Develop Quality Content to Rule the Web
By S. Housley

Fresh content
The age old question keeps coming up, how do you retain
website visitors, how do you make visitors return to your
website? The answer should come as no surprise, fresh
content. Content is truly king, the fresher the content the
better the site. What many webmasters fail to realize is
that there is an endless supply of content on the web that
is freely available to webmasters.

Not only can public domain material be freely used and
syndicated on websites, but a number of content publishers
provide content in exchange for a link back to their
websites. A variety of contents related to the website theme
that is integrated into the website will attract the
interest of both search engines and web surfers. The key to
taking advantage of free content is integrating or including
content that is directly related to the theme of the
website.

1. Articles
Article repositories exist that categorizes content
articles. Searching the repositories using keywords that are
related to a websites theme will result in a wide variety of
articles available for publication that are related to the
site's existing web content. Articles in the repositories
are available for syndication, which means webmasters can
freely include the articles on their websites as long as
they include the author resource box with valid links.

Use the following to locate topic specific articles:
Free Website Content -
http://www.small-business-software.net/free-website-content.htm
GoArticles - http://www.goarticles.com



2. RSS Feeds
The contents of many RSS feeds can be syndicated. The added
benefit of syndicating feeds is that they are frequently
updated which will result in a steady stream of fresh
changing content. In order to reap the benefits of
syndicating RSS feeds, webmasters should use either an ASP
script or PHP script to display the feeds contents as HTML.

Webmasters can navigate categories of RSS feed directories
to locate related topic feeds or search for feeds using
keywords.

Search the following directories to locate related RSS
feeds:
RSS Network - http://www.rss-network.com
RSS Locator - http://www.rss-locator.com

Free script for displaying RSS feeds as HTML:
rss2html.php -
http://www.feedforall.com/free-php-script.htm



3. Shareware Listings
Consider populating a website or section of a website with
related niche software applications. Many software companies
offer applications as free downloads. The downloads allow
potential customers the opportunity to try an application
prior to making a purchase decision. Categorizing and
displaying software that relates to a website theme can
generate a lot of interest. Most developers provide product
descriptions and information in a PAD file which is simply
XML. Developers can locate PAD files using the ASP site and
the PAD kit can be used to display the contents of the PAD
file.

PAD Kit - http://www.asp-shareware.org



4. Creative Commons
A Creative Commons license allows creators to place
conditions on their copyrights. Many artists allow other
publishers to use their creative and artwork, occasionally
there are conditions that credit must be given, while others
are available freely. Web publishers can find a lot of
unique content, images and creative using the new Yahoo
Creative Commons Search.

The Yahoo! Creative Commons Search service finds content
across the Web that has a Creative Commons license.

Yahoo Creative Commons Search - http://search.yahoo.com/cc
More on Creative Commons - http://www.creativecommons.com



5. Forums
Consider creating a community forum where like-minded
individuals or at the very least individuals with a common
interest can discuss problems, concerns, related products or
ideas. The forum posts will generate a fresh stream of new
and self perpetuating website content.

Free Forum *note be sure to stay current on updates
PHPbb - http://www.phpbb.com



6. White Papers
Provide white papers, customer profiles or endorsements that
detail how applications can be used in a specific industry.
Creating a white paper section that explains how a specific
product or service is used in a specific industry to solve a
problem or increase productivity gives potential customers
insight into how a specific service, product or technology
will help in the course of a day.

Sample White Papers -
http://www.notepage.net/whitepapers.htm


7. Directories
Creating a directory of related sites while time consuming
can result in significant traffic. Directories typically are
well respected resources and rank well in search engines.

Sample Niche Directories :
Podcasting Tools - http://www.podcasting-tools.com
Finance Investing Feed Directory -
http://www.finance-investing.com



8. Newsletter Archive
If done properly online marketers see an almost
instantaneous sales or traffic increases when they send
newsletters but many do not benefit long term from the
newsletter. Consider creating a newsletter archive, the
content is already built, why not benefit from the potential
traffic and unique phrases used, to attract new or potential
customers?

Sample Archive
Corporate Newsletters -
http://www.feedforall.com/newsletter.htm
Software Marketing Newsletters -
http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/articledirectory.html



9. Blog.
Ride the technological wave. A daily journal with
information related to product or service launches,
specials, technical tips, new product announcements

Sample Blog Archive
RSS Blog - http://www.rss-specifications.htm/blog.htm


As search engines combat the problems with artificially
generated a non-sensical web content , webmasters must
integrate quality, themed content that is going to
legitimately interest prospective customers.


About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll
http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing,
publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon
manages marketing for FeedForDev http://www.feedfordev.com
an RSS component for developers.