5 Unique Ways Bloggers Can Create Killer Content (Without Writing)

“List” blogs had the right idea. Round up the best resources on a specific topic, write a post about it, and become the definitive resource in your market.

But times have changed. Content comes in many forms: video, audio, infographics, slide shows… not to mention Social Media like Twitter, Facebook, and StumbleUpon. With all this content flying around, it’s tough for readers to see the big picture. And that’s where a huge opportunity awaits you. By re-purposing existing high-quality content, you help add perspective.

This post will reveal five unique methods bloggers can use to take existing content and – by adding their spin to it – receive more traffic to their blog.

But first…

How Do You Find Content You Can Legally Use?

The Creative Commons Search bar allows you to search for images, video, articles and software which is available for re-use and modification. Once you’ve found some content in your market, use the following five methods to add value to your readers:

1. Compile a “Best of” Video Post

Search for videos relating to your market, and publish them in one lengthy post. For example, if you blog about dogs, you could search for videos relating to the best dog tricks. Then, post each video on your blog, with a short description about them.

You can take this a step further and contact each dog/website owner, and provide them with a badge (with a link to your site) saying they’ve been included in your “best of” post.

You could even create a page for each breed (“best Labrador tricks”, etc.), which would be an easy way to add lots of content to your site.

It also adds value to your readers. You can ask them which breeds they’d most like to see, and continually feature videos based on their responses. The sky is the limit here.

2. Tell a Story

Online, announcements (and subsequent opinions) are blasted across a wide variety of social networks. Why not gather the best responses across the web and use it to tell a story?

With Storify, you can do just that. This free tool lets you create narratives and include announcements, tweets and blog comments into a single streaming story. While other sites may announce the news element only, you provide the news and public reactions to it. For example, take a look at this story about Titans running back Chris Johnson. The original announcement appeared in Fox Sports, was then tweeted about, and then showed up on ESPN, NFL and several YouTube videos.

Simply compiling the best comments (most from professional sportscasters) this story provides tremendous background and insight into the deal.

3. Build a Timeline

If you’ve found an interesting story which takes place over time (like the Tour de France), you can create a timeline usingDipity. You can include articles, comments, video, photos and even maps. Dipity works best on far-reaching topics like the history of Russia or the career of Steve Jobs.

4. Visualize Data in New Ways

Graphs help illustrate key points succinctly. Fortunately, for us non-designers there several tools which make graphing easy. For example, Gliffy lets you create timelines, flowcharts and even org charts with ease. This network diagram is an example of what’s possible.

Another visualization tool is IBM’s Many Eyes, which lets you create bar graphs, line graphs, and matrix diagrams. Heck, you can even place data sets on a map like this map of world wide alcohol consumption (who knew Ugandans drank so much?).

5. Create Presentations

I’ve saved this one for last. Let’s say you found an awesome article with a Creative Commons license. You can highlight main points and create a Powerpoint presentation (or Prezi if you want to get real snazzy). Then, record yourself reading the article as you proceed through the slide show. You should now have four items:

• A slideshow
• A video file
• An audio file
• Any images used in the article (or Creative Commons images)

After posting the finished video on your site, you can then submit each to their respective sharing sites. For example, the video goes to YouTube, the slideshow goes to DocStoc, etc.).

Admittedly, this takes awhile to set up, which is why I suggest using Pixelpipe to submit those files to over a hundred sharing sites. It’s really easy to use once you’ve set up the accounts (I recommend hiring someone to do this part for you).

Conclusion

Great content is not static. It can rework, added upon, modified and improved. The key to making these methods work is to create and add value with your new creation. Your readers will appreciate you taking the time to summarize complex issues, or present data in new and interesting ways.

What did I miss? Let me know in the comments below?

IMAGE CREDIT – FLICKR

This article is written by Adam Costa. He is the co-author of Business In A Backpack, which explains how to market your business while on the road.