10 Ways to Re-purpose Your Content

While I'm not completely averse to hard work, I see no need in working hard when I don't absolutely have to.  One way that you can work a bit easier in your online business is to re-purpose any articles or content you're writing for your email newsletter. This philosophy of "write once, use endlessly" has help me immeasurably over the years to expand my marketing reach further than I ever thought possible without having to create massive amounts of new content all the time.

How do I do it?  I have on my schedule to create 1 new article each week for my ezine, and then use the methods listed below to maximize my investment of time in writing the article:

1.  Create a podcast.  Make a digital recording of your article using one of any number of audio recording devices or software like Audacity or AudioAcrobat, for example. Before recording, I copy my article to a Word doc and enlarge the font to 14 or so for easy reading and then practice my script (article) several times to ensure I don't stumble in the recording process.  I've also created an intro that leads me into the article topic for the week, and close with an offer for my listeners.  Then, post your podcast to podcast directories. In about 30 minutes, you've created yet another marketing strategy for yourself.

2.  Add to your blog.  Every article that I write for my newsletter is also posted to my blog.  I'm often asked whether this is overkill, since I already publish an ezine, and whether the search engines penalize me for redundant content.  As far as I can tell, I've never been penalized for having the same article appear in multiple places. In fact, Google seems to index any posts on my blog within hours.  I'm able to see that because the Google alerts I have set up for my name, my company name, and a variety of other search terms update me daily about where I'm being mentioned online.  And, some people love to read and respond to blogs while others would rather read ezines.  So, by doing both, I appeal to both audiences with only minutes of extra effort.

3.  Post to your website.  I estimate that easily 60% of my traffic comes to my website via keyword searches that match the topics of articles that I've written.  And, I'm constantly sending both current and prospective clients to my site for additional information on a topic that enhances a recent discussion I've had with them.  Make sure that you have your articles indexed in usable categories that make sense to your target market so that they can easily find your words of expertise when they search for it online.

4.  Create your "free offering".  Unfortunately, the offer of a free ezine in return for someone's name and contact info is no longer adequate today to compel someone to easily part with their contact information.  Now you have to up the ante and offer a free report or free recording or ebook to persuade someone to join your list.  Your articles are a perfect source for this.  In fact, the free ebook that I offer for joining my list is a compilation of a number of articles on the topic of getting traffic to your website.

5.  Submit to article banks.  Distributing your articles via thousands of article banks help you increase your traffic, as Internet searchers might find an article at an article directory initially and then visit your website upon reading your resource box (short bio) at the end of the article.  Article submission also establishes your credibility as an expert, especially when you tell a prospective client to Google you and they're amazed by all the references to you online.  Lastly, this article marketing strategy helps other print and online publishers locate you and then feature your work (or offer the prospect of other opportunities) in their publication. I use Submit Your Article to help me with this.

6.  Create your own article directory.  Creating your own article directory is a great traffic-generating strategy, as you can feature your own articles there as well as accept quality submissions from others who have relevant info for your target market.  An easy way to create this type of site is through free article directory software, ArticleDashboard.com.

7.  Create infoproducts for profit (ecourses, ebooks).  I never believed that I could put together any type of information product until I took a long, hard look at two year's worth of articles and saw definite themes emerge.  Slowly but surely I'm translating these themes into ebooks and ecourses that I can sell online.

8.  Offer to print publications in your target market.  If your target market is very specialized, like horse owners for example, you'll find a whole host of specialized print magazines, newsletters, and catalogs for this market.  Take a few hours and research those publications available for your target market, check out their submission guidelines, and get a sense of the tone of the publication as well.  If you think your content would be a great fit, spiff up a couple of your best articles and send an email to the publisher outlining how publishing your content in his publication would benefit his readership.  Most of the time you won't be paid for your submission, so request that a short bio with your contact info is contained within your article.

9.  Create a video.  Video production is becoming easier and easier, and I now receive a couple of video ezines where the entire content of the ezine is delivered via a video. In fact, you can actually sit at your desk with a webcam and record yourself.  With the magic of video software (check out Visual Communicator 2), you can add graphics and text and have a video ready in minutes.  With the popularity of video sites like YouTube, it's harder to ignore the impact video will have on your online marketing efforts.

10.  Syndicate on other websites.  Through the power of RSS feeds, you can become a syndicated columnist in other people's publications. Simply offer your RSS code and installation instructions to your visitors with the promise that they'll have new content on their site weekly (or in whatever interval you publish new articles).  My article submission service offers this option to me, and I'm appearing on more websites every week.

There's no need to constantly push yourself into creation mode.  Take stock of your content, and develop strategies for how it can best be re-purposed.  You'll be surprised with how much time you'll save using the information already at your disposal.