Transform Your Article Into 8 Without Working Hard
Use what you’ve already done once to make money up to 8 times.
For many writers, coming up with articles day in and day out takes a lot of work.
It’s difficult to figure out a great idea, spend hours researching a topic to make sure you’re not pulling anyone’s leg, getting the words down and then publishing the whole thing. Doing it multiple times a day is exhausting and few writers have the time to dedicate to that kind of expenditure of energy.
The resistance is difficult to get through.
You go through it all only to need to come up with a whole new thing tomorrow. By the time a week has passed, you’re exhausted and worn, and many folks give the whole thing up not long after beginning.
I know the pain too well. I’m a blind guy on top of having a body that tries to betray me at every turn. Sitting down for hours to pound out article after story breaks me down quick.
I had to figure out ways to help myself on the days where I have too much resistance.
I discovered the idea of coming up with multiple articles based on one already completed.
I don’t mean just rewriting the sentences like some kind of automated article spinner, though doing that manually is not an invalid way of doing things. As long as you’re not using the same words, it’s not duplicate content. And sometimes when doing it, you can come up with a new turn of phrase that makes it even more compelling.
No, what I’m talking about here are different ways to refocus the article into a new format, while keeping the same content.
There are more ways you can do it, but here are the 8 I use most frequently on my blogs and other places. I came up with them through two decades worth of article writing for myself, and ghostwriting for others.
They are based on my personal experiences of what has, stylistically, worked for me.
The Straight Style
This style of article is my favorite and the one I use most.
It’s the type you’re reading right now, in fact.
The straight style is a conversational tone, a friendly voice in the eyeballs of the readers while trying to get a point across.
It can be a guide, or a how-to article. The subject doesn’t really matter. It’s about two people having a face-to-face meeting as if they’re acquaintances or friends.
I enjoy starting out with this kind of style, because it is the easiest to spin into other article styles. You’ve already got the basic breakdown of information laid out.
The FAQ Style
I think everyone is familiar with this sort of thing by now.
When it comes to article rewriting, though, you can do a FAQ in a couple of different forms.
You can, of course, simply ask questions and write the answers uncomplicatedly, and depending on the tone the client or your blog requires, that’s good enough.
However, you can also mix in the straight style with the FAQ in the answers section, giving a form of familiarity to it all which can come across really well to the visitors.
This style is also, perhaps, one of the the easiest to break down from the straight style.
The Mistakes Style
While most straight style articles tend do to the best as how-to guides or information dumps, the Mistakes style does the opposite.
In this, you give the information in a manner which has the focus on what not to do.
An example could be changing the oil in your car.
“Don’t use natural oils. They can be…” “Here’s why you should use synthetic instead…”
You’re still giving them the same info, and using what you originally wrote, but you’re giving it as “things to avoid” instead of “this is how.”
The great thing about the two methods is they work so well together. Your clients love having two different ways to get information to their customers. Some consumers really respond well to information given in a positive light.
Others actually need that impetus of anxiety that can come from a Mistakes style.
The Quiz style
I admit I don’t use this one often, but it’s a fun way of getting things across when you’re wanting to do things quite differently.
With this style, you give a question, and then write multiple choice answers.
This is great for fun and games, but how does it work in the context of an article?
Instead of “What’s the BLANK to the BLANK” with 3 or 4 answers, try something different.
Give the question, and the answers, but mix in mistakes and the straight style for why the wrong answers were wrong.
It’s not an easy article, but the effectiveness of it can’t be denied. You can use this style to dismiss or assuage the questions the reader has in their head as they’re reading the question.
In other words, you expect their “denials” and have the answer to why they can suspend them already in their faces.
The Step-By-Step style
It is as it sounds.
It’s not necessarily appropriate for all clients or platforms, but there is a case-use basis for this type of style.
It’s an instruction set with numbered steps. First, do this step, then you need this, and then this.
It’s client and project dependent, but it’s great for the purpose.
The Professional style
We use this style for directing content toward a specific profession or niche.
Again, not all articles you write can spin into this one, but when you can make it happen, it is one of the most effective articles you can write.
Why? Because there’s an avatar of a person you are targeting and they’re going to have no choice but to read it.
“The Doctor’s Guide to XXX” would be an example of a title for this kind of thing.
The Checklist Style
This one mixes the step-by-step into a call to action to make sure they actually did the step.
It’s short, but the two combined are sort of the basis of why listicles work so well when they’re used for marketing.
Most employ them for entertainment, but when applied to products or information, they’re easy to digest and are attractive to a set of readers.
The Story style
The straight style and story style can get mixed up, but the story is a little different.
With the story style, you’re giving a fictitious or true “account” of the purpose of the original article you wrote.
Let’s say the original article was about how to keep your cat litter clean.
With the story style, you go from the informational tone of the original, and shift it so you talk about how your cat is much less messy now that you have done X thing.
The cool thing with this one is it goes so well together with the straight style that you probably already included a sentence or three about an experience of your own.
You did, right? That’s a great way to attract readers and make your article more “vulnerable.”
If you did, you can simply expand on that original blurb you included to make it a longer story.
Don’t just limit your article to writing.
With all the above in mind, you can shift your single article into multiple streams of information.
It’s amazing for clients, since they need the content and will always crave more from you if you do it well enough. They’ve now got up to 8 unique pieces from you, all focused on a single idea that has spread out into yet more information.
But you don’t have to limit yourself to just making articles from what you’ve done. Make use of that thing in other ways, too.
For example, you can make audio versions of it to post to a YouTube channel you run. It’s simple, since you’ve already got the script right there. As long as you’ve got a decent voice and a microphone that doesn’t sound like a cat screaming into pea soup, you can do well with it.
Create an infographic out of it. These aren’t hard to do, especially with something like Canva. You already have the information. Just plug it into a pleasant picture and use it on social media with a link to your article.
Use them as loss leaders for your other products. Include them for free in your newsletters, making them cannon fodder to earn you even more money in the end. Heck, you could even make courses or eBooks from them if you so desired.
Final takeaways
You don’t have to limit your creativity or feel you’re spinning in circles with article writing.
The great thing about this methodology is even if you write an article for one client, you can use that same article for another one.
No, not by just copying and pasting the article. That’s plagiarizing yourself and you definitely don’t want to do that.
However, let’s say one client wants you to write an article about the best way to wash clothes. A month from now, another client wants a similar topic. Well, you don’t have to write the entire article and research it all over again. You can spin it into a different style piece and use that first one as the basis.
Just remember to always give your best, no matter the style you use.
While you’re here, have a read (or listen!) to one of my fiction stories.
Thank you from the depths of my soul for being here. Keep striving to “be the best you that you can be” at this moment. Remember, no matter who you are or what you're going through, you are worthy of being loved. Don't let anyone teach you anything different.