How to Keep Your Website Newsy

Can you keep your company’s website fresh and compelling — without a full-time staff member to do it?

You can, and more easily than you may think. As I explained in NY Report’s December issue (click here), your website is the first place prospective clients will go to check out your company. Then, I told you about the surprisingly simple tools you can use to keep your site updated. Now let’s talk about what you need to keep your content as compelling as possible.

Many small and medium-size firms generate more news than they realize. Here are some things that make good company news:

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  Changes in the organization: promotions, new hires



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  New products



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  Awards and/or certification



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  Landing your 100th, 500th or 1000th client



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  Relocation



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  Something innovative or different your company is doing



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  Case studies that exemplify how the company, its products or its services helped a customer in a specific scenario with positive results

Next, look at external sources that can deliver relevant content right to your inbox or website:

Google Alerts

Google Alerts is a free service that sends you updates of the latest relevant Google results (Web, news, etc.) based on the topic you have chosen. Think of it as a free, automated research service. You can get alerts on your industry, your competition or even a piece of pending legislation that affects your business.

Google Alerts arrive in the form of a URL and a descriptive sentence. You can click on the link and review the material, then decide if you want to post it on your website. Keep the process time-efficient by setting up a template for this purpose. It can be as simple as three lines: name, news in two sentences and a link to the full story or more information.

Industry associations

Industry associations such as the National Retail Federation and the Direct Marketing Association can be a great source of news. Check the association relevant to your business to see if it offers syndicated content or an RS (Really Simple Syndication) feed that you can plug into your website to automate updates. (Your Web developer can easily set up a page to publish RS feeds.)

Syndicated content

Syndicated content is an ideal way to get fresh content delivered automatically to your site. A few free sites that aggregate content topics are voxant.com and freshcontent.net. Paid sources include mochila.com and nationaljournal.com.

While the Web has evolved greatly since its inception, what hasn’t changed is that content is still king. Use some of these simple tools to keep the content on your website fresh — and keep your site visitors coming back for more.