Now that you have a website, you have taken the first step in building an online presence but you may be pondering on how to get content for your website. Acquiring a web presence can be tedious work, especially if you want a grand website that can attract your target audience.
Before we dig into how to get content for your website, you need to know some basic requirements to keep your website running. People visit sites mainly for their content, not for their aesthetic. First, what is the idea behind your website? Revisit your business plan to view what you had in mind when you started developing your site.
Break down your plan into easily achievable goals, like sorting out content on the Homepage the first week, and developing two or more sub-pages in the second.
Your website requires the addition of new content on a regular basis. Developing original and relevant content to be added to your website is a full-time job, and for those who have other duties, it may be unrealistic to fully commit to your site. If the content isn’t flowing, and money isn’t an issue, be quick to employ the service of professionals such as Iconic Digital World for professional content.
On the other hand, there are hosts of free content online on how to get content for your website that you can use to build your website. You can access free text, music, graphics for your website. It should be clear that free content and professionally designed material might not be of the same standards.
Before jumping in on the topic, it is noteworthy that making use of the content without permission could breed serious legal issues, ensure the content or anything you use is copyright free.
Bearing all that in mind, here are ways to source free content for your website.
A. The Best Ways to get content for your website
Outsource:
Several sites connect publishers with freelance writers – one popular example is Upwork.com and the Iconic Digital World. You can just post a project and writers on Upworkers will “bid” for it. Typically, the more you pay for the project, the higher the quality of the writing.
Private label rights resources:
Private label rights (PLR) articles become “yours” once you purchase them. You can go ahead to edit them, alter them, post them on your website, or bind them into a book and sell it. When you buy PLR articles, the author cedes over almost all rights to the content. The good thing with PLR articles is that the quality tends to be considerably higher.
The biggest issue with private label rights resources is that they get passed around, expect others to be using them too. To avoid content duplication issues, make sure to edit the content. It’s often easier and faster to re-write an article than to write it from scratch. PLR content is better seen as topic generation and research, rather than content to use as prepared. Keep in mind that it’s only worthwhile if you can get them for a low cost, because you will need to spend time rewriting them yourself, or money hiring someone else to rewrite them for you.
Talk:
Another good way to solve the “how to get content for your website” fret is to talk. One easy way to develop content for your website if you’re not much of a writer is to get a Dictaphone (voice recorder) and record a topic of your choice. It’s often easier to talk about a topic than to write about it. Once you’ve recorded your topic, you can hire a transcriber to transcribe it for you. You could also add the audio to your site with an audio play button. It’s a bit of a gimmick, but a lot of people prefer to listen rather than read. It can also add some “real person” credibility to your site.
Alternatively, purchase Nuance’s Dragon Naturally Speaking which will write what you say, as you say it. It takes time, practice, and patience to ‘train’ the program to your voice command and your word usage. It will also learn the commands you give to punctuate and fix mistakes.
You have learned several approaches on how to get content for your website that doesn’t involve pulling articles out of your head, now let’s look at what you need to look for in content you’re sourcing for your website.
B. What to look out for
We’ve previously discussed ways you can get the best content for your website, but you may still be wondering, how do I source for the best content, what do I look out for? You can choose to not create content from your head, but you still need to put in the time and work required to source relevant and great content to build a successful brand. Contracting out content for your website without proper supervision may lead to clouding your website with poor content – a path that ultimately will get your brand to nowhere. This will only result in a waste of time, and resources for your brand.
C. What makes great content?
Originality:
Original content writing and other types go a long way with Google and for your brand. When sourcing content for your website, contract your job to freelancers or agencies that have a track record of creating standard and original content. This will give your website a good spot on the Google search ranking.
Attractive headline/keyword:
Here’s the simple secret you should know on how to get content for your website, good headline attracts. Ensure your content, whether an article or video has an attractive headline and a very rich keyword. What will attract people to your website is the headline, make sure you source for the best ones along with other SEO strategies.
Relevance to your target audience:
When you think about how to get content for my website, you should think how do I cater to my target audience. Source for content that appeals to your readers. It is important for your content to resonate with your audience to drive traffic and to keep them glued to your website.
Relevant Media:
Let your content be enriched with high quality images, and videos. Make sure the media you use are not copyrighted.
Provides value:
Let the content you source to educate or inform your audience. Let the content teach them new things. These posts should be of benefit to them not only now but in the future.
Shows passion:
How do you get content for your website without enthusiasm? whatever the content you’re putting how, when you’re sourcing for content, let it show passion. Your content should tell the world how passionate you and your team are about your brand. People should feel the excitement and passion from the content you put out.
Sources to get content for your Website
1. Free articles
The days of worrying about how to get content for your website are over. Some people want to write and they are just happy to be published. These people contribute to sites like EzineArticles, and you can find written content about a very wide range of subjects that can be repurposed for free. The site claims to have 500,000 authors currently providing works that can be used freely.
As you might expect, the quality of these articles may not be the best, and you might find them on multiple other sites that found them before you but they remain free.
Here are other sites which are popular for providing free content.
2. Free Images
Sourcing relevant images for your website without copyright issues can be difficult. But there are lots of sites that allow their images to be used freely without consent.
Few sites offer bitmap graphics and photographs which you can use freely. Some of these sites are,
Some copyright-free vector graphics sites can be rescaled to whatever size you need.
Here are a few to start you off.
3. Free music
Another common concern on how to get content for your website is sourcing for free music. Using commercial soundtracks can be expensive even though adding music to a video makes a big difference to how it appears.
Fortunately, there are lots of free sources that can supply music that doesn’t come with a big price tag, although some might ask for artist recognition in the credits or notes.
Here are some links for you to get some music that you can use without worrying about copyright infringement. Most are free or cost very little per track.
4. Free videos
You can find lots of clips that are the equivalent of moving stock photos.
Those wanting to create an atmosphere or mood might find these very useful, and there are some very high-quality examples to be found.
Try these sites if you need a free video for your website.
5. Just ask
This might seem presumptuous, but many blog writers are happy for their articles to be linked to or even reused, as long as you don’t try to take the work as yours.
You can search for an article on a subject, then send an email to the author requesting permission to reuse the article. Be sure to communicate the essence of your website and the usefulness of their work. The only downside is they may not approve, and if getting more people to read their pieces sounds interesting to them, getting turned down might be an unlikely scenario. This is one of the bravest steps to take when thinking of how to get content for your website.
Conclusion
With all the tips listed above, how to get content for your website should be out of the question. However, remember to filter through content, make sure the content you’re uploading to your website is in line with the goals of building a website. You can look up SEOPressor for keywords and potential titles. If you need help organizing your content, try WriteMaps. It helps to keep all this crazy content organized. You can take WriteMaps for a spin with a free trial.