Free Website Content
Tell The World About Your Blog
Well, you've joined the others and have
created a blog. It is time to tell the world about your
online journal. Most blog services generate an RSS feed.
If your blogging software does not create an RSS feed,
consider using software like FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
to create an RSS feed. Like blogs, RSS is growing in
popularity and is a great way to spread the word about
a new blog.
Syndication is conceptually simple. It
allows publishers to distribute content that can be
displayed in another location or context. Using RSS,
publishers are able to easily create and disseminate
content feeds that include news headlines, blog summaries
and related links. RSS is the defined syndication standard
that has become mainstream. All types of information
are now available in a syndicated format.
1. Blog Submissions / RSS Submissions
There are a number of blog directories and blog
search engines where you can submit your blog. A large
list of sites allowing blog submission and RSS feed
submissions can be found in the left column at: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm
Similarly, there are RSS feed directories
and search engines like http://www.rss-network.com
. Be sure to submit the URL of your RSS feeds to the
RSS search engines listed on the RSS specifications
website.
If you wish to automate your blog and
RSS submissions consider using Dummy Software's Blog
and RSS Submit Software http://www.dummysoftware.com
.
Like a website, its important to select
the appropriate category for your blog. Use a clear
title that contains descriptive details but is not excessively
long. The Blog description should further expand on
the purpose and general theme of the blog. Incorporate
important keywords related to the blog's theme in both
the title and description. This will help bring targeted
traffic that is genuinely interested in the contents
of the blog.
2. Post Press Releases to Online Resources
Write a press release announcing your blog to the world.
Keep it factual and submit the release to the free press
release directories. This will provide incoming links
to the new blog and get it started on its way to popularity.
There are a number that allow for press release posting
free of charge. The releases on these sites are occasionally
picked up by publications looking for information or
filler content. Another side-benefit to these listings
is increased link popularity, which helps with search
engine ranking. A list of sites that allow for press
release posting can be found under 'press release posting'
. A number are available at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/pressreleases.html
3. Post Announcement on Usenet
A number of Usenet groups allow for posting of announcements
or press releases. Most of the announce groups in Usenet
contain 'ann.' in the domain address. If your blog is
focused on a specific topic, search Usenet newsgroups.
To locate topic-specific announce groups, consider searching
http://www.newsguy.com
to locate groups specific to related topics.
4. Post to Forums
Forums also contain sections in which you can post announcements.
If the application is a niche product, consider searching
for topic-specific forums in addition to the general
software announce forums listed below. Be sure to post
any announcements in the appropriately marked 'announce
forum' . The following are related blog forums, some
of which allow for posts.
Favorite Feeds -
http://www.feedforall.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3
Your Blog Announcements - http://www.forum4bloggers.com/viewforum.php?f=12
Got Blog - http://www.blogomania.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=7
Announce Software, Blogs or Relationships - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=5
5. Promote & Auto Detect Blog Feeds
It has become a standard that nearly all websites
that have RSS feeds available use colorful graphics
to indicate the presence of an RSS feed. The graphics
were initially bright orange rectangles, but as the
popularity has grown, webmasters have bent the rules
a bit. NotePage has made a free online RSS graphic tool
available that allows users to quickly customize buttons
by selecting the text on the button and the color scheme
of the button. Once the color and text is entered, a
custom graphic is instantly created. Webmasters can
easily match the style of the RSS button to a website's
theme.
Graphics experience is not required. Simply select
alternative colors and insert text to personalize RSS
feed graphics. The RSS graphics tool can be used by
clicking the following URL http://www.feedforall.com/public/rss-graphic-tool.htm
or choose ready made graphics from: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-graphics.htm
.
Include information in the HTML code
of a website so that RSS Readers automatically detect
that an RSS feed exists for the material contained on
the site. Aggregators will automatically detect RSS
on a website if you add a small bit of code in the header
field of an HTML page.
After publishing an RSS feed it is important
to let visitors know that the feed exists. Aggregators
will automatically detect RSS on a website if you add
a small bit of code in the header field of an HTML page.
[link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS"
href="http://www.yourdomain.com/rss.xml"]
Be sure to replace http://www.yourdomain.com/rss.xml
with the URL to the RSS feed and replace the brackets
with "<" (less than) and ">" (greater than) symbols.
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
NotePage http://www.notepage.net
a wireless text messaging software company.
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This article may be used freely in opt-in
publications and websites, provided that the resource
box is included and the links are active. A courtesy
copy of the issue or a link to any online posting would
be greatly appreciated send an email to sharon@notepage.net
.
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