From the moment you begin researching ways to make money online, you hear
WRITING,
WRITING, and
MORE WRITING, over and over again. There’s a reason for that and we’re going to discuss how the written word can make you money, but YOU don’t have to be the one doing all that writing. Save your paper and your wrists!
One of the hottest ways to make money online is through the power of blogging. But, what does blogging require? What do you think? What ONE thing must you do above all else in order to blog?
If you’re like the majority of people, your answer probably included…you guessed it…WRITING! After all, that’s what a blog is all about right? On your blog you are sharing your thoughts with others in the form of blog posts that you’ve written - constant writing.
Before you run for the hills, let me let you in on a little secret.
While those blog posts are necessary in order for you to be a successful blogger, they do NOT all have to be written by you.
You need content to make your blog successful, but it does not have to be written by you. Let me explain by giving you some ways to make money and keep your blog fresh without wearing yourself out or giving yourself Carpal Tunnel Syndrome before you even get started bringing in the dough.
But, first, you need to know why content so important on the Internet and especially your blog.
Why is Content Crucial?Here are a few reasons...
First of all, people come to the web for one thing and one thing only – information. Whether they're shopping for products to buy or looking for a natural remedy for their acne, they're hitting the web for information, advice, and help.
If your readers find quality information from you they're very likely to:
• Stick Around
• Sign Up for Your ezine or newsletter
• Twitter about your site
• Recommend your posts at places like StumbleUpon.com
• Sign up for your RSS feed
• Come back in the future
• Refer others to your site
Second,
search engines LOVE content. The more pages you have on your website or blog filled with quality content, the better. Whether you offer product reviews, funny stories, or meaty training, quality content is rewarded by Google, MSN, and Yahoo, as well as the many other smaller search engines online.
Third, adding value to the Internet begins to establish you as an expert on your topic. By writing great information, your readers will begin to look at you as THE go-to person for information. You'll begin attracting interview and JV requests as well.
As you can see content really is important if you want to build a successful blog or website on the Internet. Without it, your site is just another in the World Wide Web. How can people find you if they don’t know you exist? By establishing yourself and providing your readers with quality posts and other valuable information they need and want, you will see that you can easily become one of the big fish in the pond.
But, what if you don’t have time to write constantly? Or, what if you don’t like writing? You’re in luck, there are many ways to add quality information to your blog without having to write it all yourself.
Before we get to that, let me tell you that while you can create a blog purely made up of content that you don’t write yourself, I wouldn’t advise it. If you want to really resonate with your readers, you have to let them get to know you as well. Don’t shy away from writing some posts yourself, but instead use these content creation methods along with your own writing to create even more quality information for your visitors.
Where to Find Content for Your Blog?Now that you know you need great content for your blog and why, it’s time to move on to the meat of this report. I promised I’d tell you how to get that content without wearing your fingers to the bone. So, here we go! Hang on it’s gonna be a fun ride!
1.
Hire a WriterThere are freelance writers who make it their business to write articles, blog posts and more for website owners as well as bloggers. Most of these writers, also known as ghostwriters, charge per written piece and base their charges on the word count of the content you need. For instance, you can have a 300 word blog post written for X amount of dollars on the desired topic of your choice.
Normally, you will send the writer either a broad topic or even an actual title and they will in turn write the content for you following your specifications. Finding a ghostwriter is not hard, especially with the field growing by leaps and bounds every single day. The hard part is finding a writer you can communicate well with, afford, and who can write in a way that captures your voice.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when hiring a ghostwriter.
Finding a Writer
Ask for Recommendations - Ask around and see who comes recommended. You can easily get references from other bloggers, website owners, Internet marketers, and even on social media sites such as Twitter.
Search Engines - While this is an option, I would definitely ask people you know and trust for their suggestions for a writer first. Just because a person’s website makes it to the top of the search engine results and they “claim” to be an experienced writer, doesn’t mean they are.
It Might Take More than One to Find THE One
Just as every blog is different, so are writers. Don’t get discouraged if you try one (or sometimes more) writer and he or she is not what you had in mind. Some writers can take any blog owner’s writing style and implement it in their articles and blog posts with no problem what-so-ever. Others don’t find it as easy.
If you hire a writer and find you don’t like their writing style or approach to a topic, move to another. I can tell you from experience; sometimes it takes going through a few writers to find the one that “gets it” and will whip out superb content that fits your personality as if you wrote it yourself.
Feedback is Crucial
When you hire a writer make sure you give them feedback once they’ve completed a writing project for you. If there was something you didn’t like about the article – the way they worded things wasn’t how you would have done it, etc. – let them know. A professional writer will be open to all types of feedback and offer to correct the issue with a re-write. By providing feedback, you are not only letting the writer know what you like and dislike about the content, but you are also building a relationship that will become very beneficial for both of you.
For instance, I know I can start writing something that’s in my head and when I get stuck, it’s nothing for me to whip it over to my writer and say “Help!” I have developed a relationship with her that allows me to feel comfortable throwing something her way without a second thought for improvement, additions, etc. I know that once she returns it to me I will not only be pleased, but it will read as if I’ve written it all myself because she and I have communicated and discussed my likes and dislikes so much that she could pass as me almost any day!
Review & Edit
I know I just said that I can send something to my writer and it would be like I’ve written it myself, but that doesn’t mean I can get away with not looking at the finished product. Even the best of writers have their off days, mine included.
Therefore, it is critical that any piece of writing you have someone else put together for you, should be reviewed and edited as necessary. Whether you’re making changes to put more of your own thoughts and opinions to it or simply adding monetization items, you must, must, must review each and every piece of content you have created for you.
2. Seek Guest ExpertsYou may have seen these on other blogs you, yourself frequent. Also commonly referred to as guest bloggers, guest experts are people who can provide relevant information to your readers in the form of guest posts. These are people who somehow tie in with your blog’s topic. For instance, if you own an Internet marketing blog you might consider approaching people from the following areas about submitting guest posts or becoming a regular guest expert on your blog.
• Social Media Experts
• Outsourcing Experts
• Web Design Experts
• Technical Experts
• Working from Home Experts
• Press Release Experts
• Affiliate Marketing Experts
The list could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.
You invite them to be a guest blogger on your blog, set them up with their own login information or have them submit their posts directly to you so you can post them yourself.
Give them something in return for their efforts because most guest bloggers are not paid for their posts. Many times a link back to the guest experts’ site and possibly allowing them to promote their own products or affiliates products within their post is all that’s needed. But, with the growth in popularity of guest bloggers, it’s getting a bit harder to find people who will commit. If they’re good at what they do, they will be blogging on other sites as well as yours. Try to sweeten the pot a little to get them to stick around and continue posting.
Of course, you can pay them to submit information if you’d like. As a matter of fact, I myself have one site where I pay for submissions. I monitor the submissions and if we decide it is site worthy, we pay the author for the article once it’s been published. I’ve found this helps when it comes to having a steady flow of content.
One more thing about guest bloggers you may find helpful. If you know people who are just starting out they are more open to jumping on as a guest blogger than established bloggers or business owners. However, if you aren’t ranking extremely high in the search engines, your traffic numbers aren’t all that great or your blog isn’t quite as popular as you’d like it to be yet, don’t worry. It takes some time to get there, but with the help of adding all this great content and a few other essentials, you’ll be there before you know.
3. Hit the Article Directories Article directories are databases full of articles that authors have submitted in hopes that others will pick them up and publish them on their websites and blogs. You can find articles on just about every topic of the sun at these directories.
The catch is that you must include the author’s resource box, which normally contains information about the author and a link to their website, when you publish it on your own site. They are great sources of information, but read the articles very carefully to be sure you are getting the content you want for your website. You wouldn’t want to place incorrect information on your blog and mislead your readers after all.
Here are some of my most favorite article directories:
Ezine Articles
Free Affiliate Articles (get articles that you can monetize with affiliate links in the resource bio)
LadyPens.com
4. Create Video & AudioAudio and video are growing ever popular online, especially on blogs. You can publish your own audios and videos or you can link to ones that others have created.
Here are some ideas for creating your own audios and videos that you can publish on your blog:
• Interviews with experts in your field
• How-to videos
• Talk radio shows and podcasts
• Training
• And more
Don’t have audio or video creation software? No sweat – you can easily create short videos on your digital camera and upload them to sites like these:
YouTube
Flickr
Blip TV
12 Seconds TV
If you’re looking for audio help, have a glance at these sites:
AudioAcrobat
Blog Talk Radio
5. Add RSS News FeedsAs you probably already know, most blogs have what is known as an RSS feed. This is where, when set up by the blog owner, readers can subscribe to the feed and be notified of new posts to the blog via email or feed readers. If your blog doesn’t have one, I highly suggest you create one. It’s really easy with the help of a site like FeedBurner.com.
Just as blogs have feeds, so do news websites such as CNN, MSNBC, etc. You can have your blog set up to receive feeds from other blogs or websites automatically. When you do this, your blog will show the posts from the other sites. Your blog is updated automatically every time a post is added to that site.
What a great way to have constant content pertaining to your topic appear on your blog. Great for indexing in the search engines too.
6. Ask Your ReadersAnother great way to get content is to ask your readers to submit questions, suggestions, etc.
Their information can be turned into content for your blog in many ways:
Q & A Posts – Ask your readers to submit their questions and then answer them right on your blog.
Create a FAQ Page – As you receive questions, add them to a frequently asked questions page on your site. Each time you update the page, let your readers know.
Product Reviews – If you sell products or provide a service, ask your customers for their opinions about these things. Sometimes, they will submit full fledged reviews and you can publish those on your blog.
Testimonials – While these may not be full posts on their own, you can combine some of them and post on your blog.
7. Newsletters & Emails to Subscribers Do you have an email list? When you send emails to your subscribers or send out your regular newsletter, do you stop at that? Start posting the updates you send to your subscribers and your newsletters or ezines to your blog as well.
Some of your subscribers may not get a chance to read your emails before they are shuffled down their inbox screen or worse yet, they may have filters that are blocking your emails altogether. This will allow them to still receive the valuable information you have to share AND give you more quality content for your blog.
Of course, if you have a list that has sensitive information that you don’t want the whole world to see, skip on posting those specific messages. One example of this would be a membership site where you send members a download link each month so they can access their member’s only information. You wouldn’t want just anybody to have the ability to get that information.
But, if you’re adding a new product to your business for instance, go ahead and post the email you send to your past customers on your blog. You’ll get more exposure for your product and added content for your blog. It’s a win-win.
8. Load Up with Private Label Rights (PLR) ContentOne of my favorite ways to add quality, topic related content to a blog is with PLR. If you don’t know what PLR is, let me fill you in on this wonderful little thing.
PLR content is created specifically for those who don’t have the time, skills or desire to create their own content on a consistent basis. You can find articles, blog posts, reports, recipes, marketing materials, and even web design PLR on the Internet. Someone else writes it and sells it. You buy it and have the ability to use as you see fit - for the most part. Most PLR sites do have rules to what you can and can’t do with the PLR once you purchase it, so be sure you review those before buying.
Now, let’s see what some of the benefits of PLR include:
Inexpensive – PLR is normally cheaper than hiring a ghostwriter. You can normally buy a pack of PLR or sign up for a membership for very little. For instance, a ballpark average cost for a freelancer to write a 500 word article might run you around 10-15 dollars. With some PLR sites, you can buy 10-15 articles for that same price.
Variety – No matter what your topic, you can probably find PLR content for sale about it. The popularity of PLR has helped make it’s availability in a wide variety of markets bigger and broader than ever before.
Limited (some not all) availability – Although PLR is not exclusively yours like ghostwritten material, in most instances the number of times a particular package will be sold is limited. At least with a good PLR seller it is. This will limit the amount of times your content will be found on someone else’s site. (But, I’m going to tell you in a minute how to avoid that, even if the PLR you purchase isn’t limited to a certain amount of buyers.)
Time-Saving – As with the other ways to find content without writing it yourself, PLR saves you a TON of time. It’s already written for you, you just have to make it your own and it’s good to go.
Recyclable – One PLR article can be used over and over again. You can repurpose the same piece of content in numerous ways:
• Post it to your blog.
• Send it to your list.
• Create your own products with it.
• Use it in your affiliate program.
• Use it in your membership program.
• And so much more.
The possibilities really are endless when it comes to using PLR. The more you use it, the more valuable that one piece of content becomes to you.
One bit of advice if you’re using PLR content:
If you decide to use PLR on your blog (or anywhere else for that matter) rework it before posting it. You want to make the content your own in some way. There will be other people on the Internet that are using this same content and unfortunately some won’t see the need to make the content their own and put it up as is. You don’t want to be offering the EXACT same information as everyone else.
Make the PLR cater to your audience and target market. Add your own thoughts to it. Put a different spin on it, whatever you need to do to make it work for your needs without simply throwing it up on your blog in the same condition you received it in. This is what will set you apart from another blogger in your market. This is what will show your readers that you can be trusted and know your stuff.
I’ve now given you 8 ways to get content for your blog without having to write it all yourself. There are other ways, but these are some of my personal favorites and most popular ways. Pick one you really like or choose a combination of them.
