What is Content Syndication?

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

Most people know what syndication means. We’ve all seen TV shows, listened to radio programs or read columns that are syndicated across several publishers. On the web, there are exponentially more media properties to distribute your content to, making the idea of syndication much more accessible, and much more of a possibility in spreading your message.

Content syndication on the web is defined as the mass publication of a single article, podcast or video (content assets) across many outlets. In a nutshell: Write once, spread everywhere.

What is Content Syndication?

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.com names ripe for an upheaval?

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

On the way home from work tonight, I heard a particularly interesting clip on Marketplace. The organization in charge of managing domain names is thinking about revolutionizing the way we access websites by creating numerous new top level domain names (i.e. .com, .net, .info, etc).

Not just a few new names like the standard annual introduction that ushered in .info, .biz and the top country extensions (.uk), but this proposal would allow anyone (who can supply a $55,000 application fee) to create their own unique extension. Can you see sites like support.apple, store.apple and corporate.apple? What about entreprenuers and organizations who might try to create new standards like .band for musicians, .store for retailers or even .porn for, well…
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A Juicy SEO example

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Search engine optimization is a big part of what we help our clients with and I know there is a lot of skepticism surrounding internet marketing firms and the use of their own tactics. In light of this, I thought it would be helpful and interesting to share a recent success we enjoyed using a very common tactic we use to leverage articles to gain long tail search terms. (more…)

What is a content asset?

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Content assets are the cornerstone of content marketing on the web, and we use this term quite a bit. Recently I came to realize how much I was explaining what this term meant in meetings, so I thought I would create a quick post about.

A content asset is really just some piece of content that you can use as a business tool, either by monetizing it directly (purchasable book) or using it to attract new customers (free article). Often, this content asset is repackaged and distributed in numerous formats and mediums. Think about how a movie is first released on the big screen, broken down into small parts for trailers and web previews, then taken to DVD, then presented on TV. Each time the asset is used, it’s just a variation of the original working in some other way.
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SEO explained for small businesses

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Search engine optimization is one of those items that evokes confusion and debate, with as many opinions as their are practitioners. We get asked to explain how it works by just about every client, and it can be difficult to relay the subtleties and theories that we use to build rankings.

I often compare it to professional networking or losing weight, as it isn’t rocket science, but it does require a sustained effort of many different types of activities. And, when you don’t see results immediately, it can be difficult to maintain your effort level. (more…)

Don’t like to blog? Just Do It

Monday, August 10th, 2009

I learned a while back that the secret to being effective is to learn what you are both good at and enjoy doing, and then organize your career around doing more of those things. But, along the way, you run into activities that you find important to running your business or getting your job done that just don’t come natural to you.

It’s these things that take a little more commitment to get done if you want results. For example, as business owners, we all know that we need to do at least some accounting, customer service and selling – even if they aren’t our strengths.

For many professionals, you can add blogging to the list. (more…)