If you’re a solo founder you probably don’t have much time or money to invest in content. Many founders rely on DIY audience building through creating and sharing their own content. If you want to DIY content, how do you prevent content from sucking up all your time and energy? This collection of resources aims to help you produce effective content without wasting extra time flailing in the wrong direction.
Doing Content Right by Steph Smith
Doing Content Right is the essential resource for technical content creators looking to build an audience. The books is a master class on producing effective content, from basic SEO to developing channels for getting your content out. A lot of founders waste too much time on SEO and other forms of optimization, but Steph outlines a minimalist approach that is perfect for the time-strapped content creator. The accompanying worksheets help you build out your own content strategy.
I also highly recommend her book just on SEO: Doing SEO Right.
Content Promotion Checklist 2022 by Dominic Kent
Once you’ve made content, how do you make sure it gets an audience? That’s where promotion comes in. Content Marketer Dominic Kent has created a fantastic resource that makes this much easier: Content Promotion Checklist 2022: 50 Places To Distribute Content.
The Developer’s Guide to Content Creation by Stephanie Morillo
The Developer’s Guide to Content Creation teaches effective ways to plan out and execute individual pieces of content. Useful worksheets help you brainstorm, conquer writer’s block and get your content out the door!
The Elements of Style
If you’re DIYing, your content is likely to be on the shorter side, so you’ll want to keep it as clear and effective as possible. The Elements of Style has helped writers produce good writing for generations. I always make sure to reread it at least once a year. As far as I’m concerned, older editions have all you’ll need, and you can get these for free on Gutenberg.
Vale
Think of Vale as Grammarly for nerds. Essentially a high-powered linter for prose. You can purchase Vale’s desktop applications (Studio or Server) or do what I do and install Vale-CLI and use it with the VSCode extension. Vale can check for misspellings, wrong technical terminology, passive language, and grammar errors. Vale is geared towards technical writers, but you can write your own style. For example, I have a rule that ensures my titles meet SEO title length recommendations. For more info see my post on How I Use Vale as a Content Strategist.
Blogging For Devs
Blogging for Devs is a website with courses, useful blog posts, and a vibrant community. If you’re a technical founder who writes, this is the place to be. Free courses include growing your marketing (on the home page) and SEO. The Blogging For Devs community is a paid membership but it is full of experienced content creators dishing out useful advice. Plus there are regular speakers/AMA sessions with tech content luminaries like Steph Smith and Stephanie Morillo.
The Content Technologist
Had to edit this post to add The Content Technologist, a fantastic resource for learning about the tech behind producing good content. A must read whether you oversee a content department or produce your own content.
Some links on this post are affiliate links where I earn a percentage if you buy the product.
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2 replies on “7 Content Marketing Resources for Technical Solo-Founders (Updated 2022)”
[…] If you’re going to use Rytr to help you write and you don’t have a background in content marketing, it’s useful to learn keyword research from Steph Smith’s Doing Content Right or the other resources I suggest in 5 Content Marketing Resources for Technical Solo-Founders. […]
[…] Why would a content strategist like me need prose linting? Other types of content strategists typically use tools like Grammarly or just regular Google Docs grammar/spell checking. The main disadvantage of these tools for me is lack of customization. I often deal with specific rules and terminology. With Vale I can build a custom set of rules and even write my own rules. I recommend Vale for anyone who writes about tech and include it in my recommended 5 Content Marketing Resources for Technical Solo-Founders. […]