Generating lots of original content is a hard task so when you do create something good you’ll want to make sure you get the most from it. With a little thought, one well-written article can be used in a variety of settings and media – getting your message out to as many people as possible.
Here are five simple ideas for using one great article:
Give it to your local paper or industry trade magazine. Media outlets are always in need of good content. If your’s is well crafted and engaging then there’s a decent chance that your local paper or industry trade magazine would be interested in publishing it.
You can do this on spec but a quick phone call before you write it should give you an indication of what they’d look for. But don’t expect a huge paycheck. By all means you can put yourself out there as a freelance writer but the real value for most small businesses is as a marketing exercise (i.e. you do it for free). The real value is in the byline and the cuttings for your website – you are now a published expert.
Submit to article directories. I use SubmitYourArticle.com (affiliate link) to automate the process but you can also do it manually. Sites like Ezinearticles, ArticleFactory, ArticleAlley, ArticlesBase and GoArticles are a good place to start.
By listing your articles on their sites you give anyone who wants to, the free non-exclusive right to republish your articles provided they credit you and (in most cases) link back. It can be a great way to generate inbound links to your website and attract new visitors.
Transform them into blog posts or newsletter articles. If you’ve written something for a print publication or other media a little ‘topping and tailing’ can often re-purpose the content as a great blog post – and vice versa.
Collate them into a larger volume. Pull together a collection of your best articles and publish them as a set – as an ebook, white paper or even a printed publication using a print-on-demand site like Lulu.
Use it as the focus of a talk or workshop. A 500 word article might not be long enough to generate an entire talk in itself, but you can use the key points as a structure for all kinds of ‘live content’. Think free workshops, video tutorials or small public speaking gigs.
How else do you recycle and reuse content? Help your fellow readers and add your ideas in the comments below.
Image: marcusrg
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Nice article Mark.
I find putting together slide presentations of my articles into Powerpoint and then recording them using Camtasia gives me yet another outlet to distribute the article – Youtube for instance!
Great addition Mike!
You could throw the Powerpoint onto Slideshare as well.
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