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But who has enough free
time to publish fresh content on a daily basis? Allow
me to introduce you to "syndicated content."
By including syndicated content on your site it stays
fresh with very little effort on your part. So how do
you get it? How does it work? Slow down... All will
be revealed in due time. Remember, patience is a virtue.
Implementation
Syndicated content is dynamic material that constantly
changes. Your first step is finding it -- preferably
for free, although some will charge you for the privilege.
In most cases all you do is fill out a short form, and
are then given some HTML code to paste into your web
page where you want the content to appear. The content
will automatically change depending on the service you're
using, every 24 hrs, weekly or bi-weekly.
Content Types
Syndicated content comes in many different forms:
- News feeds
- Stock tickers
- Weather updates
- Tips and tricks
- Short articles
- Even graphics and cartoons.
Using syndicated content
saves you time since you don't have to create or maintain
it. It keeps your site fresh and interesting ensuring
visitors will come back to see what's new on a regular
basis. Make sure you check for any restrictions on use
before signing up to use any service.
Pro's
and Cons
As with most things there are advantages and disadvantages.
We look at a few of these to help you decide whether
Syndicated Content is right for your site.
Disadvantages
May slow down the loading of your site due to the fact
that the content is being pulled from the syndicator's
server.
Since most free content
involves a link back to the syndicator's site you may
lose visitors who are curious enough to click on it.
The content is seldom unique
so a user may feel duped if they see the exact same
piece of content on another site.
Advantages
- Fresh updated content with no work on your part
- Saves you time by not having to create new content
- Keeps visitors returning to see what's new
Where Do You Find It?
Here are some links you may wish to investigate:
Live News feeds
Syndicates over 850 sources to well over 210,000
websites. Most of their feeds come with a price tag,
but some are free. www.isyndicate.com
This is my personal favorite,
with over 300 categories to choose from. Pick a topic
that matches the theme of your site; you can even control
the link colors and size.
www.moreover.com
Uses a Java applet that will give you the latest headlines.www.7am.com
Comic Feeds
Work by talented cartoonists you can add to your pages
free. www.cartoonlink.com
Enjoy the work of over
40 cartoonists free. www.comicexchange.com
Syndicated cartoon guaranteed
to offend and entertain. Updates itself automatically
every 24 hours. www.callahanonline.com
Weather Feeds
Displays current time and weather for the city you select.
www.wunderground.com
Free to use; gives weather conditions for whatever zip code is typed into the box.
www.weatherguys.com
Daily Tips & Fun Stuff
Updated every 24 hours. The tips provided are on banner
advertising; what works and what doesn't. www.bannertips.com
Fresh fun and free content that's family oriented. Choose from daily facts, daily
chuckles, and more. www.surfnetkids.com
Add the top 10 software downloads to your site by filling in the short form
and pasting the code given, onto your page. www.myzips.com
Add Dr. Wilson's weekly
column on website marketing by adding two lines of javascript
to the page where you want it to appear.www.doctorebiz.com
If you write short articles
and would like to see your content in syndication and
appearing on other's websites you can submit your 400
to 1,200 word articles to syndicator@web-source.netand
attach a photo (80X105). If chosen your articles
will be added to websource.net/syndicator live feed.
You also may be interested
in purchasing software to syndicate your own content.
Check out Master Syndicator which makes it easy to start
syndicating your own content. Selling for only 99.00
it runs on UNIX or Linux servers.
So next time your website
needs some fresh content you may want to seriously consider
using syndicated content. Why not benefit from someone
elses work? Your website visitors will keep coming back
for more, and you won't have to work so hard at keeping
things fresh.
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