How Can I Manage All The Content I'm Creating?

by Phil Dell

Posted: 11 years ago 30 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

As I my internet marketing career progresses, I realise that I am creating loads and loads of content. Articles, Blog posts, emails etc. and all this content is scattered around different folders on my hard drive.

It occurred to me that this content is a valuable resource and can be used over and over again by repurposing it and adapting extracts of content to create new content.

It would be great if there was a way of collecting all his content into a single repository so that all my content is in one place. It would also be good if it had categories and search options to help manage the content.

Is there such a thing as a content management system or software that does this?

Thanks

Phil

#content #creating #manage

Paul Silver 11 years ago

I use the stock Windows operating system to do this.

Just create a folder called "Business" and then create sub folders under it for each of the categories you need to organize files for.

The more subfolders you create the more organized you'll be, and once you setup your system make sure you use it!
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Radium 11 years ago

On my Mac, I just create folders and subfolders for each category and try to keep everything organized. It gets really messy when I save everything in the root of a folder for "quick access". Navigating through subfolder after subfolder might feel frustrating at times, but it's really worth it.

Oh, and remember to back your files up regularly. You don't want to lose years of hard work when your hard disk breaks. Simply copying the files you want to an external hard drive (or two!) is fine, but there's also lots of different software for that.
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bmw040 11 years ago

I use my computer like the others. I also setup a membership site that only I can access and place all my links to sites that I have purchased materials from.

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yakim1

11 years ago

This is a huge problem for many people. When I coach some one I see how they file things and more often than not people have no filing system. This is the first thing that I have to teach them so they can easily find the content they do have.

Best regards,
Steve Yakim

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Phil Dell 11 years ago

Hey guys

thanks for all your replies.

I do try to keep myself organised. I have project folders and within these there are separate folders such as Articles, Blog Posts, Autoresponder etc..

I need it like this when I'm working on the project, but sometimes I would like to have the content altogether in a single location so I can move through it easily or search it without having to hop from folder to folder.

Also some content in one project can be relevant to another project. This creates even more folder hopping if I'm trying to aggregate content across projects.

Guess I'll just have to learn to hop faster!!

Thanks again
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- mbrown 11 years ago
  
  Like others I love Dropbox but for certain projects I use Basecamp.
  
  Mainly because I can organize my team for certain things and add notes and updates instantly to them.
  
  I have several products/websites/projects and this seems to help me keep organized.
  
  I know some people do not like Basecamp and prefer something like Team Lab instead.
  
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  mcsl 11 years ago
  
  Ha ha ha, SNAP! I've faced that same issue and I'm currently tidying up my IM resources on Win 7 OS into numerous folders and sub folders . As I type this I'm just doing that.
  But hey there's a gap in the software market for this kind of thing, any takers ? Lol :p
  
  Thanks
  
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  Phil Dell 11 years ago
  
  Thanks mbrown and mcsl.
  
  That's an interesting comment mcsl. Since thinking about this issue, I remembered a product I bought some time ago called the Ultimate PLR Collection.
  
  The PLR was good but what was better was the fact that the PLR came within a software that provided Subject, Category and Search facilities by keyword. It also had a projects button and an ebook creation button where you could combine articles and output into a single file.
  
  It is a great resource but provided with a tool to help you use it!
  
  Well, I've tracked down the creator of this product and contacted him to see what he thinks about developing his product so that it is provided empty and has a means for users to load their own content.
  
  I'll return to this thread if I get a reply and let you all know the outcome.
  
  Phil
  
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  Phil Dell 11 years ago
  
  I got a reply from the creator of the Ultimate PLR Collection. He said - "Unfortunately, we've stopped development for the Ultimate PLR Software, and we don't plan on implementing any new features for the foreseeable future, sorry".
  
  Oh well it was worth a try.
  
  I have decided how I'm going to manage my content based on a suggestion by MP80. He suggested setting up a mind map and linking from the branches to individual content.
  
  Instead I'm going to set up a spreadsheet to record links to all my content. The spreadsheet can then have categories and sub-categories applied to each entry so that I can use the spreadsheet filtering facility to produce a short list of content. I can then click the links to open whatever content I want then I can easily work with the opened documents.
  
  This will save me loads of time navigating around my hard drive looking for the content I need. I think this will work quite well. I just have to remember to enter content details in the spreadsheet when I create it!
  
  Don't know why I didn't think of this before. I already use a few spreadsheets to help manage my online activities.
  
  Thanks to all who replied to this thread.
  
  Phil
  
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  Marty S 11 years ago
  
  Hey Phil.
  
  You might want to have a look at Trello. It is a very flexible project management software that is only limited in its use by the user's creativity.
  
  Since I too have lots of content and many computers, after I create something, I make a note of it in Trello (and its location file) using a column titled "content". From there, a particular article or blog post can move into other columns depending on where I use it. Could be a Youtube description, slideshare document, ezine article. Using the software this way keeps tabs on many things for me, and I encourage you to look into it.
  
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  hirechrisgunn 11 years ago
  
  Yeah Trello may be a good start for you. I found though that when I got into Trello, it was slightly confusing and a bit much for the simple things I wanted to do.
  
  My personal preference, believe it or not, is Google Drive. There's a couple of reasons for this. First, I like the basic functions of it (word, excel, powerpoint), and it is very similar to MSoffice. So pretty much everything I'm doing on my computer can function in the same way if I were to upload it to the gdrive. My gdrive actually looks exactly the same as my documents folder on my pc just because I know if there are any differences, I haven't kept up.
  
  What I would do on top of this is create your files and folders with your old blog posts. So say you have a blog post "The Health Care Bill - and What's In It" and it was posted on The White House Blog | The White House. Literally go into the document and on the top of the page, paste the link so you know where it went. That way if you ever forget, you can go back there and find it. On top of that -- there's the content you can use for your next post.
  
  The other thing I would do is create a simple spreadsheet containing a list of all of your post names, URLs, dates posted, and if you want, the last time you commented. Once in a while, go share one on twitter, or pick a day and go comment on all of them. This way, you know that you have a) been a good contributor, and b) capitalized on all of the guest posts you have created.
  
  If you're a Type A personality that loves to create organizational structures, Google Drive really is the way to go IMO.
  
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MP80

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Phil Dell

It would be great if there was a way of collecting all this content into a single repository so that all my content is in one place. It would also be good if it had categories and search options to help manage the content.

Is there such a thing as a content management system or software that does this?

Hi Phil,

I use Scrivener to keep my writing projects organized. It also has a function to import related documents and/or articles for research. Not sure if it would suit your needs, but might be worth a look. I won't link to it here, as I already did that in my last post and don't want to spam the forum, lol.

Come to think of it, Freemind is also excellent; you can create a mindmap, and then hyperlink each branch of it to files on your computer (and to webpages.)

Other than that, I agree that Windows OS does an ok job, and you can easily search for documents, etc, containing specific words.

Also noticed this software for organizing purchases, in the WSO section: http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...-dimesale.html but I haven't used it, and don't know whether it would be any good for what you need.

Originally Posted by yakim1

When I coach some one I see how they file things and more often than not people have no filing system. This is the first thing that I have to teach them so they can easily find the content they do have.

Yakim, since you have experience in this area, what would you suggest for the OP?

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mrmarketer1 11 years ago

I use Dropbox with relevant file system - can then access from any location, it frees up my hard drive and won't get lost if my computer crashes etc
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ronrule 11 years ago

You could use Wordpress as sort of a "private intranet" using an Under Construction plugin. There are plugins for delivering files, member access. You can use that to organize all of your content, and then either deliver it to your buyers right from there or just pull down what you need.
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- Phil Dell 11 years ago
  
  Thanks ronrule,
  
  That's an interesting idea. I might explore that and see how it could work. I've got an unused domain that I use for trying out wordpress plugins themes etc.
  
  Thanks
  
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NataliaF 11 years ago

I use DropBox to store all the important info. If sth happens to my PC I will still have an access to all those important items I have on DropBox. Concerning the categories, you can either sort your content by date or create sub-folders, like Blog Posts, Website Content, Press Releases, etc. Personally I've created the sub-folders I mentioned. If necessary, I can search through the sub-folders to find the article I need.
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katherineolga 11 years ago

I have a folder for each project. It doesn't seem like enough though and I may start a spreadsheet soon. It can feel overwhelming. It took me a long time to come up with a folder system that works for me.
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Mohsin Rasool 11 years ago

BACKUP , Backup , Backup Warriors!

Hi,

Any filing or organization solution which work for you to keep your content organized is great...BUT... do not forget to have backup... as you cannot trust your windows harddisk...and all those folders inside it...

If you are going to use folder/sub-folders.... use DROPBOX,,and have all folders in it.

If you are going to use private wp solution... have a plugin email you db dump every week/day to your gmail account as a backup.

So my friends do not ignore this and do not have only ONE copy of your data...
content is like GOLD... keep good care of it by having it in the CLOUD (having multiple copies stored)....like in dropbox,
amazon s3, or anyother solution like GMAIL ...

Best Regards,
Mohsin Rasool
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- Phil Dell 11 years ago
  
  Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread.
  
  There's a lot of interesting stuff here and I will certainly look into the suggestions offered.
  
  I use Carbonite to keep my data backed up. This runs in the background looking for changes to files and when found backs them up continuously. I find this very good. If my PC breaks, I can load all my data back to a new PC. Only problem with it is you have to leave your PC on for several days while the software initially backs up all your data. Once it is done though, it just looks for new files and changes to existing files and backs them up.
  
  I got Carbonite several years ago when my PC broke and I lost a lot of data. Never want to go through that again.
  
  Phil
  
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John Romaine 11 years ago

Surely you can just set folders on your computer?

Exactly how much content are we talking here? How many sites? What forms of content?

Phil, here's what I do.

I create a parent folder for the website itself - then I create subfolders for each item type underneath. Then I just file stuff away as I create/publish it.
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garveyonweb 11 years ago

Like others here I use dropbox. Makes life easy, and fab when I need to access info from another location.

Now, what really bothers me is organising passwords and login information to a massively growing list such as blogs, email, wp-admin logins..... I use excel but I worry about the security of all in one place!
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- ajhackett 11 years ago
  
  @garveyonweb
  I'm converting to a self-developed password system. All new User and Passwords are 1) The first 3 or 4 letters of the domain in CAPS 2) the second 3 or 4 letters of the domain in lower case, 3) 3, 4 or 5 numbers, which are always a small set that I can remember, i.e. 1234 or 5678 or 9012. Ex: WarriorForum.com = User = JohnDoe or email, Password = WARrio1234
  You can adjust in many ways to make it harder, as long as you are consistent. EX: always add an = at the end, etc.
  
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carnal 11 years ago

I use Microsoft Skydrive for storing stuffs, it really is a great asset to me.
You can also use Google Docs.
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Sarevok 11 years ago

Have a directory called "books" and a directory called "blogs".

Now, sometimes you'll have content that's both a book and a blog, so it gets tricky man.

I still haven't figured it out.
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Istvan Horvath 11 years ago

I am surprised nobody has a brain... :p

I mean nobody mentioned TheBrain :: Mind Mapping Software, Brainstorming, GTD and Knowledgebase Software
Watch the video: you will love it!

As for passwords the answer is Roboform.
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curationsoft 11 years ago

you can use wordpress flat form and add your content as posts, you can also use google drive. with that you can easily access them even when you are away from your own computer
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seonutshell 11 years ago

Personally i use google docs as they ave a filing system. Free and you can create the document on there.
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JodyRossDeane 11 years ago

Sounds like you need wordpress - does all the things that you mentionm, and you can make all the content private or public too, so keeping it secret or putting it on the web.
What are your goals with the content though?
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DFTskillz 11 years ago

It is as everyone has mentioned fairly straightforward. Using the hierarchy folder structure you can easily sort your files by any category you can name. Really basic things to do, and if you feel the need you can even have auto back ups in to your cloud storage!
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