Give more content away, spread it around to various outlets, especially the online areas you know your users are already occupying, and the rewards will ultimately fall back in your lap.
In the Jumpstart Your Website session, Christy Tanner, Vice President of Marketing and Editor-in-Chief of TV Guide Online network shared with attendees 4 tips and 3 results for setting your content free. Seeing as how her site (and revenue) has tripled in the last 2 years, you should listen up!
Tanner’s 4 TIPS for setting your content free:
1. SEO: Search engines have to be able to find every last bit of content on your site. Tanner cites relevant keyword repetition and frequently refreshed content as key to their organic optimization success.
2. Design: Every page is a homepage. Pay equal attention to every page on your site both in terms of SEO and conversion architecture.
3. Syndication: Everything must be portable (including ads). TVGuide.com currently has content feeds on some of the major portals including Yahoo, an iGoogle gadget and lots of original video.
4. Social Networking: Start the conversation wherever the users are. Engage in social networks and create a sense of community around your brand.
[text_ad]
Tanner also noted the importance of having editor enthusiasm when it comes to SEO and social networking. TVGuide.com’s focus on SEO has given the editors a wider audience, which can appeal to their egos in a good way. Tanner says some editors love it and some hate it, but every editor must use SEO principals in their headlines – it is required.
Tanner’s 3 RESULTS from setting your content free:
1. More traffic/new users
2. New revenue opportunities
3. Increased user engagement and brand recognition
It’s a win-win! Give more content away, spread it around to various outlets, especially the online areas you know your users are already occupying, and the rewards will ultimately fall back in your lap.
More coverage from AMC 2008:
- Google’s Eric Schmidt: The Internet is a Cesspool
- Reshaping the Model for Magazines
- Independent Magazines Talk Digital
- Facebook’s COO: “It’s an open web… this is important for the long run, but difficult for monetization in the short run.”
- 4 Online Publishing Tips from CondeNet’s Editorial Director, Jamie Pallot
