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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