Beyond your blog: publishing other content forms

Upon building a large audience, many successful bloggers realize they’d like to branch out and try their hands at publishing additional content. Supplementary content adds new depth to your blog, drives more traffic, and can even become a source of passive income.

So what are your options? The sky’s the limit, really, but here are a few just to get you started.

eBooks

Self-publishing eBooks is simple and inexpensive these days, and there are dozens of ways to use this medium. You could create a cookbook or even write your memoirs if your life could provide instruction or entertainment to readers. You might also use an eBook to crystallize your thoughts on healthy living or using family dinners as a way to stay connected with your children.

Workbooks

Depending on the level of design expertise you have and the tools at your disposal, you could create a straightforward printable workbook for readers or a digital workbook that they could complete entirely online. As eager as we all were to get out of school, most of us still take some pleasure from neatly filling in blanks as long as the material is engaging. Workbooks that guide readers through the process of planning healthy menus, for instance, give us a space to think more mindfully about the way we work in our kitchens.

Printable templates & infographics

A simple one page template for planning a week’s worth of menus or an infographic identifying seasonal produce would be relatively simple to make. If done well, they could also be very valuable to readers.

Workshops

If you want to really dig into unique opportunities, you might consider offering a course or workshop on your blog or through the many available platforms online. They don’t have to be lengthy to be useful. A 5-10 minute course on the proper way to sharpen knives or the safest way to slice vegetables or even the difference between cutting techniques – from julienne to dicing – could be easily created and published directly on your website. Other, more complex courses such as preparing a vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner would be a hit on platforms that connect experts with audiences.

In the coming weeks, we’ll look at each of these content forms individually and offer some insight into the best tools to successfully broaden your publishing empire. In the meantime, start brainstorming, and let us know if there’s an interesting medium that we didn’t cover.

How are you going to expand your food blogging empire?