Welcome to the last installment in a three-part blog series about how to ensure you’re reaching all members of your target audience, taking their content processing preferences into consideration. (Click here for the first installment and here for the second.)
Last Thursday I gave you some ideas of ways you can diversify the content you create for your business, in an effort to reach more members of your target audience and today I have some more suggestions for you.
- Don’t forget the dessert. Not all readers are created equal and they don’t all utilize RSS feeds. Offer your readers another option that allows your readers to subscribe to your blog via email. Feedburner offers this option within your administrative settings. But if you really want to show off, Aweber takes this to another level by allowing you to create Blog Broadcasts! Similar to a Broadcast message, the same where you would send out your e-Zine, a Blog Broadcast allows you to use or create your own custom template (hello…branding!) and send your blog posts out to subscribers at whatever intervals you choose. I use it on my blog and love that it is totally automated so my subscribers never miss a post…you know…because they’re so busy they may not have time to visit my blog to see what’s new.
- Articles. There are many ways to get your content out there and publishing your articles to various sources is definitely a must. How do you do this? Let me count the ways: 1) submit them to article directories, 2) republish your e-Zine’s main article to your blog, 3) republish your e-Zine’s main article to its own web page, thus creating an article directory on your own site, 4) create an RSS feed specifically for this article directory that people can subscribe to, and 5) allow others to use your content in their own publications – just remember to specify the rules first.
- Give your content a voice. When you’re ready, try adding audio and/or video to your content. People can read your e-Zine, blog, or articles all over the Internet, but nothing compares to being able to hear or see you. No, it may not be live and in person, but it is definitely the next best thing to being there. With video and audio, people can relate to you so much better, they can feel your enthusiasm, and they can hear the tone in your voice.
To say that your business should encompass ALL of the above and suggestions I offered last week might be a stretch…or is it? You’re not expected to create all of these forms of distribution in a day…a week…or even a month. Can it be done? Sure, but it isn’t necessary. Remember the Tortoise & the Hare? Slow and steady wins the race, and if you can begin incorporating just one new form of content distribution each month, or every other month, then you have a powerful, viral mechanism to grow your business, increase your subscribers, and build a following.
