A Real Simple Way to Get Your Customers’ Attention
If you have an online business, a highly effective (and free) way to attract your customers’ attention is to supply information – articles about your product, service, or industry – to multiple websites.
One way to get your articles published all over the Internet is to submit them to sites like ArticleCity or EzineArticles. But you can also spread your articles around the Web by taking advantage of Real Simple Syndication or “RSS” feeds. This tool is used frequently to automatically notify Internet users when, for example, their favorite blog has a new entry or the content on a particular website has been updated.
Most website and blogging systems now offer RSS to individual users, as do many e-mail list management programs. But you can go one step further and inform the entire Internet (including sites with similar content to yours) that you’re posting a new article by registering the address of your RSS feed with a service like FeedBurner. These services will freely distribute your content through RSS to many content syndication services on the Internet. Just make sure you include the URL for your website on every article you submit so that people who are interested in the topics you write about can find out more about you and your business.
A major advantage of RSS is that it not only spreads your content throughout the Internet, it allows you to share content in relevant ways. For example, if your article is on trout fishing in Montana, it will tend to be syndicated to similar sites (like MontanaTrout.com or TroutNut.com) or sites where that topic is relevant (like FunOutdoors.com or MontanaLiving.com). But even if you don’t want to use RSS, you can still spread your articles around the Internet. Just contact the editor or webmaster of sites you deem relevant to your subject matter, and ask if you can submit articles to their site or e-zine.
[Ed. Note: David Cross is Senior Internet Consultant for Agora Inc. in Baltimore.]David Cross
Although David hails from Blackpool, England – which is often referred to as the “Las Vegas of England” – he shunned a career in show business and instead followed a meandering career path overflowing with “life’s great experiences,” working or living in over 20 countries along the way. Chef, teacher of Transcendental Meditation, guest presenter on QVC, earthquake relief volunteer, CEO of a web hosting company, marketer at a radio station and all combined with years of direct marketing, PR and sales experience for clients as diverse as health food stores, small charities and right up to multinational public companies. David brought unique talent and experience to his role for six years as Senior Internet Consultant to Agora Publishing Group. Working closely with Agora’s publishers and marketers to test new ideas and marketing campaigns, Agora’s Internet revenues topped $200 million in 2007. David understands and can communicate fluently with creative “right-brain” marketers and analytical “left-brain” IT and software teams, all with equal ease. He has a proven track record for generating results and creative thinking and excels at making trouble to find new ways of making things happen! He lives on a small farm close to Mount Hood in Oregon with his wife Cinda, a veterinarian, and their four children and a menagerie of animals (no more, please!). When not marketing or brainstorming you’ll find David following a dream of self-sufficiency for food, power and water within 10 years, tending the land and caring for the farm and animals. Not surprisingly, David is an engaging and knowledgeable speaker with many amusing anecdotes from his work and travels over the years.