How to Make Your Content ‘Submit Worthy’

"Why won't anyone submit my content to Digg? My competitor is always on Reddit but my stuff gets ignored!" Sound familiar? Well here's how to put an end to your woes and ensure your content is submit worthy.

In order to be successful on social media news and bookmarking sites, you have to think like a typical power user. Start by understanding some fundamental truths about the users of these sites. For the most part they are busy. They skim. They want you (the publisher) to do a lot of the work for them. So here's how to cover all of your bases and K.I.S.S.

It all starts with a great title.
In the SEO world most people will tell you that your title is the most important on-page factor. Same thing is true for social media and bookmarketing sites. Your title can make or break your article. On a site like Reddit, there is no description option, so it's all about the title. Take a couple of extra minutes to put some thought into a creative title for your content. You'll be happy you did.

Subheadings are sexy.
You know what your content is about better than anyone. Why not provide a short summary right under your title? This way someone can use that as a description instead of just grabbing the first two sentences (that might be way out of context). Great examples of this can be seen on any story by the BBC.

Pictures are worth a thousand words.
Great imagery can go a long way. On a site like Digg it can mean the difference between success and failure. Digg allows you to have a thumbnail image for any news article that gets submitted. People's eyes are naturally drawn to images. So if users have the choice between a submission with a thumbnail and one without it - well....

Be sure to check this yourself on Digg though to make sure its image spider is finding the correct images. For good examples check out the Wall Street Journal, Divine Caroline, or ReadWriteWeb. Need help? Here's our creative process.

No one wants to flip through 15 pages.
Social media users are a fickle bunch. One thing that most will agree on is that they hate having to read your content spread out onto seven pages. Or check out your slideshow that is on 25 different ones. I know, I know. Each extra page view results in extra ad impressions. Social media users know this too. And they hate it. Would you rather 1,000 people viewing seven pages or 60,000 viewing two?

RSS. It's not just for blogs.
One of the biggest misconceptions I hear in regards to RSS is "My site isn't a blog so I can't have RSS." If you have new content and you want people to be able to find that content easily, put it out in RSS. Make sure people know that you have RSS. Is Time Magazine a blog? Here's a great overview to get you started.

Oh yeah, Pop culture references can also help. Like the one I used as inspiration for this post...

No truth to LinkedIn rumor

Reuters is reporting that an anonymous source has squelched the rumor that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is holding takeover discussions with LinkedIn.

The rumor first surfaced two weeks ago when TechCrunch reported that Murdoch had taken a fancy to LinkedIn. It was fueled last week when VentureBeat weighed in, reporting that its "well-placed source" has confirmed that News Corp. is in "serious" talks to buy the social network geared to professionals.

Analysts say the deal would make a lot of sense, giving News Corp. the technology and service underpinnings to connect the business world readers of its Dow Jones publications. And Murdoch has been known to exploit fast-moving opportunities before they peak, such as his purchase of MySpace.

But the deal may not be necessary, as News Corp's Fox Interactive Media (FIM) internet division, which oversees MySpace, reportedly may already be moving to serve the business world.

FIM President Peter Levinsohn told Reuters last week that MySpace plans to let its users create different profiles to attract different contacts, such as personal friends, business contacts or family members

Source: www.imediaconnection.com

What You Need About Page Optimization And SEO

On page optimization refers to search engine optimization techniques used directly in the construction of web pages.

However, it is important to remember that on page optimization is about more than simply search engine optimization, it should be about optimizing the page for human readers.

When you do this, you generally make the search engines happy as well. It is important to provide visitors to your website with valuable content that makes them want to come back to your site again and again.

As well as ensuring your website is full of valuable content, it is important to pay attention to your use of keywords.

Avoid keyword stuffing as not only does it make your website look unintelligent and unprofessional, search engines have caught on and you will be penalized for over using keywords.

The ideal is to use keywords naturally and sparingly. You want to use the keywords often enough to attract search engine traffic but no more than that.

Although traditional SEO identifies a keyword density of 2-7% as being ideal for on page optimization, changes in Google's search engine operations indicate that a density of only 1-2% may be preferable (and easier to read).

Make a list of commonly used search terms that relate to your subject and subtopics and sprinkle them throughout your site. Google's latent semantic index (LSI) algorithm will also reward you for the use of similar phrases.

Keywords should not be limited to your page content. It is very important to include your keywords in your page titles. Search engines identify the content of your pages largely on the words used in your page titles.

Without the use of keywords in page titles, you will need to have a lot of external links pointed to that page to encourage website traffic.

When including keywords in your titles, place them as close to the beginning of the title as possible but be sure that it is readable. The page title is essential to on page optimization because it shows as the link in search engine results.

Each page of your website should have its own unique,relatively short page title which utilizes the main keywords for that page.

Remember that search engines only allow a certain number of characters to display in search results. Do not use your keywords more than two or three times in your title; for most keyword phrases, once should be enough.

When you read about "on page optimization" strategies, you will often come across the term "meta tags", however because the use of meta tags has been greatly abused by spam the major search engines don't give them much, if any, weight.

Most SEO professionals do not rely on the use of meta tags for on page optimization any more.

Nevertheless, if you choose to do so, only use the meta keyword and meta description tags and make sure that any word or phrase you list is actually included on your page, otherwise it may be interpreted as spam.

On page links to other relevant sites can also add to your search engine popularity. However, it is important that the links you provide are genuine and are directed to sites with related content that adds value to your visitors.

On page optimization is not difficult to implement and provided you offer your visitors high quality, relevant content, will greatly enhance your success with the search engines.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/