Quick Case Study: Marcia Yudkin
The 10th edition in a series of posts that highlight one Expert Author who has achieved success by doing just one thing exceptionally well.
Marcia Yudkin is the author of 11 books, including 6 Steps to Free Publicity, and hundreds of magazine articles. She’s currently a marketing consultant for businesses around the world and helps judge the “Inc. Magazine Small Business Web Awards.”
Marcia has also taken on the role of Expert Author on EzineArticles. With years of writing experience behind her, Marcia uses each of her published articles as a roadmap for her next ezine writing and marketing opportunity. Expanding on content in previous articles is a way to write material that contains plenty of new information and builds on the ideas of previous submissions. For example, she says, “Where you’ve collected many do’s and don’ts in one article, break them out in more depth. Each point getting its own article-length treatment.” This type of strategy helps Marcia write more about each topic she covers and stay detail-oriented.
She also re-purposes content across different platforms to build her online presence. “I like to participate in online forums and lead teleseminars. My explanations in those venues often get reworked into EzineArticles pieces.” She continues, “Tips that I have written up as articles then reappear in books, and vice versa.” This is one way to build your reputation as an expert across a variety of platforms to reach new audiences.
Re-Purposed Vs. Rewritten Content
Re-purposing content is a great strategy if you are using different platforms in your article writing and marketing campaign, but Marcia reminds us that there’s a distinct difference between re-purposing content across different platforms and rewriting it. Rewritten content provides no new information. She says, “Article spinning is a technology-assisted way of creating multiple articles with different wording. The articles say exactly the same thing, but cannot be easily flagged as duplicates.” She adds, “To me, article spinning is a trick created to game the system and does not benefit the public.”
Instead, she recommends that you provide all your own original material. She says, “Don’t outsource writing. People want to read articles with personality as well as content. Readers respond to your unique set of attitudes and information, which rarely comes across from a hired writer. And definitely don’t post lousy articles that are little more than keywords strung together in minimally interesting sentences. This just clogs the Internet with junk and wastes everyone’s time!”
For Marcia, revisiting past articles is a source of inspiration for new detail-oriented articles. The key is using the articles to generate more original content and avoid sharing the same information with different wording.
“DO’s” and “DON’Ts” From Marcia:
DO:
- Write new articles to expand on topics mentioned briefly in previous content.
- Reach a wider audience by re-purposing content across a variety of platforms.
- Show your expertise in the details and real-world examples you can provide.
DON’T:
- Don’t outsource your writing because the personality of the content will suffer. Use your expertise to separate yourself from other authors.
- Don’t use rewriting software or article spinners to make more articles.
Incorporate these guidelines while writing your next set of quality original articles and let us know how they work for you. Also, leave a comment for Marcia. She can’t wait to hear from you.
Rob, Great way to use Private-label material. It jump starts your thinking, but you still are using your own writing voice and perspective in your articles. Everyone wins that way.
August 10, 2010 at 12:24 PM[Reply]