Develop Quality Content to Rule the Web
Copyright 2005 Sharon Housley
Fresh content.
The age old question keeps coming up, how do you retain
website visitors, how do you make visitors return to your
website? The answer should come as no surprise, fresh
 content. Content is truly king, the fresher the content the
better the site. What many webmasters fail to realize is
that there is an endless supply of content on the web that
is freely available to webmasters.
Not only can public domain material be freely used and
syndicated on websites, but a number of content publishers
provide content in exchange for a link back to their
websites. A variety of contents related to the website
theme that is integrated into the website will attract the
interest of both search engines and web surfers. The key to
taking advantage of free content is integrating or
including content that is directly related to the theme of
the website.
1. Articles
Article repositories exist that categorizes content
articles. Searching the repositories using keywords that
are related to a websites theme will result in a wide
variety of articles  available for publication that are
related to the site's existing web content. Articles in the
repositories are available for syndication, which means
webmasters can freely include the articles on their
websites as long as they include the author resource box
with valid links.
Use the following to locate topic specific articles:
Free Website Content -
http://www.small-business-software.net/free-website-content.htm
GoArticles - http://www.goarticles.com
2. RSS Feeds
The contents of many RSS feeds can be syndicated. The added
benefit of syndicating feeds is that they are frequently
updated which will result in a steady stream of fresh
changing content. In order to reap the benefits of
syndicating RSS feeds, webmasters should use either an ASP
script or PHP script to display the feeds contents as HTML.
Webmasters can navigate categories of RSS feed directories
to locate related topic feeds or search for feeds using
keywords.
Search the following directories to locate related RSS
feeds:
RSS Network - http://www.rss-network.com
RSS Locator - http://www.rss-locator.com
Free script for displaying RSS feeds as HTML:
rss2html.php - http://www.feedforall.com/free-php-script.htm
3. Shareware Listings
Consider populating a website or section of a website with
related niche software applications. Many software
companies offer applications as free downloads. The
downloads allow potential customers the opportunity to try
an application prior to making a purchase decision.
Categorizing and displaying software that relates to a
website theme can generate a lot of interest. Most
developers provide product descriptions and information in
a PAD file which is simply XML. Developers can locate PAD
files using the ASP site and the PAD kit can be used to
display the contents of the PAD file.
PAD Kit - http://www.asp-shareware.org
4. Creative Commons.
A Creative Commons license allows creators to place
conditions on their copyrights. Many artists allow other
publishers to use their creative and artwork, occasionally
there are conditions that credit must be given, while
others are available freely. Web publishers can find a lot
of unique content, images and creative using the new Yahoo
Creative Commons Search.
The Yahoo! Creative Commons Search service finds content
across the Web that has a Creative Commons license.
Yahoo Creative Commons Search - http://search.yahoo.com/cc
More on Creative Commons - http://www.creativecommons.com
5. Forums.
Consider creating a community forum where like-minded
individuals or at the very least individuals with a common
interest can discuss problems, concerns, related products
or ideas. The forum posts will generate a fresh stream of
new and self perpetuating website content.
Free Forum *note be sure to stay current on updates PHPbb -http://www.phpbb.com
6. White Papers.
Provide white papers, customer profiles or endorsements
that detail how applications can be used in a specific
industry. Creating a white paper section that explains how
a specific product or service is used in a specific
industry to solve a problem or increase productivity gives
potential customers insight into how a specific service,
product or technology will help in the course of a day.
Sample White Papers -http://www.notepage.net/whitepapers.htm
7. Directories .
Creating a directory of related sites while time consuming
can result in significant traffic. Directories typically
are well respected resources and rank well in search
engines.
Sample Niche Directories :
Podcasting Tools - http://www.podcasting-tools.com
Finance Investing Feed Directory -http://www.finance-investing.com
8. Newsletter Archive.
If done properly online marketers see an almost
instantaneous sales or traffic increases when they send
newsletters but many do not benefit long term from the
newsletter. Consider creating a newsletter archive, the
content is already built, why not benefit from the
potential traffic and unique phrases used, to attract new
or potential customers?
Sample Archive Corporate Newsletters -http://www.feedforall.com/newsletter.htm
Software Marketing Newsletters - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/articledirectory.html
9. Blog.
Ride the technological wave. A daily journal with
information related to product or service launches,
specials, technical tips, new product announcements
Sample Blog Archive RSS Blog -
http://www.rss-specifications.htm/blog.htm
As search engines combat the problems with artificially
generated a non-sensical web content , webmasters must
integrate quality, themed content that is going to
legitimately interest prospective customers.
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 FeedForDev http://www.feedfordev.com
an RSS component for developers.
Resources
Marketing Software
ViewletBundle (ViewletBuilder Pro and ViewletCam)
Net Prospector Professional
OfficeReady Professional 3.0 - 25 User License
MULTI USER PKG-DEVELOPING A MARKETING PLAN:SCANS 2000
Dynamic MailCommunicator (Pro)
EmailUnlimited 6.0 Professional Edition
Marketing Hardware
MAGICARD AVALON 100 ID CARD PRINTER BY ULTRA ELECTRONICS
Books
Marketing Basics
Rand McNally 2006 Commercial Atlas & Marketing Guide
Consumer Atlas & Marketing Guide 2005 
International Marketing Forecasts: 2005 / 2006
European Marketing & Data Statistics 2006
International Marketing Forecasts: 2004/2005
European Marketing Information Sourcebook
Latin American Marketing Information Sourcebook
China Marketing Data and Statistics
Industry Directories
World Directory of Marketing Information Sources
World Cosmetics & Toiletries Marketing Directory 2005
World Food Marketing Directory
World Drinks Marketing Directory
Pharmaceutical Marketing: A Practical Guide 
Direct Marketing Market Place 2007: The Networking Source of the Direct Marketing Industry
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