I personally hate wasting time. With a business and a toddler and lockdowns popping up here there and everywhere, time is not something I have in abundance. And I’m conscious of your time too. The last thing I want to do is waste your time. I understand just how precious it is. 

I don’t want people to join the challenge who aren’t going to see the true benefit of it. Who will waste their time and not commit to it. Yeah, I’d get some money but ultimately, I’d have unhappy, unfulfilled customers. And that’s not good for anyone. 

So in this blog post, I’m going to give it to you straight. No, it’s not one of those, don’t sign up to me if you don’t bring a positive attitude type things that’s actually some crappy reverse psychology. 

This is a genuine, unbiased look at who really isn’t suited to join the 90-day challenge. 

This is so you know if this challenge is right (or not right) for you. 

So here goes…

1. You don’t have the time 

Each week, for 13 weeks, you will submit one piece of content. This could be a blog post, video or podcast episode. Or it could be a web page or sales page (some people use the challenge to create their website). 

But creating content or web pages takes time. This blog post took me 2 hours 15 minutes from the start to uploading onto our website (yes, I timed it!)  And this is exactly the kind of content we’ll encourage you to create. 

So you will need to carve out some time each week to dedicate to the challenge. 

However, I will say that creating content will also save you lots of time when it comes to social media. I repurpose all my content to social media so I never have to think about what to say over LinkedIn or Facebook! 

We’ve done this challenge ourselves (that’s why we love it so much) and every week we had to make time for it and prioritise it. It’s tough but so worth it!

2. You don’t want to push yourself with your content 

A lot of business owners publish ‘helpful’ content that tells people how to do things. This isn’t a bad thing. At all. But if that’s the comfort zone you don’t want to leave, then this challenge isn’t for you. 

In this challenge, we don’t just want you to create helpful content, we want you to create content that helps you get more sales from the RIGHT customers. And this means creating the kind of content that’s a little scary. 

Things like Janine Coombes’ blog post about why she’s increasing her prices. 

Or Mira’s blog post about who is not the right fit for her business. 

Or FitRoot’s blog post tackling why parents might be wrong about their views on martial arts for children. 

3. You prefer social media 

Some business owners invest a lot of their time into social media. And that’s okay. I’m not going to argue which one is better because it’s different for everyone. But if you prefer spending your time on social media, and the thought of writing a blog post or recording a video fills you with dread, this challenge might not be for you. 

In the challenge, we advise that you select a platform that will deliver you organic traffic, such as

• Your blog 
• Youtube Channel 
• Podcast 

This is the main channel where you’ll create your content. And from there select one or two platforms to repurpose this content, such as Instagram and LinkedIn. 

This is the most time-effective way we create content for both our blog and social media channels. And it will help you get natural organic traffic as well as engagement and conversations over social media – you’re hitting two birds with one stone! 

BUT if you’re only for social media then this probably isn’t suited for you. 

4. You need 1-2-1 support 

I personally hate the phrase ‘you can bring a horse to water but can’t make it drink‘. It’s often used by coaches when their clients don’t do the work. But I do think it’s my responsibility to make it as easy and stress-free as possible for you to create your content. 

This is why we do everything in our power to help you create content, including…

1. Holding you accountable via a scary-looking spreadsheet 
2. A weekly ‘content idea’ we give to you with a breakdown on how this idea works and how it can be applied to your business (this is a new feature!) 
3. Courses on content and SEO to help you 
4. Live weekly calls to answer questions and give feedback 

But we cannot create the content for you. We’re here to support you and champion you. But the actual content creation is still on you. 

If you want someone to create the content for you (and that’s not a bad thing, by the way!) then this challenge isn’t for you. But we can highly recommend the wonderful content writers Debbie Ekins and Sara Bussandri to help. They are amazing writers who totally ‘get’ good content. 

5. You don’t want or need accountability

I need accountability in my life, someone to be like ‘Hey Lyndsay, where are you at with this?’ or ‘Hey Lyndsay, put the Netflix down and get this shit done, will you!’ 

But some people HATE this. They hate someone asking them where they’re up to or why they haven’t done what they said they were going to do. 

Or some people simply don’t need it. They hold themselves accountable all on their own (I’m jealous) and don’t need external help. 

If that’s you, then perhaps this challenge isn’t right for you. 

6. You HATE feedback 

Another thing I personally love is feedback. I like to know how I can improve. 

But, I am not everyone. And some people truly hate feedback. The thought of criticism gives them the heebie-jeebies. 

In this challenge, we provide feedback on the first 10 pieces of submitted content. We go into detail and provide actionable feedback on every piece. So if feedback isn’t your bag, perhaps this challenge isn’t right for you. 

What Now?

Hopefully, you’ll now have an understanding about whether our 90 Day Content Marketing Challenge is right for you. And if you do think it’s right for you, then check out our challenge below!

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post Why You Shouldn’t Join Our 90 Day Content Marketing Challenge appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

Well, good news. Because in this post, we’re going to tell you exactly what happens during the 90DC (that’s what the cool kids call the 90 Day Challenge) and what you can expect once you sign up.

What is the 90-day Content Challenge?

The 90-day Challenge is a content marketing challenge that will help you produce sales-generating content on a more consistent basis. 

We run the challenge inside our membership community, Make Your Mark Online, and we run the challenge three times per year. And for the first time ever, you can also sign up to the challenge without joining the membership. The next challenge starts on Monday 17th Jan 2022. 

What do you have to do throughout the challenge?

Each week, you will create one piece of content. Your deadline for creating and sharing the content with us is every Sunday evening at 11.59 pm – we know, so precise! We have a private channel inside our community where you can add a link to your content for that particular week. 

Each week, we will update a spreadsheet for our members and depending on whether you hit the deadline or not you will get a green or a red marker next to your name. That’s right. If you don’t submit content you get a scary red marker! 

The following week, we will review the first 10 pieces of content submitted as part of the challenge on a live zoom call. 

What does the Feedback Cover?

We’ll review the first 10 pieces of content submitted. Your feedback will depend on the content you provide, but we will look for the following: 

• How valuable it is to the reader – does it answer a question, educate or inspire?
• How easy it is to understand – is it full of jargon, is it clear?
• The structure – does it flow well, or do you get lost easily?
• Search Engine Optimisation – is there anything you can do to improve?
• How are your titles? Do they compel people to read/watch/listen?
• Storytelling – does it get the reader to connect with you?
• Is there anything missing? Are there any unanswered questions?
• Is it specific enough? Or do you skim over lots of points instead?
• Is the imagery on-brand? Is there anything you can do better?
• Do you do a good job of capturing leads through your content?
• How’s your tone of voice? Does it sound like you?

You can also gain specific feedback on your content in our dedicated feedback channel. Just ask in the channel what you’d like feedback on and either Martin or Lyndsay (or both!) will get back to you, along with lots of people in the group as well!

Why is the 90DC So Effective?

The 90-day challenge works because of these three simple factors:

1. Accountability

The challenge runs from Monday to Sunday every week. Everyone has the same deadline: 11:59 on Sunday evening. It’s amazing how motivating a deadline is. If you miss the deadline you get a red marker next to your name for that week. If you hit the deadline, you get a green marker. Nobody wants to be in the RED! 

This simple deadline means it pushes you every week to write that blog post, record that video or publish that podcast episode.

2. Feedback

We give feedback on the first 10 submissions of content and we also provide feedback in our community group.  

You learn so much through your own feedback and through others’ feedback. Feedback is an essential part of the challenge, so you can learn how to produce content that readers want to read, and that delivers you traffic and leads.

3. Consistency

A weekly deadline helps you stay consistent with your content production. It will help you fine-tune your writing or recording and speed up the process too. 

The fact that you HAVE to produce one piece of content every week will force you to produce content quickly and get better at it over time.

What results should I expect?

Your results will depend on a number of factors such as the type of content you produce, and how good the content is but some of our previous students have seen some incredible results. The challenge is designed for you to improve in the following areas: 

1. Increase your search engine rankings 
2. Increase your website traffic 
3. Increase your leads and sales from your content

What results have our members had? 

We’re not going to put a load of testimonials here just to try to sell our challenge. Instead, here are some numbers…

Sara Bussandri – Doubled her website traffic and gets 3-5 leads through her website every month. 

Janine Coombes – Is ranked first on Google for her main keyword and earned £3600.00 from one blog post. 

Ramin Saski – Doubled his prices 

Debbie’s Ekins – Increased her website by 92%

Aidan Lee – Is ranked first on Google for his main keyword

Louise Brogan – Traffic increased by 70%

What results did we have?

It’s no lie we love this challenge because we’ve actually done it ourselves. In the first year of completing this challenge we…

• Increased our traffic by 900%
• Increased our prices by 350%
• Increased enquiries through our website by 200%
• Had more informed customers (which made it easier for us to sell)
• Attracted the RIGHT customers (i.e. no time-wasters)
• Spent more time helping customers rather than selling our services

When does the content challenge start in 2022?

We run three challenges throughout the year and the next challenge starts on Monday 17th Jan. The first deadline for your first piece of content will be the following Sunday (17th Jan) at 11:59 pm UK Time. It then continues for an additional 12 weeks running from Monday to Sunday.

We will also be running a Strategic Content Planning Session on Thursday 9th Sept in our community. 

What is the Strategic Content Planning Session?

Before the challenge begins, we’ll run a pre-challenge planning session. This will help you plan all your content for the entire 13 weeks. We will go through exactly what you want to sell, and work our way back to what content you can create to achieve your sales goals.

What do we class as “content”?

When you join the challenge, you must submit a piece of content each week. The type of content can vary but we try to encourage our students to stick with one type of content throughout the challenge to maximise your success.

Content that will count throughout the challenge.

• Blog article
• Web page/Sales page
• Video (YouTube or embedded on a website)
• PDF such as a lead magnet
• Infographic 
• Podcast (for feedback, we would need a corresponding article on your website with the podcast embedded

How many people take part in the content challenge?

We have a maximum of 80 people who can take part in the challenge. We like to keep the numbers low so we can monitor members progress each week.

We will NOT accept more than 80 people per challenge and we always SELL OUT so get in early. This isn’t some fake scarcity, we simply do not have the capacity to take on any more people. 

How much does it cost?

There are two ways you can join the challenge…

Sign up to our membership community: MYMO for $59.00+VAT or annually for $590+VAT

What Other Resources Are Included? 

Everyone will get access to our content marketing training centre, which includes a video course and tons of resources to help you plan and create your content.

You will also get access to our SEO training. This is you can rank your content on search engines and get more traffic to your website. The training includes courses on on-page SEO, keyword research, off-page SEO and more.

You’ll also get access to blog post image templates on Canva and our Slack community.

If you join the membership you’ll have access to loads more, including our website page templates (including sales pages and landing pages), courses, masterclasses and loads more.

How long does the challenge run for?

The challenge runs for 90 days. Well, it actually runs for 13 weeks which is slightly longer than 90 days.

You have 13 weeks to produce 13 pieces of content and it must be submitted by the Sunday evening at 11:59pm.

Who will be guiding you through the challenge?

We will be helping you throughout the challenge. We’ll be on hand to answer any questions you have along the way and we’ll also be providing feedback on your content.

Every Wednesday we have a weekly feedback call. This call is at 10am (UK time) every Wednesday throughout the challenge and the video replay will be uploaded for anyone who can’t attend live. 

How do I access the challenge?

Once you sign up, you will be added to our membership forum. Within that, you will access to the 90-day content challenge CHANNEL where you can introduce yourself and share your content.

Every Monday throughout the challenge, we will create a thread for that week and once you have created your content you can simply add it to the thread.

How do I sign up?

You can sign up here. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll get automatic access to either the membership or the content marketing training centre and SEO training. We’ll shortly add you to our Slack community where you can introduce yourself and get added to the challenge thread. 

Martin & Lyndsay

The post The 90-day Content Marketing Challenge 2022 – Everything You Need to Know appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.