content strategy tips Archives

Should I Syndicate My Web Content? How & Why Syndicated Content Can Work For You

by Adam Oakley | Mar 31, 2014 | Content Marketing

If you “speak SEO” (for example, you already know what SERP means), then you’re familiar with on-page and off-page optimization strategies designed to bring you on page 1 in Google, Yahoo and Bing. Google-friendly link building tactics are always a safe bet, enabling engines to catalog you as a trustworthy, popular and relevant source of information that deserves to occupy a privileged position in SERPs. But if you’re really craving for a bigger piece of the pie, you may need to broaden your horizons and rely on different other useful tactics, like content syndication, for instance.

Syndicated Content: An Effective Strategy

One of the most effective strategies to build credibility and trust while boosting your SEO efforts is to let a third-party webpage publish your content. Yes, that’s right! Called content syndication, this can become your powerful ally in the long run. You have to count on site publishers who are constantly craving for flawless content to be able to pursue your boldest optimization goals. Make no mistake: this is not a classic “sharing is caring” situation. You don’t syndicate your content because you are an altruistic person, but because you know that this is the key to an enhanced online visibility and a better ranking.

When Sharing Is Caring (About Yourself & Others)

Let’s start with the very beginning: what is content syndication (or syndicated content), and why should you factor in this option?
Syndicating content means that you are publishing it on a different website. Your content can be posted on a third-party website in different forms, including snippet, full article, thumbnail or link. Syndication can help you attain your most ambitious promotion goals, by allowing you to increase exposure for your line of products or brand.
Web content syndication creates a win-win situation for the original author and for the publisher. What’s in it for the third-party website, you may ask? The source that decides to host your articles satisfies its hunger for premium content, attracts a larger segment of visitors, increases website traffic and manages to stay in the public eye, thanks to your quality web writing.
In short, everybody gets what they want and they all live happily ever after in a universe in which they can make the most of search engine-friendly optimization techniques that do not upset Google. Does this mean that content syndication is always a safe bet? Unfortunately, this is not the case. However, as long as you get familiar with the not-so-secret dos and don’ts of syndication, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Discovering and Avoiding the Pitfalls of Content Syndication

Let’s start by making one thing crystal clear: syndicated web content is only useful in guest blogs RSS feeds, and press releases. Other than that, syndication like article directories (1 article in 50 directories) is bad news with Google. Duplicate content is another major issue that could stop you from harvesting the fruits of your labor. If you post an article and you let a publisher publish the same exact content piece, you will most likely be forced to deal with a duplicate content problem.
According to Search Engine Journal, there are 2 main SEO concerns associated with content syndication: duplicate content penalties and a negative impact on your ranking.
a)      Duplicate Content. By now, you should be fully aware of the fact that Google has a zero tolerance for duplicate content. Your refusal to craft stellar, 100% original content can get you out of the game in no time. But when you syndicate your materials, you don’t do it to manipulate search engines. Content syndication lets you promote your content and ultimately your entire business at a higher level, in a cost and time-effective manner. So how do you syndicate your content without making Google’s entire zoo angry? When it comes to content syndication, less is more. Rely on fewer partner sites to distribute your content and choose only the ones that can actually bring your web writing in the attention of a large audience interested in finding products or services just like the ones that you are providing. Moreover, you should include internal links and canonical tags, to let Google know that your website is the original source of the syndicated content. These simple measures should stop you from getting into trouble.
b)      An Inferior Ranking. Even if you manage to improve your visibility via content syndication, there is one more threat that you should take into consideration: your content syndication partner could outrank you in search engine results, and this is definitely a risk that you can’t afford to take. It may be a good idea to syndicate your web content and eliminate your RSS feed later on, after you manage to improve your visibility.
How can you do it right? According to Search Engine Land, there are 4 main pain and risk-free tactics that could guarantee the success of syndicated content:
1)      Syndicate an Article Synopsis. This is a huge SEO opportunity explored by many respectable news sources, including Business Week, which can teach us how to syndicate content like a pro. A certain story that appeals to a broader audience can be picked up by various high-quality sources. Some of them will not replicate the entire content piece. Instead of copy pasting the original article, they will display only one snippet and also link back to the original source. Obviously, this is great advantage for content creators, because syndication gives them the chance to collect quality links by simply letting reputable websites publish synopses.
2)      Ask Your Publisher to Use the NoIndex Meta Tag. If your publisher agrees to place this meta tag on every single page that he “borrows” from you, this means that you no longer have to worry about duplicate content situations that could attract major penalties. NoIndex meta tag placed on a page is a valuable indicator that lets search engine know that they should not return that particular page in their results.
3)      Create Two Categories of Content. There are situations in which identical content published on different websites could give you a hard time. To avoid penalties and other negative consequences, you could try to upgrade your content creation strategy. Basically, you could divide your resources and your efforts to come up with 2 categories of content: one for your website and one for your content distribution partners. In this case, the key is to develop and promote excellent, high-value content. Whether they’re published on your site or on the platform of your syndication partner, second-hand materials won’t do you any favors.
4)      Rely on the Cross Domain Canonical Tag. This practice is 100% Google-friendly, so it doesn’t expose you to any risks. If your content can be found in 2 different locations, you can use the cross domain canonical tag to let Google know which website is the original source.
As you can see, content syndication can’t hurt your SEO efforts, as long as you take these basic measures of precaution. All the 4 tactics can help you increase your visibility, enhance brand awareness, attract a larger number of potential buyers and boost your profits. Speaking about money, what does content syndication cost these days? It all depends on your goals, needs and expectations. Generally speaking, there are two categories of syndication options: paid and free. Obviously, if you have limited financial possibilities or if you simply want to make the most of what’s good and free in the SEO universe, you can start by getting in touch with influential bloggers who are well-known in your field of activity.
They could endorse you by publishing your materials without expecting to get paid for this. Paid alternatives are usually worth your time and money because they bring and keep you in the public eye and increase your exposure by syndicating your web writing on popular sites like Time or CNN. Taboola and Outbrain are two of the most relevant paid content syndication options that could do wonders for your business in the long run, by putting into the spotlight and allowing you to be discovered by a larger pool of potential clients.
Outbrain can recommend your content on your website and on various top-rated publisher sites, to get what you want to say about yourself or your products in front on an engaged audience. This is one of the most respectable so-called content discovery platforms that gives you the chance to capture the attention of the right public at the right time. Outbrain can offer you two types of advantages:

The chance to use its technology to improve reader experience, increase the time spend on your site and boost page views, while encouraging your visitors to discover more quality content located on your own website. You can also add a new revenue stream by recommending third-party content distributed on other sites.
The chance to grow and diversify your audience, by posting your content on different websites, where readers are more likely to read your content, assimilate your message and act accordingly.

Outbrain lets you gain an insight into content optimization, while also enabling you to perfect your content & media strategy.

When Should I Give the Green Light to Content Syndication?

So now you know how to use content syndication and how to address potential risks that could hurt your ranking and compromise your SEO efforts. But keep in mind that timing is also of the essence. In order to syndicate your content, you should already be able to count on more than a few high-quality materials. As a rule of thumb, first of all you should test the content that you plan to syndicate by publishing it on your own website. This is the simplest method to measure its effectiveness and its level of impact on your public. Once you feel ready to start looking for content distribution partners, you also have to count on a competent, skilled content manager who could monitor the syndication process.

How Do I Come Up With the Right Content Syndication Strategy?

To identify and implement the ideal content syndication strategy, first of all you should analyze your own goals. Perhaps you want to increase website traffic in a manner which is not very different from paid search. Or perhaps you want to elevate your visibility and make sure your brand stays in the center of everyone’s attention for the longest period of time. If what you really want is to boost your traffic, syndicating entire articles may not be the best choice.
In this case, it would make more sense to syndicate only a first paragraph or a headline accompanied by a link to the original source. If your end goal is to increase brand awareness, then you should know that all forms of content syndication may work well for you. Once you come up with a cohesive, personalized strategy and you feel ready to put theory into practice, all you need to do is to find the best content distribution partners that could support your objectives.

How Do I Find the Most Suitable Content Syndication Partners?

The answer is simple: by conducting extensive research. First of all, you have to list and analyze your goals and determine how much money you want and can afford to invest in this process. Afterwards, you just have to take a closer look at the kind of content that you have and plan to distribute and think where you would like to see your web writing. When it comes to selecting the perfect candidates for this job, you must take into consideration 3 main aspects:

1)      The particularities of your content (tone, style, audience, calls to action and general purpose)
2)      The requirements of your potential content distributors
3)      The software/infrastructure capabilities of all candidates

Obviously, your goal is to find a partner that can help you promote your business the easy way, in front of a large, diverse, deep-pocketed audience, without burning deep holes in your pocket. Take baby steps when it comes to distributing your content, at least until you get familiar with the written and unwritten rules of content syndication.
Who knows, maybe content syndication could be the next best thing for you. If you play your cards right and manage to establish a fruitful collaboration with respectable partners, syndication could open the doors to unbelievably effective promotion strategies that you wouldn’t want to miss out on.

How to Improve Your Content Strategy by Learning from Your Competitors

by Adam Oakley | Mar 4, 2014 | Content Marketing

Let’s say you are a small business on the road to formulating a great content strategy. There are numerous ways you can come up with great foundational points for a content strategy. Check out our video on content strategies and our blog on how to create a content strategy.

But today, we’re here to talk about a niche topic – getting inspiration from your competitors. That’s right – the guys you might evil-eye the rest of the week as you pass their super-successful, vibrant and busy offices. This time, it’s time to put your feelings aside and see just what you can learn from others who are successful in your industry.

3 Ways to Determine Who Your Competitors Are

How do you find your competitors? This is a very simple question, but an excellent starting point.

1. Internet Searches. Searching the Internet is a very good way to find out who your competitors are. It seems overly simple, but by using the keywords you would use for your own business, you will be able to find businesses that do similar things or sell similar products. This will be helpful as you create your 2014 content plan. By doing this search, you can see new ways your competitors are trying to sell a product or service. This can give you ideas on how to implement a similar strategy. Notice, we say similar, not exact! Do not steal their ideas out from under them. That is highly unprofessional and will give your company a rather negative reputation. Instead, brainstorm with your team members and decide new and unique ways to implement the ideas you found interesting in your own content strategy.

Use What the Internet Gave You. Finding tools to help you keep up with your competitors will be useful as trends change rapidly. According to INC.com, GoogleAlerts is a great way to be notified about new updates on products or services relating to your company and can be used when tracking what your competitors are up to. INC.com also suggests GoogleTrends, which maps the current trends within your area all the way to incorporating trends worldwide.

2. Social Media is More Useful than You Realize. Social media is not only important when attempting to engage with clients or to reach out in order to bring in new clients; it can also be used to spy on your competitors. We all know how to do it. In fact, we have all done this in some fashion with different friends and relatives. Why not implement this when researching your competitors? You can keep track of what your competitors are up to by following their Twitter, Facebook, and various other social media sites. Seeing how they interact on a social media site can give your company ideas on how to interact with clients. Many businesses have yet to become socially savvy online, so do not follow blindly exactly what your competitor does on social media. The Internet is a whole different game from face-to-face interaction. If your competitor happens to have a successful social media presence, then start gleaning from the field of social media information they have provided when developing your content strategy.

3. We the People. Info Entrepreneurs states that distributing questionnaires and talking to customers will help you learn more about your competitors and will help you understand how they are able to keep customers or even how they chase customers away. When you learn of any negative transactions with customers, do your best to stay away from repeating the same action. A typical example of a negative transaction with customers would be customer service. Many places have customer service policies that they are meant to follow, but not all companies follow the policies. You know that customers are what keep your business going and growing, so by listening to their wants and needs you can build a successful 2014 content strategy that beats your competitors.

5 Ways to Learn Content Strategy Tips from Your Competitors

Competitors can offer sage advice on how to formulate a 2014 content strategy. While they may not realize that they are helping you improve your company, they are, in fact, doing just that!

Following a few of these tips can help you as you seek ways to learn from your competitors and implement your new ideas.

1. Their SEO Strategy. What keywords are they ranking for? We are not talking about copying and pasting their list of keywords (which they likely won’t take kindly to) – but what can you learn from their keywords and implement into your own? For example, do they use location keywords? If you are location specific, consider using your location in your website page meta tags and keywords. According to CopyPress, MOZ is a leading website that helps companies such as yours learn about your keywords and pulls in information that will help you create a better SEO strategy for your company. Using this tool for your company will end up being very beneficial and help you as you fight the good fight with your competitors.

2. Their Blogging and Content Strategy. Blogging is a major aspect of the Internet. Everyone loves to read updates on their friends, family members, and what their favorite business are doing. Blogs offer a great form of interaction with customers and potential clients, keeping them “in-the-know” and feeling included. When it comes to your competitors, look at their blog presence and see how they work with it. You will be able to learn and implement many helpful tips just by reading their blog!

How do they blog? Look at the content they use in publications and see if there is anything you can gain from it. You never know, but by simply reading your competitors blog you may learn something new to you and be able to implement it in your 2014 content strategy. Do not be afraid to learn from your competitors. It helps your business grow, and they may even be learning something from you! Pay attention to how they format their blogs and if customers accept that format. You can easily tell if customers like or hate the format by simply reading comments on any of the posts. People are not shy when they are on the Internet, and they will say, “I hate this format! Why do you use it?” or “Wow this is great!” If customers hate the format, do not replicate it! If they love it, create a similar, but different, format. Do not copy their webpage exactly, your competition will not appreciate it, and the Internet will talk about it constantly.
When Do They Blog? The “when” of blogging is very important. Let’s say that again. The “when” of blogging is very important. You need to know when to blog and how often to blog while participating in the Internet world. Companies that blog often tend to have more readers, whereas companies who hardly blog will eventually lose readers. When it comes to blogging often, you need to find a good balance between “often” and “far too often” because blogging too much will also lose you readers and followers. People do not like spam in can form or on the Internet. Watch your competitors to see how regularly they blog and how their customers and the community take to it. If customers find a blog too tedious, find ways to implement those comments into creating a blog they will like and if a customer comments in approval of a certain post, find a way to implement that, as well. (Using originality, that is! Just say no to plagiarism; OK?)
What Received the Most Comments? Often one of the best gauges of successful online blog and article content is which topics and postings received the most comments. An abundance of comments means success in Internet-land. How can you replicate that topic and create your own original content from it? You might want to shy away from imitating the topic, but it is possible to duplicate an idea without plagiarizing it when writing new content. If you come up with a new perspective on the subject, it will be refreshing and help you standout from your competitors.

3. Check Out the Website. Your competitor’s website is the key to finding out what they are doing and if it is successful or not. Scour every inch to see what they post about. Do they post tips and tricks on how to use their product in everyday life? Tips and tricks are great things to have on a website because people love learning new things, especially when in list form! Next, look at how they have incorporated website design changes and possibly how often they go about changing their look. You can learn many things from how they use their web content. Do they interact more with customers and do customers appreciate it? Is their web content positive and bright? Informative? Take these things and discover how you can use them for your company. Also, see how your competitors offer information on their products or services, and learn how you can apply their ideas into new and unique ideas for your company. Once you have checked out their website, why not sign up for their newsletters and updates?

4. You’ve Got Mail! According to an YP article on how a small business can check out the competition, signing up for your competitors newsletters will help you properly gauge what they are up to and teach you new ideas to implement in your own company and newsletters. You will be able to see what new programs your competition is planning, gaining new insights into how to run your own company. It is also a great way to see how they go about sending newsletters out. Do they have more than one? Do they send them all at the same time or different days throughout the week? They may be overwhelming their customers’ inboxes, making for some pretty upset customers. Gaining information on sending out newsletters and what to incorporate in them is priceless when it comes to keeping your customers.

5. Once Again, Social Media. Social media is tops when it comes to creating a competent content strategy for 2014. Statistic Brain states that as of January 2014, 1.4 billion people use Facebook worldwide. Statistic Brain also states that 650 million people use Twitter. That is a lot of people online! Meaning, a lot of people your company can reach. As you can see, creating content for social media is imperative in 2014. It provides the chance to spy on your competitors to see how they run social media. We already discussed part of this in point 2 of learning about your competitors. You already know you can use social media as a way to keep up with what they are doing and how they interact with customers. Pay attention to how often they update or tweet, as well as paying attention to how their customers and followers react to their social media presence. If there are negative reactions to the social media presence, be sure to implement ways that are not negative for YOUR customers. Customers who are disappointed in the service provided online will be looking for new companies who have good social media etiquette.

Final Thoughts

Your competitors are some of your best teachers when it comes to a new 2014 content strategy, just as you are one of the best teachers for them as they go about creating a new content strategy for themselves.

We are all here to help each other develop in our fields, and while we want to be the best in our fields it is great to know that we can also help others grow. This blog has provided you with a few tips on how to go about learning from your competitors’ mistakes and their successes. As you begin planning your content strategy for 2014, try to implement some of these new tactics and see how easy your planning meetings become!