27 Ways to Get Other People to Create Content For You

people

Getting other people to create your online content is one of the most painless ways to save time and ensure your blog, website and article directories are packed with top-quality, original content.

Let’s take a look at 27 different ways to make this happen.

1.  Pay Copywriters or Ghostwriters

A ghostwriter usually writes articles, blog posts, eBooks, white papers and reports, and a copywriter often specializes in sales and landing pages, as well as email series – though there is often no difference between the two.

A good ghost/copywriter will increase your site SEO value with professional, original writing – in your “voice”.

2.  Pay a VA

Many virtual assistants add copywriting to their services, so this way you can kill two birds with one stone, if you need an assistant too.  Just be sure to check what type of writing they specialize in.

3.  Guest Authors

This used to be a top way to get others to provide you with quality content – and it still is.  But you should know that Google is now penalizing overly-promotional “guest posts” and “guest posters”, so follow these three tips and you won’t be the guest poster in trouble – nor will your guests.

  • Call them “guest authors”.  Seriously!
  • Make sure their content is original and highly relevant to your audience
  • Get your “rel=author” tag and validate yourself with Google through your Google+ profile

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Sure, it’s a pain to set up, but don’t neglect it. Your validation as a Google-recognized author is like gold in the SEO bank.

4.  Embedding Other People’s Material

Ask permission to embed slide shows, videos, .MP3s and other material on your site.  This can add richness and extra flavor, if you choose material that enhances and adds value to yours (as well as pleasing your visitors!)

 

5.  Testimonials

If you ever receive great compliments on your services or products, these become priceless recommendations (or “testimonials”) that you can put on your website or in sales letters for that relevant product or service package.

If someone posts a testimonial on a highly public forum, you can technically print it without permission, but always ask (you may get more than if you “sneaked” it in: E.G. a headshot provided and permission to use their full name).

6.  Insert Ads

Ads can bring income directly to you through your site, so choose blog themes that allow you to insert ad buttons and banners.

Avoid Google AdSense themes, however.  The quality of ads has noticeably deteriorated this year, and you cannot guarantee that your site won’t become tainted by adult or inappropriate material you don’t want.

7.  Comments

If you write a hot blog post, you’ll soon know it:  It will incite a flurry of comments.  Do put some screening in place for comments, however, so that you are not inundated with damaging spam.  The Akismet spam filter is a “must”; and it’s a good idea to set your comments options to require moderation on the first post from a poster.

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8.  Have it Transcribed

Running a webinar or teleseminar is a painless way to create content, but make the most of it by having it transcribed into text.

Then you can offer your transcription as your blog content for that day – or you can offer it as a bonus to a paid offer or signup.

9.  Create a “Round-up”

Another way to use other people’s content fairly:  Create a Round-up of snippets from different sources dealing with a single topics.  For example, “Top 10 Graphic Websites in 2013”; “Facebook Follies”.

 

10.  Public Domain Visual Media

While it’s always best to commission or take your own original photos, finding public domain graphics can be a quick and handy solution.  (Make sure they really are public domain, however!)

Here are three sources with multitudes of public domain photos and other visual media such as fonts and clipart…

 

 

11.  Free Resources

You can insert resources such as calculators and dictionaries on your website simply by copying code into your HTML, such as TheFreeDictionary webmaster tools, which allows you to select options such as “Word of the Day” or “Quote of the Day”, among other features.

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Just make sure your free resource is from a reputable site, and there’s no hidden code allowing traffic mining.

This type of HTML resource formatting is a good choice when your host website doesn’t allow App scripts.

12.  Apps and Widgets

Better on blogs or websites written in .PHP rather than HTML.  You can find apps for quizzes, polls, surveys, quotes – all the features available as HTML resources – and more.  You can provide interactive, ever-changing content:  E. G. a widget that displays Twitter tweets.

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13.  Plug-ins

You can do much the same thing with plugins and there is a wide selection to choose from at WordPress.org.

You can also download commercial plugins such as the nRelate related-content plugin.

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14.  Press Releases

Reprint press releases relevant to your target market’s interests on your website.

 

15.  Intern Created Content

If you decide to take on an intern, one of her duties could be to create content for you.

16.  Regular Features

You can create daily, weekly or monthly features that rely on externally-driven content.  For example, regular “Guest Column” featuring different guest experts.

17.  Using Quotes

One quick way to produce an article:  Pick a topic and present “Top 10 Quotes About [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][your keyword]”.  Then run a quick search, picking the best quotes from quotes aggregation sites such as BrainyQuote and The Quote Garden.

Don’t select all your quotes from one site, however.  Mix and match.

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18.  Content Curation

Another practice that is quickly becoming a trend:  Content curation – present content from aggregated sources.  As free curation site, Storify says, “Make the Web tell a story”.

19.  Templates

Templates may not be “content” as such, but they can help you quickly and instantly install or display content, doing the formatting part of the work for you.

And many WordPress themes incorporate widgets that add extra content to your site, such as blogrolls and archives.

You can get other templates too, to help fast-track your content creation. (E.g. review templates, blog post templates).

20.  Public Domain material

You can build a blog or even just a week of posts around material that is truly in the public domain.

 

21.  JV Partner Offers

You can insert ads from JV partners on your website – and free ones add special value.

Put them in a separate add banner or within your header.  Very often, your JV partners will do the rest (sign up, sales or download pages).

In fact, ask them to provide their ad, too.

22.  Reader Submissions

Invite readers to submit relevant written material to your blog, with the “prize” being publication (unless your blog serves professional writers, who would expect to be paid, of course).

Three popular types of writing you can invite:

  • Poetry
  • “Postcard” mini-writing contests
  • Asking for anecdotes regarding a specific topic:  E.g. “What is your most embarrassing memory about learning to ride a horse?”

23.  Reader Photographs or Artwork

Another type of contest people enjoy:  Original artwork or photograpy.

Not only does featuring the results give you lots of free content, it also increases reader engagement and interest.

24.  “[Something] of the Day”

Another type of reader-driven content that increases engagement:  “[Something] of the Day” features.

Try:

  • Tip
  • Word
  • Quote
  • Horoscope
  • Thought
  • Photo

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25.  Recipes

You don’t have to be running a cooking blog or website to invite readers to share their favorite recipes, if your demographic is female.  In fact, all you need to do is post an appetite-stimulating photo and a post that gets your readers salivating.

It’s like the Pet niche: Just as people love nothing more than writing in about their particular, unique, cuddly pet so do many love sharing their favorite recipes.

26.  Retrospectives

Feature your own or others’ most popular past articles, photos, stories or other content.

Done right, this tactic can help build and strengthen your online community by making readers feel they have a “say” in your site.

27.  Run a Themed Site

Creating a themed site entirely from reader-driven content (like accepting reviews for example) can be a virtually painless way to provide high quality, unique content as a background for displaying ads.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]