Developing Content Sites as Marketing Tools

Developing Content Sites as Marketing Tools
by: Sharon Housley
Copyright 2005 Sharon HousleyTargeted Content SitesHighly targeted, focused sites that are related to specific market segments are highly advantageous and can often be created using existing web content. The key is to provide value. Think of the time spent surfing the web gathering resources and information. By creating a topic-centric resource compiling information, webmasters are providing a service or value. In many cases that value is simply the compilation of topic-specific information in a single resource. The compilation of this information in itself is the value. These highly focused content sites can be great supplemental portals that are invaluable as a marketing tool for niche products. Niche portals help define expertise in a specific market segment, not to mention the added benefit of providing valuable topic-specific links. The topic-centric portals also tend to achieve high search placement and will often provide advertisers high quality exposure, allowing webmasters the opportunity to capitalize on their efforts. What to put in topical portal? ARTICLESMany article writers allow webmasters to republish their articles. Search the large article directories for quality topic-specific articles using keyword searches. The articles contained in these directories often allow publishers to freely reproduce the article's contents as long as the hyperlinks in the article and article resource box remain intact. Resource for finding articles for publication:GoArticles - http://www.goarticles.comRSS FEEDSBy nature, RSS feeds are designed for syndication. Most RSS feeds can be freely reproduced. Locate topic-specific feeds using keyword or category searches. The contents of the feeds can be used to populate web pages. There are a number of free scripts available that allow webmasters to display the contents of an RSS feed (see http://www.rss-specifications.com/displaying-rss-feeds.htm for instructions on displaying feeds). Resources for finding RSS feeds for syndication:RSS Network - http://www.rss-network.com RSS Locator - http://www.rss-locator.comLINK DIRECTORYWhile this takes a little more time, compiling a collection of niche websites on related topics can significantly enhance the value of a portal. Topic-specific directories and search engines can achieve high search engine rankings with the larger engines like Google and MSN, and can easily be optimized for a collection of search terms. The process can even be automated if you have programming experience.Sample Link Directory - http://www.investing-partners.com TOPIC SPECIFIFC FORUMThe most successful forums are those that are highly focused and niche-oriented. Establishing a community of individuals with common interests will result in return visitors. Managing a forum is not overly complex and there are free forum scripts available that will provide the forum structure. Many of the forums have scripts available that will allow for search engines to spider the contents and forum posts. As the content flourishes, the site will increase in value. Free Forum Scripts: http://www.phpbb.comMore on topic-specific portals or information radars can be found in Robin Good's book 'Newsmastering'. http://www.masternewmedia.org/reports/newsmasterstoolkit/ A site that is focused on a relatively narrow range of goods and services will find that there is less competition. Topic-centric websites that provide a gateway to niche information related to a particular industry, sector, topic or market segment are becoming increasingly valuable and popular. Compiling the resource using free resources will minimize the capital investment. Regardless of whether you are marketing a product, service or advertising, narrowing the topic focus will attract a targeted audience who genuinely are interested in the website topic, allowing you to monetize the portal, and minimize the expense.

10 RSS Benefits

10 RSS Benefits
by John Teh

A revolutionary way of distributing your content in a systematic way and the same time providing a channel where subscribers can get new updates of your new content real time. Notifications are no longer necessary on the arrival of new content. All subscribers will get the info when the info is updated. In other words, RSS streamlines channels of communication between publishers and readers.
RSS consists of custom made content, hence providing numerous topics of interest to subscribers. Specifics can be narrowed down to your point of interests so that you can obtain only information that you really need. In other words, you have total control on what you want.
RSS is an advertising tool. It is a highly used term among internet marketers today in getting more traffic to your website, increasing link popularity, increasing search engine rankings, etc. With the ever increasing number of RSS directories out there, the level of exposure one can get by having their own RSS Feed is tremendous. By having greater exposure, companies can use this to their advantage over their competitors by having their latest new product known first through their RSS feeds.
The structure of RSS allows numerous set of information to be summarized into short title and descriptions, which allow readers to have a quick scan of useful information they want, instead of going through pages of data.
RSS feeds allow users / subscribers to self-subscribe, allowing total control of what they're subscribed to. If one feels that a feed is no longer useful, he or she can simply delete the feed from the aggregator. Publishers no longer need to be concerned with spam, privacy policies, and age guidelines. In other words, readers have complete control over their content consumption, including a quick, easy and reliable mechanism to unsubscribe from content they do not wish to receive.
The versatility and flexibility of RSS allow it to accommodate all kinds of information, including blog posts, forum postings, articles, schedules, discounts, products, latest news, and any other form of information which updates regularly. Instead of opening up each individual site to check on updates, the RSS feeds allow readers to get a group of latest updates from multiple sources instantly. Think RSS feeds as a one-click-get-all kind of tool.
Rumours and latest trends indicate that RSS feeds are indeed taking over some, if not all of the traditional email functions such as notifications and providing latest updated information. This directly supplements the main need of constant communication in many of sectors today. Not to mention the ever increasing number of SPAMS today, certain emails might be "filtered" out by accident, preventing a smooth line of communication. This "filtering" problem does not occur in RSS Feeds. You have total control on what you want to read.
RSS is easy to learn and implement. Even if you're too lazy to get the hold of it, most applications today, both web and desktop, usually have an automated RSS feed creation feature to complement your content. You can use this feature to your advantage to achieve all the points mentioned above.
With the increasing popularity of podcasting, not only RSS will provide you with constantly updating textual and graphical based information, but also audios and videos to boot. Imagine your feed aggregator as a cyber library filled with audio and video based information. Say goodbye to old boring text.
Lastly but not least, RSS feed is here to revolutionize the Internet to greater heights, simplifying and providing important advancements that can fundamentally change how internet content is consumed.
About the Author
John Eye is a blogger and a net enthusiast who hunts for any new information on the aspects of blogging and RSS and their role in today's development, helping to enhance the simplicity of delivering fast and updated content to every Internet users.

Understanding and Using RSS Feeds for your Blog

Understanding and Using RSS Feeds for your Blog
by Bill Healey

You love reading blogs but you don't have the time to search from blog to blog finding a story that interests you. Try setting up an RSS feed to that blog instead. It'll save you boatloads of time by making all the latest blog updates and news stories available for you right on one screen.
An RSS is basically is a set of web feed used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. It actually stands for really simple syndication and usually contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. An RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with your favorite websites in an automated manner that's much easier than checking each website or blog manually.
One of the many positives about subscribing to RSS headlines and stories is they are immediate, and in real time. The moment a blog or news site publishes or updates their site with a feed at the source server, the next thing you know is it is on your screen. That is just one of the reasons why you need to start using RSS feeds. Here are some others:
News - Get the latest news on your favorite sports team, upcoming election news made by a political candidate or a feed from the local newspaper in your town.
Hobbies and interests - If you are interested in cooking, web design, painting, or perhaps cats, there are virtually hundreds if not thousands of conversations and bits of advice available to be fed directly to your computer screen.
Photos - If you're one of those people who like to change your wallpaper daily or maybe update different pictures on your personal website, RSS feeds provide an excellent way to get the latest from photographers across the internet.
Catching up with friends - Maybe you have an old college roommate or a friend from high school that moved to the other side of the country and started up a blog. Now you can keep up with everything going on in their life by having all their latest entries fed directly to your screen. Ok now that you know what makes these RSS so great and useful, here is how you can get yourself one and how they can work for you:
First, you choose an easy to use RSS reader. Most RSS readers are available all over the internet, free to use, and extremely easy to get the hang of.
Then, load up the RSS feeds into the reader you selected. You can do this any number of different ways. Depending on the blog or your own personal preference, you choices are through visiting the website feed directly, copy-pasting the special code from an email, or uploading copies from someone else's RSS reader screen.
You're all set and ready to start reading your web feed news. You only need to simply log in to your RSS reader page, or start your RSS software, and you can instantly scan all your web feeds. You can arrange and store the RSS feeds into folders, much in the same way you can with email, or you can set alerts and sounds for when a particular web feed is updated.

About the Author
ComCastInfo is the premier one stop shop for all of your broadband and cable shopping needs. Be sure to visit www.comcastinfo.com for the best in broadband internet and highspeed internet service packages and cable such as Comcast cable plans.

4 Ways to Make Money with RSS

4 Ways to Make Money with RSS
by Ray Seanrite

RSS (short for Really Simple Syndication) is the technology used to publish online content in web feed formats on web sites. Links to podcasts, blog entries or news headlines can be disseminated by RSS.
An RSS document is also referred to as a "feed" or a "web feed". RSS feeds are now beginning to be used in a big way in online marketing. Here are some measures you can take to benefit from the new RSS technology.

1. Create interesting content and frequently update it. To attract users from subscribing to your feeds that they may find useful to them, think of ways to keep their interest up. More subscribers means more money since you can ask them to pay for their RSS subscription - or promote affiliate products in the feeds. Unique content that can't be found elsewhere is also one of the things that other users consider when subscribing to RSS feeds.
2. Promote your RSS feeds. You can send feeds by email which you may find easier than other mediums. By doing so, you can reach your target market or potential customers in just a few clicks.
3. Make use of RSS advertising. You can advertise through RSS feeds in the form of banner ads for example. You can also put paid links in the feed.
4. You can also incorporate RSS feeds in your own web or blog site. If online users like the way you present the feeds on your website, they may revisit often. In addition, if your web site is frequently typed into search engines, it will help in increasing your search engine ranking.
Using RSS feeds like this will increase the traffic to your web site.
FURTHER RESOURCES
Beginners Guide To Using RSSFeeds at Squidoo http://www.homebusinesswinners.com/Squidoo-success/squidoo-rss.html
Unique-ify Your Home Business http://HomeBusinessWinners.com/articles/unique-ify.html
Get To The Money Faster - FREE http://eProfitNews.org
About the Author
Author: Ray Seanrite.

Tips to Maintaining RSS Feed Subscribers

Tips to Maintaining RSS Feed Subscribers
by Sharon Housley

You have an RSS feed and you have worked hard to get the word out. According to your logs you have subscribers! Now the hard part: how to retain the subscribers to your RSS feed. Follow these simple steps to insure that your subscriber base will grow.
1. Original Content
A consistent stream of original content will do well to earn subscribers loyalty. The best RSS feeds provide content that is compelling and unique. Do not rehash existing content, look for a unique angle or spin if you wish to cover something that is hot in the blogosphere.
2. Quality Over Frequency
A posts quality is far more important than a post's frequency. Readers will tire of rambling or nonsensical posts that contain no real value. Time is precious and there are plenty of feeds and blogs, in order to retain readers provide quality not quantity.
3. Get it Right
Syndication has the power to do damage; misquoting or just plain getting it wrong can affect your reputation and perpetuate incorrect information. Be sure to verify all your RSS feed and blogs information prior to posting.
4. Literate
Blog posts are not instant messages: you should always use proper grammar, correct spelling and punctuation. Your posts are a reflection of your knowledge; content presentation matters and will affect how you are viewed.
5. Griping
Do not constantly gripe, no one likes a whiner. If you are going to complain it is not enough to point out problems, you should offer a suggestion for improvement or specifics on how to solve a problem.
6. Balance
Titles of RSS Feed Items and Headlines of blog posts should relate to the contents of the actual post. There is nothing worse than just tempting readers with information and not following through. Use catchy titles but be sure to follow it with related content. In your actual posts, strike a balance be sure to provide enough information without overwhelming readers.
7. Focus
Regardless of your RSS feeds focus' stay on topic! Your feed or blog posts will generally revolve around a specific theme, don't stray too far or you might lose readers. If your RSS feed has a specific theme, stay true to that theme.
8. Length Matters
Not too long, not too short it is a difficult balance, but your post length does matter! If a post is excessively long consider breaking it up or partitioning it into easy to digest paragraphs or break it up into multiple posts. Post length should be consistent throughout your blog and feed. Try not to vary it too much.
9. Credibility
As a publisher, you want to be viewed as a credible source. Posting or reposting inaccurate information will reduce if not nullify any credibility that you have. Provide credentials when offering an opinion and be sure any factual information is accurate before posting.
10. Link
Include links to any related information in the description field of your RSS feed, this is a great way to supplement content. Outgoing links will also often result in links back to your blog or website.
11. Consistency
It is important to remain consistent, try not to vary too much in your daily posts. Stay true to your formula for content if it is working .
12. Listen to Your Audience
Readers will often communicate what they like and what they dislike about your content. It is important that you stay in tune with what your subscribers like and don't like and make the appropriate accommodations.
13. Advertisements
Do not clutter your RSS feed with advertisements. If you choose to include advertisements in your RSS feed be sure to strike a balance between advertisements and quality content.
Starting an RSS feed or is not difficult to attract readers, it is however difficult to retain readers. By following a few simple unwritten rules you will find your subscriber base swell.

About the Author
About the Author: Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing software.

5 Ways to Use RSS to Boost Your Business

5 Ways to Use RSS to Boost Your Business
by bbcrew

RSS feed (or RSS) is a relatively new technology that allows anyone who creates or changing content of website (news, blogs, current events, etc.) to deliver their messages to interested readers with no fuss, no muss and best of all, and no spam important!
Currently, rss is being used by content-rich sites which is mainly blogs and news centers to keep readers up-to-date on newly published posts or breaking stories. But rss can do so much more. Many businesses and organizations are failing to truly exploit the amazing properties of this technology, and in doing so are leaving on the table innumerable opportunities to create even greater value, sales and traffic for their company, product or service and the market share it represents. Below are just a few of the creative ways that businesses and other groups can tap into the power of rss and create new streams of revenue and interest for their organizations.
1. Create An "Announcements and Special Offers" Feed
If your business offers classes, seminars, products, services, specials, sales - essentially anything that changes, updates or rotates throughout a cycle - then creating a dedicated RSS feed could save you, your clients time, and money. By creating an "Announcements and Special Offers" feed and offering access to your clients as an alternative to emails and print mailers, you can keep your client base up to speed, plus send out limited-time and exclusive "feed only" special offers and discounts, thereby offering an incentive to "get on board." This not only saves you time by reducing the advertising cycle to the time it takes to update your web page/feed, it saves your clients money by enabling them to quickly scan through the offering headings and pick out just the one's they're interested in - while your savings on the cost and time of paper and digital mailings (with their appallingly low conversion rates and sporadic delivery) progressively increase as the feed readership segment of your client base grows.
2. Create A "Client of the Week" Feed
If you're in a business where this sort of recognition is appropriate, then this could be a big hit! Creating a feed that regularly highlights a different client, their business and any special offers that they might like to make available - exclusively to other feed members, of course - can be a great value-add for your clients, one that costs you little more than the few minutes it takes to create the "spot" and publish it on your site/feed. Include a photo and a business link and your clients will be singing your praises far and wide!
3. Create A Training Or Team Feed
If you are part of a network marketing venture or are in charge of a large sales force or other team and need a way to consistently and continually get training aids, updates, incentives, sales copy, goals, meeting agendas and other items to your downline or members, consider setting up a feed just to serve this function. Since the actual content is hosted at one central website (subscribers only), you can upload any digital file of any size that you need at the site itself and be assured that everyone who gets the message will be able to retrieve the files - not always a sure thing when dealing with email attachments and text messaging.
4. Create an inter-office feed
Memos, presentation materials, files, announcements, new policies, schedules - all this can be gathered up in one central feed (or broken down into departmental feeds) that are then easily maintained in one central archive and easily accessible by anyone who needs them. Nobody is left behind or out of the loop because they didn't check their email (or because the message got filtered or bounced) and everyone gets just the information they need without dealing with a lot of cross-over communication from people replying and clarifying.
5. Schools, non-profits and other organizations
Schools - Consider the possibilities of a student feed, updated with activities, exam dates, school closings, special "student only" offers from local businesses and so on. Or how about a special assignment feed in which class materials are uploaded by each instructor for students who are ill, away from home or otherwise unable to be in class?
Non-profits - Volunteer feeds could provide a running update of available positions and work needed, as well as featuring profiles of special volunteers and organizational wish lists; fundraising feeds might keep donors abreast of giving events and how their donations are being used; and inter-organizational feeds can keep board members and other involved parties up to date on meeting times, agendas and projects. All great ways of utilizing the powers of RSS for the common good!
Consider these options the next time you need to get information out to a scattered and diverse readership, or need to publish material that never seems to come in when you need it to. RSS is a new technology, surely. But that just means that it's true power to serve your needs is only now being discovered. One of the best ways to keep ahead of the crowd is to forge a path through new territories. Where will RSS lead you?

About the Author
You can visit my blog at: http://blogranks.blogspot.com/

How to Profit from your Home Business Blog

How to Profit from your Home Business Blog
by Ian Canaway February

A blog is a simple tool which all affiliate marketers should be utilising to explode their affiliate sales.I set up my blog in about 15 minutes at http://www.blogger.com/ it’s a completely free service, and it’s really easy to set-up. I followed directions on an excellent article on getting a new website listed in Google in 48hrs check it out here, http://www.scamfreezone.com/gg/ . I just followed the advice in the article and got started with no problems in no time.I've been doing a lot of research with regards to blogging and came across a case of a 19 year old kid who was making something ridiculous like $50,000 a year with a blog on mobile phones, from his bedroom! So clearly there is a good earning potential through blogs, but they do take time to grow and build up a readership. Treat your blog as a marathon not a sprint, because it will take time.Blogs provide a very simple, quick and easy means to add fresh content to your website. As I’m sure you’ve heard many times over ‘content is king’ in the search engines eyes and if you can provide high quality, regularly updated content your website should benefit with regards to your search engine ranking.By providing fresh, high quality relevant content you will gain an increase of both first time visitors and repeat visitors, they will come back to check out your new content. Providing it’s interesting, relevant and useful to them. You will begin to build relationships with your readers, increasing your credibility and building their trust in you.These repeat visitors will be exposed to your messages more and begin to trust you and your recommendations. This in turn will fuel sales and referrals. Just make sure you don’t recommend a product you haven’t tried because if it is bad you will lose all credibility!
Never recommend something you haven’t tried and tested your self.You want to send traffic directly to your blog, do it through multi-dimensional strategies. Have a subscriber box for your newsletter to build your list from your blog. Use it as an exit pop-up from your main site or thank you page for new subscribers, directing them to relevant content immediately. As once your prospects have got to know you through the blog they are much more likely to explore your website and check out whatever you are offering.Whenever you sign-up for an affiliate program or buy a product, review it in your blog and be brutally honest, your readers will love you for it. Take a completely unbiased view point and talk about both the positives and negatives of each product. In essence you are providing more of an insight into the product than the sales page itself, almost a sample, this will help convert those prospects that are ‘sitting on the fence’ so to speak. Obviously when you review your affiliate products, make sure that you use your affiliate links.It has been shown that prospects are 7-10 times more likely to buy from a blog recommendation than from other sources!Other ways that you can generate extra income through your blog are through the Google ad sense program, selling banner/link space as your traffic increases or as I mentioned earlier by adding you own opt-in sign up form to which you send your newsletter or other targeted offers.Your blog can be syndicated using RSS, which I won’t go into here, that’s another article. But savvy webmasters can use your blog content on their web pages. This benefits them as they have regularly updated fresh content for their website and benefits you through increased exposure and free targeted traffic.Be passionate about your blog, love your blog. If you do not then it will become obvious through your posts and you are unlikely to be anywhere near as successful as you could be.Add to your blog regularly provide good quality content and reviews and you will be on your way to blogging success.
“A man would do nothing, if he waited until he could do it so well that no one at all would find fault with what he has done”. -- Cardinal Newman
Get that blog started today!