About a year or so ago I read an article from an almost famous marketer and business consultant, where he bashed Dan Kennedy for recycling old content and selling it for a pretty penny. He felt it was wrong. At the time, I was seriously considering buying that same course for a few grand. At the time, I was a Kennedy newbie, and while I still believe very much in his strategies and advice, I saved a few bucks by believing this business consultant and hoping I can find that same content in his older and cheaper works.
Seth Godin recently published a book that is basically just a reprint of all his blog posts. I bet your inbox is flooded right now with “Top 10 stories of this year” from every blog or website you subscribe to. Nothing wrong with this. Once you create content, especially evergreen content, you have an asset you can repurpose til the end of time.
To many this may seem a little dishonest, but in truth, this is the VERY REASON YOU SHOULD START BLOGGING TODAY!
One of the ways I discover new authors to read is by following recommendations from the authors I currently like. Through a Dan Kennedy book I discovered another book, which hammered home the point… that there is no better thing you can do to help your business than to start creating content as soon as possible. Why? Well, because once you create that content its there forever. You can reuse, recycle, repurpose, or even rewrite your content once it’s out there in the wild. But if you never put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard or even voice to recorder, you won’t have something to tap into and build off of.
One of the hottest topics in marketing today is Marketing Automation, which is the art of delivering web and email content to people based on their previous interactions with your content, and all the knowledge you have about them. My friend who does marketing automation for a company said they are using over 150 different variables they can build custom triggers around. This means that there are probably hundreds of thousands of possible interactions they can automate. Here’s the thing, creating automation programs are a lot of work setting up. Someone needs to write all those emails, all that web content, all those whitepapers. Someone else needs to analyze the data to give proper weights to different interactions and develop an automation plan that justifies the ridiculous cost of tens of thousands a year if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Bottom Line, if you never get started, you won’t get anywhere. So, just get started. Get something off the ground and suddenly you’ll have a base you can build off of. Whether you are building a list, or an audience or just generating sales leads, once you create that content you can leverage it a hundred different ways.
For starters, if you write a blog post, you can repurpose that into audio, video, slideshows, infographics, guides, ebooks, courses, etc… Content comes in many forms, and there is no reason you can’t recycle the same content a dozen different ways. All the pros are doing this, so why not you.
Right now I am working on writing a book, and my goal is to publish 3 books during 2014. If I never started my blog two years ago, that would be an impossible feat. Now though, I know which content has broad appeal. I know which strategies and stories my readers enjoy. I look at my blog posts as outlines which can turn into guides, ebooks, case studies, whitepapers, etc…
While I don’t expect or even hope you to pay for content you can read on my blog for free. It is the perfect launchpad to write great books that provide value to the masses.
So, if you ever hope to establish yourself as an expert one day or if you can see yourself creating content some time in the future. Just get started Now… Before you know it you’ll have an arsenal of content and tools you can use to help grow your business, drive sales and build your personal brand.
Just Get Started!
(If you are stuck getting started, I would be happy to install wordpress for you for free when you sign up for hosting with Hostgator and use coupon code davidmelamed to receive 25% off! Once you signup for hosting, send me an email at david at davidmelamed.com and I will work with you to get you all setup with wordpress. )
About David Melamed
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A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, eh? My problem with starting a blog has always been, and this is the little voice in the back of my head saying this, “Who the hell cares what you have to say?” But I acquiesce. I think you just have to launch the ship from the dry dock eventually, otherwise there would be no great sea sagas.
With respect to Mr. Kennedy, whom I have not read but look forward to reading, here is the problem I have with recycling old content.
In the very short time I have been investigating SEO Marketing–a matter of days–I have noticed how quickly dated and wrong some information is. I looked at some articles by an “award winning” SEO guy on Inc.com tonight, and in an article he wrote in Sept of last year (2012), he said that it’s a Myth that, “Google Prefers Keyword-Rich Domains”. He goes on to say, “In years past, Google seemed to put a disproportionate amount of emphasis on keywords in the domain name…Not anymore.”
Then, fast forward to Nov of 2013, 14 months later and he says in a new post listing the worst mistakes of SEO, he says that adding keywords to URLs is, “an easy and effective SEO strategy that many companies still ignore.”
This is the problem I have with recycling old material. Some of that information is no longer valid and sometimes dangerous to follow. Generally it makes sense for authors to do this, but sometimes history has a way of biting them in the a**.
For example, take Jim Collin’s mega best selling business book, “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t”
I liked this book when it came out. This book is still heralded today as one of the greats in the pantheon of business book. However a cursory reread will reveal some not so brilliant conclusions by the author.
If you take a look at some of companies that Jim Collins puts on a pedestal:
Fannie Mae:
Just look what NYTimes columnist Steve A. Holmes wrote in the NYTimes article, “Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending” on Thursday September 30, 1999, nearly 2 years before “Good to Great” went to press:
“In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending [easing the credit requirements on loans] Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980’s.”
Now that was prescient! Yet despite those ominous warnings from Steve Holmes in 1999, Jim Collins still proclaimed Fannie Mae to be a “great company.”
And then we found out, in fact, that it was not so great.
On Oct 21, 2010 FHFA estimates revealed that the bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will likely cost taxpayers $224–360 billion in total, with over $150 billion already provided.
Other “Great” companies according to Collins…
Circuit City–Not so great. They went bankrupt.
The book is still a best seller today despite such horribly wrong information. The problem I have with a lot of business books that are putting out old or recirculated information is, the authors need to have a HUUUUGE disclaimer up front saying, “WARNING: Here is where I was totally WRONG. Don’t pay any attention to this part…”
David, I appreciate your advice on the blogging, though. Maybe some of us need to follow you and take the first step.
Cheers
Paulie
Hi Paulie, thanks for reading and commenting.
To your first point… there are 2 Billion people on the internet. Over 90% of the United States is online. I think there is definitely a community of people who would be interested in what you have to say. One of the great things about the internet is how you can find a needle in the haystack. how you can find people with similar interests and perspectives from half way across the world. The world is a very big place. Start writing and you will see there will be those who appreciate what you have to say. Ancillary to that, if this comment you wrote is any indication of the insights you have to offer, I would argue you are doing the rest of us a disservice by keeping your insights to yourself.
Regarding your comments about keywords in SEO. That is actually something which fluctuates every half a year or so. It seems like at times it is highly correlated with high rankings and at other times it doesn’t help. So that point is not a great one to reference.
That being said, I agree with your underlying point that there are two types of content. There is timely content and there is evergreen content. My post was more about the types of content that could stand the test of time.
Regarding Jim Collins book, I think his underlying science is still accurate, and his lessons that drive a great company are as true today as they always were. In fact, in his book he talks about just this. He talks about how a brand can lose their way. How under one type of leader, they can thrive, and than years later collapse.
More importantly, his lesson about breakthrough moments is something that I choose to believe in. I have seen it work time and time again, and I believe that eventually you will break through the ceiling.
Thanks for stopping by.
I’m in the process of getting a blog together, and I spend a lot of time brainstorming content but not so much writing it, in fact that only thing at the moment I seem to be writing is that list of things to right and nothing else. But you’re right. Rather than second guessing myself and making lists, I just need to start writing. Even if I don’t post it and keep it archived on my computer until the right time, I will always benefit from putting pen to paper and producing something. I feel like this blog post is a bit of a vote of confidence to us readers, reminding those of us who are in a rut that we are actually capable of getting started, and I appreciate the push because it’s really hit home right about now.