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Excel News Weblogs
Syndicated Excel News
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The Excel News NetworkExcel NewsBenefits of Using the Excel News Network
Questions and Answers
How do I sign up to post on the Excel weblogs?The Excel News Network is a group of team weblogs. To become a team member, please send an email to news42@vertex42.com stating (1) which weblogs you wish to post to, (2) your personal and/or commercial website URL, and (3) a statement of commitment that yours posts will be professional and objective. We will review your application and respond as soon as possible (usually within two business days). How do I post news items?We specifically chose to use host the Excel News Network on blogspot.com due to their association with Google.com. Team members can add an icon to the Google toolbar (in Internet Explorer) that makes it extremely simple to post items to the weblogs as they are browsing the internet. Click here to learn about BlogThis! How do I syndicate feeds using Javascript?There are many free tools, but the best one we have used so far is FeedSweep. This was the tool used to create the news listings in the right sidebar on this page. See this page for more information. JavaScript newsfeeds are definitely the simplest method for syndication, but the downside is that they don't really do much for search engine positioning, since most search engines ignore text and links generated using Javascript. How do I syndicate feeds using PHP?You can download a free script from FeedForAll that will allow you to include either headlines or the full rss feed in your web pages, assuming your webserver can parse PHP pages. The script converts the feed into HTML. Will links to my site through ENN boost my PageRank?Yes, but not because Google.com owns Blogger.com. Here is a quote from the Blogger.com help: "Blogger blogs earn PageRank only on the basis of their content and other people linking to them, not because they're powered by a tool owned by Google". May I use the ENN to promote my Excel products?Certainly! All team members are welcome to promote their own or other Excel-related products and services as long as posts remain professional and objective. To avoid conflict of interest, Excel team members may not provide negative reviews of products and services that compete with their own. In addition, all anonymous negative comments will be deleted from the weblogs. Can I recommend a post in a weblog without becoming a team member?Yes! We will be creating a submission form on this website in the near future that will allow you to submit individual news items (subject to review). If you plan to submit more than one news item per month, please consider becoming a team member. Who will benefit the most from Excel News?Excel News is mainly for Excel consultants, webmasters, developers, and other professionals. While some Excel enthusiasts may subscribe to newsfeeds for fun, the main purpose for Excel News is business-to-business, to help Excel consultants keep up with the latest and greatest software and services, allow webmasters a simple and convenient way to provide their audiences with quality content, and allow Excel developers another means for marketing their products via the internet. How does someone subscribe to Excel News feeds?There are numerous web services and products that allow people to read news. The most common are probably my.yahoo.com, newsgator.com, and a few other newsfeed aggregators. I recently read a report that only 4% of internet users actually read weblogs. However, ENN is not like most weblogs (which are typically just a collection of personal thoughts from some individual on random topics). Excel News is a professional weblog, with contributions made by Excel experts. Unlike forums, ENN is meant to be used specifically for newsfeed syndication, in which the posts are included as summaries on other websites. Each weblog has a unique audience, which is why we have created individual weblogs for different topics. Why not just use mail lists?Mail lists have their place and purposes, but I believe that news syndication will become more popular. Most people hate spam and junk mail, but when products are discussed in the news, we don't tend to think of them as commercials. News is a service! Of course, I challenge you to find any news network that is totally objective and free from advertising. Our Excel News network has been set up specifically to allow webmasters and software developers to announce new content and products on their sites. This type of advertising is usually not allowed on most forums and mail lists (where it is viewed as annoying spam). May I use affiliate links in my posts?Unfortunately, we cannot allow affiliate links within posts. The main reason is because if we did, webmasters might be less apt to include the news feeds on their websites. Also, one of the purposes for the news service is to provide quality links that help improve a site's link popularity, an important factor for organic search engine positioning (i.e. Google.com). Affiliate links generally do not help link popularity. Team members may include links to pages on their site that contain affiliate links. Why is this service free?I won't beat around the bush. The reason the service is free is so that people will use it! The only direct monetary benefit that Vertex42.com derives from this News service comes from the use of ads on the Excel News weblogs. We can offer the service for free simply because expenses are low. However, just like online Excel forums, the only way to make this service truly valuable is to get people to use it, to like it, and to spread the word! What are the main tools for syndicating RSS feeds?This list is not necessarily complete, but it hightlights some of the tools I have looked at. The ones in bold are my favorites.
RSS Feeds related to ExcelThe following list of RSS newsfeeds can also be used with FeedSweep, as well as many other programs and scripts. |
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