How to Make $500/mo with Content

Good content is everywhere.

It’s no longer enough to write well, to be witty, or to have personality. As the internet continues to evolve, so too do readers expectations.

The biggest opportunity in content creation right now? Education.

Building an audience is about how you make people feel and if you teach them something, they feel a kinship to you. We’re in the business of ‘aha!’ moments. If you can give readers that, you’ll be on the road to making money.

The global e-learning market will be worth a whopping 325 billion by 2025, if you want to make money with your writing, teaching is the way to go.

Today I want to show you a simple step-by-step process to write educational (money-making) articles.

Step 1: Size the ‘audience interest’

In order to make money from your writing, you need interest.

If you have eyeballs you have opportunity. If nobody is interested in the topic you’re talking about, it could be world-class, but nobody is reading it.

The good news? You can validate whether people have an interest in the topic in mind by a simple search. You can hop onto YouTube, X, Medium, or LinkedIn and search for your topic.

Once you find some content on your topic, ask yourself:

• Do people find this interesting?
• Are people asking questions about this?
• Can I provide a unique insight that helps people?

If you can, then we can move on to step 2.

Step 2: Solve for logic (and) emotion

Content exists to solve a problem.

Yet, problems are usually surfaced through emotion.

Whether people are problem-aware, solution-aware, or not, it doesn’t matter. Usually people just feel'a thing' and then click a post. Subconsciously (or otherwise) click on content to solve the problem they have.

If you gone full-blown on logic (the 8 steps to solve this problem) without mentioning an ounce about emotion, you'll lose them. Yes, it might solve their problem logically but it doesn't talk to how they feel and feelings are everything.

It’s your job to picture your readers in the midst of their problem, they are:

• Feeling low
• Feeling stuck

Picture your best friend coming to you with a problem. Then write to them in the way that helps them solve their problem in the best way you know how.

You’re not just educating them (logic), you’re coaching them (emotion).

Step 3: Make it so good they’d pay for it

A piece of content is a product.

It should be so good that you leave readers thinking ‘how is this free?’ if you do that, you know you’re on the right track. The question is how, if you’re stuck for ideas, here’s how:

• How can you provide unique insight?
• How can you go deep into the research?
• How can you tell a story that captivates them?

Take a look at this article here. I made $94 from writing that piece. Now this article is laced with the advice I wish someone had given me when I first started.

The writing cuts straight to the feels.

I’m talking to my younger self, helping her. I know how it feels to be in those shoes, stomping around trying to get my voice heard. I talk to that person.

Step 4: Evaluate & iterate

Great content is an evolution of good content (as we talked about yesterday).

Most of my best stuff comes from re-reading my old stuff with a fresh pair of eyes, if you’re struggling to rework old content, here’s a breakdown of how I do it:

• Take a previous post
• Review the comments
• Find a new point-of-view
• Rewrite, reframe & repost

Don’t stop at iteration 1. I’ll likely take the idea above and find new angles hidden inside the article. The trick is to keep pushing and asking questions of your content.

Pro tip: if an article has made you money before, it will likely make you money again. Rework, reframe & repost.

Money is in direct correlation to the problems (incl. emotions) you solve

If you want to make money writing content, you’ve got to solve problems.

• Solve small problems, make a little.
• Solve big problems, make a lot.

And remember, problems are logical and emotional. Don’t stop at logic, it’s not enough. Don’t just tell people how to solve it, talk to them about the emotions they’ll feel and how to navigate them.

You can validate which problems to solve before writing a word by researching what topics have a lot of interest. From there, you can write, post, and review accordingly.

Making money from your writing can feel like a mountain to climb (especially if you want to write your own stuff on your own terms) but there is a huge opportunity out there if you look in the right places (one of them being Medium)