Which Content Syndication Networks Are Right for You?

If you’re not already syndicating your content in one way or another, you really should be. The online world is a big and cluttered place, so it isn’t reasonable to think that you can limit the distribution of your content solely to your own blog. It’s always a good idea to get your blog posts in front of a different audience, who would otherwise not even know it exists.

Also called republishing, content syndication involves permitting other websites to republish your content in part or in full to help you reach more audiences outside of your circle of followers. By syndicating your content, you’re gaining a whole new set of audience to whom you can market your brand.

However, that doesn’t mean that you should go on a syndication spree and let random sites do the work of promoting all your blog posts (or any other content type for that matter) for you.

For one, not all sites allow content syndication. Neither should you send all your great content pieces to syndication services since you’d also want to have exclusive control over some of your more valuable content.

First, you need to check if the site you’re looking at accepts republished content. Ideally, you should cater your content to the target publisher’s audience. Otherwise, its readers won’t find your content relevant.

Authoritative syndication networks can also up your content syndication game, as they can place your content on influential websites with high traffic. In turn, this could establish your status as an equally authoritative figure on the subject matter and drive targeted visitors to your website.

Strategies to Syndicate Content

You can publish your content such as blog posts, articles, videos, images, and podcasts, among others on other sites through any of these methods:

• Partnerships – You and your partner websites, which are preferably top-ranking, leading industry sites, agree to republish your syndicated content or feature your original content (also known as guest post) once off or on a regular basis.
• Free Services – You submit your content for free to web content syndication services such as SlideShare, WikiHow, HubPages, and other syndication websites to help you gain exposure and direct more traffic to your site.
• Paid Services – As the name implies, you pay a certain fee to have your content published on various networks. A list of recommended or similar articles typically appears in a prominent section of the website, and clicking on those widgets will direct readers to your content.
• Ad-Supported – In this method, you could get rewarded for writing great content by receiving a percentage of the syndication service’s advertising revenue.
• Licenses – Known as licensed blog syndication, this method allows you to earn money in the form of royalties whenever “high-quality” users discover and access your content.

Content Syndication Networks to Check Out

Content syndication networks are basically services that help you distribute your content across innumerable news and blog sites on their network. Here are some of your options if you’re looking to syndicate your content and how they may be good (or not-so-good) for your business goals:

1. Outbrain

Outbrain is a popular content discovery and marketing platform that helps your readers find out about your content by recommending it to top media outfits like CNN, Time, and ESPN.

On its website, Outbrain states it’s reaching an audience of more than 550 million online users and serving them about 200 billion content recommendations per month. That’s how far your content could go on the Outbrain network. Outbrain also has features that let you track reader engagement so that you know which part or version of your content resonates well with your audience.

The downside with Outbrain, however, is that it doesn’t allow publishers to qualify for its revenue sharing program unless the site it’s publishing advertised content or has more than 10 million article page views. So if you’re a small- to medium-sized enterprise that aims to generate earnings from your blog posts, Outbrain might not be the best syndication network for you.

2. SlideShare

SlideShare is a LinkedIn affiliate network and free platform that allows anybody to upload their content in a slideshow format, which visitors can then view at their own convenience. Often, these visitors come from targeted search, so you can be more confident that your content is engaging the right kind of audience.

However, since it’s a free-for-all platform, there are really no guidelines that publishers have to follow. This could mean that even content with inferior quality can get published and distributed, which isn’t helpful for businesses that are aiming for brand authority.

3. SimpleReach

SimpleReach is a content analytics and insights platform that helps marketers understand and improve the impact of their articles and video on brand lift, engagement, and conversions.

It complements content syndication networks you work with by helping you understand which channels (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Outbrain, Taboola, etc) are generating the most ROI and where to increase or decrease your paid distribution spend.

4. ARC

ARC is part of PR Newswire’s press release service, which spreads your content across a wide network of blog, news, and social media sites all at once for publication.

While ARC is not specifically useful for your SEO campaigns, it can help you generate traffic for your site and awareness or interest in your brand.

5. Taboola

The Taboola network mostly serves high-end publishers including The NY Times, NBC, and CBS. Its content engine helps you determine which sites will give you the best engagement for your posts.

As of late, Taboola seems to be experiencing great success in marketing video content, so it’s best to consider the service if you see your brand doing more video content marketing in the near future.

6. Medium

If you want to syndicate your own content, Medium can be one of your best options. It’s an online community that allows you to start your blog (if you haven’t any) right on the Medium site so that you get to share your content with interested people or organizations in its audience.

Many startups and brands who run their own blog also prefer to republish their content on Medium, as they find the site’s platform easy to use and link to their social profiles.

Conclusion

To sum up, content syndication helps you bring your content across the web so that you can reach a wider audience and gain significantly more exposure for your brand’s online content.

With the variety of content syndication networks to choose from, you should choose the platform that best supports your business’ core objectives, whether it’s to drive awareness, engagement, or brand authority.

If you don’t have the time and/or resources to implement content syndication yourself, there’s always the option of leaving it to the experts. PureB2B’s wide range of content syndication technology options allows you to reach in-market technology buyers and align your sales leads to your organization’s needs.