UPDATE: I now have a different opinion on the Blog Engage premium membership service. I’m no longer part of the service. I explain my opinion in detail in this post:
Blog Engage: Why I Cancelled My Premium RSS Syndication
You’re free to try this service, just that I’m not endorsing it any more.
The discussion about Blog Engage at this post is not deleted to respect the comments.
Content marketing is very important when it comes to marketing your blog or service. Talking to people through your content is what content marketing is about.
If you manage to get into people’s head and heart because of your content, your content marketing strategy has won. It is an art. You should sell without selling.
If your content marketing strategy is efficient, you don’t have to work hard on convincing people to buy from yourself - it happens automatically.
I call something “effective” only if I can get more out of less time; that is, if the strategy is not about “working hard” but about “working smart”.
Now it is a sad fact that most bloggers fail at content marketing. Why, because they think content marketing is nothing but the following set of steps:
- Create a blog post
- publish it at their own blog
- use an article spinning software or hire a freelance writer to spin the blog post into 5 or 6 unique versions (may be even more)
- submit the spun versions to article directories and hubs (like Ezine articles, Squidoo, Hub pages etc.)
- rinse and repeat.
Well there is nothing wrong with this strategy. It has worked greatly and works even now; the only thing is that it cannot be deemed an effective strategy.
Especially after the Panda and the duplicate content issue, there is not much fab to this plain article marketing technique.
So how are you supposed to market your blog through content marketing? A million dollar question!
First things first
Now let me write something that you might not be interested at, and might be even thinking about leaving this page as I am about to tell you. Here it is - you need great content, or well…. content is king.
I know, you’ve heard it a million times. And I am so happy if you are still reading it. Great!
Even if you have heard of this very fact, you have to make sure that you’re doing it. Are you providing high quality content?
OK let me talk about content marketing in literal terms. “Content marketing” means that you are marketing your content. Can you market something that sucks?
You might be the world’s best marketer around but you cannot fool your customers with a product that is of poor quality. I am sure you will agree with it.
So don’t just read and listen to people telling you to write high quality content, but please do it.
OK, now let’s get past the first thing.
Alternate to manual submission?
One of the important aspects of content marketing is to get your content in as many places as possible so that you get a lot of eyeballs to see it. But at the same time, you cannot spend too much time on manually submitting your content to articles directories; also bearing in mind that Google is not a big fan of content marketing in the fully automated way.
Having said that I am NOT totally ruling out the possibility of content marketing through article marketing and you still need to do it anyway; just see that you don’t overdo it and don’t rely completely on that one method for content marketing.
Well back to manual submission, yes it can be done and in some way, it is much much preferred in these days of automation. If you don’t automate something, people know that its directly from you. Anyway, never mind - I have mixed thoughts on this which is a topic for a separate post.
Content syndication
OK here comes an alternate which is much more effective. Content syndication. If you’re not familiar about what is web content syndication here is a definition from Wikipedia:
Web syndication is a form of syndication in which website material is made available to multiple other sites. Most commonly, web syndication refers to making web feeds available from a site in order to provide other people with a summary or update of the website’s recently added content
So it all works based on your RSS feed. There are content syndication services that offer their service for a little price. Once you set it up, you can really forget about it.
Now how should you choose that good content syndication service? Well, look around what other people use, what feedback they give and so on.
Alternatively if you are good at trying stuff yourself (and have the time and money for that) you can try popular services one by one to arrive at a conclusion. Actually this is the best method to choose any service since you put your hands on the service, see what works for you and what doesn’t work for you and then choose the best. You follow your preference.
But most of the times time or money could be a great factor. So you need to believe what others saying.
My recommendations:
OK so I’ve put my hands on a couple of services which I’m gonna introduce below. But before that, I must say that I have used these services for months now and I have been an actively engaging over there.
Automatically updating is not favored by many because of the “automatic” flavor it produces. So all in all I vote for an automated service if it is not too aggressive and doesn’t “feel” automatic.
I found two services that help me do this: Blog Engage and Blokube.
I’ve already used both their free and premium services, I can tell you that these two services rock.
I have already made a post about the details of automated content syndication through Blog Engage and why it helps much in this post:
Blog Engage | Automatic Content Syndication For Exposure And backlinks
The features
Blog Engage
- Build Backlinks
- Get exposure on social media (I mean, great extra exposure) - get automatically tweeted to 2500+ followers and 450+ friends
- Earn money - Blog Engage shares google adsense revenue.
Blokube
- RSS feeds syndication
- Backlinks
- Ad free browsing
- VIP forums, members only community
- Webminars
How does it all work?
Let me remind you that these blogging networks are not content farms or content duplication sites. They are not ripping your content off your RSS feed and publishing it for their own benefit.
Rather, it is about blog promotion, building backlinks, and well, content marketing.
Once you register at Blog Engage or Blokube premium content syndication service, you can enter your RSS feed details in your account settings (depending upon the type of your syndication account, the number of RSS feeds you can submit will vary).
Whenever you publish a new post, it gets automatically submitted to Blog Engage and/or Blokube and it is open for voting at the awesome community there. If your post gets enough votes your story gets published.
All in all you get backlinks, exposure and hence, awesome traffic. You have marketed your blog with your existing content. What do you think about this strategy?
Very interesting. I’ve never tried those tools before Jane, thanks a ton! These look incredibly useful!
Sean this service is a great time saver. I used to be a gold member and just now have upgraded to a business member, to save even more time
I have recently been buzzed about these services and heard various positive reviews about Blog Engage but I am yet to give it a try. I like the concept but the only thing is “Is it worth time?” and if I get a premium one”Is it worth the money?” . What do you think Jane?
Karan, content marketing is definitely worth your time, coz they usually say “Content is King” but that’s not fully true. There is no point in having killer content while nobody knows about it. Content marketing makes your content to be known to the world.
And “is it worth the money” - YES! As I just replied to Sean it is a great time saver. And I just upgraded to a business membership to market all my other blogs as well, saving more time
It is definitely worth a try
If you are recommending it, it would surely be something great. I’ll just go and check it out now. About the premium one, ya I still need to think about it.
Yes you can try the free version to start with, where you have to manually submit the articles. You can track the traffic you get from Blog Engage/Blokube through your Analytics account. To me Blog Engange is the third largest traffic source.
Now that is real great . If its third largest traffic source then it definitely has the value of money . Now I understand the logic behind these.Indirectly I would call them social network for Bloggers . 😀
I’m certainly not putting much efforts into article marketing anymore but I’ve also noticed that the Market Samurai people have come out with a new product that is based on article marketing. I would think that they know what they are doing but this focus seems to be going against the grain of the present thinking that article marketing is not where it’s at anymore.
Clint, this is something different from article marketing. Article marketing involves marketing the article as such (just by writing/spinning different versions of it). But with content marketing we just promote the blog’s content as is, on different blog communities like Blog Engage and Blokube.
Steve says
Jane,
I love both Blokube and blogengage. Great services.
I think one of the best ways I can add to this is with a simple statement. The very first way I found your blog was through Blog Engage. So here I am still reading and commenting months and months later. Proof positive of the effectiveness of these methods.
-Steve
Steve, WOW thanks for the awesome proof. I didn’t know that you discovered me through Blog Engage.
I personally love both those communities. Love to interact with those people.
I haven’t tried blog engage but because of this post I’m going to visit their website for more info.
Adam, sure it will be worth the try.
Hi, I come back here to ask if blog engage really require a one time signup fee of $29.99.
Adam, I’ll check with Brian and let you know
Jym | Blog Analytics Tools says
Nice share Jane - these are awesome resources. Great places to network too.
Love your pic by the way. You made my mouth water!
Every blogger and content marketer would do well to check these recommendations out.
Jym, yes I’m a lover of Pizza too - just that they’re not good if eaten often, unlike content marketing
(aw what an analogy LOL)
I always submit unique article for each of my keywords and get instant attraction of search engines.For organic searches I recommend consistently update articles on your site.
WordPress Hosting says
I am starting to use blog engage and I do hope it will work well for me.
Using conten for promotion still working nice. But for future 2-3 year it will lose priority for sure!
What makes you say that?
Andrew Walker says
Hi. Thanks for sharing this. it’s a very nice tips and detailed article! Great one!
Thanks these do look like good resources. I am in the process of working on building my sites and I am definitely going to look into both these services. I don’t really like the article farms. I want to really build useful content and attract people that way. This process seems to encourage good content by voting from users.
Thanks for the recommendations, I’ll definitely have to check those out. I’ve never been a big fan of those article submission sites. Even though the articles had to get approved, the quality was still very low and a high quality article would just get lost in all the noise. At least with these sites, the article has to get enough votes from the community before it gets syndicated on the web.
Hi Lionel, that’s a smart decision. In my opinion I can not even compare article submission with content syndication. In terms of quality and value, and the reach you get (not just visitors but aspiring bloggers and others who vote on your content), that’s an awesome marketing strategy! Yes please give it a try and let me know how that goes!
I completely agree with jame. Content marketing is really worthy. We need to use unique content.
Employee Monitor says
This is the first time I’ve read about these features on blogs. Okay, I haven’t been to too many of them, but still, it is a good start at being unique. Jokes aside, they really sound useful and the comments back this assumption up as well. I think you have succeeded in building up our interest. Well done!
It looks yummy at the same it was a very organized and clear presentation.
It is well said that one should not rely upon any one marketing strategy. You have to analyse your requirement and then decide what onpage and off page optimization factors to include in marketing. I use to study details, get industrial knowledge, scopes in the market for my product before proceed any strategy.
Shine says
People go to the internet to get information so your site should have good quality content so your visitors will keep on coming back.
Also,they are building traffic,they have to save their online reputation online in daily needs.
Nicole says
Good strategy for getting backlinks. Thanks!
Venkat says
I should try this. Saw many blog networks but as some here said, good articles often don’t get much exposure in so many articles submitted by other bloggers. Only trying it would be the best option. Thanks for introducing these two services to us.
It’s the first time I’ve heard about blog engage…I will try it. Thanks Jane!
Hi Jane, without a doubt these are my two favorite blogging networks. Blog Engage sends me a great deal of traffic and Blokube is one of the best that has come along since. I also like BizSugar but they don’t have the option for syndication yet. Thanks for the post Jane.
Susan Redmon says
Thanks for sharing your content syndication strategy and the services you use.
Yeah shine. I do agree with you. Qualitative content on the site matters a lot.
I wasn’t at all aware of the Blog Engage but now I do! So, all thanks to you for sharing the so worthy information.
am a bit weary of automated stuff especially as i see posts written about being penalized. However I will try Blog Engage and Blokube and share my thoughts. 10x
I wonder how the content from syndicated sites are not treated as plagerized? Even if Google does not consider it copied then who will appear top in the serps. It cannot happen that all of them come at top because it will then be the death of search engine-that is to provide unique quality results.
Peter Palme says
Thanks for sharing your insights. I did not know about these services before.
Hi there. Do you think content syndication still works after google penguin update? I’m asking because I have the feeling that google is now paying more attention to this stuff.
Bethany says
very detailed and helpful…content is indeed one of the key element in great web strategies.
marathi matrimony says
i found this blog through google search good informative blog so i bookmark it
Content syndication is a tricky game and has its own pros and cons. When you syndicate your content, it provides more exposure, publicity and brand awareness for your website but at the same time you run the risk of the other site outranking you by using your own content. At times, the website owners may approach you to seek your content, or you yourself may also approach them to offer your content that they may repurpose as per their own convenience.
“If your content marketing strategy is efficient, you don’t have to work hard on convincing people to buy from yourself – it happens automatically.” Wow Sound Great! thank you for sharing this article to us 😀
Aditya says
Jane…you are a saviour.
Content has always been of main concern and with content marketing becoming so easy with these two services you mentioned.I will try them soon.
I just wanted to add a comment here to mention thanks for you very nice ideas. Blogs are troublesome to run and time consuming thus I appreciate when I see well written material. Your time isn’t going to waste with your posts. Thanks so much and stick with it No doubt you will definitely reach your goals! have a great day!
geoio says
Very interesting information about content syndication.
And I am glad you changed your opinion on the Blog Engage.
Ronald says
Perfect dealing with better example! I appreciate this dealing for my online marketing business. Thanks mate for great dealing!
Hubpages and squidoo are great place to providing us a great backlinks
Shadab says
Jane, I have a one question. After Panda update, let we introduce our blog with an article directory which has already hit by Panda via writing an article with a linkback to our site. Would it be beneficial for our site? would that backlink Google considered quality backlink?
Best Regards!
I did not know about these services before. Thanks for this post & information.
“But with content marketing we just promote the blog’s content as is, on different blog communities like Blog Engage and Blokube.”
Thanks for this idea. I thought they are the same with article marketing. I think this technique is better than article marketing because you will actually promote your blog’s content. Another effective tactic too.
Content marketing is the trend right now and it’s the best strategy to rank in Google. You just need to make sure to have original quality content. Thanks for this post.
These communities sound awesome, but I wonder what happened with Engage. I’ll check out your latest post to see what happened I guess… Thanks so much for the info!
Truly an effective content marketing strategy you have put into account, Thanks for sharing
Hi Jane! I never thought of using Blog Engage and Blokube to build links back to my site. This seems like a very effective way to gain additional traffic so I’m really glad that I came across this post
I have followed several of these tips and they have worked well for me..however i could not find presence of social media quite as uselful as people say. Can you publish some articles on how to use social networking sites for marketing?
Jason Rogers says
Hey very great advice to backlinking. I have used some techniques to build backlinks to some of my niche sites. Thanks for the advice!
I agree with content management. Even if you completely optimize your business your SEO will do no good at times when Google is unstable and changes its criteria at a drop of a dime. Great Share.
Nwosu Desmond says
According to the definition “Web syndication is a form of syndication in which website material is made available to multiple other sites. Most commonly, web syndication refers to making web feeds available from a site in order to provide other people with a summary or update of the website’s recently added content” content syndication is supposed to be a summary of your published content, that was why i stopped syndicating with Zimbio since they publish the whole article and most times even rank higher than the original content. Blogengage and Blokube are indeed awesome syndication methods that works.
Remember friends the content is king for any website. Most of the people are now concentrating on the content for more attraction. By adding unique images to this content may also increase in your traffic. The relevant content should be included in the website of any page. Google had changed all the rules where concentrated on the genuine content.
Thanks for posting…
Great help! I believe it is always important to see what’s behind the cover and that is the content.