We've discussed a variety of ways to repurpose content lately. But it's important to take look at the right way - and the wrong way - to republish content in various places, or in different formats.
The most common questions I get asked usually go something like this: "Should I submit my article to EzineArticles.com and publish it on my blog post at the same time?" No...
I've also been asked: "Should I take the articles on my website and 'spin' them, then submit them to article directories?" Again, No.
These are both good examples of the wrong way to repurpose content.
You want to keep your visitor - and their path to and through your website - in mind at all times. When developing your content strategy, you want to attract visitors, and then strategically lead them into your funnel...
It wouldn't make sense to attract visitors to your site or blog through a free report, and then offer them that same free report as an incentive to subscribe to your mailing list once they got there. Right? Oddly enough, I see people do it.
Marketing is a step-by-step process where you meet your buyer, form a relationship with them, and then make the sale. It can happen in a matter of minutes, or over the course of days or weeks. The point is that it is a process - and you can easily lose them anywhere along the way.
Regurgitating the same old content over and over is one surefire method of killing any hope of a profitable relationship with your target market. Nobody wants to hear you say the same thing 7 different ways every step through your funnel.
There's a big difference between regurgitating the same old words - or 'spinning articles' - and strategically repurposing content.
One very simple way to repurpose your content is to offer it in a variety of formats. Text can easily be converted into audio, and even video content. Your text format can be used as an article with reprint rights, or as a post on your blog or website. The audio version can be uploaded to BlogTalkRadio. The video version to YouTube. This gives you at least 3 different ways to reach your target market, and all 3 formats can lead into the same call-to-action.
Likewise, a great audio interview can be repurposed into a short report or PDF format. This is a great service to your target market, as some prefer listening over reading, and others prefer reading over listening. It also instantly doubles your opportunities for exposure.
Let ideas expand into exceptional content...
One of the easiest ways to repurpose content is to take small snippets, and expand on them. Twitter has been a great source for many of my blog posts over the last year. That seems to work exceptionally well if you publish the post while the conversation or topic is still 'warm' and tweet the link to your blog post. I'll often quote tweets, or use screen shots of tweets, and then expand on the topic in my blog post.
Forums are another great source. Anytime I post a long and resourceful reply in a forum thread, I copy and paste that reply to notepad and save it in a folder on my hard drive. When I am running dry on content ideas, I open that folder and look for pieces I can expand on for a blog post or a new article.
If you write product reviews, you can repurpose your reviews into a Top 10 list of recommended products. A tech blogger might publish The Top 10 Gadgets of 2009, for example - linking back to each product review and including a short description of why it made the list.
Have a great blog post buried in your archives? Dig it out and turn it into a short report or tip sheet. You can use this as an incentive for visitors to subscribe to your mailing list.
Phone calls or emails, or pretty much any conversation, can also be repurposed into web content. Keep a running log of your most frequently asked questions, and use those to create articles or blog posts. Your email replies are a great source, and need very little editing to be turned into usable content.
You can also publish your FAQ as a piece of content in and of itself, and link to the pages or posts that go into full response for each question on the list.
Speaking of conversations, I once turned a conversation over lunch into a blog post, as well as a conversation during a short flight. Get creative, and realize that if you're thinking... or talking... you're creating content!
The most important aspect of content development is that each of your pieces work together to achieve your main objective. Is your goal traffic, is it sales, is it list-building? Know your objective upfront, and develop your content strategy to achieve that objective.
Best,
p.s. Two great resources for writing content: Article Marketing for Beginners and 7 Elements That Go Into A GREAT Blog Post (free report by yours truly)
- Enjoy! 😀
Also See:
About Lynn Terry
When I am talking I am creating content? WOW I should never run out of things to write about 🙂
I love the idea of using conversations and Tweets as the foundation of a blog post. I have gotten several ideas from reading posts on someone else's blog as well. If they are struggling with an issue and I can contribute in a way that goes beyond a blog comment, I write a post about it and link to their original discussion.
We all have far more knowledge than we want to admit. We just have to take action. Taking existing material and creating new products with it is a fantastic way to leverage our intellectual property.
We see it all the time and don't think anything about it. A book, a movie, a TV show, etc. All of them can be re-purposed material.
Great article on the differences of good and bad re-purposing.
Now to create some video slide shows and audio files 🙂
There is an added benefit to blogging your response to someone else's post, vs just leaving a comment. Doing that creates a trackback on that person's blog post, which is a great way to get a relevant inbound link - and also to invite their readers over to your own blog.
Obviously this has to be done with a thoughtful, quality post - a relevant addition to the original discussion. Otherwise the blogger will not approve (or delete) your trackback from their blog.
I always advise this if you have a blog on the same topic, and have more than a line or two to say in response.
Lynn,
That is an awesome tip! Responding to a blog post by posting your response on your own blog and getting the trackback link. That is a great technique much better than just a regular comment where you get virtually no SEO credit.
Thanks for all the great info in the post. It should get everyone's creative juices going.
Thanks, Mike
Hi Lynn,
Thanks for the great advice, as usual. I appreciate how you take the simple things we tend to look past and remind us to use everyday events as content. Similar to your tip on using forum posts, I've also found that by reading and commenting on other blogs that it has sparked up some conversation and interesting topics to use on my own blog. Sometimes the comments end up having a whole new side topic going on.
Hi Lynne,
I felt we shouldn't submit our articles on own site to ezinearticles.com as well. Not because of the duplicate content issue, but because the reader who has read your article on ezinearticles might came across your article AGAIN on your site again. To me that's not providing value to him.
I agree with you. If you submit the same articles to bothe ezinearticles.com and your blog, the result may be horrible. So I don't do that, I'd rather submit new articles to ezinearticles.com if I do this.
This is true Alex & Clarky, but with my blog sometimes I will pull great content out of the archives and use that for article submissions. I often freshen it up a bit when I do that, but when promoting my blog it's unlikely the reader will come across that same topic when they visit since it's buried in the archives.
I only do this with great posts that don't seem to rank well (not in the top 30) and that are no longer getting readers & comments. And given that I've been blogging for more than 5 years, I usually go at least 6-12 months back in the archives...
Another great "how to", Lynn!
Liking the optin box at the end of the post, good idea.
Dan
Love this post Lynn. I have been told to spin and I never have because it just didn't sit well with me. After reading your post, I now know why and what to do about it. Thanks again!
Excellent post, Lynn!
I just published a post about time-saving tips related to Article Marketing. I definitely do not advocate article spinning - but am all for getting extra mileage from research and work you've already done - as long as it translates into fresh and unique high-quality content.
I added a link to this post to give my readers even more ideas on how to do this the right way. Thanks for the great ideas!
Thank you Trish! I've really been enjoying your content challenge at http://www.webcopyresults.com/blog/ and appreciate the link. I'll be over shortly to check out your newest post in the series 😉
Hi Lynn,
This comment doesn't relate to this great post but this is my first time to your blog...Great blog!
I came across you from IMTW through Itunes. I have been listening to some of the podcasts and really appreciate your style to Internet Marketing. I signed up for your newsletter and will visit regularly.
Thank you, Ken - Welcome to ClickNewz 😀
Lynn, you mention artice directories and EzineArticles in particular. Do you believe it is worth the effort of submitting articles, especialyl repurposed articles to them, thather than creating a unique page of content for one of your own sites?
Absolutely - you should be doing both! To answer your question "is it worth the effort": yes. 20 minutes of writing in exchange for a permanent inbound link, your content potentially going viral, and indirect top rankings through your submission - yes, all day long!
I was hoping you'd say that!
I started an article writing spree a few weeks ago and the few articles I have submitted are showing results in terms of views and clicks, (even after a few weeks) but it is longer term results I am hoping to see. Knowing it works (rather than hoping it does) will help to spur me on!
It is absolutely worth it charlie, if you do a little keyword research before posting the article and toss a low competition high search volume keyword in the title of the article you could easily grab up a 1st page google ranking for the keyword. If that happens you will see residual traffic for sure.
So many ways to break a stellar post up and make it accessible to a larger audience. I never thought of breaking the audio from the video and submitting them in different venues. Thanks!
See, I need to hear and read things over to get a grasp on this stuff. I appreciate all the good tips you share and I feel I am moving along as far as content goes but I need to do more. I have never submitted an article to a directory so that is one of my goals for this month!
What if I don't have any content and don't know how to write posts or articles and I want to get a blog started? Where can I go to find articles or posts, can I repost other peoples content or is that frowned upon?
Hi Gary,
You can study and learn the process. Here are some good starting points:
http://www.clicknewz.com/1993/how-to-write-a-blog-post/
http://www.clicknewz.com/1995/how-to-write-a-product-review/
You can hire ghostwriters very inexpensively. See:
http://www.clicknewz.com/1521/create-unique-content-quickly/
You can also use PLR, which is content with Private Label Rights. I am getting mine from Nicole Dean at EasyPLR. If you use that link, you can use the coupon code: LYNNROCKS to get a discount.
Lots of options! 😉
thank you for sharing i learn a lot from your article
Hi Lynn readers posters bloggers all - I have been intrigued with this valuable link-back method for some time as you point out here from above - ("There is an added benefit to blogging your response to someone else’s post, vs just leaving a comment. Doing that creates a track-back on that person’s blog post, which is a great way to get a relevant inbound link - and also to invite their readers over to your own blog") - What confuses me a little is the opportunity everyone misses out on - it is to expose a keyword that relates to your blog if at all possible with a couple of relevant keywords in the name and address tags above - surly it would be better all round if we all used this address form above for our businesses and then signed off in the body with our names - as I have demonstrated here - because usually unless they are folks like you Lynn - no one is really bothered who we are when commenting on a blog people are more concerned to what the comment is about surly? -
All my best to one n'all
Phillip Skinner
Some bloggers won't approve your comments if you use keywords in the "name" field. Some will. A lot of people do that, so there's nothing new to it really.
The difference between that and a trackback, where a trackback is a good option, is that trackbacks get a higher click through rate than comment links.
yeah you shouldnt keep resubmitting the same articles to the same site and its better to change your articles once a month and submit them to different article submission sites thats what im doing if anyone thinks i should do something differently than can you tell me i find that it is the best way what do you guys think?
If you're just submitting random content to article directories for the sake of backlinks, that's one thing. I prefer to do it with a more specific objective - leading the reader into a specific offer or page with intent to convert.
Considering personal preferences of visitors in terms of info snacking is a great idea. It's very true; some people are too lazy to read so they prefer listening. I myself look for videos instead of articles when I feel my eyes are too tired to read. Videos and audios are helpful for those people who have eye problems and want to go through useful information updates in the web. ss
Im practicing my content with my first blog.
Creating more great content from existing great content is a fantastic idea. This article provides concise tips on recreating content.
One other suggestion I would add to this list is that for every piece of audio or video content you create, you should have it transcribed. This will yield another search engine friendly piece of content that relates to the subject matter.
[The most common questions I get asked usually go something like this: “Should I submit my article to EzineArticles.com and publish it on my blog post at the same time?” No…]
Apparently Ezinearticles has just clarified this matter on their blog recently, if I understood them correctly, they seem to say they haven't got a problem with you posting content you already have on your site or blog for as long as it's original to you and with the same sgnature you use on EA.
I want to think I read correctly as they where a lot of people asking questions for reassurance.