It doesn’t take rocket science to realize content is what blogs need to survive, succeed and even profit. In most circumstances blogs require a constant flow of quality content.
There have been many would-be-bloggers who’ve thrown up a website with a handful of pages filled with pillar content and leave it at that. Then they move on to the next blog. That kind of blog model can work if you stay within micro niche topics where there is very little competition.
However, if you prefer to build a blog and keep adding content – you will want to consider your options for gathering and creating that content. I’m going to list several ways for you to consider. This isn’t a comprehensive list by any means – and is purely off the top of my head.
Write It Yourself
This is the hardest and most time consuming way to create content – but it is the way that is most rewarding. If you know your topic well, you should be able to write about it with authority and ease. The advantage of writing the article yourself is the article is unique and you control the quality. The disadvantage is it can be time consuming.
Hire Someone
If you can’t write yourself or you don’t have the time, you can always hire someone. How you pay them is up to you. Some sites hire full time salary writers while some pay per article. There are many sites that don’t pay at all but the writer gets name notoriety, a place to write without the technical backend concerns and sometimes they get perks and product for their writing. However you do it, make sure there is a contract between you and your writers stating whom the articles belong to should they leave. This can help avoid sticky situations later on.
Recruit Guest Writers
A good source of content can come directly from your readers. Everyone wants their 15 minutes of frame and having an article on their favorite site is one way of doing it. The main problem with reader submitted articles is quality. If you accept guest articles you will want to make sure to specify ownership in your terms of service and in some sort of mutual agreement. It’s not always a good idea to “cross that bridge when you come to it.”
Trade Posts
I have been known to trade an article with another writer. We select older posts from each other’s collection. To our readers, the old article is new. The advantage of this option versus using free article services is you won’t likely encounter the issue of duplication penalty. Because the article is older, you can do a little minor tweaking to bring the article up-to-date, but that requires much less work.
Republish Old Articles
Republishing of older articles is a nice and easy way to create new content. Again, you may want to do some minor rewrites to bring the articles up-to-date.
Use RSS
There are tons of blogs that are developed using nothing but RSS feeds. This is the lazy way out and one method I would not personally recommend if you plan to make a valued name for yourself. Using RSS as filler content is not so bad if used minimally – but you certainly won’t want it being your main content.
Private Label Articles
Known as Private Label Rights, PLR articles are a new twist on content building. PLR articles allow users a quick way to get up a content site really quick and cheap. Private label articles are special type of right or license which you purchase where you are legally allowed to edit and publish the article as your own. In some cases you can even include your own name as the author and your own resource box at the end of each article. You can purchase these articles for pennies.
The real issue with PLR is quality. Most of the articles are garbage that will require a great deal of editing. Another problem is duplication, which I mentioned above. You aren’t the only person to use those articles. The more these articles are used, the more diluted they become. If you choose to use PLR, you really should rewrite them considerably to avoid this problem. However, if you’re going to invest that much time in editing, you might as well create your own to begin with.
Free Article Services
As you may have guessed, free articles are an option. However, when using these articles, you will most likely be required to keep the authors credentials in place and won’t be allowed to do any edits. This in essence will create an overused, highly diluted content system.
If you can avoid free articles, I would. NOT recommended at all.
What are some methods you use or recommend when creating content?
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