If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you know the value of creating concise, compelling, and accurate product information. Content26 has produced product descriptions for nearly 600 manufacturers, and if we know nothing else from our experience, we know this: good content sells!
But content isn’t always enough. If you have multiple channels that sell your products, you also need to get the word out by distributing that content to the websites that matter most. Enter syndication.
No different in concept than how Seinfeld and Family Guy reruns make it to your living room, syndication allows content–including product demos, video, enhanced descriptions, installation guides, and product manuals–to reach thousands of websites and e-tailers. Syndication allows you to produce content once and serve it many times.
In its simplest terms, you pay a syndicator to host and deliver your content to sites of your choosing. The syndicator does the necessary work to get your content on each site, allowing you to focus on what you do best: make and sell products.
The Four Syndicators: Easy2, WebCollage, SellPoint, and CNET
At this time there are three well-established content syndicators–Easy2 Technologies, WebCollage, and SellPoint–and a recent addition to the group, CNET Content Solutions. (Full disclosure: content26 has created content on behalf of Easy2 and WebCollage clients.)
Syndication has been around for several years, but as the number of Internet users skyrockets and the ROPO (research online, purchase offline) effect becomes increasingly important to marketers, web presence has emerged as a necessary component of all sales strategies. Accordingly, the service is now more important than ever.
To help companies sort out the players and better understand some of the fine print of syndication, we’ve created this content syndication overview.
Our content syndication overview includes an interview with analyst Geoffrey Bock, who argues that for syndicators to remain relevant over the long term, they must address the challenges that SEO places on their content.
We provide a brief overview of each of the syndicators and interviews with key management and sales personnel, including Easy2’s Jerry Spelic, WebCollage CEO Scott Matthews, and Eli Marcus of CNET Content Solutions.
We’ve also launched a dedicated Content Syndication FAQ page that answers some basic syndication questions. We will update as necessary, and we welcome any questions you might have regarding syndication. If we don’t have the answers, we’ll reach out to the syndicators themselves to get those answers.
If your company is in need of syndication services for your product detail content, you’ll surely want to do your due diligence and explore your options in great depth. Our hope is that this content syndication overview will get you started, arm you with some important information, and generate several key questions to inform your conversations with potential syndicators.
