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

Written by Kristy Pruitt

recycle-2 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.

Ready for More Profit with Content?

If you'd like to learn to create content that builds your business, simply enter your first name and email address below and click "Subscribe". You'll instantly receive your guide and we'll keep you up-to-date with what's happening at Contentrix, content marketing news and more.