Part 4 of the 'Content' Ecourse

Basically, there are only 2 types of 'CONTENT', original content, and "syndicated" content.

The first is to write your own, using some of the tips shown in the last email.

The syndicated type, can be obtained in 2 ways. Join a fee based membership site that offers content you can use, and/or public domain material for a specified membership fee. Secondly, by purchasing a program that can mine for articles for your niche.

"Original" Content: Definitely the most important part of your website if you want to be recognized by search engines. This, as you, know takes time.

"Syndicated" Content: Most anything you see in the news, falls under this category. It also includes things like RSS feeds, and articles from article directories.

Look at almost any of the "big" sites out there. It's rare to find one that has strictly original content. Why? Well, it would simply take far too long, and wouldn't be giving credit where it's due.

The search engines know this!

They don't penalize for duplicate content...they penalize for a EXACT duplicate content. But they also favour those who appear as "authorities" on a particular subject.

Keep in mind that the search engines take into account a lot more than just the words! They also look at the site to make sure it isn't exactly the same...different layouts, different tags and different graphics all make for different content.

In other words: Using free articles isn't bad, as long as you don't make an exact copy of the entire site it came from!

And this is where an Article miner program is worthwhile.

This type of system, is a program that you buy, which searches the Internet for articles associated with your niche only, and puts the article, complete with the author's name on your website.

This is a great way to obtain a lot of fresh content, and keeps your website to the forefront in the search engine program.

A typical, but one of the better programs, can be found here:

Mining for Article Content

Content Providers Buying content isn't always as straightforward as it seems. There are a lot of different content stores on the Web – some that are reputable, and some that are not.

Being cautious now will ensure that your content is there for you tomorrow, and might even save you a few legal headaches.

Anyone can set up a content store, but few of these stores will prove to be worth your time. You want a content provider who is stable – one that will be there in five years.

You want a content provider that is constantly working to provide you with fresh, new content.

Free Content Sure, there are some sites out there that will offer you content for free. What you need to consider; however, is what you are actually getting when you use free content.

First, you can practically bet that if you snatched up such an offer, so did at least tens of thousands other people. You must add the author's "resource box" with link to author's website which practically "steals" your traffic.

You are now competing not only with the multitude, using a product that is not unique and not very original, but with the author "stealing" your traffic through "resource box" link. The value of whatever you are trying to sell just instantly plummeted. The market is flooded.

Members Only Another method is paying to be a member of a 'Content' website. Some of you may balk at the word 'fee' at first, but before you turn a blind eye to this method, take a moment to find out why this is a reasonable option.. As the old axiom goes, "You get what you pay for."

This is due to the way most membership sites are set up. Only a select number of individuals are allowed to join and take advantage of the offers through the membership; thus insuring a market edge for those members.

Since only the individuals who belong to the membership will have access to the material, and not all of those people will be using the material for the same purpose, you don't have to worry about competing with the rest of the world.

Furthermore, the surprising truth of the matter is that only a few of those members will do anything at all with the content they can access. I never cease to be amazed at how many people actually do nothing at all with what they can access.

The fee involved in joining a membership site usually varies, but the great thing about such a membership is that the producer of the site normally has already either purchased the rights to the material or taken care of any research needed to verify that the work is actually part of the public domain and therefore free of any copyright restrictions and potential problems.

So, you have a choice, write your own articles, become a fee-paying member of a content site, or buy a cheap article miner program and seek out articles associated to your particular niche.

Here is to your success.

Bill Ritchie

http://www.thehomebusinessprofessor.com

email: rabbie2@btinternet.com

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