Most people these days I think “get” the idea that creating regular, valuable content is the key to getting visitors to your website and building credibility in your emails and other interactions.

But doing it consistently is easier said than done.

Here are three shortcuts I use to get content that people find useful created quickly.

The first method is simply to tap my own experience. I start off by thinking of a challenge, problem or aspiration I know a decent number of my readers have. Then I cast my mind back to the times when I've faced similar challenges and simply write about how I handled it.

What makes life simpler here is not feeling the need to appear perfect all the time.

If you don't feel you have to present a perfect image to the world it makes it OK to write about the times when you didn't handle things quite so well.

For me, that gives me an awful lot more things to write about ;)

Or you can write about your clients too. Best to use their success stories in that case. Cast them as the hero or heroine.

The second method is to be inspired by something you see happening around you. This could be commenting on current business or news stories. Or bouncing off something in popular culture. If you watch Game Of Thrones or Downton Abbey, can you draw an analogy between a plotline there and an insight or little tip in your field.

I've written three of my favourite blog posts based on things I learned from famous comedians. One based on a magician and one on a TV presenter.

If you think hard enough, you can almost always find a link between something interesting and a business lesson.

And my third shortcut: if you can't find anything in your experience or around you to write about, then create an experience.

I wrote quite a detailed blog post about how comedian Dave Gorman created the content for a bunch of best-selling books and TV series by doing weird stuff.

And I often report on my own marketing experiments – both successful and not so successful.

You can do this too. Set yourself a task that you think your subscribers would be interested in. Something they might want to do themselves. Then do it and share your experiences and what you learned.

The key thing to bear in mind is that what you write (or video or audio record) don't have to be earth-shatteringly new every time.

If you look at someone like Seth Godin and his blog. Then although he's probably responsible for more new ideas in marketing than anyone else in the last decade, 99% of what Seth writes on his blog isn't new.

It's good sense. It's insightful. It's provocative. It's entertaining. But it's rarely completely new.

And that's exactly what your audience needs.

Take something that's useful for them to know, either for the first time or as a reminder. Then find an interesting way to tell the story. An anecdote from your past. An entertaining link to popular culture. A chance to watch as you play out that lesson live.

Turn this process into a regular habit and you've got your very own valuable content production line.