Priceonomics is one of the most interesting sites on the web. They take data and analyze it in a fascinating, readable way. Rigorous analysis of everything–including seemingly inconsequential topics–leads to seriously interesting results. For example, in this post, they analyzed the selfie phenomenon with data, right down to the average head tilt angle people in different cities around the world.
But Priceonomics is more than just interesting reading–they have a new resource which can be of use to budding entrepreneurs, writers, or creatives. It’s called the Content Marketing Handbook, and it breaks down how to make content which is both interesting and influential. It is a full 30,000 word book–entirely free. There is also a shortened, 6 page summary, available as well.
Something that I think is very valuable–especially for writers, is this section:
While getting covered by TechCrunch sent 6,000 visitors to our site, we learned that a popular blog post on our website could send 20,000 visitors in a single day. It was better to write popular things on our website and attract our own crowd than to try to cajole journalists into writing about us. When we published interesting information on Priceonomics, the journalists came to us!
While most writers–myself included–always dream about being mentioned in the New York Times or a similar outlet, it can actually be more productive to create your own audience and find links through other blogs, Facebook, Reddit, or other sources. In today’s market, you don’t need to simply rely on gatekeepers–you can create your own path around the wall.
