistake," etc. This makes it very hard for
readers to know what they're reading and follow your train of thought. (Now, you can
combine Steps, Mistakes, Lessons, etc., in each section, but how you ORGANIZE the
piece should all follow the same overarching pattern.)
The other reason we encourage writers to make this decision at the beginning (before
you even start writing) is because it will give you a skeleton to fill in.
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After all, it's always harder to start writing with a 100% blank page.
It's much easier to create an outline (list out the 7 mistakes, or 5 steps, or 10 lessons
you want to share) and then fill each one in with a story, example, or advice for the
reader.
Topic + Credibility + 4A Paths + Proven Approach = The
Endless Idea Generator
All of a sudden, what originally started as "I have an idea" becomes "I have TOO MANY
ideas."
With The Endless Idea Generator, you'll have the opposite problem: instead of not
knowing what to write about, you'll experience "the burden of opportunity." You'll start
seeing how easy it is to turn one thing into 100 things, and you'll never run out of things
to write about again.
Just take a look at how many ideas we can engineer for a topic like "Quitting Your 9-5
To Pursue Your Dreams" using this framework:
[Actionable + How To + I'm The Expert] I Just Quit My 9-5 And Doubled My
Monthly Earnings. Here Are 5 Steps You Can Take To Do The Same
[Analytical + How To + Curated Experts] A New Study Shows Millennials Are The
Poorest Generation. Here's The Advice The 10 Biggest Financial Planners
Gave About Saving For Retirement
[Aspirational + How To + Personal Story] I Used To Have $150,000 Of Debt.
Here's My Step-By-Step Guide For Achieving Financial Freedom—And How
You Can Do It Too
[Anthropological + How To + Curated Experts] Mark Cuban Just Said Something
In An Interview With CNBC That Reveals The Real Reason So Many People
Never Achieve Financial Freedom
And so on, and so on.
Using this framework, we could take one idea and turn it into hundreds and hundreds of
essays, articles, Twitter threads, long-form blog posts, eBooks, email newsletters,
products, courses, and so on.
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General Audiences vs Niche Audiences
The next big question you need to ask yourself when writing online is, "Who is this piece
of writing for, specifically?"
While The Endless Idea Generator can be a powerful way of coming up with new ideas,
there's a second piece that is equally as important—and that's deciding whether your
actionable, analytical, aspirational, or anthropological content is for a General audience
or a Niche audience (going back to the 3 Content Buckets).
The mistake writers make here is thinking their job is to write what they want to write
about, and then figuring out how to get their writing in front of "millions of people."
But that's making a pretty big assumption. That's assuming "millions of people" are
interested in the topic you just wrote about. And especially with more niche topics, that's
probably not the case.
Instead, we encourage writers to start with the end in mind:
Every single piece of writing, in some way or another, is answering a question for the
reader. That's why they clicked in the first place—"I want to know the answer."
So, if your Atomic Essay or article or long-form blog post or book is answering a big,
overarching, universal question ("How do I make more money?"), you are going to have
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an easier time reaching readers because that's a question a LOT of people have.
Whereas if your writing is answering a smaller, more niche question ("What are tax laws
in Illinois?), you are probably going to reach less readers—but the ones you do reach
are going to be much more engaged.
And this is the trade-off.
General topics tend to attract larger audiences, but the engagement you receive will not
translate into long-term readers. You'll see comments like, "Nice job!" or "Love it!" But
that's about it. Views are high, but loyalty is low.
Niche topics, on the other hand, tend to attract smaller audiences, but the engagement
you receive will be potent. Niche topics are usually exactly what a reader is looking for,
prompting them to respond with thoughtful comments or questions, or bookmark the
piece to come back to again and again. Views are low, but loyalty and engagement is
high.
Neither one is right or wrong.
It's just worth understanding which goal you are trying to work toward.
Otherwise, you'll write something for a Niche audience, and then get frustrated when
views are low. Well, that's because you're measuring the wrong outcome!
How To Make General Topics, Niche—And How To
Make Niche Topics, General
As you begin writing and publishing online, you will learn which types of content engage
your target readers.
However, there are benefits to writing both for General and Niche versions of your
audience.
General: Introduces new potential readers to your category.
Niche: Engages current readers in your category.
Think of General & Niche audiences as a dial, and in everything you write, you are
choosing how far you'd like to twist the dial in either direction.
For example, let's say you want to write actionable pieces about how to become a better
designer.
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Here are a few ways to make your content accessible to a wider number of people
(General):
These 4 Drawing Exercises Won't Just Make You A Better Designer—They'll Help
You See The World More Clearly
7 Timeless Examples Of How Light Can Change The Mood Of A Room
The 10 Most Beautiful Car Designs In Human History
Each one of these headlines is attracting more than just designers. You might be a car
fanatic who wants to see beautiful, timeless car designs. Or you might be an architect
who wants to learn how to better utilize light. Or you might be an art student who has no
idea what to do as a career long-term. The point is, your content is not singularly
focused on a Niche, but still has to do with the general category of "design." As a result,
wider audiences are able to get introduced to your work.
Now, let's flip it.
Here are a few ways to take these same exact headline ideas and rewrite them through
a more "niche" lens—let's say "building a career as a designer."
If You Practice These 4 Drawing Exercises Every Morning, You Will Have No
Problem Getting Hired As A Designer Anywhere
Why Every Designer Should Master How Light Can Change The Mood Of A Room:
7 Timeless Examples
Want A Career As A Luxury Car Designer? Study These 10 Timeless Designs
All of a sudden, the same "ideas" become much more niche, much more targeted to a
specific type of reader, and in many ways exclude the general audiences you're likely to
attract in the first set of headlines. This is a good thing.
One of the biggest mistakes writers make is thinking they need to "create something for
everyone." In reality, creating something for everyone means making something for no
one. You do not want to try to appeal to EVERY type of reader in the world. Instead,
your goal is to use specificity to force a binary decision: either this piece is exactly what
the reader is looking for, or it's not. And the more binary you can make that decision, the
more likely you are to attract the readers you want, and repel the ones you don't.
Other Ways You Can Make General Topics More Niche:
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Name the audience: If you write something like, "How To Make More Money,"
that's aiming to answer a pretty general, universal question. But this topic
immediately becomes Niche if you name the audience specifically: "How To Make
More Money As A Writer." Or, even more Niche: "How To Make More Money As A
Multilingual Translator." If you aren't a writer or a multilingual translator, you aren't
going to click & read this sort of content (and again, that's a good thing). Same goes
for naming places and demographics: "How To Make More Money As A Writer In
Chicago." Or, "How To Make More Money As A Millennial Writer."
Name the outcome: Sticking with the above example, if "How To Make More
Money" is General, then a different Niche version might be, "How To Make More
Money So You Can Buy Your First House." Or, even more Niche: "How To Make
More Money So You Can Build A Music Studio In Your Backyard." Naming the
outcome is another way of very clearly telling readers WHO this is for and who
this isn't for.
Name the process: If the audience is who you're writing for, and the outcome is
what the audience gets in return, then there's another opportunity for specificity
here by naming the process by which that outcome gets unlocked. For example,
"How To Make More Money As A Writer Without Leaving Your Couch." Or, "How To
Make More Money As A Writer Ghostwriting For CEOs." Naming the process gives
readers another point of context, helping them decide whether this is something
they'd be interested in reading or not.
All of these things are decisions you have to make as a writer.
And will become the foundation of your headline.
Framework #3: Writing Headlines Readers
Can't Help But Click On
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Before readers click and read anything on the Internet, they need to know the answer to
3 very important questions:
WHO is this for?
WHAT is this about?
WHY should they read it? (What are you PROMISING, and what do they get in
exchange?)
Instead, what many writers (both beginner and advanced) do is they write headlines that
attempt to be "mysterious" or "creative" (whatever that means), but in no way answer
these questions for the reader. As a result, headlines look something like this:
"A Forgotten Moon"
"The Trees"
"Don't You?"
And so on.
What these writers fail to realize is these types of headlines are actually quite selfish.
They expect the reader to adjust to the writer, to give the writer their attention without
knowing what they're going to get in return.
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Instead, we encourage writers to write headlines that answer these questions directly.
Over time, you can certainly shape your headlines to create your own distinct style,
however it's important to learn the building blocks of effective headline writing from the
beginning. Make no mistake, even the most "artistic" or "creative" essays, articles, and
stories follow these same underlying principles.
Just take a look at the front page of The Atlantic.
Each article title, minimalist as it might be, is still hinting at a) WHO this is for, b) WHAT
this is about, and c) WHY you should read it.
So, in order to learn how to do this on your own, we encourage writers to start with
longer, more descriptive headlines. Answer these 3 questions directly. And then, over
time, whittle your headlines down into your own distinct style (while still answering these
questions for the reader).
Let's walk through how to write headlines readers can't help but click on.
The 5 Pieces Of Every Headline
Every single headline is composed of the same 6 pieces (some of which are optional,
some of which are absolutely necessary).
How Many? All "listicle" articles and essays start with a number. 6 Ways... 7
Reasons... 8 Brutal Truths... 9 Heartbreaking Movies... That's because readers love
containers, and numbers/lists make it easy for a reader to understand exactly what
they're "getting" in return for their time spent reading. Words on a page are a
"product," and so the clearer the container (the "box" your words arrive in), the more
likely readers are to be excited to open it up. (If an article or essay doesn't have a
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number in it, that means the number is the invisible "1." The article or essay is
talking about one thing, one topic, one overarching idea.)
WHAT? This is an essential piece of every headline. Before the reader clicks to
read, they need to know what it is. What are they looking at? What's inside this
black box? Is this an essay about political arguments? Entrepreneurial mistakes?
Cooking recipes? WHAT is it? (If your headline doesn't have a clear WHAT, your
ability to attract readers is going to go down exponentially.)
WHO? Not every headline has to have a WHO, but when you are writing for a Niche
there are benefits to naming the audience directly. "How To Start Your First Side
Hustle As A College Student." The WHO here would be "College Students." And if
you aren't a college student, you probably aren't going to click and read this piece.
(Writing that aims to attract General audiences tends to not name any audience
directly—because the goal is to attract lots of different types of audiences, not just
one. Whereas writing that aims to engage with a Niche audience tends to mention
that niche audience directly.)
FEEL: Another crucial piece in your headline is how you want the reader to FEEL
about the topic. For example, "I Just Ate An Entire Barrel Of Ice Cream" doesn't
really tell the reader how you want them to FEEL. Should they be happy for you?
Sad? Should they feel your shame? Or should they feel your love and selfacceptance? Notice how dramatically different this headline becomes when we tell
the reader how to FEEL: "I Just Ate An Entire Barrel Of Ice Cream. Here's What I
Learned About Loving Myself Through My Mistakes."
Outcome/The PROMISE: The final piece of your headline is what the reader gets
in exchange for reading. Your headline is a proposal to readers trying to "hook" their
attention and convince them this thing you've written is worth their time. So, what do
they get in return? "7 Ways To Cook Healthy Lunches" is a good headline. But "7
Ways To Cook Healthy Lunches, Lose Weight, And Give Up Fast Food Once And
For All" is way better. The end of your headline is your PROMISE, and it's essential
for readers to understand what they're going to learn, feel, and/or receive as a result
of the 30 seconds or 3 minutes they spend reading your writing.
The Curiosity Gap
These 5 pieces of your headline, together, create what we like to call The Curiosity Gap.
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All great headlines give the reader enough information so they understand WHAT this
piece of writing is about, WHO it's for, and WHY they should consider reading it—but
not enough where the headline reveals the final answer (requiring them to click). Said
differently, great headlines tell readers the beginning of the story & the end of the story,
but not the middle.
For example, take a look at the headline below. The bold line chopping the headline in
half is showing the beginning and end of the story—but notice how there's no "middle."
In order to learn what the "9 reasons writers suffer from writer's block & give up writing
forever" are, you have to click and read the article—and that's the point.
"Isn't That Clickbait?"
The BIG question we get from writers here is, "Well then isn't that clickbait?" And the
answer is no—as long as you keep your promise.
Clickbait is when a reader clicks on an essay or article thinking they are going to get
one thing, but then the writer fails to keep their promise. They use language that implies
some big, massively transformational outcome for the reader, and then the reader starts
reading and the information turns out to be vague, cliché, and nothing new. "I've been
baited," the reader says to themselves—not because of the way the headline was
written, but because the content of the piece didn't live up to the headline's PROMISE.
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Clear > Clever
If there is one overarching rule we want to encourage you to live by, it's to aim for "clear"
instead of "clever."
Headlines that try to be clever almost always end up falling short. The point doesn't get
through to the reader. The joke or pun falls flat. And as a result, readers end up
confused—and if the reader is confused, their default answer is, "No," as they scroll
past your content and move on to someone else's.
Instead, it's far more effective to practice the art of clarity in your writing—especially
when it comes to headlines. Try to be as specific as possible. "This is what it's about.
This is who it's for. And this is what you're going to learn/get out of reading this as a
result." Don't overthink it. If you are writing How To articles for Project Managers, name
the audience in the headline: "7 Productivity Tips For Project Managers." This is a far
better strategy than hoping your target audience will discover your content via their own
curiosity.
10 Proven Headline Formats
Not sure where to start?
Here are some of the most common formats when it comes to crafting headlines that
make readers stop in their tracks, pause, and decide whether or not they want to click
and read.
BIG Numbers: "3,000 People Just Filed For Unemployment In This Small Town In
Arkansas. Here's Why"
Dollar Signs: "$400 Million Is How Much You Need To Make In Order To Afford
This Insane Mansion In Malibu"
Credible Names: "Will Smith's Advice On How To Live A Fulfilling Life Will Change
The Way You See The World Forever"
"This Just Happened": "Michael Jordan Just Gave A Press Conference And NBA
Executives Are Furious"
Question/Answer: "Can't Be Productive In The Office? Try Organizing Your
Calendar Like This"
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The Success Story: "How This Small Team Managed To Secure A Six-Figure
Investment In Less Than 1 Week"
Things That Shouldn't Go Together: "7 Things KFC And Miley Cyrus Have In
Common"
For The Industry: "3 Things All Successful Small Business Owners Do To Stay
Profitable"
Topic Within The Topic: "7 Ways The Real Estate Industry Is Changing (And How
You Should Be Investing Your Money)"
X Number: "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do"
The Golden Intersection: Answering The Reader's
Question x Telling A Personal Story
The final framework we share with writers when it comes to writing headlines and
content that speaks directly to readers is what we like to call The Golden Intersection.
If you notice, the best content on the Internet does two things simultaneously:
Answers the reader's question
Tells a personal story
For example, if you write an article or essay titled, "The 7 Secrets To Becoming A
Millionaire," and you give readers actionable steps they can take to become a
millionaire themselves, that's great. But what makes that essay or article 10x more
memorable is if you pair that actionable advice with a personal story (even if it's only a
few sentences in the introduction): "When I was 19 years old, I was broke as broke
could be. I was living with my mom, who was unemployed. My dad had left when I was
a kid. And I grew up on food stamps. Fast-forward to today, I just turned 30 years old
and have a little more than $1,000,000 in liquid assets. The path I took to becoming a
millionaire is something anyone can do. Which is why I want to share the steps I took
with you. My goal is to shorten your own growth curve so that you can get out of
whatever bad situation you're in, become a millionaire, and achieve financial freedom
yourself."
Those few sentences immediately make the content more relatable, more trustworthy,
and more memorable. They also act as a doorway for readers to connect directly with
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the author's personal story. They will remember those details.
Similarly, if you are writing about achieving financial freedom but going on and on about
your personal story (without giving the reader anything they can do themselves), your
content might be emotionally engaged but it isn't very actionable.
Readers want both.
So, answer their question, and then tell them a (short) story about how you learned
what you're explaining to them, or how you overcame the obstacle you're encouraging
them to overcome, etc.
Readers usually come for the actionable advice, but stay for the personal stories.
Framework #4: Formatting Your Writing For
Skimmability
Here's a brutal truth that takes new Digital Writers a long time to learn:
Readers on the Internet don't read—at first.
What they do is they skim. And then, once they've decided whether or not this piece of
writing speaks to their interests, then they go back and start reading.
As a result, what separates content that attracts millions of readers versus content that
falls on deaf ears (even if the words on the page are identical) usually comes down to
formatting. If your online writing is full of big, blocky paragraphs and no subheads,
readers are going to think, "Wow, this looks taxing. I have no idea what this is even
about—or if it's going to be worth my time." Whereas content that alternates between
big paragraphs and short, single-sentence lines, and is organized with bolded subheads
makes it very easy for readers to get a sense of what the piece is about before they
even start reading. Visually the piece looks actionable, easy to follow, and quick to read.
Skimmability = Readability
If your online writing isn't skimmable, it's not readable.
For legacy writers and "purists," this is a hard pill to swallow. Legacy writers want to
believe they are the one who is important (not the reader), and that readers should
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adjust to their expectations. If you want to know why so few writers from the legacy
world succeed on the Internet, this is why.
Digital Writers, on the other hand, are masters at formatting. They understand how to
present information in a way that makes it easy to understand at a glance—without
"dumbing down" the content. Again, the idea here isn't to write Buzzfeed-style listicles
all day long. The idea is to take your content (however complicated) and organize it in a
way where readers can quickly skim, figure out what's going on, and latch onto the
pieces of information that most grab their attention.
So, how do you do that?
Skeleton Your Piece (Before You Write It)
The easiest way to nail formatting is to create a skeleton of your essay or article before
you start writing.
Headline: What is this piece about? Who is it for? What will the reader get in
exchange for reading through to the end? AND, why should they trust you (what's
your credibility)?
Introduction: (Repeat the information from the headline with slightly more detail.)
What is this piece about? Who is it for? What will the reader get in exchange for
reading through to the end? AND, why should they trust you (what's your
credibility)?
Main Points: What "proven approach" are you using to organize this piece? (Is this
piece organized by Steps, Lessons, Mistakes, Tips, etc.?) How many do you plan
on including? 3 Steps? 4 Lessons? 5 Mistakes?
Conclusion: What's the final takeaway? What do you want readers to walk away
with after reading this piece? What's the morale of the story?
By creating a skeleton of your piece in advance, it becomes significantly easier to know
where to start.
Nobody likes staring at a blank page.
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The 2 Most Important Uses For Subheads: Wheels & Spokes
When organizing your content, there are two different types of headings you should use.
Wheels: Big headings (H1) that signify the beginning of a new overarching section.
Spokes: Small headings/subheads (H2 or H3) that separate important sections
within the overarching section.
Since most essays and articles online fall between the 300-800 word range, you usually
don't need to use both Headings & smaller subheads (because there's only so much
room). For example, in the "Prep The Page" example above, each "reason" in the article
is listed out using a heading. In this case, it really doesn't matter if your headings are big
(H1) or smaller (H2 or H3) because they are all fulfilling the same purpose: separating
ideas.
However, in longer-form blog posts and ultimate guides (like this piece here), it makes
sense to use both to make sure readers are following your train of thought. Each major
section would open with a big heading (H1), signifying the purpose of this overarching
section. And then each sub-section within would be separated by subheads (H2 or H3),
signifying where one idea stops and the next idea begins.
Using headings are an easy way to make your writing more "skimmable," and to also
make it easy for readers to scroll and find a section that hooks their attention. If they find
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a section that speaks to their wants, needs, desires, or questions, that's where they are
going to start reading. And if, when they start reading, they find your content valuable,
insightful, memorable, etc., they that's when they are going to scroll back to the
beginning and start reading.
Here's what Wheels & Spokes look like in action:
Lists, Bullets, and Bolded Sentences
Ah, but the fun has just begun.
Once you have your essay or article (or book) organized in Wheels & Spokes, you can
then start adding decorations: lists, bullets, bolded sentences, italics, etc. These smaller
lists make it even easier for readers to quickly get an idea of what you're writing about
and, more importantly, what's in it for them.
For example, anytime you find yourself writing a paragraph that is "listing" things out, it's
worth questioning whether that paragraph can be re-formatting in the form of a bulleted
list. "The first thing you want to do when writing online is prep the page. Then, once
you've prepped the page, see where you can turn long paragraphs into short bulleted
lists. Third, get rid of any excess description—readers don't want to hear you say the
same thing eight times."
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Instead of writing all of that out, you can compress it by turning it into a quick bulleted
list.
Proven Writing Rhythms
Improving the way you format your writing is the fastest way to accelerating your growth
as a digital writer. You would be astounded at how many people write and publish
content online that is really great, but never gets read simply because of the way it is
presented.
But formatting is only the beginning.
Headings, subheads, and bulleted lists are the visual cues that are easiest to spot. But
there is another aspect to formatting that rarely gets talked about and is equally
important.
Rhythm.
What separates writing that is fun, easy to read, even musical, is writing that alternates
rhythms—fast vs slow, quick vs descriptive, etc. The more your writing alternates
between opposites, the more movement it has, and the more the reader feels like they
are being taken on a journey (opposed to hacking their way through a textbook).
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Here are some of the most common writing rhythms and how you can immediately put
them into practice.
1/3/1
This first sentence is your opener.
This second sentence clarifies your opener. This third sentence reinforces the point
you're making with some sort of credibility or amplified description. And this fourth
sentence rounds out your argument, guiding the reader toward your conclusion.
This fifth sentence is your strong conclusion.
What makes this 1/3/1 sequence "work" is that the first sentence and the last sentence
act as bookends to the bulk of the content in the middle. These single-sentence lines
make the reader feel as though they've reached a checkpoint, which acts as a small
dopamine hit encouraging them to continue reading.
1/3/1 is an especially great framework for introductions and openers, but the truth is, it
can be used anytime, anywhere within your writing. In fact, you could write an entire
essay or article (or even book) using the 1/3/1 sequence and readers wouldn't realize
you were following a pattern. They would just think to themselves, "Wow, this thing flows
so well! It's so easy to read."
Here's an example of the 1/3/1 sequence in action:
You can read the piece in full here.
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1/5/1
The 1/5/1 sequence is the exact same as the 1/3/1 sequence, except with two more
sentences in the middle for added description and/or explanation.
Here's how it works:
This first sentence is your opener.
This second sentence clarifies your opener. This third sentence reinforces the point
you're making with some sort of credibility or amplified description. This fourth sentence
builds on that credibility or description, giving added context or new information. This
fifth sentence explains to the reader why you're telling them what you're telling them.
And this sixth sentence drives home the point.
This seventh sentence is your strong conclusion.
If you notice, the part of the sequence that is being expanded in the middle—not the
beginning and not the end. That's because you want readers to have easy "on-ramps"
and "off-ramps" to the most important parts of your content (which is usually in those
big, bulky paragraphs). So, to make those big, bulky paragraphs feel more accessible,
make the sentence leading in and the sentence leading out clear, concise, and most of
all, short.
Here's an example of the 1/5/1 sequence in action:
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You can read the full piece here.
1/2/5/2/1
Now, if you want to start getting fancy with things, you can expand the middle of your
sequence to add even more dynamics into your writing.
The key here is to build up, and then build back down. In music, this would be called
creating a "crescendo" (gradually increasing in loudness) and then creating a
"decrescendo" (gradually decreasing in loudness). Notice again how the first sentence
and the last sentence remains short, whereas the middle is slowly building.
1/3/1 + 1/3/1
With any of these writing rhythm sequences, you can then start to copy/paste them on
top of each other, creating "stacks."
Here's how it works:
This first sentence is your opener.
This second sentence clarifies your opener. This third sentence reinforces the point
you're making with some sort of credibility or amplified description. And this fourth
sentence rounds out your argument, guiding the reader toward your conclusion.
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This fifth sentence is your strong conclusion.
Now, here's a new first sentence as a second opener.
This second sentence clarifies your opener. This third sentence reinforces the point
you're making with some sort of credibility or amplified description. And this fourth
sentence rounds out your argument, guiding the reader toward your conclusion.
This fifth sentence is your strong conclusion.
Here's an example of the 1/3/1 + 1/3/1 sequence in action:
You can read the full piece here.
Writing Rhythms That Sound BAD!
1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1
2/2/2
5/5/5
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Writing rhythms that sound BAD are ones that don't alternate between short sentences
and long sentences or paragraphs. For example, online writing where every single
sentence is its own paragraph tends to read like the author drank too much coffee.
Writing where every single paragraph is 5+ sentences sounds like it's tired of itself. And
writing where every paragraph is two sentences sounds monotone.
The way you solve this is by alternating between fast and slow, long and short.
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For more writing rhythms, grab a copy of The Art & Business of Online Writing by
Nicolas Cole. There is an entire chapter dedicated to writing rhythms with dozens of
templates you can use in your own writing.
Rate Of Revelation
The final formatting piece we encourage writers to think about in Ship 30 for 30 is what
we like to call Rate of Revelation.
This is how quickly you are revealing new information to the reader.
On the Internet, writing that optimizes for SPEED tends to be the writing that gets the
most traction. If you notice, the essays or articles or Twitter threads that go viral aren't
the ones that spend 7 paragraphs describing the details on a doorknob. Readers don't
have the patience for that. Instead, readers want every single sentence to push the
story or point forward.
For example, here's what a SLOW Rate of Revelation might look like:
When it comes to building a daily writing habit, the hardest thing for most writers is
remembering the importance of just sitting down and writing. It can be difficult to get
yourself to write, but that’s part of the name of the game. And in moments you can’t
write, you have to remember that all writers go through this—it’s just part of the craft.
Now, here's what a FAST Rate of Revelation looks like:
When it comes to building a daily writing habit, there are three things that usually get in
a writer’s way. First, they over-edit. Second, they talk themselves out of the idea (“This
will never work. I’m better off just doing laundry.”) And third, their laptop runs out of
battery at the coffee shop (this happens more often than you might think).
Notice how in the second example, every single sentence is moving the idea forward.
A good rule of thumb here is to ask yourself, "Am I continuing to describe and repeat
something I already said? Or am I moving on and saying something new?"
Aim for the latter.
Framework #5: Content Differentiation
Writers will see a 10x improvement in their writing (and their ability to get the attention of
readers) just by learning how to write engaging headlines and formatting their online
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writing using headings, subheads, and bulleted lists.
But the real growth happens when you learn how to write things that are different.
Content differentiation is all about one thing and one thing only, and that's mastering the
skill of saying what hasn't been said yet. On the surface, this might seem like a futile
aim considering how much content there is in the world, but we've come up with a fun
exercise that immediately reveals just how easy content differentiation can be.
We call it...
"The Tequila Test"
The Holy Grail for writers is to learn how to say what everyone else isn't. So, how do
you do that?
A fun exercise we like doing with Shippers is asking them to think of all the things they
might say in an article about how to build an effective morning routine.
Here are the most popular answers:
Wake up early
Drink coffee
Stretch
Workout / go for a run
Meditate
Journal
And so on.
When we do this exercise (usually with 150+ Shippers), what immediately starts to
happen is that people's answers begin to overlap. 27 people all say, "Journal." 24
people all say, "Stretch." 35 people all say, "Meditate." And so on.
As a result, everyone's answers "sound the same."
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The idea here is for writers to realize that when they are saying "the same thing(s)" as
everyone else, their content isn't actually differentiated. They might format it differently.
They might throw in a personal story. But the root of what they're saying,
their message,is the same as everyone else's.
So, how do you fix this?
We call it "The Tequila Test" because if everyone else is saying, "Meditate, journal,
workout, drink coffee," etc., your job is to figure out how to say something DIFFERENT.
For example, "First thing when I wake up? Take a shot of tequila."
That's DIFFERENT.
Because that's not the same thing everyone else is saying.
The way you put The Tequila Test into practice is to start by writing down all the things
most people would say about your topic. Make a list. What are all the things you've
heard people talk about? What's the conventional wisdom? What are the cliché
answers? Write them all down.
Now, don't use anything on that list.
What ELSE could you write about?
This is the secret to content differentiation.
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Write The Ship
After writers complete Ship 30 for 30, we have an exclusive video course in our Member
Ship area called Write The Ship, which is a masterclass in content differentiation and
category creation. We walk through the three sides of The Magic Triangle for writers,
and how you can differentiate via Voice, Format, and Content.
Framework #6: Twitter Threads
Ship 30 for 30 takes place on Twitter.
The reason we use Twitter as the primary publishing platform is because Twitter is the
largest social publishing platform on the Internet for written content. Quora and Medium
are other great publishing platforms for written content, and we have minimasterclasses on these other publishing platforms in our Member Ship for writers who
would like to branch out and start publishing elsewhere.
Twitter also has the fastest feedback loops of any written publishing platform online, and
is the easiest way for writers to start learning (by gathering data) what’s resonating with
readers.
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However, Twitter is its own language.
The most common question we hear from writers is, “What do I do if I’m staring with
zero followers on Twitter?”
The reason we use Twitter as a publishing platform, and why we encourage writers not
to start writing on their own personal blog (at first) is because these social platforms
are designed to get your content in front of the right people. That’s how these social
algorithms work. It doesn’t matter if you have 1 Follower or 100,000 Followers—if the
algorithm sees people engaging with your content, it is going to serve it up to more and
more people. The number of followers you have is sort of irrelevant.
For example: here’s a Tweet Dickie wrote when he had around ~20,000 followers.
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How was he able to reach 4.6 million people if he only had 20,000 followers?
Because the social algorithm saw people engaging with his content and decided to keep
serving it up to more and more people (and Twitter has ~600 million users).
For new writers, this should be inspiring. You don’t need a million followers in order to
be heard. Everyone starts at zero, and algorithms reward you based on your ability to
engage readers with your words. As we’ve said many times: online writing is a game.
So, how do you beat the game on Twitter?
Let’s dive in.
The Lead-In Tweet
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Your lead-in Tweet is what introduces readers to your writing.
If you are writing and publishing Atomic Essays as part of Ship 30 for 30, your lead-in
Tweet is going to be the “hook” you use to get people to read your 250-word essay. If
you are writing Threads on Twitter, your lead-in Tweet is going to be the “hook” you use
to get people to read your Thread. And so on.
The secret to writing effective lead-in Tweets is to answer three very important
questions for the reader (going back to our Headline framework):
WHO is this for?
WHAT is this about?
WHY should you read this? (What PROMISE are you making to the reader? What
do they get in return?)
Readers on Twitter, in particular, love essays and threads that:
Tell a story
Share a framework
Provide actionable takeaways (teaching the reader how to do something)
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Notice, not every idea you have is going to fit nicely into one of those two buckets. And
that’s fine. But if your only goal is to figure out how to “go viral” on Twitter, it’s worth
thinking about how you can fall into one of these three formats.
Let’s walk through each one.
Stories
Stories are, without question, the hardest content format to execute on Twitter.
First of all, it’s hard telling stories lots of people find interesting. Most of the time, the
stories that “go viral” on Twitter are curated stories of famous people, little-known
moments of success, unlikely outcomes in the public, etc. It’s much harder for a
personal story to go viral.
That said, regardless of what type of story you are telling, your lead-in Tweet should be
structured like this:
Here’s the end of the story (big, crazy outcome)
Here’s the start of the story (humble beginnings)
Read to find out the middle
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All great lead-in Tweets follow this structure in some way or another. They tease the
ending, they show you the beginning, and then they encourage you (the reader) to click
and read to find out how someone down there got all the way up here.
Frameworks
Another content format that performs best on Twitter is any kind of framework readers
would find valuable and applicable to their daily lives.
The vast majority of the time, framework-style Threads on Twitter aren’t original
frameworks, but curated frameworks from people readers want to be like.
For example:
Elon Musk’s Frameworks For Making Decisions
Steve Jobs’ Frameworks For Building Next-Generation Products
Stephen Kings’ Frameworks For Writing Best-Selling Thriller Novels
Etc.
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The idea here is to take one way of thinking pioneered by someone successful, break it
down, and make it accessible to the average reader.
That said, you can also create your own frameworks as well—however, it’s important to
be very clear about what the reader can expect to unlock in their own lives in using your
framework. Remember: what are you PROMISING them, and what they can expect to
get in return for reading?
Actionable Takeaways
The final content format that performs best on Twitter is creating a list of actionable
takeaways with the purpose of achieving some sort of end goal.
For example:
15 Marketing Tips To Help You Jumpstart Your Paid Newsletter
11 Copywriting Secrets To Help You Sell More Products
12 Meditation Mantras That Will Connect You With Your Highest Self
And so on.
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The reason readers love this type of content is because it feels immediately actionable.
“If I read this Thread, I will know how to do X to achieve Y.” As a result, “actionable
takeaway” Threads and content tend to be some of the most-viral within niche
communities. For example, a thread on copywriting might not be as universal of a topic
as “happiness” or “how to make more money,” but within the copywriting community, it
will spread like wildfire. So if you are focused on writing for a niche, consider writing
more about actionable takeaways for people within your chosen category.
Formatting Matters
Regardless of what type of content format you choose (Story, Framework, Actionable
Takeaways), the formatting of the Thread itself should follow a few basic rules:
1. Give each Tweet its own “mini headline.” The first sentence of each Tweet is the
most important. If you are writing an “actionable takeaways” Thread, the first
sentence of each Tweet should be the actionable takeaway. This allows readers to
quickly scroll through your Thread, skim the mini-headlines, and then decide if they
want to dig deeper and read the entire thing straight through (remember:
skimmability = readability).
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2. Uses lists and bullets whenever possible. Tweets are small, which means you
need to figure out how to compress a lot of information into a teeny tiny container.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to swap prose for lists. Besides, readers enjoy
“skimming” bullets way more than they do sifting through prose. As a rule of thumb:
anytime you have a paragraph of 3+ lines on Twitter, consider turning it into some
sort of list (or axing it altogether).
3. Play with the 1/3/1 framework to make your Tweets clean and presentable. The
1/3/1 writing rhythm is terrific for writing individual Tweets. The single-sentence
opener can act as your “mini-headline,” the three sentences in the middle can be
turned into a bulleted list, and the one-sentence closer acts as a strong conclusion.
The CTA
At the end of your Thread, there are a few things you can do to wrap up the experience
for readers.
The first is the CTA: Call To Action.
Your CTA should direct readers to more of your great content. If they just finished
reading a Thread about writing advice, consider linking them to your BEST Thread
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about writing advice. If they just finished reading a Thread about a business story,
consider linking them to your BEST business story—or, better yet, a master Thread
you’ve created curating ALL your business stories. Think of your CTA as your Twitter
Thread Gift Shop: “Thank you for shopping, can I interest you in a souvenir?”
The TL;DR
The TL;DR is our favorite Twitter growth hack.
Think of this final Tweet as a super-compressed version of everything the reader just
read.
Take your list of actionable takeaways, or framework steps, or story, and distill it down to
a handful of bullets. The reason the TL;DR is so effective is because when Twitter
distributes content in people’s feeds, it presents readers with your first Tweet and your
last two Tweets. That means readers see your lead-in Tweet, and your “here’s the
nutshell” TL;DR conclusion. These two, together, increase the likelihood of someone
deciding they want to click and read (because they caught a glimpse of the end).
More times than not, you’ll find readers end up engaging with your closing TL;DR Tweet
just as much (if not more) than they do with your lead-in Tweet.
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Recommended Tool: Typeshare
This is our own software product designed specifically for Ship 30 for 30 members.
Typeshare is the hub for online writing, allowing writers to create a Social Blog,
connect their social accounts, track their performance and engagement, and learn what
works and what doesn’t about their writing. We also provide writers with dozens of
online writing templates to get started on Twitter, Medium, etc.
Whether you participate in Ship 30 for 30 or not, we encourage you to use Typeshare
and all its tools to begin your online writing journey.
Framework #7: Rewriting Your Bio
If you stick with writing online consistently for just a few weeks, you will learn so much
about yourself, your audience, and what you want to write (and what resonates with
your target readers), that you will need to rewrite your bio.
One of the most common mistakes writers make when presenting themselves online is
they write their bio as if they’re talking with their friends. I like reading, cats, and
Spongebob Squarepants. Well that’s great—but readers have no idea what to expect
from you.
The key to writing a great bio is to say, very clearly:
Who you are
What you do
Why readers should trust you
That’s it.
Going back to our “Clever vs. Clear” framework, a great bio is not about being funny, or
witty, or “punchy,” or cool. Your bio is, quite literally, the most important piece of real
estate you have on the Internet. And because social bios are short, it’s your job to get
the point across quickly, clearly, and efficiently.
Your Bio Checklist
You’re probably noticing a trend: clarity in your headline, clarity in your lead-in Tweet,
clarity in your bio…
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So much of writing online (and becoming a digital writer) is learning how to present
100% clarity to readers. Confusion is the enemy. If a reader is ever confused about
what you are presenting them, their default answer is, “No.” Within a millisecond,
they’ve moved on. They’ve scrolled past you—or swiped back to TikTok, Instagram, or
YouTube.
Which means the way you present yourself in your bio is crucial.
Your Bio Checklist:
Are you saying (very clearly) what you do?
Are you telling the reader what makes you credible?
And are you saying what the reader gets in exchange for following you?
Readers make snap judgements about whether or not you are someone worth reading,
listening to, and following based on your bio. They really don’t care whether you like
cats, or what your favorite show on Netflix is. The only question they’re asking
themselves is, “Am I interested in this type of person?” And the fastest, most effective
way to answer that question for readers is to make it very clear what you write about—
and, even better, what readers can expect to learn or experience in return.
If the reader is interested in that topic, they follow.
If the reader is not interested in that topic, they don’t follow.
This sort of binary decision is what you want.
For example, here’s what a BAD bio looks like:
Writer. Lots of people follow me, and you should too. PS, Leonardo DiCaprio once Liked
one of my tweets and my palms have been sweaty ever since.
This is the epitome of what a “clever” bio looks like—and for some reason, it’s what
every writer aspires to have for themselves. But the truth is, these “clever” bios rarely
work. And when you see someone who has a clever bio and a huge following, what
we’d challenge you to consider is: yes, but how many more people would follow them if
they were clear about a) who they were, b) what makes them credible, and c) what the
reader can expect in exchange for following them. (The other important point here is,
yes, Leonardo DiCaprio probably doesn’t need to say these things in his bio because,
well, the entire world knows who he is and he’s one of the greatest actors of all time.
You are not Leonardo DiCaprio.)
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Now, here’s what a GREAT bio looks like:
Lead Project Manager @Uber. I write about user growth frameworks for SaaS
companies.
So simple. So clear.
Who are you? You’re a project manager. Got it.
What makes you credible? You’re a project manager at one of the fastest-growing
tech companies in history.
What does the reader get in exchange for following you? They will learn user
growth frameworks for SaaS companies.
There is no need to be “clever” in your bio.
Just say who you are, what you do, and why the reader should trust you.
And if you’re thinking, “But I don’t have a big fancy Silicon Valley job! This doesn’t make
sense for me!” Then here’s another example:
Yoga Teacher for 10+ years. I write about how flexibility in your body can lead to clarity
and productivity in your mind.
So simple. So specific. And yet you can imagine not just people interested in yoga
following this person, but also people in technology, people with stressful corporate
jobs, or even people interested in niche categories like “memory improvement.”
Don’t overthink it.
Framework #8: Naming & Claiming Your
Category
One of our goals within Ship 30 for 30 is to help writers gain clarity over their category.
If throughout your 30 days of shipping you feel like you’ve figured out what niche you
want to create for yourself, that’s great. Then that niche should be “Named & Claimed”
in your bio. And if not, no worries—most people repeat Ship 30 for 30 multiple times,
each cohort learning more and more about what they enjoy writing about and what
readers are clearly engaging with.
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However, once you gain some clarity over what your niche is, it’s important that you
Name & Claim that niche in your bio—along with telling readers who you are and what
you do, what makes you credible, and what your category is (“data-driven online writing
& category design”).
Using Data To Refine Your Category Over Time
That said, one of the most important lessons we strive to instill in writers is that your
category & niche can (and most likely will) change as time goes on.
Or, as we like to say: The more you write, the more you write.
The more you write online, the more you learn what works and what doesn’t. The more
you learn what works (for you), the more clarity you will have around what specifically
readers resonate with—and what sort of content you feel is most valuable to create. The
more clarity you have, the easier it becomes for you to explain, “This is what I write
about,” which makes it easier for readers to decide whether or not they want to follow
you and give you their attention.
And round and round your flywheel spins.
Changing Your Category
Whatever you feel your category/niche is today, claim it.
It doesn’t have to be a marriage decision. However, it’s important that you “own” where
you are on the path right now.
For example, let’s say you have seen (in your data) that you are getting great
engagement on your productivity pieces. And not just “productivity” generally, but pieces
where you talk about how to be a more “productive mother.” Alright, let that be your
niche. Own it. Name & Claim your category as “Productive Parenting” or “Productive
Motherhood.”
Then, as you continue writing and creating, you may notice a second data point: it’s not
just your content about being a productive mother that’s getting people’s attention, but
actually balancing motherhood with your own personal interests. For whatever reason,
this is what’s striking a cord in your readers, and you want to double-down on it. Great.
Tweak the name of your category to “Balancing Motherhood & Self Care.”
And so on, and so forth.
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The whole idea here is to:
1. Write about lots of different things.
2. Double-down on what resonates. Cut everything else.
3. Name & Claim what resonates so readers associate “that” with “you.”
4. Repeat.
This is how every great digital writer & creator treats their craft—actively using data and
audience feedback to determine what’s working, what’s not, and where they can
“create” a niche for themselves.
Which is exactly the process we have compressed into 30 days during Ship 30 for 30.
If you found this Ultimate Guide helpful, we can’t stress enough how much we are only
scratching the surface here. Ship 30 for 30 is a cohort-based masterclass in online
writing, and the entry point for anyone who wants to become a Digital Writer.
We hope to see you in the next cohort!
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