Beyond Articles Part 2: 10 More Creative Ways to Distribute Your Content

Last week, I gave you 10 ideas for spreading one single article all over the Internet without having to rewrite or spinning it.

If you take the extra time and effort to rewrite, you’ll get even more content out there to promote your business. It’s much easier to create new content when you already have something to work with – much easier than starting from scratch.

So before you work on an entirely new article, take an existing article and take it for a spin.

10 article spinning ideas:

1. Rewrite the article for a different audience.

If you have a general article for Internet marketers, rewrite it for multi-level marketers or ecommerce store owners.

2. Rewrite the content from the perspective of… an alien, your dog, a toddler.

Particularly good for blogs, this approach results in a humorous article with a fresh perspective.

3. Transform the article into a press release, informational print ad, or postcard.

Take key points from your article to make a promotional material.

4. Use the article in a teleseminar or webinar.

You can either pre-record the virtual event, or use the article in a live class with a question-and-answer period at the end. Use the article as is, or as a rough guide for the virtual seminar.

5. Print several articles together in a physical newsletter.

Physical information products have a greater perceived value than digital ones, so a physical newsletter will be appreciated more than a PDF or Email.

6. If you have converted your articles into audio or video, combine them in a CD, DVD or pre-loaded mp3 player.

Use them as a premium giveaway or sell them at a higher price than digital formats.

7. Develop a list of resources and checklist based on an article.

Create a viral freebie, or bundle together as a bonus.

8. Use the article to make an an online quiz.

Based on results, make recommendations for your products/services or affiliate products. Use Google to find free quiz makers online.

9. Write spin-off articles.

Develop each key point of the article into an entirely new article, then rinse and repeat last week’s distribution ideas.

10. Get the main action points of the article, find accompanying pictures, and create a screensaver.

Look for a free application that will create a flash-based screensaver, such as Instantstorm. Then give the screensaver away. Don’t forget to watermark it with your URL! Your readers will love this.

With a little extra effort, you’ve got 10 new pieces of content to distribute as you please. Use these and last week’s ideas to create an endless stream of new content for your own site, as well as for other distribution points on the Internet.

And remember that you don’t have to do everything yourself. Any of these ideas can be outsourced.

It all begins with one article.

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Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: How to Be a Content Environmentalist

Using a minimal amount of resources and recycling the things we do use is good for the environment. But did you know that the same concepts can work wonders when applied to our content?

Webmasters of the largest sites know this, and they do it well. They have to. Because when a site has thousands of pages, plus an email newsletter, and does marketing through other websites and social media, making every piece of content completely original just isn’t practical.

Here’s how you can apply three of the most important aspects of environmentalism to your content.

Reduce: We’re not talking about reducing the volume of your content. In some cases that makes sense, such as with mini sites. But here we’re talking about reducing the amount of work you put into it. If you can produce more content with less work, you can get greater results without wearing yourself too thin. And that’s always a good thing, right?

Reuse: Some webmasters are wary of reusing content, because they fear duplicate content penalties from the search engines. But there are ways to reuse content without it resulting in numerous pages with the same thing on them, word for word. How about taking a free report and breaking it down into articles to use on your site or distribute to article directories? You could also take excerpts from articles, reports or ebooks and use them on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. Or you could use them to answer questions on sites such as Yahoo Answers, taking the opportunity to establish yourself as an expert and link back to your site.

Recycle: If you need unique content, why not recycle stuff you’ve already written? Let’s say you’ve got a great article on your site or blog, and while you think it would do well in article directories or as content for your affiliates to use on their sites, you don’t want to run the risk of having it flagged as a duplicate and removed from search engine rankings. Simply rewrite it and submit the “new” article for others to use. It will contain the same information, but since it’s worded completely differently, you’ll have nothing to worry about.

Another way you can recycle content is by modifying it into a different format. Some articles translate well into checklists, and others can easily be turned into blog posts by adding a little more of a personal touch. Using what you already have gives your readers something new without requiring much work on your part.

The next time you need new content and feel stuck, take a look at what you already have. Chances are you’ll find something that you can use in a different way, either as-is or with a little reworking.

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Beyond Articles: 10 Creative Ways to Distribute Your Content

So you’ve got a great article written. You’ve done your keyword research and placed it in strategic but natural places throughout your article. The article is informative and engaging, and it has a compelling call to sign up for your newsletter.

What next? Put your article to work – again and again. Of course, you would submit it to an article directory or post it on your blog.

But don’t stop there. That one article can become a stream of content to help promote you and your business.

Here are 10 ideas to get you started:

1. Read you article aloud and record it into an mp3 file. Submit the audio to AssociatedContent.com.

2. Take the mp3 audio and create a slideshow presentation around it. Share the slideshow in AssociatedContent.com or Slideshare.net.

3. Turn your slideshow into a video. If you created the slideshow in PowerPoint, you’ll need software to transform it to a video format. Upload your video to YouTube and other video sharing sites.

4. Take pieces of your article to create a Squidoo page or several.

5. Create an audio podcast with your mp3 recording.

6. Make a video podcast with your video.

7. Break the article into an e-course to be delivered through your autoresponder.

8. Got related articles you’ve already written? Put them together into a special report or ebook.

9. Use part of your article to respond to questions in Yahoo! Answers and discussion forums in your niche.

10. Snip your article into value-laden Twitter tweets.

There you go, 10 different ways to use a single article – and you haven’t even had to spin or rewrite it.

Maybe next week….

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Featured Article Directory: GoArticles.com

GoArticles.com is a free content article directory. This allows authors to post content with out a charge and publishers are able to use the content without a charge as well. The benefit to the publishers is the wide selection of content. The benefit to writers is that a large number of publishers will post your quality content along with a link to your website or other information that you may include in your author block.

Who is GoArticles.com

GoArticles.com falls under the umbrella of the Jayde Online Network. There are 15 different sites that make up the network. Jayde Online was founded in 1993 and incorporated just five years later. Jayde Online Network, Inc. calls Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada home.

• Mel Strocen is the President and CEO of Jayde Online Network. He worked in senior positions in management and development for 15 years before founding Jayde.com. It was one of the first web directories and search engines.

• Barry Green is the Vice President of Jayde Online Network. He has been involved in sales, business development and consultation for over 25 years.

• Murray Hunters is the Chief Technical Office at Jayde Online Network. He holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Computer Science and 15 years of internet experience.

• Mark Smalley is the Director of Sales for Jayde Online Network. He has been involved in internet entrepreneurism since 1994.

The website content on GoArticles.com should reach as many as 1 million indexed articles by the end of 2009. This statistic draws the publishers that give your content the exposure that you desire. The goal of GoArticles.com is to help create the best and the largest content database available on the Web.

GoArticles.com has a Google pagerank of 6/10 and an Alexa rating of 2,036.

Guidelines for GoArticles.com Authors

Creating an account for article submission with GoArticles.com is simple. A free account only requires that you take the time to fill out a a New Member form. It is also possible to purchase premium positions for your submitted articles. Your article will be moved to the top of a category or sub-category for the maximum amount of exposure. Currently the cost for a top category position for two weeks is $50 and the top position of a sub-category for two weeks is $25.

Other Articles and Reviews of GoArticles.com

The Review Kings give a well rounded review of the GoArticle.com services.

Article base helps to explain how using the services of GoArticles.com will be beneficial to you.

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Part 2: Setting Up a Content Membership Site Interview

If you listened into part 1 of this membership site interview, you’ll want to check this out. Part 2 is available and covers:

• Adding a forum to your membership
• Adding more functionality and interaction
• Tracking and monitoring members

Go here to download it directly.

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Putting Your Content into a Membership Site

If you’ve thought about putting your content into a membership site, here’s an interview you’re going to want to listen in on.

Stu Mclaren interviews Chris Garrett about:

• How to set up your membership site (including software to use)
• Handy WordPress plug-ins
• How to price your membership

…and a bunch more stuff.

You can download the interview directly here – no opt-in or anything required. Just listen in.

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