One of the most important sources for inbound marketing traffic and leads is often overlooked, blog syndication. If you manage to get your blog picked up by a popular, well-respected syndication site in your industry, it can have a profound effect on your ability to get found online and capture more sales leads. We talk about “influencers” as key resources to attract and nurture inbound leads, but “syndicators” can be just as important.
What is Blog Post Syndication?
In a nutshell, someone decides to set up a website (or mobile app) with the purpose of curating the best content available from blog and news feeds for a particular topic or industry. Bloggers can submit their blogs for inclusion in the site via RSS feeds, and they are reviewed by one or more editors. In some cases you can submit individual blog posts manually, but getting on their automatic feed list is where you want to be. If your blog is accepted, the editors will receive notice when a new blog post is published from your blog and all the others they subsribe to. They will review posts and include the ones they want for each issue. You can create your own syndicated e-paper using a service like paper.li.
Why is Syndication So Important?
If your blog posts are published on an independent blog syndication site, you have the benefit of exposure to a potentially much larger (and more focused) audience than you would ever have on your own site. Why? The good ones are well respected and popular for a reason. They are independent and usually backed by well-respected people as their editors and also other well-respected bloggers. You have the benefit of inclusion with other trusted resources in your industry. Your thought leadership goes up, and your content gets a much wider distribution. Oh, and don’t forget about SEO. Some syndication sites will allow you to include backlinks to your site and blog. Nice set of perks.
Does it Work?
Oh yeah. Our blog posts are regularly syndicated by business2community.com and socialmediatoday.com, two very well known and respected syndication sites in the online marketing industry. These two sites have accounted for nearly 2,000 visits and over 200 leads during the past year, with a much higher conversion rate than our normal website traffic. We have other sites picking up our blogs, but they are the big gorillas in the room.
How To Get The Attention of the Curators
This is simple really. Write consistently good, relevant, helpful blog posts on your blog and build up your own subscribership over time. Promote your blog posts via social media, but only as part of a general stream of good information for your target audience. Follow and engage with the editors in social networks and make frequent, helpful comments on their syndicated posts. Become a respected thought leader in your own right, and your blog will be sought-after. Then you can ride the avalanche of traffic and leads coming into your site.
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