This week's content marketing Tech Tool of the Week is Technorati. Technorati was originally founded as a blog search engine, but has expanded into a full service media company. Not only does Technorati highlight the best content from the best blogs on just about everything, they do have their own set of writers that publishes content, and that's where the importance of Technorati comes it.
I am one of those writers for Technorati (it's not that hard to become a writer if you have some talent). Although Technorati does not pay in money, it's one of the few sites that actually does pay in exposure. I know us content marketers aren't supposed to work for exposure, but if you're looking for a good avenue to build an expertise, a good avenue to write for yourself, or to do some article and content marketing, then Technorati is the place.
Just how worthwhile is Technorati? I've gotten clients and Twitter followers because of my work on Twitter. I've also utilized Technorati as part of an article marketing strategy for another client, and those articles are now on the first page of Google for their respective keywords.
Technorati and Content Marketing Strategy
First off, Technorati does do some marketing of your content (by posting them to their Facebook and Twitter accounts), so without doing anything on your own, your work reaches thousands of people. This is on top of the other folks who decide to retweet or to share your content through their own networks. It happens more often then you think. A recent article I published about photos and Facebook got 14 retweets. That's in addition to the two from Technorati and my own retweet. I don't know any of those people who retweeted my work, although one or two of them have retweeted more than one of my pieces. Not bad for writing 300 words.
Content Marketing Ideas
Second, Technorati does a good job of offering you topics to write about. Sure, you can write about whatever you want, just as long as it's in good taste and is newsworthy. However, if you wouldn't mind a few ideas thrown at you, Technorati does have a Yahoo group for writers. It's through this group that a Trending Topics list is sent out almost every day, sometimes twice a day. If you see something you like, give a shout out to the group, and then write the piece. Sometimes, the particular channels will send out their own lists of topics to write about. The women's channel does it often, as do the cloud computing and sports channels. If you're uneasy about all these lists and shout outs clogging up you inbox, use the Mute feature on Gmail. If you don't know what the Mute feature is, then checkout Gmail labs. Writers always have the option of opting out of the groups.
Quality Content Marketing
Third, Technorati writers publish quality content, and each channel has an editor to go through the content to make sure that it is publish worthy. So, you don't have to worry about your excellent content being next to mediocre content like on other websites. Technorati isn't a content mill that's looking to churn out content. They're about highlighting the best in blogging while blogging themselves. Many of the other writers on Technorati already have their own blogs, or are simply experienced writers with strong expertise. Freelancers and content marketers would find themselves in good company.
Overall, I think Technorati offers something different, whether it's the chance to write for yourself once in a while, to write about topics you don't normally get to write about, or to garner a bit more exposure for your work and what you have to offer. I think freelancers and content marketers who aren't on Technorati are certainly missing out.