The Only Content Distribution and Syndication Advice You’ll Ever Need

Content marketing is one of the best ways to scale up your business.

The fact that it costs a lot less than other marketing methods doesn’t hurt either.

In fact, according to statistics, content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates three times as many leads.

However, if you want your content to reach thousands or even millions of readers online, then you have to do a lot more than just conventional form of content marketing, such as guest posting, blogging, etc.

But what else can you do?

Well, that’s where content syndication comes into the game.

What Exactly is Content Syndication?

Content syndication simply means publishing your original content on third-party sites.

You will be surprised to know just how effective it is.

James Clear, a New York Times bestselling author, credits content syndication for his initial success.

Here’s what he has to say

“… an article that originally ran on my site and then was re-published by Lifehacker later on. I gained over 600 subscribers from the Lifehacker version, and I didn’t have to put in any additional work writing a new article.”

Gaining a whopping 600 subscribers is not a bad deal — don’t know about you, but I’d certainly take it.

Content Distribution & Syndication Vs Guest Posting 

It’s important to discuss why we are putting so much emphasis on content syndication when there’s another excellent way to get your content published on third-party sites, that is by guest posting.

Here’s a simple answer for that:

Content syndication is scalable, while guest posting is not.

With content syndication, you can get a single post published in several third-party sites and even post it on your own blog. On the other hand, once you write a guest post for a website, the outreach gets confined to that single website.

Best Content Distribution and Syndication Tips

Now Let’s have a look at how you can also scale up your business and capitalize on your content distribution and syndication efforts

#1. Avoid Duplicate Content Issue 

If you republish your content elsewhere on the internet, you are definitely going to face the duplicate content issue. It’s a no brainer.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are ways to avoid this altogether.

Also, contrary to popular belief, duplicate content doesn’t lead to any sort of Google penalty per se; Google just indexes all the versions of the web page and gives higher rank to the one with better SEO elements.

To eliminate this competition, it’s better to avoid duplicate content.

Here are some methods both you and your distribution partner(s) need to use to make sure all the content web pages get indexed:

• rel=canonical tag: include this tag on the syndicated page (the page that features the duplicate content). It helps Google crawl the pages in such a way that the ranking signals now get redirected to the original page and your original article gets featured rather than the republished one.
• meta noindex tag: Somewhat similar to the rel=canonical tag, this tag ensures that the ranking signals get completely diverted to your syndicated page and are fully removed from the republished page.
• Link to original article: This is probably the least effective method but doesn’t require any extra coding or tweaking. In this method, you need to add a link to your republished article redirecting it to your original one — and that’s about it. This helps Google ascertain which post is the original one and should be ranked in the search engines.

#2. Select the best distribution channels (with a wider outreach)

The broader outreach your distribution channel has, the more successful your syndication strategy will turn out to be. It is pretty much evident.

And the good thing is that a lot of sites are actually open to republishing your content on their website.

Here’s a list of some viable web content syndication partners:

Remember, you have to find a site that specifically aligns with your niche and helps you establish yourself as an influencer or someone of authority in your domain.

If you are aiming to target a particular third party website to get your content syndicated, then it’s crucial to identify whether they do accept such pitches in the first place or not.

Here’s an easy way to do that.

For instance, if your target site is Lifehacker, then all you need is to enter this in Google search engine: lifehacker.com: originally appeared on

Have a look at the search results:

It goes to show that the website is open to content syndication.

Now select your best-written blog posts and pitch them to their editorial team.

Follow through the above process and try to target high authority websites in your niche. Remember, the bigger the website is, the higher quality standard it will demand. That said, the advantage that it will render to your whole digital marketing strategy will be well worth the effort.

#3. Strategize first, write later 

Research the distribution channel and build a strategy for your content syndication process before you get down to writing your blog post.

Here are the things you need to cover before writing your content:

• Look for referral sources in Google Analytics
• Identify the keywords to discern what subject is the point of conversation
• Identify what type of content is trending

This approach is obvious. After all, you should know what subject matter will lead to more exposure before writing something.

This way, you are not tethering in an unidentified domain. You can now write on something that is sure to receive significant traffic and will be found valuable by your audience.

#4. Don’t shy away from giving away your content 

You are leveraging content syndication to get more exposure for your business or blog, which is why there is absolutely no need to restrict people from using your content without your permission.

In fact, make sure to encourage anyone who visits your website to use your content without any prior permission.

Leo Babauta, the creator of Zen Habits, mentions it explicitly in his popular blog.

He calls it Uncopyright:

This takes away the barrier of copyright from your content, and people can now spread your content around without having to ask you beforehand. So, people who were unwilling to send you an email or a social media message to seek your permission for republishing your content can now do so without any hindrance.

It leads to high exposure and authority, especially when your work gets appropriated.

Wrap-Up 

When you are barely getting started with your business, you need to leverage the best digital marketing training. Content syndication is one of them. It helps you get maximum exposure without even producing new content.

However, if you want to get republished by high authority websites like Huffington Post, Forbes, Inc., and more, you have to prove that you are indeed well versed with the content you are writing. This can be achieved by guest posting and expanding your own blog.

So, before you start with your content syndication strategy, work on building your own writing portfolio.

Author Bio:

Gaurav is a Senior SEO and Content Marketing Analyst at The 20 Media, a Content     

Marketing agency that specializes in data-driven SEO. He has more than seven 

years of experience in Digital Marketing and loves to write about Blogging, Link 

Building, and Content Strategy to help clients grow their search visibility. In his spare 

time, he enjoys watching movies and listening to music.

Connect with him on Twitter @belanigaurav.