The Magalog Guy's MagaBlog

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Magazines & Newsletters

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Presentation Hubs

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Press Releases and Publicity

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Interview Transcripts

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Teaching

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Courseware

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Mobile Apps

Magalog Guy — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:00:02 +0000

To this point in our series on content sharing and repurposing, I’ve only talked about things I’ve either done for my business, or have been directly involved with in some other way.

Today, I want to touch on something I don’t have experience with in terms of my own business: Mobile Apps.

The reason I’m including it in this series – despite my lack of experience – is because this is a new frontier that we all need to keep our eyes on.

Even if you’re not a passionate tablet or smartphone user, you can’t deny the impact of mobile devices on society today. And part of that impact is directly related to the applications (or apps) that you can get for those devices.

For many of us, it starts innocently enough… perhaps book reading, engaging in social networking, or some intense addiction with Angry Birds or another game. But we quickly discover apps that can help us be more productive, both in our personal and business lives.

As I’ve mentioned before, if your target audience has a preferred way to being reached or interacting, you probably need to be there whether you’re a fan of that method or not. And this holds true with apps.

Of course, only you know whether prospects and customers would get any value from an app based upon what you know about those two groups. I’ve determined that, for now, this is not a priority channel for me.

You may discover the same thing only to realize a year down the road that the landscape has changed for your business. In other words, this is definitely a content marketing channel to re-evaluate from time to time as I plan to do.

You may need to open your wallet for this one.

Out of all the content marketing channels we’ve discussed, this is the one that probably costs the most money to implement. With the other channels, there might be some small financial outlay, but most of the costs are related to your time and effort.

We’re not quite to the point where a professional looking custom app can be created straight from your desktop, but that’s probably not far off. (And note that I said professional looking.)

There are some sites where you can build an app for “free.” Yes, free is in quotes because there’s often a catch.

The catch might be that your app will include advertising that you don’t control. Or there may be a monthly cost to maintain your app.

There may even be costs associated with submitting your app to whichever app store you want to use. And let’s not forget the question of what platform you want your app to run on… an Apple device, an Android device, etc.

So you’ll want to spend time thinking this through in terms of which platform to use and how your app could benefit prospects and customers.

Speaking of which…

What could you include in your app?

I like what what Dale Beaumont has done with his Business Blueprint app.

The app include links to news, videos, audio and has many other features that compliment what Dale and his team do at their live conferences.

One of your choices, if you go the app route, will be whether your app links to continually updated content. Or whether your app will be a self-contained, stand-alone app that does a specific task.

Like just about anything else, a search will uncover a ton of sites that can build an app for you.

Not having done an app myself, I can’t vouch for any of the following companies, but I wanted to give you a starting point to begin your research.

Some sites allow you to quickly build an app that links to content on your site, like your blog. Just provide the link, and you’ll see an online demo of what your app would look like.

That may be enough for you. But I’d still encourage you to sit down and think through what your prospects and customers are looking for, and then how you might deliver value through an app.

This is an exciting time to share and repurpose your content. There are so many options available, including these new opportunities to have a presence with a mobile app.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Magazines & Newsletters

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Presentation Hubs

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Press Releases and Publicity

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Interview Transcripts

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Teaching

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Courseware

Magalog Guy — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:00:09 +0000

The term courseware is often used in reference to digital products that teach you something. For the purposes of our discussion, I’m going to expand that definition to include print products.

It’s not a big leap, if you’re teaching in a public setting, to convert that material into a course that people can do on their own.

Actually, you don’t even have to teach something in a public setting to create a printed or digital course.

Whether this is a viable option for you is dependent on the type of product or service you sell. Whether you sell the course or give it away is up to you.

Let me give you just a few examples of courseware that I’ve been involved with.

The first is a current client of mine. I’m doing the layout for his second book that deals with a particular aspect of home remodeling.

The book features hundreds of photos walking the reader step-by-step through the remodeling process.

While the book, which he charges for, includes thumb nail photos of each step, they’re also linked to his site where readers can see a larger version of the photos.

It’s a thorough how-to book. It would actually make a tremendous live class.

Another example is a product that I did with my colleague Traci Hayner Vanover called, Get Copyright Savvy.

This was a product that grew from a podcast we did after Traci found her website content was being ripped off. She had the offending site shut down within 24 hours until they removed all of her content.

Our paid program helps other people quickly get results when their content is swiped, and teaches people how to know if it’s been swiped in the first place.

And going back some years, one of my first layout projects was a printed course totaling a few hundred pages that shipped in a binder.

Is there a component of your business that you could turn into a course?

As a sales consultant, perhaps you could create a course on cold-calling. It’s content you may already teach when you’re hired by a company.

Maybe it’s something you’ve touched on over time with blog articles. With some reworking, those various articles could be repackaged as course.

Your courseware version might be a less expensive option for companies that can’t afford for you to come in personally and teach the material. Or it might simply be useful in expanding your reach since live instruction is very time consuming.

In terms of how to present it, you could do it as a printed course, an audio course, or a video course. It just depends on the product or service, and which avenue you’re most comfortable with.

Contact me if you’re needing help with the layout of printed course, or need someone to lead an interview like I did for the Get Copyright Savvy product.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Magazines & Newsletters

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Presentation Hubs

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Press Releases and Publicity

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Interview Transcripts

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Teaching

Magalog Guy — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:00:14 +0000

There’s not a whole lot of difference between last week’s topic of public speaking and this week’s topic of teaching.

Typically, when you speak on stage, or even in a smaller group like a Chamber of Commerce brown-bag session, you are teaching.

But the teaching I’m talking about today is in a classroom.

Like a lot of paths I’ve taken in my business, teaching wasn’t planned. And because of my schedule, it’s not something I’m able to do these days on a regular basis.

But I can tell you that when I did teach at an area college, it was a lot of fun and very satisfying.

Before you go running off and say, “I don’t have a teaching credential, so this one isn’t for me,” let me tell you that you’re not off the hook.

I didn’t have a teaching credential, nor did I need one. I was teaching adult continuing education. Many colleges bring in outside specialists in a given area to teach particular topics.

In my case, I was teaching classes related to marketing communications. The students ranged from traditional college students to recently unemployed adults who were looking for new opportunities. Others were looking for new skills to benefit them in their current jobs.

My longest class each quarter was 18 hours, once a week for six weeks in the evening. Other classes were just one day each quarter.

And what curriculum did I use to teach? Well, I wrote it myself. After all, it was information that I was already using as part of my work for clients.

We’re back to this idea that I really want to impress on you… you know things that others don’t. The information may be so common to you that you don’t think anyone would care to sit through a class on it. In quite a number of cases, you’d be wrong.

Obviously I can’t address every type of topic, but here’s an eye-opening idea: Go to the website of your nearest college and download their continuing education catalog.

Look at all the classes offered. What you’ll find is a variety of topics that you probably had no idea were being taught.

No, it’s not easy

As I mentioned with public speaking, I’m not going to tell you it’s as easy as making a decision to teach, then doing it the next week.

Especially when it comes to starting a class, you have to know the right people at the college, see what their needs are, be able to present an outline of your topic, and then get the class scheduled. (And that’s the simplified list.)

I was fortunate. I was actually an continuing-ed student at the college where I ended up teaching. Through a strange series of events that’s too long to go into here, I was offered the chance to teach a class.

At first, I laughed at the idea. I wasn’t a teacher. But thinking about it later in the day, I was just being asked to teach what I was already doing in my own business.

I wasn’t laughing any longer. And a few months later I was standing in front of my first class with about 10 eager students.

Again, it’s almost impossible that you’ll find yourself in a classroom next week if you’ve never taught before. There’s a lot of planning involved and you need to introduce yourself to the right people.

What I want you to do is just keep an open mind about the idea, and look at a continuing education catalog. You’ll see just how much diversity there is in the course offerings.

Ask yourself, “If I was going to teach a class, what would I teach?”

By the way, you don’t have to teach at a college. Maybe a local business group offers courses that you could be a part of. And with the Internet, your class might be completely online.

Why teach in the first place?

Unlike most of the other channels we’ve talked about, teaching is not about selling your product or services.

Never, ever, go into a teaching situation with the idea of turning your students into customers. As a teacher, you’ll likely be paid. So you will be getting some financial compensation for your efforts.

Instead, teaching is about helping others. That’s always been a thread throughout this series.

However, I do understand there may need to be more then that to make it worth your effort to create a class from scratch.

I can say that teaching gave me contacts with people that were very valuable. And it doesn’t hurt the perception of you and your business when you can say you’re such an expert in your field, you’re actually teaching others in a classroom setting.

I want to stress again, though, that your focus should be on the value you can bring to your students. When you do that, indirect benefits to your business will come.

But immediate personal satisfaction will be apparent when you see how appreciative your students are of the time and help you’re providing so they can get ahead in life.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Magazines & Newsletters

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Presentation Hubs

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Press Releases and Publicity

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Interview Transcripts

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Magalog Guy — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:00:11 +0000

There are points in this series where I probably crashed into your comfort zone. If I haven’t so far, let’s see where we stand after today’s topic. (Not to mention next week’s topic.)

Unless they planned a career as a public speaker, most people I know never started a business saying, “And as part of this business, I want to get in front of strangers as often as possible and give a speech.”

Certainly I didn’t start my freelance career with that intention. But over time, I realized that much of what I was sharing with my clients – especially in a consulting role – was just as valuable to people who weren’t my clients.

First, a bit of terminology clarification.

I say speech because that’s a common word for what we’re talking about.

However, I prefer to think of it as sharing information. People tend to think of speeches as boring and not something you look forward to. So while I’ll continue to use the word speech, know that our intent is to engage with an audience in a way that both you and they enjoy and get something from.

Also, I recommend you never approach a group about giving a speech. Give a talk, give a presentation, share information… but don’t offer them “a speech.”

What should you talk about?

By now I hope you realize that no matter what you do in your business, you have knowledge that many others don’t. And it’s knowledge that could be very helpful to others.

If you’ve started a blog, you’re likely already sharing that knowledge to some degree. So there’s not much of a technical stretch to taking the blog content and turning it into some sort of live presentation. That’s where my speeches came from. Public speaking is just another way to repurpose existing content for a different audience.

While the technical stretch might be slight, the mental stretch could be tremendous.

I do appreciate that public speaking is supposedly one of the biggest fears people have. And while that may be the case, it’s a fear that we can get over, either through organizations like Toastmasters, or sheer force of will to power through it. (Some people love that sort of challenge.)

For me, it was simply a passion to help people. That outweighed any fears I might have in front of a group of strangers.

I’m going to leave the nuts and bolts of how to write and present a speech to the hundreds of books that are available and cover those topics in-depth.

Two personal favorites of mine are Secrets of Great Public Speakers Exposed by Dale Beaumont, and The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo. I’m also a fan of the audio programs by professional speaker Patricia Fripp.

Where can you speak?

Obviously, your topic(s) will help determine which groups would be most appropriate, but let me toss out a few, general avenues:

Service clubs (Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.)
Chamber of Commerce workshops
Meetup.com groups
Local all-day business conferences

Not unexpectedly, any group you offer to speak to is going to want information about you and your topic. So there’s some work involved in putting together your bio, talking points, what people will learn from your speech, etc.

If you’ve never done public speaking, you wouldn’t have a video of a past speech to show. But you could record a quick video from your desktop explaining your topic and what people will learn from it. That will give organizers a quick sense of your personality.

To keep things realistic, though, your first shot at speaking may need to come from someone you know rather than cold-calling groups that don’t know you.

Getting your first speaking opportunity is not a breeze when you’ve never done it before. A lot of stars have to be aligned to get the ball rolling. And your first attempts may, well… stink. That’s why a group like Toastmasters is worth looking into so you can get some training.

As part of this series, public speaking is a valid path to reach more people and raise your profile beyond that of your competitors. For that reason, it needs to be mentioned even though there are hurdles in the beginning, and I’m only able to scratch the surface here.

Remember… when you’re speaking to a group, the speech is not about you. It’s about your audience. As I’ve said before, give people information they can use even if they’re not likely to buy from you at that time.

Focus on being a trusted resource that they can learn from in the present, and they’ll be more comfortable calling on in the future if there’s a good fit.

I realize this chapter in our content sharing and repurposing series isn’t for everyone. It might not be within your personality to speak in front of group. Or it may simply not make sense given your product or service.

But I’d be willing to bet there is some topic related to your career that you know a lot about, and that other people would be interested in knowing.

Reaching those people with an in-person presentation can do some amazing things for the growth of your business.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Magazines & Newsletters

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Presentation Hubs

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Press Releases and Publicity

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Interview Transcripts

Magalog Guy — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:00:23 +0000

If you’ve followed along with this series from the beginning, interviewing people as a way to create content is not a new idea. I touched on it in the podcast and publicity articles.

There are a few reasons we want to interview people:

We don’t know everything, so we bring in an expert to share new ideas with our audience.
We don’t know everything, so we bring in an expert so we learn new things.
Interviewing people expands our business network with something more than a superficial “thank you” message when connecting on social media.
Your interview guest will share the interview with his followers because it reinforces that he is a recognized leader. That’s great exposure for you and your guest.

While interviews I’ve done have been audio-based, you can just as easily do a text-based interview. You send your questions via e-mail and they respond by a certain date.

By this point, you already know to share the links to the interviews in the social networking channels.

But for the purposes of this series on content sharing and repurposing, we want to look at how you can repurpose audio interviews.

If you’re doing audio interviews, you’re already a step ahead of most people. But we can do more.

A lot of people miss great opportunities by leaving interviews in audio form.

There are a number of services that will transcribe your audio – or video - interviews.

Casting Words is a service I’ve used. It’s not free, but I felt the price was very fair. But they’re far from the only company doing this.

With most of these types of services, expect to do a little clean-up work as it’s almost impossible to get a 100% error-free transcription. But doing a little clean-up is better than doing the whole thing yourself, especially if it’s a long interview.

So what do we do with the transcriptions?

You can include a link to it next to the link for the audio version for people who prefer to read rather than listen. If that link takes people to another page on your site, that doesn’t hurt when it comes to search-friendly content for your site.
You can put the transcription into a nicely designed PDF and offer it as a bonus for signing up to your newsletter. Or offer it for free on your resources page.
You can offer the interview – or parts of it – to a site that covers the topic you’re talking about.
You can offer it to your interview guest to share in whatever way she sees fit to so it reaches people outside of your audience.

And while you can do this with interviews you conduct, don’t forget to do this when you’re a guest. Just be sure to ask if they’re OK with you doing that.

The technical side of interviews

The whole idea of interviewing someone may be new to you. If so, here’s some information to get you started.

Keeping things as simple as possible, I use Skype to record my interviews. On the Apple side, there’s a great program called Call Recorder that will record both audio and video. I only use audio for my interviews. When I’m done, the included tools allow me to create an MP3 file for uploading to my site.

On the Windows side, my friend and one of my first interview guests, Traci Hayner Vanover, uses Pamela Recorder Pro.

With Skype, you can talk with anyone in the world. Since it does rely on the Internet, you may have connection glitches. They come up from time to time and you can usually edit them out later with any type of audio editing program like the free Audacity.

If you want to go old-school, FreeConferenceCall.com allows you and your guest(s) to call into a number with your regular phone line and have the conversation recorded.

I used that setup for my first interview a couple of years ago and I have to say I wasn’t thrilled with the quality which was your typical phone-line quality. On the other hand, it’s a free service, so it’s hard to complain too much. But Skype is also free and the quality is better, so that’s what I’ve been using ever since.

Behind-the-scenes with the interview process

When I invite someone to be interviewed, I already have a sense of what their expertise is. But I leave it open if the guest has a current passion for some area, and then we develop the questions from there.

As a courtesy, I do provide most guests with a list of the questions to look over. That way, they can prepare for it or suggest changes.

I also stress that for the best sound, guests need to be speaking into a microphone (usually part of a headset) and not use any built-in computer microphone which tends to pick up more surrounding noise. People aren’t going to listen to an interview if one or both people are hard to hear.

I always want my guest to look good and have an enjoyable experience. That’s just the right approach in general. But a benefit is that if the guest is happy with the end results, they’re more excited to promote it to their followers.

It’s impractical for me to give a complete technical course on how to do interviews. I just want to give you the basics for you to consider and enough information to get you started in the right direction.

Like anything new, it will take time, patience, and probably a few stumbles before you’re comfortable. But it’s worth the effort.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Magazines & Newsletters

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Presentation Hubs

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Press Releases and Publicity

Magalog Guy — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:00:13 +0000

While I wasn’t from the era where some reporters wore a hat with a press tag, I spent plenty of years in a radio station newsroom gathering and writing news stories, and out in the community covering stories.

Some of those stories originated from press releases. Back in those days – meaning before the Internet was so easily accessible for everyone – you were at the mercy of the local newspapers, radio stations, or television stations. If they didn’t think your press release was any good, it got filed in what we called the rubber file cabinet. (That’s non-subtle code for the trash can.)

And unless you had someone following-up, you really didn’t have a good sense of whether or not media outlets were using your press releases.

Today, you can send a press release to any number of hub sites and have it live within 24 hours. And because it’s the Internet, the press release rarely goes away. I’m still getting occasional hits from a press release I wrote for my business in 2005.

As a bonus, a proper press release – especially on one of the more popular press release hubs – is often good for search engine results.

For what you consider to be more important items, I’d put a press release on a site like PRWeb.com, which is a paid service. I think it’s one of the better sites. For other news items you might use a free service like PR-Inside.com.

One of the reasons my 2005 press release got so much attention, especially when it first came out, was that it automatically got pulled onto sites that used press releases for their news feeds based on certain keywords.

In other words, my press release went beyond the site I had placed it and was being picked up on sites I didn’t even know existed.

While I’m just focusing on press release hubs, please don’t forget to send your press releases to relevant media outlets like your local paper or sites that are related to your niche.

How to write a press release is beyond what I can cover here, but PRWeb has some good resources. Or a Google search can bring you plenty of helpful links.

As for topics, that could be its own, separate conversation. Unlike the “old” days, your press release today doesn’t have to be something that traditional media thinks is important and worthy of fitting in limited air time or page space. Here are some quick ideas for press releases:

New products/services
New hires in your company
Awards for your company
How your product/service ties into something currently in the news
Speaking engagements

I’ll be honest… the first press release I did for my business really wasn’t newsworthy. Just as experiment in dipping my toe into the world of online press releases, I wrote one about a Photoshop class I taught for other direct market designers.

Having come from a news background, I knew my press release wasn’t really “news” in the traditional sense. But I didn’t care because I could put it up for free without anyone saying I couldn’t.

And that press release? It’s the one I mentioned earlier from 2005 that still generates occasional hits.

Taking it to the next level

If you just shot out regular press releases, you’d be ahead of most other small businesses who won’t bother. But step it up a level by creating a Press Page on your site.

This is where Traci Hayner Vanover was a big help. She was a guest on my original Magalog Guy podcast for the Leveraging Publicity episode and we used my press page as an example. At the time, my press page was pretty sad. It just listed the press releases I had created.

As you’ll hear in the interview, Traci had lots of great advice of how a press page could be and do so much more. We also talked about how to generate ideas for press releases.

The other advantage of a press page is how it looks to people who might want to interview you. (And consider that a teaser to a future article in this series.) We’re back to our good friend, perception. When other people see how active you are in the area of publicity, you’re seen as more credible than those who aren’t doing any publicity.

Take it from someone who interviewed people all the time… someone who shows they’re familiar with the role of publicity and is media friendly is someone the media is happy to deal with. That can be a huge boost for your business.

It might be wise to take a moment and see what role press releases and a press page might have in your content marketing efforts.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Magazines & Newsletters

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Presentation Hubs

Magalog Guy — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:00:28 +0000

Last week we talked about webinars.

If you put in the work to create a digital slide show for a webinar or some other purpose, this week’s focus is going to be a pretty easy content channel to take advantage of.

We’re going to talk about presentation hubs.

First, let’s make sure we’re still together on the reason for content sharing and repurposing.

As great as our sales copy might be, people aren’t going to return to our sites week after week just to re-read it. And people aren’t always ready to buy the first time they find us. Some purchases can take months or years, especially in the business-to-business arena.

When we create helpful and informative content, often using a blog as our starting point, we give people a reason to keep coming back to our site, or subscribe to our mailing list. We’re also building trust so we’re seen as a valued resource, not just another salesperson.

Then, we want to take existing content and make it work harder for us. We can do that by either sharing that content through social media, or repackaging it in other forms. For example, you could take blog articles and repackage them into a book.

By doing this, we accomplish quite a number of things, one of which is getting our name, ideas, and expertise into more places than just our website. This extends our reach which is always a good thing in business.

When the content is helpful or resonates with people, they’re more likely to want to do business with you, or at least put you on the short-list of people they might do business with.

Last week, we talked about taking content and creating a webinar. Usually, we need to create some slides for a webinar. But once you’re done, do you just file your slides away on the hard-drive until another speaking opportunity comes up?

No way!

Sites like SlideShare.net allow you to upload your presentation to share with others, giving you another channel where you can be found. Maybe you’re just uploading your PowerPoint presentation as simple slides. Maybe it’s video.

In my case, I’ve put my magalog webinar slides on SlideShare.

Obviously, without my notes, the slides are of limited value as-is. But your slides might be so complete, it’s enough for viewers to get all the information they need.

There’s still value in slides that don’t tell the full story. If someone is searching for an expert on magalogs, just having my slides available tells people I’m a resource they might want to use with their audience.

And in the case of SlideShare, by going beyond the free service, you can upload videos that could incorporate your voice and, thus, a more complete presentation.

In a similar vein to what I did in an earlier article, I want to challenge you to go to presentation hub sites and see if there are slides related to your niche. If not, you can be the first. If there are, you’re already behind.

If nothing else, check out sites like SlideShare to get great ideas on how you might put together a presentation.

If you need help with the layout of your slides so they look as professional as possible, feel free to contact me.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Magazines & Newsletters

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Magalog Guy — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:00:24 +0000

Last week we talked about using video to repurpose content. Today, we’re going to step that up a level and talk about webinars.

A webinar is like a seminar, but done on the web. The basic concept of sharing information with people is still the same.

You can host a webinar yourself through a site like GoToMeeting, or maybe you’ll be a guest on someone else’s webinar. (And that’s another reason you want to develop solid relationships with colleagues, not just prospects and customers.)

With a webinar, you can show PowerPoint slides, but the real value is being able to take questions from an audience. It’s another way of making a deeper connection with people. Plus, with the sound of your voice, or the ability to see your live video, you’re reaching people in a way that just doesn’t work the same way in plain text.

You can also record a webinar so people can watch it whenever they want.

That’s what I did with my Boosting Response and Revenue with Magalogs webinar. It was a talk I’d given in live webinars, but I wanted to make it available to anyone at any time.

If you watch the video, you’ll notice – not surprisingly given what I said about my video skills last week – that only my voice is heard on the webinar. What people see are slides I created to help illustrate what I was talking about.

Once again, I used Camtasia to put together the video, but there are a number of other options available to you.

The topic for the webinar was easy enough. I had been writing about magalogs for a few years so the content was already there from my blog.

Blog articles around a similar subject can make a great webinar. It’s simply a matter of being aware of the content you have, and organizing it for a different marketing channel.

Whether you want to use slides or sit in front of your webcam and talk to the camera is your choice. Both options are valid, as is a mixture of the two.

As far as length, that’s also up to you. My magalog webinar is 30 minutes. But yours might only be five if it’s pre-recorded. If you’re hosting your own live webinar or you’re a guest, expect the webinar to be a little longer, so prepare appropriately.

The value of your webinar will be in your content, not the length. So don’t feel like a five minute, pre-recorded webinar isn’t long enough. If it’s five minutes of great content, people will appreciate what you’ve offered.

Depending on what you’ve covered in the webinar, you might even consider selling it. That’s right, the content you’ve put up for free in text form on your blog can be repackaged into something that actually generates revenue for your business. Maybe you sell it on a member’s only site, or sell it on an actual DVD.

As with anything related to audio or video, there is some effort in putting together a solid webinar. But the advantages – interacting with prospects, on-demand content, partnerships with colleagues, increased search engine visibility, etc. – make it worth the effort.

If you need help putting together the slides for a webinar, feel free to get in touch with me.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Magazines & Newsletters

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Magalog Guy — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:00:34 +0000

Not unlike our discussion last week about podcasting, content marketing with video may peak your discomfort meter. I understand completely.

But we can’t discount the popularity of video in marketing, nor can we ignore that YouTube has become a very popular search site in its own right.

You might think of YouTube, and video sites in general, as nothing more than a collection of videos featuring cats doing screwy things and people sharing their personal oddities with the world, but it’s so much more than that.

As a quick test, go to YouTube and search for videos related to your business niche. If you find videos that match and they don’t belong to you, you’re already behind the curve. If you can’t find any videos related to your niche, you have a chance to be the first.

Like I mentioned with podcasting, I keep things simple when I do videos. Don’t feel you have to go out and buy expensive video equipment. A basic webcam and some good lighting from the sun coming in through your window may be a good enough start.

I say “may be” because I do want you to present yourself in the best possible light. (Pardon the pun.) My first couple of videos, which are still out there, are not great. In fact, you’re better off watching the cat videos.

But I kept it at, and you know what? They’re still not that great… but they’re better, and I have a presence where some of my prospects are likely spending their time looking for information.

If nothing else, seeing and hearing me allows prospects to feel a closer connection before reaching out to contact me. Sometimes it’s your personality that will be the difference in you getting a call and not your competitors.

If you’re like me an not comfortable in front of the camera, you can work around that.

Here’s a link to a Connect with Your Connections video I did that used slides and my voice. So I still have a video on one of the most popular sites on the Internet, but I don’t have to be in front of the camera. (By the way, I used Camtasia to put that video together. There are other less expensive programs like Jing you could consider if you don’t already have something.)

And what about content for your videos? If you’ve followed this series, you’re probably already tired of the Connect with Your Connections article. And yet it’s a perfect example of taking one article and finding a number of different homes for it. Again, keep it simple to start and repurpose some of that blog content you have.

Another place for video is your website. As you can see on my Klassen Communications Consulting page, I used a video to tell a quick story. I use text on the rest of the page to give the core facts about my consulting services.

I’ll be honest… I had to be dragged kicking and screaming into video and it’s not something I do often. But I understand how valuable it is, so I continue to take steps to be where millions of others are every day.

In fact, in some Google search engine results, you may actually see YouTube videos in the list of results. When videos are mingling with the more traditional text-based search results, it’s something you need to be aware of as you decide where to place your content.

I’d like you to consider whether your product or service is one that lends itself to video. If so, start making some inroads into that channel.

Don’t worry too much if you stink at first. If it’s a new skill-set for you, your first couple of videos may be rough. But if you keep at it, you will get better.

If you plan to use slides and need help with layout, be sure to contact me.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Magazines & Newsletters

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Magalog Guy — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:00:26 +0000

When you stop and think about it, how amazing is it that there are so many free ways to share and repurpose your content?

Let me rephrase that… how amazing is it that there are so many free ways to be seen by prospects and customers, and to give them valuable information that helps you stand out from competitors?

Did you know you could start a podcast on iTunes for free? In addition to iTunes, there are many services that will add your podcast to their directory… for free.

What you want to appreciate is that not everyone has time to read, and that includes reading your blog. Or, your prospect’s preferred method of learning new information may be through video or audio which is where podcasting comes in.

We’ll talk about video later in this series. For now, I want to just focus on audio podcasting.

Benefits of Podcasting

I wrote about the benefits of podcasting in a free guide called 10 Reasons Your Business Should Have a Podcast. You can download the guide to get the details on each point, but let me quickly list them here:

New life for great content
Being in a different channel engages people in a different way
Millions of potential listeners/viewers
Stronger perception of your business
Your personality shines through
Improved search engine results
Connecting with experts in your field
A sense of stability
It’s free
You’re contributing value to your listeners

(And this guide is, of course, another example of taking a blog article and repackaging it in a different format.)

The Technical Side of Podcasting

I’m not going to sugarcoat it. While getting your podcast on iTunes and other podcasting sites is free, you do have some minimal equipment expenses plus the time it takes to get your podcast recorded, properly formatted and submitted.

Starting out, that can be scary.

The technical aspect is beyond what I can cover in a relatively short article like this, especially considering all the options. Instead, let me point you to Dave Thackeray, the Podcast Guy. He’s an expert and his site is a wonderful resource on the topic of podcasting.

I will touch briefly on cost. I’m an example of doing it as quickly and for as little money as possible.

My only expense was an inexpensive headset. That’s it… that was the extent of my expenses. I already had software on my computer to record my voice. Mac users can use Garageband that comes on every Apple computer, while PC users can use the free program Audacity.

I use a WordPress plug-in called BluBrry Powerpress that handles what is needed to get my Increase Sales & Build Deeper Connections podcast on iTunes and other services.

But if you wanted to go completely low-tech, you could just as easily record an MP3 of your podcast with your computer’s built-in microphone, upload it to your site and add a link to it without dealing with iTunes or other services. It’s better to start low-tech and build from there rather than let technical concerns scare you off.

Podcasting Content

In terms of content, I’m primarily providing audio versions of my blog articles. You certainly don’t have to go that route. Maybe your podcast will have completely different content from your blog. Or maybe it will be a mixture.

In my case, I do throw in some interviews with experts in other fields from time to time. I’m actually going to talk about interviews in a future article for this series. Here’s an interview I did with Dave on podcasting.

As we move further into this series, some of my suggestions for repackaging your content might stretch you and be a bit uncomfortable. Podcasting might fall into that category for you.

But I want to remind you that I’m not suggesting you do everything I talk about in this series. My intent is to share where you can put your content. Depending on your business and even your personality, some of these channels won’t be a good fit. That’s OK.

You should at least be aware of what’s available to you and consider which would really benefit your business. In some cases you won’t know until you try. In other cases you’ll know right from the start that some channels for sharing and repurposing your content just aren’t right for you.

By the way, if you have a podcast and looking for guests, I’d be happy to share what I know with your listeners. Contact me so we can set something up.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Magazines & Newsletters

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Magalog Guy — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:00:19 +0000

Since most of my layout work for clients is in print, I’m always interested in the discussion over whether or not print is dead.

I know print is far from dead, but it has certainly taken a bit of a backseat to online marketing.

At this moment, though, print is still very much alive. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t include print marketing as part of this series on content sharing and repurposing.

For certain products or services, it’s best to reach out to people where they live or work right through their mailbox.

I recall one business that called me and said they were having good success marketing online. But they realized that some of their ideal prospects had no idea to be looking for their services. These were upper-level prospects who probably didn’t have time to be online for their own pleasure much less looking online for a service they didn’t even know existed.

So, they knew they needed to go the print route. There are obvious choices you can use here if you have a lot of information to share. Magalogs, newsletters, bookalogs, slim jims, special reports, sales letters, brochures… they can all can carry great content that you’ve already created.

And that’s the key… great content. We’re so used to only focusing on a sales message that we sometimes forget that compelling content is just as important in print as it is online.

While larger pieces like magalogs and reports can carry lots of custom content, don’t overlook something as simple as a postcard.

Let me give you an example. You sell dark chocolate and you’ve written an article on your blog about the 12 health benefits of dark chocolate.

Each month, you send a postcard to a prospecting list outlining one of the benefits. Somewhere on the postcard, label it “1 of 12”, “2 of 12”, etc. Labeling it like this gets people to be on the lookout for the next in the series if it contains information they find useful or interesting.

Because you want to encourage people to visit you online whether they want to order your chocolate right now or not, you give them a reason to get more of your content on your site. Maybe it’s a video showing how your chocolate is made, or a free, longer guide on the benefits of dark chocolate. There are many possibilities.

The point is, whether you’re using a magalog, a postcard, or something inbetween for your print marketing, you can leverage content that you’ve already created so it’s working extra duty on your behalf.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Magazines & Newsletters

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Magazines and Newsletters

Magalog Guy — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:00:52 +0000

Through this series on content sharing and repurposing, some of the channels we’ve covered are often one or the other. Today, a channel that can be either one.

One of the great things about a blog is that you become a publisher. Not one with the stress a traditional publisher has. Instead, a publisher that can share content of any kind, at any time.

But you can take that a step further and publish either a magazine or newsletter.

I wouldn’t be surprised if you already have a digital newsletter. They’re easy to create and allow you to keep in touch with customers and prospects. Often these newsletters are in the form of an e-mail.

Your newsletter allows you to reuse content that you might have on your blog, while mixing in fresh content that is just for newsletter subscribers.

Taking it yet one more step further, you could take your content and create a magazine or magalog. Something like this is ideal for service providers like consultants and coaches who want to stand out from competitors. They often already have loads of great content, but not doing near enough to leverage it properly.

One of my favorite examples of a company magazine is Business Blueprint Magazine.

Dale Beaumont’s team puts together a fantastic magazine that educates people, and markets conferences they hold each year. It also allows them to build even closer connections with the people they profile.

I currently do the layout for a monthly magazine a client started in 2011. Again, it’s a perfect vehicle for great content, but includes a marketing aspect that fits in perfectly with the articles.

I took a slightly different approach when I put together my Successful Magalog Marketing magazine. In my case, I didn’t want to produce a magazine on a regular basis. I just wanted a one-time marketing piece that had useful content, but also allowed me to display my layout skills.

In all three of these examples, the magazines aren’t printed which saves money. They’re digital-only. But if you want to print your magazine or newsletter to mail to customers or high-quality prospects, you can do that.

But what if you have no interest in producing your own magazine or newsletter?

Magazines and newsletters produced by others (whether in print or online) always need content. If you’re writing about topics that fit with an existing publication, why not see if they’ll reprint one of your blog articles or allow you to write a brand new article?

I’ve had the privilege of articles being included in different eNewsletters such as Peter Bowerman’s excellent Well-Fed ePub. There are thousands of great eNewsletters covering just about every niche.

When you get your articles published in channels like this, you’re introduced to a group of people you might not have ever had the chance to be in front of.

You’ve heard of Other People’s Money? Well this is Other People’s People. And it’s a win-win. These magazine or newsletter producers need content… you have content.

The simplest path to take from this discussion is to see who is producing a magazine or newsletter that is a good match for the products or services you sell. Find out if they’re willing to take guest submissions that deal with a topic their readers care about.

Always remember… your goal when writing for another publication is not to do blatant selling. Your first goal is to make the magazine or newsletter owner look brilliant in front of his or her readers for having you share your knowledge with them.

And when you’re sincere about sharing and helping, people will be interested enough to look at your bio and click on the link to your site which is often a courtesy extended to guest writers.

If you’re looking to create something along the lines of a magazine or magalog, contact me and I’ll help you sort through the things you’ll need to consider.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Magalog Guy — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:00:27 +0000

If you’re a plumber, chances are you’re listed in the phone book with other plumbers. As a blogger, did you know you can be listed with other bloggers?

These are often called blog hubs and a search on that term will uncover more choices than you can manage.

Three I use are NetworkedBlogs, Technorati, and Kindle Blogs. (That’s right… did you know you can have your blog listed for free on Amazon so people can read your blog on their Kindle?) There also may be blog hubs that are specific to your industry.

The beauty of most of these hubs is that, beyond setting up an account and showing that the blog you’re wanting to list is yours, you don’t have to do anything. The hubs know
to check your blog for new content on a regular basis. Or, if it’s just a simple listing of blogs but not listing new content, your blog will show up when people search the hub for topics you’re writing about.

Blog hubs can work in slightly different ways.

For example, NetworkedBlogs makes it easy to connect your blog to your Facebook or Twitter account. In my case, when each new article on this blog appears, it automatically posts on update on my Increase Sales & Build Deeper Connections Facebook page.

This is actually an important element of content sharing… automating as much as possible. With NetworkedBlogs, an update to my Facebook page happens automatically.

Like article banks, many of the best blog hubs, like Technorati, are likely getting more traffic than your own site. Because of how many people use these sites, we’re back to the issue of how likely it is you’ll stand out. But since these hubs are often free, there’s no reason not to be listed and see if you get readers who might not otherwise have found you.

To me, the most exciting development in sharing your blog is in the Amazon Kindle. This is relatively new and, as of this writing, still in beta.

While it’s free for you to list your blog, people actually have to pay to subscribe to it. Often that price is only 99-cents a month.

I touched on this subject a bit deeper in my article, Putting Your Blog on the Amazon Kindle. Among other things, I address a question I originally had: Who would pay for a blog on their Kindle that’s free on the blogger’s own site?

The bottom line with hubs, at least in my mind, is either helping to automate how we get our blog content out, or giving us new channels to share our content. Both are great and worth looking into further.

(FYI: I’m taking some time off to celebrate Christmas and the new year. I’ll continue this series on content sharing on repurposing January 9th.)

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Magalog Guy — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:00:06 +0000

One of the goals of content marketing is getting your name in front of new people by providing helpful information they might not be getting from your competitors.

But if we only keep that content on our site, we limit the number of people who will see it. That’s why it’s important to take advantage of content sharing and repurposing.

An article bank is another outlet allowing you to post either existing articles you’ve written, or brand new articles.

The first benefit of an article bank is getting your name exposed to people who might not otherwise find you and your website. The most popular article banks see loads of traffic, perhaps far more traffic than your site sees.

But an article bank isn’t just for getting your articles read on those sites. That brings us to the second benefit. With most of these free article bank services, other people are allowed to use your articles as long as they give you credit.

For example, someone may need content for a newsletter about marketing. They find your article on postcard marketing and decide it’s the perfect fit. They use your article and include a link back to your site, or whatever you’ve indicated must be included with the article.

All is not perfect in the world of article banks, though. For one thing, it might be hard for your article to stand out on a site that has thousands of articles. If you’re writing articles in a very narrow niche, your odds of being seen probably go up.

Also, there is a lot of discussion about the effects on search when an article is included on many different sites. After all, do you want a search result to show your article from different article banks listed before that same article on your own site? Generally, we want search results to point to our site first.

And some of these less-than-savory article banks have taken a hit in their own site rankings as Google has cracked down on sites that were nothing more than content scrapers. (Search “google panda” for more on that if you’re interested.) If your content is on these types of sites, the benefits to you might be small or non-existent.

So, it’s something you’ll have to weigh. If you have old articles that you’re not planning to do much with beyond letting them languish in your archives, putting them in an article bank or two might draw some extra eyes to your site.

Personally, I don’t use article banks as much as I used to. That doesn’t mean they’re not a great option, though.

But if you’ve been with me since the start of this series, you know there are many channels for placing your content. I don’t advocate you use every single one I mention, at least not when you’re starting your content marketing journey.

You should use the channels that are the best fit with the type of content you have and the goals you have for your business.

My goal with this series is to make you aware of the channels, explain them as simply as I can, then let you decide which are the best fit for you. (Or, I can help you decide with a personalized consulting session so you’re not left to guess on your own.)

The site I used, and still like, is Ezine Articles. But there are other top-notch article banks. A search will show you plenty of options.

One thing in particular I liked about Ezine Articles was a WordPress plugin that allowed me to publish directly to my Ezine account from my blog. Things that allow us to easily share or repurpose our content always get a thumbs up.

If nothing else, spend a bit of time looking through articles in an article bank and get a sense of what’s available, and whether this option might be a good fit for you.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Magalog Guy — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:00:57 +0000

As we’ve been taking this journey on sharing and repurposing content, I hope one thing you’ve already gotten out of this series is thinking beyond the confines of your blog.

So many people (including myself when I started) see a blog as the beginning and the end. In other words, an article is created for your blog and it doesn’t go much further.

However, as we’re seeing now – and will continue to see – there’s so much more we can do with content. Best of all, most of these ideas cost little or no money.

If you’re already writing articles for your blog, it’s not a big stretch to write articles for other blogs. Better still if you can use articles you’ve already written.

As a blogger, you already know what it’s like to need content. Most other bloggers are in the same boat. There’s no reason you can’t help each other out.

Finding Your Blogging Power Partners

When I was a member of Business Network International, I was encouraged to find my power partners. These would be people who had a business that was complimentary to mine.

In a sense, you created a super team with your power partners, benefiting not only the partners, but the customers.

As a direct market graphic designer, my natural power partner is a copywriter or a printer. Another example of power partners is real estate agents and mortgage brokers. With a power partner, it’s very easy to share leads and work together.

Guest blogging can also work under the power partner idea.

Here’s the quick way to explore power partner relationships:

What are complimentary industries to yours?
Are there people in those industries who blog?
Do they accept guest articles?

So what happens when your articles appear on someone else’s blog?

You develop a deeper bond with the other blogger. If you’ve followed me for even a small amount of time, you know that I often talk about increasing sales and building deeper connections. A wonderful by-product of guest blogging is building those deeper connections. You should be developing deeper connections with colleagues just as you would with customers and prospects.
Your name is in front of a new audience that you might not ever reach on your own. And your blogging partner gets his or her name in front of different audience. After all, both of you will be promoting this article to your separate audiences, right?

Recycling Content or New Content?

Some bloggers who use guest articles would prefer brand new content. Others will be happy to use an article that might be a year or so old.

Part of the value of content is its search engine value. So if the same article is scattered in a dozen or so places, that can sometimes be a turn-off to someone who works with guest bloggers.

Over the years, I’ve done both… I’ve shared existing content with other bloggers, and I’ve written fresh content for them. Always be upfront and say if content you’re offering has been used before, where it was used, and when.

And while this should probably go without saying, if you’re going to be a guest blogger for others, allow other bloggers to be a guest on your site.

If You’re Stuck Finding a Partner

If you’re struggling to come up with people to approach, there’s a great, free resource that connects people who have content with people who want content. It’s called BloggerLinkUp.

You’ll get daily e-mails with a list of articles that are available, and a list of people who are looking for specific articles. If you find a good fit, you’ll be able to contact them directly.

One final note… if you’re a blogger wanting to offer articles to other sites, do what I’m going to do right now…

If you’re looking for blog content for your site, contact me to see how we might work together to help inspire and educate your audience.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Magalog Guy — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:00:04 +0000

As great as you or I may think our blog articles are, it’s the rare newcomer who will read through years worth of them.

Like I mentioned with guides and reports, it’s a shame that some great articles get lost in the archives. So how can we continue to breathe new life into that useful content?

How about packaging the best articles into a book or eBook?

Before I lose you with the thought of how much work a book is, let me assure you that while it will take some effort, I’m not suggesting you start a book from scratch. (Although if you’re game, go for it.) If you’ve had a blog for a decent length of time, you’ve already been writing a potential book. You just might not have known it.

For most bloggers, there’s an overall theme. This blog started with a focus on magalogs, but then grew to cover content marketing and direct marketing in general.

So it didn’t take long before I had a number of complimentary articles that could be compiled into a book.

My book, Increase Sales & Build Deeper Connections, is primarily made up of articles from this blog. The articles were logically organized and, where necessary, tweaked a bit when I said something that was dated or specific to the time I originally wrote it.

While I use a professional-level layout program for my book, you could just as easily use Word, Pages, or some other word processing tool.

I’ve got a book. Now what?

At 130-plus pages, I could sell my book either on my site or digitally through Amazon or Apple. But I decided I wanted to use my book to get sign-ups to my monthly newsletter on content marketing and repurposing.

My book is a PDF but is designed like a traditional book. That way, if I ever want to print physical copies to sell or give away, I don’t have to do much beyond creating a back cover and spine.

If you think you might print your book, talk to a professional designer. If you know it will just be a basic PDF and you’re comfortable with your layout abilities, feel free to tackle it on your own.

While I mentioned in the article about guides and reports that covers aren’t required, you do need to come up with a cover for a book.

You can see that my cover isn’t fancy. I like to keep things simple. If this book was going to sit on a bookstore shelf, I’d need to rethink the cover. Again, whether you need a pro is dependent on how confident you are in your layout abilities.

My book is also handy when I’m talking to prospects. It gives me something of real value to offer beyond just trying to sell my services. And let me remind you about value. If there’s no real value in your book, people will feel like you’ve wasted their time even if your book is free.

And here’s another great use for a book… simple joint ventures.

As you’re probably aware, there are thousands of people who offer bonuses if you buy something from them. A colleague of mine was selling a new book and wanted to offer bonuses to entice more people to buy.

She put out the word that she was looking for other downloadable material that she could offer to buyers of her book. I offered my book as a bonus and suddenly I had new people downloading my book that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise reached.

Finally, let me talk about perception. I’m a huge believer in the value of perception… not in a sneaky or dishonest way, but in a way that helps you stand out from competitors.

There are very few direct market designers who do the types of marketing I do, including writing a book. So when prospects come to my site, not only will they see my samples and my blog (as well as other content we’ll talk about in this series), they’ll also see my book.

While anyone can write a book these days, relatively few do. And the initial perception is that if you’ve written a book, you must be, at some level, an expert in your field.

Of course, a book doesn’t always mean you’re an expert. But it does cause people to give you the benefit of the doubt as they’re getting to know you.

In fact, it was my book that led to an offer to speak to a business-building conference in Australia earlier this year. It was an amazing experience and probably would have never happened had the conference leader not stumbled across my book.

So let me ask you… might a book be a tool you could leverage in your marketing efforts in some way? If you’re not sure, give me a call for a quick, free chat to bounce around some ideas. You’re under no obligation to hire me for anything. It’s just a sincere offer to help you get started because I know the power a book can have.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Magalog Guy — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:00:47 +0000

To this point, we’ve talked about taking content we’ve created and sharing it in social networking channels.

Now we’re going to shift gears a bit and talk about content repurposing, also known as content recycling. We’ll obviously share the fact that this repurposed content is available, but we’re going to package it in a different way first.

As a quick reminder, we’re using a blog as the hub, or starting point, of our content. While it doesn’t have to be a blog, that’s one of the most common starting points.

The one thing you quickly notice about a blog, though, is that “new” content quickly becomes “old” content as you write newer articles.

Those older articles get pushed into the archives. They might be found through a search, or a “related links” tag on your blog, but the spotlight is definitely shining on the latest article.

But just because that content is no longer on the main page doesn’t mean it no longer has value. Many of the articles I write for my blog (including this one) are what we call evergreen. In other words, the content is still good whether you’re reading it the day after it was written, or three years down the line.

We can breathe new life into that evergreen content by lifting it off the blog and putting it into a guide or report. What you choose to call it probably doesn’t matter, although report may sound a bit stuffier than guide.

Let me show you a quick example of how I put together my guides.

Take a look at this article from a blog on one of my other sites. It’s called, Here’s a Novel Idea: Connect With Your Connections.

The article still gets found with a Google search or some reference that another person makes to it. But that article in particular struck a chord with people when I wrote it. For that reason, I wanted to put it into a different format so I could use it in other ways.

So I created a PDF which allowed me to format the content a little nicer, giving it a more professional appearance. (Click on the cover graphic to see the PDF.)

I also put it with other guides on a Resources section of that site. The interest in this guide may lead to interest in some of the others. I can also e-mail it to prospects or partners when appropriate.

If you’re not a designer, don’t worry. Simple covers like I’ve done aren’t difficult to create and may not even be necessary. They certainly look nice on your site to entice people, but it’s the information that people want.

And don’t miss the opportunity to include a plug for yourself. If you look at any of my guides, you’ll find an About page at the end. While I always hope the guides help people, there is a business aspect to them and, for me, the guides can lead to new clients.

By the way, it’s not a rule that guides have to be digital. If you want to print them to send to targeted prospects, go right ahead.

Speaking of printing, be aware that many people will print a digital report for later reading. With that in mind, stick to a traditional 8.5 x 11 (or 11 x 8.5) size. This will be easier to print. I tend to do mine as 11 inches wide by 8.5 inches high which is a landscape orientation because that’s the orientation of most computer monitors. But it still prints fine on a regular sheet of paper.

Also, go easy on color. People who print your guide don’t appreciate you burning through their non-black color ink.

Of course, as soon as any of my reports are created, I go back to the social networking channels to share a link to them. And that’s something you’ll always want to keep in mind… taking something you’ve done in one channel and promoting it in all the other appropriate channels you use.

Other articles in this series:

Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point

Magalog Guy — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:00:20 +0000

Google Plus (G+), the new kid on the social networking block, presents some great opportunities for content sharing. At the same time, there are questions about whether Google can make G+ work. For that reason, some are hesitant to jump on board.

But like we talked about last week with LinkedIn, not being the top dog in social networking doesn’t mean you should ignore it when millions of people use it each day. So if some of your best prospects are on G+, you should be, too.

It’s so roomy in here

If you’ve heard me speak on content marketing in live settings online or in person, you know I’m not a huge fan of Twitter in terms of trying to cram info into a short tweet. I understand the reason there are restrictions and I’ve learned to work with it, but sometimes we’re almost talking in code as we try to share our content.

Facebook fares a little better by giving you about four times as much space in a post.

But G+ really allows you to let rip and say what’s on your mind. I’m not advocating writing mini-essays each day, but at least you have the freedom to say what you want to say and have an almost unrestricted conversation with people.

So while you could simply share links to your content, you have the option of sharing it directly on G+ and making it easy for people to chime in. No jumping over to your blog and no making people sign-in with whatever method you might use to keep spammers out.

While we like people coming to our blog and the expanded marketing opportunities it presents, we should also be focused on developing sincere relationships with people. And if people are more comfortable engaging with you on G+ (or Facebook, or LinkedIn, or Twitter) take advantage of the room Google provides to have fantastic conversations in their sand box.

The expanding circles

I think of G+ as my “social networking do-over.” By that I mean, having made mistakes with my approach to Twitter and Facebook, I was able to go into G+ with more knowledge about how I want to connect with people.

One positive that Google emphasizes is putting people in circles. Circles are basically groups. You can group people in other social sites, but Google made it a key element from the start. Most people I’ve talked to never bothered to group people on other sites and they’re not inclined to go back and do it since they’ve gotten used to having everyone mixed in together.

With G+, circling people is simply a core component of the whole experience, and very easy to do.

You could create a circle for Prospects, Clients, Friends, Family, Family I Can’t Stand But Feel Like I Have To Be Connected With Them… there are endless possibilities and no one can see which group they’re in.

When you’re sharing your content, you can easily direct it to the relevant group.

Let’s say I write an article on the benefits of working with a direct market designer. While clients I’m connected to on G+ might find it interesting, they’re already clients. Instead, this article might be shared with people in my Prospects circle.

A quick note… you can share your content to everyone at once. You don’t have to share it first to one group, then start a new post to share it again to another group.

Can’t ignore Search

When the biggest search site starts a social network that, in essence, is all about content, it’s important to pay attention.

As I’ve stated in some previous articles in this series, I’m not someone who advocates a constant promotion of your own material. I believe in engaging with people in different ways. So I’m just as likely to chime in on a conversation about the best classic rock albums from the 70s as I am to let people know about my latest blog article.

But for most of us, there has to be a business reason to justify the time and effort on these social media sites. And if your content on G+ enhances your search engine ranking, you need to seriously consider ensuring your content is shared there.

But search works both ways… people can find you and your content in a search, and you can find content from others. That’s one of the advantages of setting up Sparks in G+. Like Circles is really just “groups”, Sparks is just saved searches.

Setting up searches related to your niche is one way to keep an eye on what people are talking about, and jump in when it’s relevant.

And yes, you can setup searches without G+. But if you’re using the tool anyway, it doesn’t cost anything to setup of searches and check in from time to time.

(Note: Google business pages is brand new as of last week. The idea is similar to a Facebook business page. But because it is brand new and I’m just getting into it myself, I’ve restricted this conversation to individual G+ profiles.)

To this point, we’ve been grabbing the low-hanging fruit of Content Sharing. Sharing a link to your content on social media is pretty easy.

Beginning next week, we’re going to move into the realm of Content Repurposing. And I think that’s where things get really interesting.

Other articles in this series: