Using SlideShare for Research and Blog Posts

One of the most difficult things to do is to continually be cranking out blog posts and generating content ideas. When I first started writing, I wrote for two years almost daily.  I had no problems with ideation.

Now, seven years later, I often struggle with ideas to write anything.

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Research, Content Ideas

Updating your blog and site is important. Keeping information and tips related to your audience on your blog is also very important. But sometimes the mind just goes blank.

So what do writers do then?

I know many writers scan blogs and news websites for content ideas and information that could help them complete an article. Lately, one of the first places I look, once I have a topic idea, is SlideShare.

SlideShare is a place where speakers can upload the presentations from conferences, meetings, trainings etc. I won’t say that everything on SlideShare offers the best information, but I can tell you that about 80% of time – I can find valuable information and thoughts not typically found in blog posts, articles or news.

Often the creators of the presentations are experts in their field and the information they provide is amazing. There are many speakers that just don’t have time to write and sometimes their best ideas are in their presentations.

Obviously you cannot steal these ideas from speakers, but you can quote them and link to their SlideShare page. Another option is embedding their presentations, like this:

As you can see above, once I embed a presentation I don’t need to link to the Slideshare page or the creator of the presentation because SlideShare has already done that.

However, you can always link to the creator’s blog and the link is appreciated (trust me that they will see you are linking to them at some point).

Supplement Your Blog Content

If you quickly look through the above presentation, you can see it offers a lot of fantastic information about Facebook advertising. Brian Carter is a respected expert in his field.

If a writer was discussing Facebook and then ads this information, it could really enhance the article. By embedding the SlideShare, you are helping educate your audience by providing quality and usable information that could help them save and/or make money.

When your mind goes blank and you need content ideas, or if you are looking for credible information to support whatever concept you are discussing, I suggest you check out Slideshare. There is nothing wrong with using things that are available for free to supplement your blog content.

In fact, some of the freebies available online can really help you keep your blog current.

I typically search SlideShare 3 ways:

• By keywords / subject:  Examples include SEO for blogs, blog SEO, optimization.
• By the creators name:  If I know someone is an expert in something, I can search to see what they have offered in presentations.
• By an event name: If I know that a particular conference recently covered the topic I am searching for, I can search by the conference name and see the latest presentations that were shared. I often find some great information this way.

Check out Slideshare and let me know what you think.  And if you have presentations you would like to share, consider creating an account. The exposure can be a very good thing.

Presentations Photo via Shutterstock

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