Everyday hundreds and thousands of contents are getting uploaded  on internet. Competing with them in terms of search engine ranking & usefulness is quite challenging. Adapting to the changing algorithm (rules of promotion) and practices change quite frequently. But there are many fundamentals which remain constant and never changes.

Promoting content in internet needs careful planning, systematic & procedural implementation and continuous monitoring. Before discussing more on this subject, let me emphasize on one point i.e ‘Content is the King’. Content of your blog/ website need to be  original as well as useful for the readers. This is a pre-requisite to become popular and get a respected rank in search engines.

1. Identity of the Content
Anonymity is a critical constraint in content promotion. One of the major problems is not only originality of the content but also it’s authenticity. When content is identified with the author, the possibility of content outreach increases many folds. You may work on the following:

1. Put name of the author on  story. I personally also prefer putting a photograph, linking the user to his/ her authentic profile such as google plus, linkedin, facebook and gravatar.com
2. Establish a link your own google plus page by: Go to the menu About->Contributor to.
3. Establish quality back-link. Google plus and linkedin seem to be most effective. At the same time it is very important to make sure that you do not buy back-link or establish back-link from low ranked directory.

2. Invite for discussion leading co-creation of content
Discussions around content bring the obvious value and better rank to your content. While implementing discussing feature, it is always better to use a standard plug-in.

“Facebook comment box” and disqus comment plug-in are some of the good ones. Discussion brings new air to your content. So make sure you aways respond to the query raised by the visitors as it connects you to your reader.

3. Keep content straight and literally meaningful
Internet is yet to have the intelligence to interpret metaphoric terms and make sense. Communicate the message quite straight. Let me take an example

See the title “Tips to Build Career in International NGOs”. Search this in google and probably you will find the story with “http://old.indevjobs.org/career/career-counsel/5-tips-build-career-international-ngos/” page on the top. Here it is interesting to note that the title exactly reflects the content.

There are many good articles published in our portals (http://old.indevjobs.org/career/) that suffers because of metaphorical title. While writing title of the story in particular use commonly used words. Refer to synonyms and assess their usability from a reader perspective and make necessary realignment, if required.

4. Do not create duplicate URL
Avoid publishing content in multiple places – believe me, this is only counterproductive. Instead write a brief and link it.

While uploading the story, also ensure that there is one single URL for the content.  The same content should not be accessible in three URLs.

For example, let us see the URLs below linking to same content
http://old.indevjobs.org/career/tips-tricks/curriculum-vitae-cv-for-development-sector/
http://www.indevjobs.org/career/tips-tricks/curriculum-vitae-cv-for-development-sector/
http://old.indevjobs.org/career/tips-tricks/curriculum-vitae-cv-for-development-sector

In the above examples, the URL is with and without “www”. Whether  to have “www” in url or not is a separate subject of discussion but for content promotion, use one consistently and have appropriate redirection of others. For example if someone enters http://www.indevjobs.org/career/tips-tricks/curriculum-vitae-cv-for-development-sector/ it should redirects to http://old.indevjobs.org/career/tips-tricks/curriculum-vitae-cv-for-development-sector/. In this example, I am using URL without “www”.

Always use “/” after the url. For example url should be “http://old.indevjobs.org/career/tips-tricks/curriculum-vitae-cv-for-development-sector/” and not “http://old.indevjobs.org/career/tips-tricks/curriculum-vitae-cv-for-development-sector”

URL change management is one of the poorly managed works in website migration. Do not underestimate the impact of URL change. This may push your site down in search engines. First of all try to avoid any URL change if possible. If not possible than you ensure that you handle “Error 302” effectively.

Please note that if you have third party comment plugin (like Facebook), all comments will be lost in case of URL change as they are linked based on the URL only.

5. Upload the content link to 3 places

• If you manage to place your content/ website in dmoz.org – you have won half of the battle. It is not easy, but keep trying. Study the guideline properly. Please  note – it is not a 10 minutes job.
• Ensure that your content is submitted in Google. The URL ishttps://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url. You may consider Google web master tool – it’s an interesting tool .
• Add you content to yahoo/ bing. The URL is bing.com/toolbox/submit-site-url

6. Do not underestimate the power of google
It is beyond discussion that google is the obvious leader of the current times when it comes to content delivery in internet. They have been adapting their content ranking strategy and linked algorithms to maintain the appropriateness of their search engine. In this vary context, couple of quick points:

• Practice honesty of the highest level when it comes to content promotion. You will definitely get an excellent return. I have personally experienced this in terms of financial benefit in my advertisement programme.
• Write content for your readers and not for Google (or for any other search engine)
• Do not use promotion quick fix. One should read and keep evaluating and implementing when you are convenient . I read it, think for a week and implement it after that. It neutralizes the over excitement.

7. Promotion in Social Network
Promoting content on social network is quite helpful and sustainable reader puller provided you follow the right approach. Simply posting to your wall  is not much of help. The following may be done:

• Identify groups and pages in Facebook where your content may be posted. Be in the group/ pages and keep participating and following. When you have the relevant content – Post it. Do not join and try posting immediately many links in one go – It will not work. Respect the protocol of the group.
• For twitter, Identify right hash tag and time zone. For example if the content is relevant for UK, post it in relevant time.
• Be a part of relevant Linked-in groups. By being more of a professional network, the possibility of getting intense reading is high in Linkedin.