Archive for August, 2008
Blog articles should be unique to capture the interest of your readers. They do not want to see duplicate content and neither do the search engines, especially Google. When you are short of ideas for your article, there are some research tools you can use to choose a topic, or fill in the content.
The first service you should be using is News Alerts. When setting up alerts for your site, enter the primary keywords used for your website or blog. When press releases or other blog articles are published, Google Alerts sends them to you in email. When you get those alerts, scan through them for items of interest, visit the sites and read the articles. There may be information you can use to compile your own article.
News Alerts can also be used to see what topics are being talked about most at the time. After reading various articles on the topic, chances are you will form your own opinion. Use those new ideas to write your articles. If you quote someone, be sure to also display and link to the information source in the article. That is usually done at the bottom.
Two news alerts that work very well for these purposes are Google Alerts and Yahoo! News Alerts Register for both of them to get the most current information. Both sites allow you to search the previous news alerts, allowing you to narrow the information you are looking for. Google has a separate site called Google News where you can search recent releases.
When the alerts come in, I use email filters to put those news alerts into their own folder. That wya they can be easily categorized, scanned, searched and archived. While you will want to use the alerts quickly for the popular topics to gain exposure, some can also be used later once the flurry of other articles and media attention have calmed. That will bring more attention to your site by revisiting the topics.
If that looks like too much work or time to compile your articles, try using a program to search for you. The one I like best is Instant Article Wizard. It allows me to search various sources that only include the phrase I enter into the search.
What services to you use to research your articles?
