Summary: So, you’ve created your site, you’ve written plenty of good content… but where are all those visitors you were expecting…? Well, hopefully, during the content creation process, you made sure that you researched your keywords in order for your posts to be search engine friendly (more likely to be found when someone searches on Google). You may also have starting building backlinks to your posts or pages by writing articles for article sites like EzineArticles. However, these days, that isn’t enough. One way that I’ve recently started using that’s working well for me is to syndicate content that I produce via my own content syndication strategy that I’ve been developing and honing to be as effective and time-efficient as possible. What is Content Syndication? Put simply syndication means that you distribute your content to other sites on the internet in order that they can use it to add value to their site, while you get the benefit of having them link back to you. It allows you to become more of an authority in your subject area, by going over to established sites and presenting yourself as an expert in your field. It’s a little like the idea of broadcast syndication in the media, where big TV companies sell the right to broadcast their shows to other TV networks. For example, hit TV show The Sopranos which was originally made for HBO in the US, was syndicated to Sky Atlantic for broadcast in the UK and then on to other companies throughout the world. With our online content, we’re giving (rather than selling) our content in order to build authority and get traffic from established sites. In my case, for this blog, that means showing people on those established sites how to blog, how to do keyword research, how to get more customers and all the other topics that I discuss under the umbrella of online marketing. Below is the process, along with the actual places that I syndicate content to: My Content Syndication Strategy Step 1 – Write your content If you’re going to syndicate your content, you first need content to syndicate. And not just any old rubbish that took you 5 minutes to dash out. For your content to be read and then shared with other people socially, you need to be creating the kind of content that people want to share. For example, in my case, I take plenty of time to research what my target market wants to learn about, and then find a way to present it in an easy-to-follow manner. One classic example of this is my video and written post on How to Get More Fans on Facebook. It’s extensive and covers a variety of methods that even beginners can use to generate more likes to their Facebook fan pages. Ideally, you need to be writing 500+ words on your chosen topic and the aim should be to help people by providing a straightforward solution to a problem that they’re facing. If you can be entertaining as well as informative, then so much the better. A good guide is to think of the kind of content that you like to share or that is being shared in your niche, then create something even better than that. Step 2 – Get Social! Once you’ve written your content, the first port of call needs to be the world of social media. Social sites are, by their nature, meant for sharing great or unusual content, and if you’ve done a good job in Step 1, then you should have no problem in getting a little traction on the main sites. Broadly speaking, there are two types of social media site: Social networks and social bookmarking sites. We’re going to make use of both. First of all, you need to share your content via the social networks. I use: Twitter Facebook (via the dedicated fan page for this blog) Tumblr Obviously, there is an absolute multitude of other social networking sites that I could use to share my content. For example, LinkedIn is a major network for businesses and entrepreneurs to connect and share their experti[...]
