You’re brave enough to admit it. You hate to write.
You dread a blank screen, Webster’s Dictionary and Roget’s Thesaurus… and you’re not alone. In a world loaded with content, your customers will agree: less is more! You need fresh, compelling content, but keeping it short and visual is helpful. If you hate writing, here are 14 types of content you can create with little to no writing.
1. Compile a Quote Collection: There’s a quote out there for every subject, and your business blog is no exception. Google “quotes for [insert your topic/industry]” and you’ll find plenty to choose from. Be sure to give credit for quotes you find and use.
2. Answer a Question in a Short Video: Recording a video is simpler than ever. Use a smartphone camera or a laptop camera to answer a common question about a product or service. Add a couple finishing touches with your favorite editor and you have a great piece of sharable content without a lot of writing.
3. Create a Photo Gallery/Album: Fill a post with a collection of photos that are centered around your topic or theme. If you’re blogging for business, include “insider” shots, images that show a process, or a collection of favorite products or things. (Use original photos or give credit to sources.)
4. Launch a Link List: Select the top 10, 15 or 20 links that provide great content on your topic or industry. It could be top samples, top tools, top tips… curate a collection of great resources instead of writing your own.
5. Conduct an Audio Interview: If you’ve got a smart phone or a recording app, this one’s going to be easy. Find an expert in your industry or a related field, and ask them if they’d be willing to be interviewed. The more credibility your site has, the more exposure benefit to your expert, but often all it takes is the courage to ask.
6. Publish a Slide Deck: Sharing slide decks is a popular way to deliver content without extensive writing. You can create your own slides, and find decks to share at sites like SlideShare. Much like a YouTube video, they provide embed codes to share on a website.
7. Make an InfoGraphic: A few statistics or a previous blog post make excellent sources for an infographic. Take your information to the next level with an image that others in your audience can share. If you don’t have your own design software try Infogram or Easel.ly for simple online creation.
8. Compile a Video Collection: A collection of great videos from Youtube or Vimeo are a great way to generate a highly-interactive piece of website content quickly. Find a list of bloopers, TED Talks or commercials that focus on your topic or industry theme and will appeal to your readers. Presto – no writing time required.
9. Conduct a Poll or Survey: Using services like SurveyMonkey you can create polls and surveys to gather insight on a variety of industry topics to share with your readers. Everyone wants to know what’s trending and what the masses are thinking… you can provide summaries of key information with very little writing effort.
10. Customer-generated content: We recently recommended a client create a photo submission contest on social media. They did and had great results. They got amazing submissions to share, but their loyal fans were very conversational about the process. What’s better than your customers promoting your products or services for you? #win!
11. Record a webinar-style tutorial: Capture screen movement and audio to teach your audience about any topic. No “writng”, per se. You’ve got the how-to in your head. Share it.
12. Audio or Video Opinion Piece: Skip the research and writing, and critique the work of others. Pull a couple pieces on your topic and provide your own commentary on them.
13. Update a Previous Post: Some posts lend themselves very naturally to quarterly or annual updates and re-posting. Look through your content for seasonal pieces and items like “The Top 10 [somethings] of 2014” — that’s just begging for a “Top 10 [somethings] of [this Year].”
14. Hire Writing Help! If you just don’t want to write, record, graph & survey the content yourself… find someone to do it for you. There are freelance writers who can create pieces of content for you. Start small – hire them for a piece or two before making any kind of commitment promises! You can also outsource the creative process to an inbound marketing agency like ours to plan your strategy and deliver the content you need on schedule.
There you have it! —
14 Content Ideas with Little or No Writing.
If you’re starting a business blog or looking for fresh ideas, these 14 types of posts will help you generate fresh content for your website without spending hours staring at a blank screen. Start growing that library of compelling content today!
