When I was a rookie reporter years ago, I was sent to cover a story about a dispute at a local establishment. Problem was there wasn't a dispute. But I wrote about the non-problem because I had space to fill. My editor looked at it, laughed, and said, "Girl, you are trying to make chicken salad out of chicken poop. There's nothing there."

Oops.



Lesson learned: You need substance to make something of substance. And when it comes to business, that means having content that matters.

But what defines "what matters"? If I write an entire blog dedicated to Cary Grant or sell ice sculptures of the TARDIS, will anyone care? Well, good content isn't so much about the details of your passion, but all good content has specific traits.

According to Ann Handley (our chief content officer at MarketingProfs and co-author of Content Rules), the three qualities of good content are that it's:

• Relevant: It helps your customers share or solve, and doesn't shill.



• Engaging: It's fun, enjoyable, or even occasionally surprises.



• Shareable: Has wings and roots. It's rooted in your brand and voice, but has wings to be shared freely, all across the social web.

Finding, writing, and creating content that grabs your audience and changes them (whether in heart, mind, soul, viewpoint, or, heck, even their mood) isn't easy. But learning about content is, thanks to today's seminar, "MarketingProfs University: Content Rules! How to Create the Right Kind of Content." This special, free seminar features our very own Ann Handley and Digital Dads' C.C. Chapman, co-authors of the brand-new book, Content Rules. You'll get answers to the questions that have you tossing and turning at night: What does it mean to create content that's "compelling"? And how can you do it consistently? How can you be heard above the noise?

After checking out this seminar, you'll always make a good chicken salad---and never the, ahem, alternative.

See you at the seminar!