One of the best things about the blogging platform is the ability to leverage your own content as well as share other’s, and it is this ability that not only helps perpetuate the blogosphere and the internet as a whole, it is also what sustains it. So it is a given that when you begin your journey as a blogger you will participate in the righteous act of tweeting, digging, and generally sharing your own and everyone else’s del.icio.us content.
It took me a while to learn this but I will let you in on a little secret now; There are so many platforms available to help leverage your own content, and the whole point of this post is to talk about exactly that – but ironically, it is through sharing other people’s content that you will get more traffic and ultimately achieve more for your blog and your brand. (You still need awesome content of course)
Sharing is Caring, and Caring takes a while
Now the problem with sharing other people’s content is the time it takes to really do it properly. I have talked before about the awesome power of Effective Blog Commenting and the general importance of building and maintaining relationships in the blogosphere but it is time consuming to say the least, so when it comes to the task of leveraging our own content – finding the quickest and most effective method possible is definitely in our best interest. With that I give you the methods I use to leverage my own content that don’t take me any time at all.
Oh and can I just quickly add (in case you were wondering) the Duplicate Content Penalty does not exist, there is no such thing, in fact I am going to use the F word here. The Duplicate Content penalty is a Farce, a Faux Pas and a Fallacy so forget worrying about whether you should duplicate your content elsewhere and just do it already 
Social Media
The Social Media playground is one that I am yet to master and debate still rages over its effectiveness in Marketing speak, but if you have the ability to share your content there without lifting a finger then I say why not. You can do this by installing a few plug-ins that automatically share your post to your Facebook wall and also to Twitter. WP to Twitter and WordBook are both available to download through your admin panel and if you don’t already have them installed I highly recommend you do so.
Bloggers love to share
By far the best place to leverage your content is through platforms that promote blogging in general because the visitors you get will be your peers so they will comment and engage. The best place to do this without doubt is BlogEngage (very fitting name I might add) and this site is an invite only forum for bloggers to share their content and promote each other’s best stuff. The best thing about BlogEngage is that you can install a ‘vote’ button much like you would a ‘Tweet this’ button so that your readers can vote and even submit your posts! That is the beauty of BlogEngage, because the content is simply a link to the original post you not only make it easy for others to submit your articles for you, you also guarantee click throughs to your site when the post is live.
As I mentioned, BlogEngage is invite only, but this is merely to keep the quality higher, so if you are an Infopreneur reader then you qualify, so simply ask in the comments thread and I will shoot across an invite so that you can start building your readership and perpetuating your brand.
Article Marketing
There is no way I am going to go in to the ins and outs or Article Marketing, but I am going to tell you how I leverage my best content without really doing much at all and it’s all through the power of the plug-in (again, man I love WordPress)
I have heard many a pro blogger talk about Ezine Articles as being the only Article Directory worth using and since they are the only Article directory to offer a plug-in it kind of works out well really.
The plug-in I speak of is available through Ezine Articles in your Author Area under Author Tools and basically what it does is allow you to send your posts directly to Ezine from WordPress. This is fantastic because you can now share your best work with the most authoritative Article Directory simply by clicking a button, but first you will have to make a few changes.
Ezine does not accept links in the post (generally) and does not accept comments that recognise the article as a blog post so before you submit your own post you need to rectify this. The best way to do this is simply to kill all your links, remove any reference to your own blog or readers and then submit it to Ezine. Now go to your Dashboard and when your blog freaks out and tells you that you have not saved you say ‘Yes no worries’ and thus none of the changes you just made are saved. See, there really is a lazy way of doing everything.
These are the methods that I use to share my own content that don’t take more than 2 minutes of my time to do, and they have all proven to be effective methods of generating traffic to my blog – truly the lazy bloggers way.
- Know of any other awesome tools to quickly and effectively share your best work?
- What methods/sites do you currently use to share your content?
Alex Whalley is the author of Alex Whalley.com where he writes about blogging, niche site marketing, and keyword research techniques. Alex recently quit his fulltime job to grow his online business and uses his blog to catalogue and document his experiences with making money with niche sites and search engine marketing. If you’d like to see how easy it is to build, market and monetize niche sites check out his blog. You can also Follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his RSS Feed.
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Very smart Alex especially the eZinearticle ability to go back and forth with your content.
I think it would be really great to re-purpose your older content because unless people find it through your archives or search engines your regular readers are probably going to just stick with the latest post.
I’ve found that you can always redo your content and place it on sites like Slideshare and other PDF type websites. You could also redo your content for video websites – just record powerpoint with voice over!
Additionally, you could always take your ‘best-of’ posts, create a small ebook and release it freely online.
It’s your content, you own the copyright so go ahead and do whatever you want it it, right?
Murlu´s last [type] ..5 Tools To Effectively Track Your Brand Online
Hey Murray,
Thanks for the kind words my friend, and I think you raise an excellent point about how this can be effective to bring back older articles – I think I may just do that now!
Have not heardd of slideshare so thanks for the reference mate, and again your point about the ebook and using older material is another fantastic idea – keep em coming mate.
Thanks again for your inspiring comment as always Murray
Alex Whalley´s last [type] ..How not to write an ebook – Are you asking the right questions
Also want to throw in that Ping.fm allows you sync up a ton of your social media accounts in one account.
As soon as your done publishing, just send it out through the service and it’ll be all over the place at once – pretty handy tool. You can do RSS too.
This isn’t a plug, just one of the tools I’ve been using lately
Murlu´s last [type] ..Murlu Mastermind Group- Your Chance To Be Awesome Online
Hey Murlu, you are absolutely correct..ping.fm is great.
Hey Alex.. Great tips here. One of the first things I do when I set up a blog for a client is install a plugin that posts to twitter (and FB if they have one).
P.S. – Would you mind emailing me over an invite to BlogEngage?
Aaron´s last [type] ..Free Blogs
Hey Aaron,
I would be more than happy to shoot across an invite, and thanks for stopping by and commenting Aaron!
Alex Whalley´s last [type] ..How not to write an ebook – Are you asking the right questions
Hey alex,
Another nice post dude. I’ve started playing on ezinearticles and it’s really easy
.
Though Blogengage is one of my top traffic source.
Thanks for sharing this great post alex
.
~Dev
Dev | Technshare´s last [type] ..How To Improve Your Alexa Ranking
Thanks Dev, Yeah I have noticed you are constantly in the top active user list at BlogEngage, I definitely need to spend more time there too because when I do I get huge traffic, it’s insane – especially when you can catch Brian’s eye and he posts a link to your article.
Thanks again for stopping by Dev, looking forward to posting at TechnShare next week
Alex Whalley´s last [type] ..How not to write an ebook – Are you asking the right questions
Hi Alex. I love reading your articles. I find your information very useful. I have yet to use Blogengage, but I think that may be a cool site to check out and belong to.
One thing that did bring up a sore spot in this post was your line about: Duplicate Content Penalty does not exist!
This has been highly debated and I’m sure endlessly tested, but I don’t think anyone can truly say one way or the other that it’s a farce. By making this statement you are giving the stealers of content more ammo. I can no longer give them the “Duplicate Content” speech when I’m trying to get them to remove my content from their copy and pasted spam site. It makes my battle harder.
I do think Google penalizes this. I have not tried it and have no proof of this, but I can’t believe that Google finds it wise. It is frowned upon and not a cut and dry issue. This may have been tested with an actual blog that gets spidered quickly… BUT, what about a static HTML site like mine? Many people forget that static sites DO NOT get dealt with like a wordpress blog that can ping Google when a post is finished. I have pages directly off my main page that have not been indexed all year. Other pages get indexed in days. So if my content is stolen, who’s going to get credit for it? The people with the blog that got spidered first?
There’s more sides that just this one. Telling people go ahead and do it is not the answer! No one knows exactly what Google likes and dislikes except Google.
Hey Richard,
Hahah, glad you like my articles, and I love how quick you went into ‘fireup’ mode afterward
I certainly see where you are coming from but the reason I make the statement is because even Google themselves say it does not exist and the reason is because of a number of factors including the fact that no two pages are the same, even when the content IS the same, so they can be indexed. Also, even the same article can be indexed twice for different keywords so again there is no reason why it should not be indexed as well.
As far as your site is concerned, have you not considered installed WordPress on the backend or at least on a subdomain so that you can keep your site and pagerank but get the benefits of WP and quickly indexed pages?
Just a thought, again thanks for your support and comments RIchard
Alex Whalley´s last [type] ..How not to write an ebook – Are you asking the right questions
Hi, Alex, great article once again! I’ve known about ezinearticles for a while now, but hadn’t heard of BlogEngage until now. I’d like to try it out, so if it isn’t too much of a bother, I’d like an invite, please. Thanks!
Noel´s last [type] ..THE SECRETS TO LONGEVITY
Hey Noel, No worries will send invite over now
And thanks for the awesome feedback and comments Noel,
All the best my friend
Alex Whalley´s last [type] ..How not to write an ebook – Are you asking the right questions
Got it! I had to look around for it, as my mail sorted it out as spam at first lol. Anyway, thanks very much, Alex!
Noel´s last [type] ..HOW TO PREVENT CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME
Hi Alex,
I’ve heard of BlogEngage and it looks interesting. If you wanted to shoot me an invite, I would appreciate it.
I haven’t installed the EzineArticles plugin yet as I’ve been on the fence. This is something that I should do though, so thanks for the kick to finally get it done. We can’t ignore the easy stuff to leverage our content. You’ve given some great tips here.
Thanks so much,
Karen
Karen´s last [type] ..Do You Recognize These Common Excuses
Hey Karen,
Invite sent. I think you will get a lot of traffic and votes from there
)
Glad you finally decided to install the plugin and leverage. I have had over 3000 views of articles at Ezine (this is AT ezine mind you, they don’t all click through
Thanks again for your kind words Karen
Alex Whalley´s last [type] ..How not to write an ebook – Are you asking the right questions
Hi Alex, I am so happy this came to my Inbox today. I am not lazy by any stretch of imagination
but I do like your suggestions. I’d love to be a part of BlogEngage readership and I”ll certainly comply with all the rules.
Do you see any downside to sending articles over to EzineArticles?
Thanks so much!
Farnoosh´s last [type] ..A Transfer of Passion- How I fell in Love with French
Hi Farnoosh,
So good to see you here supporting this post. I have followed you ever since Hulbert interviewed you and I love your ongoing inspiration and love of reading that is evident over at your blog.
In regards to the article question, I have yet to see a downside to submitting my articles. I still get my article ranked along with the ezine one and I am literally doubling the chance of getting my message read so it can only be a good thing right?
Thanks again for stopping by and Commenting.
LOL when I first read the comment i thought ‘wow, farnoosh subscribes to my blog’ then I realised this is theinfopreneur LOL… D’OH!
Take care Farnoosh
Alex Whalley´s last [type] ..Article Marketing – Part 1 What’s a Search Engine
My My! Not sure I like that Alex – what are you saying? I am too good to read your blog?
!! Nonsense! Why I happen to subscribe to your RSS already and I will need to make my presence known just to show you how much I enjoy the writing I suppose!
No seriously, it’s true and thank you so much!
As far as this post goes, I am going to test it out on my latest article and see how it goes! Thank you Alex!!!!
Farnoosh´s last [type] ..Recounting my Vegan Diet- The first 20 Days
Hi Alex,
I need to check into that plugin from Ezine Articles, I’ve heard about it but didn’t know it is offered directly from Ezine. Can you please also shoot me an invite to BlogEngage? It looks like Dev is getting a lot of traffic as he mentioned and would like to see if it’s effective for me as well.
Anna
Anna Haller´s last [type] ..List building with Rodger Hyatt
Hey Anna,
Yeah Dev is really active over at BE and it is certainly paying off.
Invite sent, you will definitely be an asset to the community over there Anna!
Alex Whalley´s last [type] ..How not to write an ebook – Are you asking the right questions
I love posts about the good side of laziness. Really, these are great tips simply for saving time.
As far as the methods, I do use Twitter and (very occasionally) BlogEngage, but none of the others. Actually, though I have heard about article marketing, I have never done anything with it (yet). Perhaps that day will come soon.
Thanks for another set of ideas on how I can use up all of my free time Alex
Have a great day!
mark´s last [type] ..5 Myths About Goal Setting
I’m too lazy to formally reply
I know you use BE because you invited me but I think you should install the vote buttons so that your readers (me) can submit your articles on your behalf.
Glad I am keeping you out of trouble Marky Mark.
Take care mon frere
Alex Whalley´s last [type] ..Article Marketing – Part 1 What’s a Search Engine
Ha. Good idea about the BE button. Funny how those kind of things are fogotten sometimes (at least by me).
You know, I probably would get myself into more trouble were it not for blogging and the seemingly endless number of things that I need to do to improve.
Have a great day Alex!
mark´s last [type] ..How to Determine If You Use Your Time Wisely
Hi Alex, Thanks a million for this wonderful post. Actually i have been doing a lot of manual article submission with little result, but i guess it’s time i try the Ezine Articles Tools.
Also am surprised that you said there is no “real” harm in duplicate content. Anyway, i will try out some of the tips you just mentioned.
I would appreciate an invite of BlogEngage as i have heard much about it. Thanks in advance.
Richard Chidike´s last [type] ..Direct Sales Successes – Invest Wisely in Your Direct Sales Business
Richard,
I have found that when submitting quality articles to Ezine, it usually takes at least 50 AND 6 months for the snowball effect to start bringing your traffic, until then it just sort of trickles I suppose.
In regards to my comment, what harm is there? it’s all a load of horse wallops if you ask me.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting Richard, sending invite over now.
Alex´s last [type] ..The Lifecycle of a Keyword
Yes, duplicate content does not hurt you .
Yes, duplicate content does not hurt you .
Hi Alex,
Thanks for the response and i just hope that the duplicate content does hurt at the end of the day.
Please i am still expecting the BlogEngage invite.
Richard Chidike | Motivatory´s last [type] ..Direct Sales Successes – Invest Wisely in Your Direct Sales Business
It’s really strange and somehow difficult to understand that people could should go ahead and copy articles from other sites/blog straight to their sites and yet don’t get penalized by Google.
If this be the case, so why then all the stories that you could get your site/blog banned by Google if one engages in such an art?
Richard Chidike | Motivatory´s last [type] ..Direct Sales Successes – Invest Wisely in Your Direct Sales Business
Wow. So much to learn! But, I am soooo excited, so thanks for the really informative post, Alex. I hope that you are doing okay. My challenge is to map out a strategy that is truly “doable” and realistic for me. My aspirations are high.
I would also love to join BlogEngage. Can you please send me an invitation? Again, thanks so very much.
We loved this post so it was included in our Tips for How to Save Your Precious Time By Leveraging Your Business article:
http://www.sheinspires.com.au/business/tips-to-use-leverage-to-make-money
Do check it out and let us know your thoughts.
All the best,
Belinda