Creating RSS feeds a popular SEO tactic

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

?[ What is this? ]

04/18/2007

A year ago at SES there was no session on SEO through blogs and feeds.? This new session was jam packed and there was?standing room only and by a show of hands 99% of the audience is blogging.

While blogging has caught the imagination of the public and?corporate marketing departments,?creating RSS Feeds for the?content on your website is?still a step behind.? Yet this is probably?a tactic more suited to marketing and PR since you can use RSS feeds for any kind of content - it doesn't have to be the 'authentic personal voice' of one person.

You can use feeds for all kinds of content

Google recently made it clear that they are rewarding updated, fresh content with better rankings.? Placing new content in a feed will meet this requirement. Our case studies show that regular, optimized articles in?an RSS Feed definitely?boost your SEO efforts

Technorati Tags: create rss feeds, rss feeds,

? back to index

If you do a marketing site and you don't have an RSS feed, you should be fired.

Robert Scoble evangelist and blogger, Microsoft

View the original article here

Optimizing Press Releases Made Easy with PRESSfeed Toolbar

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The shift in media consumption is accelerating - according to the Newspaper Association of America 43.6 percent of all U. S. internet users visit newspaper websites.

Nielsen’s figures for March show that each of the top three news destination on the Web (MSNBC, CNN and Yahoo!News) individually each drew more than half the unique visitors of the entire newspaper industry. Year-over-year, MSNBC grew 9 percent, CNN 4 percent, and Yahoo!News 16 percent.

The majority of PR professionals are aware of this trend and the need to optimize press releases and news content for search – 75 percent are adding keywords to the headline and body of their news content.

But there is much more to optimizing a release for search.
To help PR people understand the optimization process so that they can reach this online audience, PRESSfeed, a content syndication and social media tool, has developed a free toolbar and instruction sheet that puts all the technical information needed, along with tips, tricks and tools for news optimization, in one convenient place.

The toolbar links to an instruction sheet on the PRESSfeed website that has detailed information about how to optimize a press release for maximum search visibility and pick up. It includes how to do keyword research and spot search trends. It also has all the tools and websites needed to do the steps in the instructions.

The toolbar is available as a free download on the PRESSfeed website

Quotes:
“Optimizing news content for search is no longer a choice,” says Sally Falkow, co- developer of PRESSfeed and the new toolbar. “In the last year the number of people who get their news online has passed the number who read newspapers. The majority of those who do go online for news do a search. We developed this toolbar so that PR and marketing people can have easy access to the tools they need to improve their optimizing skills and reach this online audience.”

“We’ve seen an increasing interest in optimizing press releases,” said Melanie Widmann, Search and Social Media Manager for Marketwire. “We’ve had over a thousand people register for the last two webinars that were geared toward informing as well as helping our clients master this skill. This new toolbar makes it easy to both access technical information and includes many useful tools that PR practitioners can use for press release optimization.”

“It’s very timely, and a welcome innovation,” said Dana Todd, CMO of Newsforce. “Companies like PRESSfeed are making it easier for PR professionals to integrate digital strategies into their normal workflow. It’s helpful to have tools that are uniquely aligned with PR goals and tactics, which are often quite different than marketing and sales.”

"The PressFeed toolbar provides an easy, non-obtrusive tool that I use regularly to prepare, submit and track my clients press across the Internet," stated Mark Moline, Managing Partner at IRTH Communications, LLC in Santa Monica, CA. "The clever integration of Google's search, trend and analytics tools; and, press release optimization and key word selection, makes it easy for me to create a compelling press release that will get the placement my clients need."

"Using the tools offered in PressFeed, a recent press release we disseminated on behalf of a client received a response rate unlike anything we had done previously. We received numerous press inquiries, requests for interviews and a tremendous increase in channel views on the client's YouTube channel," added Moline

Statistics
Marketing Sherpa Search Marketing Benchmark Survey:

? 75% of PR and marketing professionals use keyword in the headline and body of the text
? 38% insert meta tags

The Newspaper Association of America first quarter 2009 audience data release:
? 43.6% of the US Internet population get their news online
? First quarter traffic to newspaper Web sites was reported as 73.3 million unique visitors (average per month) by Nielsen
? Each of the top three news destination on the Web (MSNBC, CNN and Yahoo!News) individually each drew more than half the unique visitors of the entire newspaper industry in March 2009. Year-over-year, MSNBC grew 9 percent, CNN 4 percent, and Yahoo!News 16 percent.

Technorati Tags: toolbar, press releases, news, online,

View the original article here

Social Bookmarking Makes Good Marketing Sense

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Content syndication and?distribution online is getting a shot in the arm from social bookmarking. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project 28% of internet users have tagged or categorized content online such as photos, news stories or blog posts. On a typical day online, 7% of internet users say they tag or categorize online content.

Heidi Cohen, who teaches in New York University's Masters Program in Direct and Interactive Marketing, says in her ClickZ column that what makes social bookmarking?importnat to marketers is that?it's another cost-effective way to augment search marketing efforts, distribute content, and aid branding.

Savvy marketers who want to take advantage of this new trend are often held back by the technical nature of social bookmarks.? If you are a big corporation with a highly trained IT department, it should be no problem .? But what if you are a small to medium business?? Can you sitll apply these new social media tools to your web content?

Luckily?the explosion of consumer generated media has brought with it a slew of easy to use tools that make it really simple to add content yourself and?encourage your readers to add?and share content too.

Some of these tools, like blog platforms, have the social bookmarkiong links built in.. But?as?Cohen points out, in her article, bookmarking is not just for?bloggers.? You should also add the bookmarking links to?your press releases and other good web content, - such as articles and destination information or product specials and updates..

One way to make the most of all these social media tools is to find a system like PRESSfeed that allows you to

add the content to your site syndicate it in an RSS ?feed tag it for Technorati create a tag cloud offer social bookmarking links so that your readers can? tag and share the content.

And it's all as simple as working in Word.

Remember that the success of social? bookmarking depends on the quality of your content.? People won't?save and share boring content.? It has to be well researched and well-written.? And it has to?meet the needs of your audience and be something of value they want to pass along to a friend.

Technorati Tags: social bookmarking, marketing, content syndication, RSS feeds,

View the original article here

What's the difference between PRESSfeed and a blog?

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Blogs have exploded on the Internet in the past two years. What started out as a personal journal online has evolved into a sophisticated marketing tool. Blogs make it quick and simple for anyone to find the ‘power of voice’. They provide a way for non-techie to post content to the web and, because every blog has an RSS feed, the content can easily be found, indexed by the search engines and shared with others.

According to the unwritten rules of blogging, a blog is a conversation and so should

? Be updated as often as possible
? Have an authentic human voice
? Open a ‘window’ into the company
? Build up thought leadership for the person/s blogging
? Start a dialog, so it must?have comments
? Not be ‘the company line’
? Not be written by PR people
? Not be used for press releases
? Not have to go through a legal check on each post

What does PRESSfeed do?

PRESSfeed creates news pages. It’s used for press releases and educational articles.

The purpose of these pages is to increase the online visibility of your news content. It is not intended to be a blog. Like a blog, these pages are in a content management system, so it’s very easy for PR and marketing folk who are not tech savvy to control their news content. No more reliance on IT to get your press releases onto the website!

Because the pages have many of the same features you find in blog software these news pages can reap?the benefits of blogging while not having to abide by the ‘rules’ of blogging.

? Search engines index the pages faster because of the RSS feed
? Search engines think they are blogs and so index these pages in their blog search section as well as the web section
? However, people do not think they are blogs, so your not confined by the ‘should be’s’ of a blog
? You don’t need a ‘genuine voice’
? The pages do not have to be updated a couple of times a week
? One person does not have to write the content
? The content can be prepared by the PR department or agency
? PRESSfeed has social bookmarking links built in to make it easy for your news content to be saved and shared with others
? These articles get syndicated in an RSS feed and get seen by new audiences
? Each article should have a link back to your website and so will build inbound links that positively affect your search ranking.
? The index page is set up to look like a newsroom page. The index page has headlines and a short intro that links to the full article
? The pages do not look like a blog with each post fully visible in one long sequential page

Should you have a blog or should you use PRESSfeed?

The answer is yes! You should do both. A blog is for building relationships and starting conversations. You should have a blog and you should abide by all the ‘rules’ of blogging. It’s very important to have that authentic voice reaching out to your customers and providing your public with a way to get to know you.

But you should also have your company news out on the Internet. Create a series of articles that educate your public about your industry and your products/services, Post them to your website and make them available in an RSS feed.

PRESSfeed was built specifically to assist PR and marketing folk to use social media elements on their news pages. If you write articles and press releases based on a sound keyword and content strategy, you’ll find that your corporate website starts to move up in the search ranking and other bloggers find and blog about your content without you having to do very much.

Take a look at our case studies.

Technorati Tags: RSS feed, blog, blogging, PRESSfeed, online news, newsrooms

View the original article here

Travel Operators Take to Social Media

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Hospitality.net reports that travel companies have seen the social media light and are fully engaged in these PR and marketing activities.

Is it best to work with existing social networks like Facebook, or is the ROI in setting up your own? How does one go about creating an effective social media strategy?

According to Forrester Research the sequence should be People, Objectives, Tools and then Strategy.? We believe that strategy includes the whole process: set benchmarks and goals, tap into the conversations, develop and deliver your content, engage and facilitate conversations and measure the ROI.?

You can't start by picking tools.That comes after you've done your? homework.

Carnival Cruises chose to set up their own social networking community called CarnivalConnections.com. That makes sense for them - they have a large group of customers who cruise.? The idea is to bring family and friends together by helping them plan and manage their cruise vacations. The site features an “e-invite” electronic invitation tool that can be tailored family reunions, girlfriend getaways and other groups.

Carnival was also an early adopter of Twitter – exploiting it to monitor their brand image, listen to questions from customers, communicate promotions and share experiences.

Holland America LIne has been using RSS?Feeds to keep their customers in the loop.

Southwest Airlines implemented a social media strategy three years ago and they have a presence on several popular sites: Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Their blog “Nuts about Southwest” gets 70,000 unique visitors each month. “Nuts about Southwest” was winner of the 2008 PR News Platinum PR award for blogs.

Marriott Caribbean Resorts creates content about the destinations and syndicates it in RSS?feeds. These articles have found their way into social? news sites like Stumble Upon, Kirtsy and Newsvine as readers save and share the content.

Some social media tools may fit your needs more than others. And the users of each tool have a specific demographic.

You can really only decide which ones are right for you once you've done your research.

But one thing is quite clear: social media is an effective marketing strategy for travel companies.? And in our current climate, effectve is what they need.

Technorati Tags: travel, social media, blogs, social networks, marketing,

View the original article here

BtoB Marketers finally beginning to find ways to monetize feeds and measure results

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

?[ What is this? ]

10/30/2008

BtoB Magazine says BtoB marketers are finding ways to make RSS pay off.

One way is with advertising?that drives traffic and leads to?new customers.? RSS can be just one more vehicle to help you stay in front of a community of interested prospects.??"RSS-distributed content should drive?additional response,” says Howard Sewell of Connect Direct. “Marketers are completely missing the opportunity if they are not aggressively promoting RSS and e-mail newsletters as subscription vehicles. Organic search results to a blog are great, but why not capture that person and generate repeat traffic.”

Technorati Tags: rss feeds, content syndication

? back to index

If you do a marketing site and you don't have an RSS feed, you should be fired.

Robert Scoble evangelist and blogger, Microsoft

View the original article here

RSS facilitates customer dialog

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Business owners and marketing folk are looking for the best strategies to help them survive a cooling economy. Cutting budgets is one everyone’s mind , but marketing is one area of the business that needs very clever planning. Cost effective online strategies, such as using news feeds in RSS to stay connected to your customers and stakeholders, could be a big winner in 2009.

?

Brands that fail to embrace and engage in online consumer dialog are set be among those most severely affected by an economic downturn, says the Online Shopping and Credit Crunch Survey Report conducted in the UK by E-consultancy, Logan Todd and ImmediateFuture. Some 64% of respondents surveyed said they would reduce their spending generally in view of the deteriorating economic climate, but 56% said that their online spending would not be affected - or would actually increase.

Consumers are turning online to find the best available prices as well as advice, the study found. Search is playing a large part in how they find their data.

One of the most cost effective ways for a business to make product information, special deals, reviews and advice available is to RSS- enable their web content and send it out in news feed. And apart from making the content easily available, RSS feeds can also boost SEO and search visibility.

Although most people think of RSS as an inherent part of blogs, any web content can be syndicated in an RSS feed. In fact, many of the social web applications that facilitate customer dialog run on RSS. Google's SEO starter guide says that exclusive, fresh and relevant content is by far the most important factor in search ranking, so creating excellent content and syndicating it in RSS feeds can reach a wider audience and build back links, another important part of search visibility.

RSS is being used in many industries to open dialog and keep customers, vendors, supporters, donors and other stakeholders notified of current information.

“Since Google changed their search format to Universal Search every business needs to have optimized digital assets in many formats,” says Sally Falkow, President and co-founder of PRESSfeed, a leading RSS and social media tool. “Creating and syndicating this content makes all the difference to your RSS and SEO strategy. Feeds get seen by the search engines and signal them that there is fresh content available.”

Technorati Tags: RSS, feeds, marketing, social media

View the original article here

Top 100 American newspapers use RSS?

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

?[ What is this? ]

01/06/2009

RSS makes sense for most content publishers and users, so it's no big surprise that the top 100 newspapers offer their content in a feed.

Josh Catone of SitePoInt says RSS is good for users:

It’s a lot easier to read multiple publications on a more regular basis when they’re delivered to you.Data and content delivered by RSS can be mashed up in a new and interesting ways that reveal previously unnoticed or inaccessible conclusions.

And it's good for publishers too:

RSS makes it easier for people to track multliple sources, casual readers who would likely only read your publication once in awhile or not visit at all will be more apt to become regular readers.RSS enables mashups that expose your content in new and interesting ways, and will ultimately drive more traffic, readers, and brand recognition.

Google's Zeitgeist list for 2008 released shows that? What is RSS? is one of the top ten most asked quesitons.

RSS, Really Simple Syndication, burst on the scene several years ago and has gained popularity with consumers, marketers and publishers. Consumers use RSS to subscribe to content they like and publishers have learned that adding their content to feeds increases their search visibility and drives traffic to their sites.

Although some studies say the adoption of RSS is low and confined to the tech savvy amongst us, a Yahoo! study showed that when you ask someone if they use RSS they tend to say no, but if you track their click stream they are in fact reading content in feeds. They just don't know what RSS is.

And that's borne out by the increasing number of people searching What is RSS?

Most social media applications use RSS, so the rising numbers of Americans who go to sites like Facebook, MySpace or Twitter are all using feeds. And the fact that "What is RSS?" is on the top ten list of questions searched in 2008 indicates that Americans are aware of RSS and they want to know more about it.

Technorati Tags: RSS, feeds, content, syndication

? back to index

If you do a marketing site and you don't have an RSS feed, you should be fired.

Robert Scoble evangelist and blogger, Microsoft

View the original article here

RSS as an SEO Strategy

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

On Wednesday December 10th Sally Falkow will be speaking on a panel about Blogs, RSS and SEO at Search Engine Strategies in Chicago.

Although most people think of RSS?as a part of blogs, any web content can be syndicated in an RSS?feed.? In fact, the social web runs on RSS.??

Here are some ideas for content syndication using RSS

Recipes,

New Products

Tech Updates

News alerts

Special

Top 10 lists

Events

Inventory updates

Stock prices

RSS is being used in many industries to keep customers, vendors, supporters, donors and other stakeholders notified of current information.

RSS boosts your SEO efforts too.

Watch this video about RSS?and SEO.? Mary Anderson of PRESSfeed explains why Google says content is such as important factor in SEO rankings and why RSS?feeds are a big part of that strategy.

Technorati Tags: RSS, SEO, SES, Chicago, 2008, PRESSfeed

View the original article here

RSS adoption - Forrester study

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

RSS adoption among consumers is at 11% up from just 2% of users three years ago, according to a new study form Forrester Reasearch.

Steve Rubel of Edelman says in a blog post:

" That might be all she wrote for RSS' growth track. While feed adoption may have crested the idea of online opt-in communications is just getting going. The Facebook newsfeed, Twitter and Friendfeed are perfect examples of opt-in vehichles that bring content you care about to you. In each case, you're total in control. You can unsubscribe from individuals or groups and tailor the stream so that what you want finds you. "

What powers those feeds? RSS.

Here is some info about Twitterfeed.?

Friendfeed is using RSS: "All of the API requests that output feeds are available in four formats: JSON, a simple form of XML, RSS 2.0, and Atom 1.0. JSON is the default output format. To request a different output format, simply add an format= argument to the URL:

Even?MyYahoo and?iGoogle pages us RSS to add content.? In fact the Yahoo study done on RSS back in 2005 found that when you asked people if they used RSS they? inevitably answered no? But when you follow their clickstream they are using RSS - they just dont know that they are.?

In much the same way as if you asked someone if they use TCP/IP they'd say no.? But you use it every time you go online.? And if you asked if they had used SMTP?today I'll bet they'd say no ,or they don't know.? And that's your email.?

"This is trying to tell me that 78% of all online users have never visited a blog or aggregation site that uses RSS in a widget, blogroll, news scroller, or a variety of other technical items," commented Barry?Hurd. on the MicroPersuasion blog. "I think that a majority of respondents probably do not know they are looking at or interacting with an RSS feed. For instance, I am here on the blog looking at your FriendFeed; which is entirely based on RSS. I couldn't have the benefit of knowing your information unless you took the time to setup RSS feeds from the various services. I?would say that this metric is highly flawed."

I agree.

Technorati Tags: RSS, feeds, Steve Rubel, Barry Hurd, Forrester, Twitter, Friendfeed

View the original article here