Blog Syndication (Part II) - How To Promote Your RSS & Atom Feeds

What is Syndication?

To 'syndicate' your blog, you are providing other people with the ability to list "headlines", or entire posts from your blog by adding your rss file to their web site, or rss reader.

RSS / Atom syndication allows you to receive a greater amount of traffic by allowing webmasters, or other blog owners to syndicate information posted within your blog. These pieces of information can include, but are not limited to;

• Title
• Description
• Author
• Link destination
• Videos
• Images
• Entire articles
• Resources
• Social Bookmarks
• etc.

With an RSS feed, you have some limitations. With Atom feeds, you can practically syndicate all the information within your blog at once. This small tutorial will not get into the standards on how to create a feed, but if you use services like; BlogSpot.com, WordPress, or any other generated blog service, you already have a feed ready at your disposal.

If you use any of these services, look for a link within your blog that may say:

• "Entries RSS" (WorPress)
• "Subscribe in a reader"
• "Subscribe RSS"
• "Subscribe to: Post (Atom)" (BlogSpot.com)

Now that you understand the basic definition of a blog syndication feed, I can now show you strategies on how to implement your feed online!

Article Marketing:

Submitting small tips online to article directories is a great method of getting traffic to your blog. Each article directory allows authors to submit a "biography section" where you can typically add up to 3 active links within your articles. As an owner of multiple directories, I am amazed at how many people don't use their rss / atom feed as one of the links within their bio. One thing you must remember is the fact that people who reprint your articles tend to syndicate a lot of information online. Adding your rss / atom feed within your author biography may potentially bring big syndication sites to your doorstep. The more web sites that add your feed to their system, the more traffic you receive. It's that simple.

As soon as you post a new article within your blog, your feed will have that information added automatically. Think of it this way, what if 1000 web site owners syndicated your blog feed? Each article that you post can potentially have 1000sites x 200visitors = 200,000 visitors who have the ability to see your new article. This example is only based on the average traffic rating for most sites. Some sites out there literally receive 100,000 - 1,000,000 visitors a day. Wouldn't you want that kind of exposure for your blog??? I thought so!

Blog Submissions:

After setting up your blog with at least 10 posts within the last year, if you haven't already, it's time to submit your blog to directories online which are specific to bloggers. Blog directories are everywhere, you just have to search online with "Blog Directories", or "Blog Directory", "Submit Your Blog" to find them. It's that simple. Look for a button/link that says "Submit" and simply submit your information.

DO NOT FORGET TO ADD YOUR RSS FEED!

Many blog directories will actually syndicate your feed information right away and keep feeding your posts for as long as your blog exists.

RSS / Atom Directory Submissions:

Just like I mentioned about submitting your blog to directories online, you can do the same thing by submitting your rss / atom feed to syndication directories that are specific for that purpose. Again within Google.com, or any other search engine simply search for "Rss directory", or "Submit Your Feed", or something along those lines.

Keep revisiting these search terms. The fact is, many new directories popup all the time online.

Facebook.com Syndication:

Most people have a profile within Facebook.com. It is extremely easy to syndicate your blog posts within Facebook using the "Import RSS" button near the top. After you log in, go to your profile page and look for these links... (Update Status | Share Link | Add Photos | Write Note | Import***). Under the import button, click on Blog/Rss and simply copy & paste your feed to your profile. Facebook will automatically add every post you make and show them to all of your friends, or local networks.

Example from your Facebook profile wall:



Second example, click on the image to go directly to the import page:

Technorati.com:

Technorati has become one of the largest syndication networks online. This web site allows you to register, add a blog, and to view the profiles of people who vote for the information you post online. It's that simple. This site is also a great resource to connect with other bloggers for the sole purpose of sharing a link with each other.

Visit Technorati:
http://www.technorati.com/

Google Blog Search:

Yes, even Google will syndicate your feed information! From Google Blog Search (http://blogsearch.google.com), you can receive traffic from people searching throughout blog posts online.

Simply submit your rss / atom feed here:
http://blogsearch.google.com/ping

This link will manually add your blog to their pinging service that will check your information. For the time being, you will have to "ping" or submit your feed once a week, especially if you have an active web site. They mentioned something about a new feed submission form coming soon, but you can alternatively have a pinging service added to your blog.

More details on pinging Google is found here:
http://www.google.com/support/faqs/bin/static.py?page=faq_blog_search_pinging.html#config

Windows Live Spaces:

This great source is not commonly used among bloggers, but offers a great amount of resources to easily create your own blog space, syndicate your rss feed, and post other information about yourself. Take a minute to create your own live space and customize every feature you want added to your space.

Windows Live Spaces:
http://home.services.spaces.live.com/

View Adcidia sample Windows Live spaces:
http://adcidia.spaces.live.com/

IN CONCLUSION:

There are many ways to promote the latest information from your Blog. It's up to you to get creative with these simple syndication tools I've provided you with. Take your time to find every directory, and syndication site there is available online. This strategy should be an on-going battle and should be re-visited at least 4 times a year to find anything new out there.

About The Author:

Martin Lemieux is the owner of many article directories, business directories, and syndication web sites within Adcidia - an eSyndication Advertising Network. To promote your blog or feed, feel free to visit some of these great resources online:

Blog Directories:
http://www.adcidia.com/submit-directory-listings/blog-directories/

Martin's Bloggers Directory & RSS Syndication:
http://Bloggers.MartinLemieux.ca

Martin's RSS Feed:
http://www.MartinLemieux.ca/xml/

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