Last weekend I attended WordCamp LAX, a once-a-year WordPress conference held in Los Angeles. WordPress is an interesting website platform and its conferences reflect that uniqueness. WordPress unites entrepreneurs, coders, bloggers, marketers, developers, designers, programmers, hackers, investors and stragglers in a community of open source sharing.
A lot of high level code talk is thrown around in this crowd, yet newcomers feel at ease as all levels are embraced, help is offered and friendships are built, alongside code.
I love WordPress. It’s accessible and easy to use. It allows me to learn… and to teach. In WordPress I can be a developer one day and a blogger the next, all the while keeping my fingers in project management. I love that it provides so many options. I love that it has an app and allows websites and posts to be modified from any device. I love that WordPress is completely responsive… most of the time.
However, I’m not the WordPress poster child.
I work on different platforms. I own a content based business and while WordPress makes up 24.6% of active websites, according to w3techs, a well-respected technology survey company, I still feel the need to offer quality content to the other 75.4% of website owners. I even believe that some industries perform better on non-WordPress websites, but that’s not a topic I’d bring up around my WordPress friends. 😉
Instead I choose to embrace the goodness of the WordPress platform, because it really is quite amazing as a content management system.
A few weeks ago, Jason Tucker from WP Watercooler called to see if I’d join the show and talk content. I suggested we chat about ways to stretch or amplify blog posts on WordPress and it was a go! A 30-minute group discussion is hardly the place to go deep, but we definitely had a great time exploring options.
Content promotion avenues are limitless, however I wanted to share some of our favorites at Need Someone to Blog. Below you’ll find suggestions on ways to get more value from original content starting with step 1, a simple blog post.
Know other successful methods of getting the most of your post? Please share them in the comments!
- Create an original blog post with original images, using a variety of keyword phrases.
- Review your post for typos and optimization factors or have someone else do it for you. Seriously, don’t skip this step!
- Consider pulling together several blog posts and linking them as a series before publishing. OR, link to your past relates posts.
- Tweet your post to followers. Respond to interaction.
- Find groups posting on related topics in Twitter and join the conversation with hashtags.
- Share your post with your circles on Google+ and engage on related topics.
- Publish on LinkedIn Pulse – remind people what you do.
- Publish a 3rd mini post natively on Facebook – make it personal and share the original post url with your friends.
- Share that personal Facebook post on your Facebook Business page.
- Explore answering topic related questions on Quora – don’t directly promote.
- Take your post image, overlay a related phrase or post quote and pin it. Or create a graph illustrating the information you’ve shared.
- Pick the 5 most interesting phrases in your post and reserve for future promotional use. Keep a running list of short quotes (by you) that can be shared in social media.
- Spin your image 20 degrees to make it stand out and hashtag it on Instagram.
- Publish a 4th related post on an internal industry publishing platform, always linking back to your original post.
- Rewrite the post and submit it to your local newspaper.
- If you are published in newspaper or magazine articles, upload an image of it to social media and link back to your original post.
- Start a monthly newsletter and share a linked excerpt from your post.
- Search out related industry resources and share your post in appropriate forums and contribute comments.
- Receive positive feedback on a post? Package it as a testimonial and publish or use it to dress up your website.
- Promote your post link as a shortened url in social channels, multiple times a year.
- Turn your post or a collection of posts into a downloadable pdf and offer it on your website.
- Upload your pdf to ISSUU, Scribd, or similar article sharing portals.
- Take a screenshot of your post, print and mail it to your existing clients with a signed note.
- Use that same screenshot to create an artsy post asking people to subscribe to your blog.
- Share your post with industry leaders and ask for feedback.
- Write a second post quoting the response of those industry leaders. They may even help you amplify a blog post by sharing it!
- Turn your post or posts into a Q & A and upload them to a wiki site.
- Record your post or a collection of posts on SoundCloud.
- Convert your recordings into podcasts and start your own show.
- Use your post as the springboard for a speaking presentation.
- Share your presentation on SlideShare or authorSTREAM.
- Have multiple posts? Create a course on your topic.
- Share what you’ve written about with a radio host and ask for airtime.
- Host a Google Hangout on your post topic or host a weekly 5 minute podcast.
- Use your blog as a script for a 30 second on-location video filmed on your phone.
- Piece together 3 of these videos into a group reveal and share on YouTube.
- Modify the group reveal script into a press release and release online with you as the expert.
- Print up a t-shirt that quotes your post and wear it to networking events.
- Share 9-15 second bits of your videos on Vine and Instagram.
- Combine the videos and posts and create a linked FAQ page for your website readers.
- Compile 10 of your most informative posts and create an insider’s look at your industry.
- Gather together 50 posts and create an ebook.
- Collect 100+ posts and create a paperback non-fiction book.
- Record your book into an audio book. Share a small portion of it as a free download.
- Pay to play. Promote your post message as necessary in social media ads, PPC, and at trade shows.