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.