Content is king, as the cliche goes. But writing blog entries can seem so unrewarding when you factor in the time and talent it takes to compose them. Sure, they may bring readers your way, but is it worth it?
Simply rearranging your blog to look like a book doesn’t quite cut it. Credit: Bibliothek Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau
One way companies skirt this value proposition is to make their blogs work double duty by publishing the best pieces in physical and/or digital formats. This way, they bring in people who prefer paper or tablets to desktop reading (who might even be convinced to pay for the privilege of alternative access to content).
This tactic was recently undertaken by real estate marketing and design firm 1000watt. They grabbed 40 of their blog posts and republished them in Turn On: Selected Writings About Real Estate 2007-2011. While you can buy the “booklet,” as Inman calls it, direct from the printer or via Kindle and iBooks, 1000watt also put out a free PDF version on their website. Presumably they asked themselves how many people would pay to read content that is already freely available online.
But just because it’s free doesn’t mean there isn’t a transaction involved. In exchange for giving away their content in this new format, the firm gets new eyes and new mailing list members. And, on a personal level, I received four lessons in how not to repurpose blog content in PDF form in return for reading this online version.
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