One of the obstacles that many people face when it comes to creating content for their website or blog – is that they don’t enjoy writing. Even for those who enjoy writing, it doesn’t hurt to step back and take a shot at other ways to create content (and give yourself a break from writing).
Not only do writing alternatives allow us to continue to create content for our sites or blogs, but they also help you tap into channels and reach audiences that you might have normally missed or overlooked.
Alternative ways to create content – besides writing
Use video
Video can be an excellent alternative to writing when creating content. Not only is it very simple to set up, but this particular marketing medium has enormous potential to reach a wide audience. Whether you’re doing interviews, reviewing products, or creating unique promotional spots – video can be a great way to escape writing.
Create audio content
Audio content is often associated with podcasting (although podcasting can be video as well). By using audio you can create content that is used for either passive or active listeners. Audio can be a powerful way to reach customers who are auditory learners and provide you with a more comfortable medium if you prefer talking instead of writing.
Host guest posts
This is one of the easiest ways to create more content for your site as it typically requires only cleaning up or formatting the content. With guest posts you simply post content that other authors have created and host it on your own site or blog. Very simple to implement and can not only provide you with great, unique content – but it generates some goodwill between you and the guest post author by allowing them to expose their content to your visitors.
Promotions and contests
Contests are not only a great way to create content, but they have the ability to form a dialogue between you and your visitors. Contests can be as powerful as excellent articles because they not only generate buzz around your site but also allow you to interact with and reward your visitors.
Create something
Whether it is a tool, product, resource, or freebie – creating something and offering it on your site can have quite an amazing impact. If you have ever seen someone release a WordPress theme, set of web icons, or helpful guide – you may have noticed how much response that these types of things generate.
Lists and roundups
Blog carnivals are a great example of how creating lists and roundups of links can garner a lot of attention as they tend to be quite viral and spread very quickly. The not only allow the host of the carnival to highlight others in their niche – but bring a lot of traffic in for themselves. You can see an example on GetRichSlowly – Carnival of Personal Finance #243: Valentine’s Day Edition.
Use photos or galleries
I believe Smashing Magazine paved the way for this particular method of creating content. By aggregating and highlighting some of the best content on the web, they have not only attracted a lot of visitors but have created a very large online brand. Other sites that incorporate this model successfully include: Hongkiat, icanhascheezburg, and InstantShift
Putting these methods to work
Whether you incorporate these methods into your current model or you use one or two exclusively, they can be a great way to create content for those of us who don’t have the best knack for writing (or simply want to take a break). Using these different strategies can be challenging and a great way to learn how to create content using various mediums and methods. Give one or two a shot and you would be surprised how much fun some of these tactics can be.
