Feb 05 2009

Why You Should Use Zemanta?

I have been using Zemanta on and off probably close to a year… sorry, just don’t have the exact date I started using it . I even posted about it a while back in this post Cool Firefox Plugin For Bloggers and now I want to stress the importance of you using it too!

Why? Because once you do – you get one way links and traffic!

Need I say more? Well, perhaps I should add that it will be done without any manual intervention form you? Does that sound like a good deal or what? And now…

…I want to actually discuss your options in slightly more details.

As a WordPress blogger you have couple options:

Install plugin so Zemanta will be integrated into your blog – works great if you are on the go and allows you to have access to the features provided from ANY PC or Mac you use to create your content.
Use a Firefox Extension – my favorite option as I create most of my content from one of the two main computers. Also using extension allows me to disable or enable the functionality as needed. For example when I don’t actually want the post I create to become part of syndicated network and available for backlinks.

A bit more about Zemanta and How It Works

Once you have Zemanta as plugin or extension it simply adds a new tab into your blog post or page creation interface and a few other nice things. See snapshot of what I see right now as I create this post:

zemanta

As I create content, Zemanta scans my post and provides with suggestions to relevant:

Images, so my post gets more “sizzle” and with all the apporpriate copyright information included! Very important to avoid legal issues.
Links, intended to lead people to relevant reference resources and add value to your readers.
Relevant posts from other blogs. Mt favorite option! This is the whole purpose of writing this post. As I create content Zemanta adds it to their database of available content to be provided to other people!

The way it works is really simple:

As you create content – Zemanta provides you with suggestion to OTHER people relevant posts – they get backlink from you IF you choose to inhclude them. And why not? You get the backlink in return from trackback and also you add value to your readers.
But most importantly – Your Content becomes available to Zemanta to present to OTHER people as they create their content! You get the Backlinks!

Sounds pretty cool, huh? Well than why are you still reading the post – go get one of the options I have mentioned! Zemantify your blog!

And when you get back – please tell me what you think! Comment, share your opinion!

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Filed under Blogging

Tags: backlinks, build links, incoming site links, internal links, link building, link building strategies, one way link building, one way links

About The Blog Author

Alex Sysoef is an IT Consultant, Internet Marketer and ProBlogger who shares his passion and knowledge of WordPress, SEO, Social Media and traffic strategies on his blog WordPress Howto Spotter. Connect on Twitter or Facebook

21 Responses to “Why You Should Use Zemanta?”

Todd Casey says:

February 5, 2009 at 10:00 am

I think I read your previous post on Zemanta, and I wrote myself a note on a scrap of paper that keeps appearing. Going to check out Zemanta, now. Really, I am interested in any further comments on this post.

Todd Caseys last blog post..Value of an 1887 gold Kaiser Wilhelm I (King of Prussia) 20 mark coin?

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Alex Newell says:

February 5, 2009 at 11:40 am

Thank Alex. I installed Zemanta after reading your previous post. and I have used some of it’s abilities. I was very unsure of the backlink situation and have not used it for a few posts.

Is there a downside to the content sharing?

I must read this post again. I did not understand the content sharing when I installed it – I was simply using it for photos!

Thanks for the follow up post on this.

Alex Newell

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- TheSpotter says:
  
  February 5, 2009 at 11:50 am
  
  You are not sharing content, they are simply aware of your content and present it at the time someone writes about similar topic Its kind of like I write a post and someone looking over my shoulder and then tells me – “hey, I know a great post that is directly related to your” and then gives me easy access to add it.
  
  I get simplicity of providing additional value to my readers – author gets backlink. Situation reverses when your post made available to someone else.
  
  Alex
  
  Reply
Ron says:

February 5, 2009 at 2:20 pm

Hi Alex
I installed Zemanta after your last post as well , as an add-on , thanks
Most of the time I like and use it , but sometimes when I write about something the stuff it gives me is just useless.
For example I wrote about no follow meta tags for download pages and it only came up with posts for SEO and no follow tags for for links… oh well , most of the time it is good and i did use a picture !
By the way this was on http://www.bloggingreviews.com and not jaysdad , this reminds me i have to let people know about expert wordpress being free , a great move .
So much to do , so little time
Thanks

Rons last blog post..Tips in Buying Your Baby Girls Bedding

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Gina Gaudio-Graves@Blogging says:

February 5, 2009 at 3:17 pm

Thanks, Alex, for sharing the Zemanta plugin! As you know, it’s one of my absolute FAVORITE plugins because it helps in so many ways. It’s much bigger than just a tool for photos. In addition to that, it can also help you develop a number of different types of EXTREMELY valuable links that you need to get high page rank (and therefore, better search engine listings). These include:

1. Backlinks (you need hundreds or even thousands of these) — Zemanta helps by taking the content of your post and adding it to the content that others can include in their posts. It also allows people to Reblog your content using the little button at the bottom of each post. And — it will help you to build relationships in MyBlogLog.com which can also lead to backlinks. (Zemanta takes the content of your post and uses it to find relevant communities for you to join inside of MyBlogLog.com. Make sure that you both join the community and add the author as a contact. This helps to get you loads of links inside of MyBlogLog.com and helps you also introduces you to tons of people who can potentially make JV partners and affiliates!)

2. External links (you need at least one in every blog post) — Zemanta makes it so easy to get relevant external links to sites with a page rank of 5 or higher! It does this through the images, through tags, and through the posts you can link to as well. It’s really neat to include a person’s name in a post and see how Zemanta allows you to link to their blog, their Twitter profile, their Facebook profile, and more. When you link to a post in their blog directly, it can usually even get them to come back to your blog and leave a comment!)

3. Internal links (you want an equal number of internal and external links) — this is the only one that Zemanta doesn’t currently help with. You want every post to have a link to another page or post on your blog. I’d love to see Zemanta finding a way to make this happen!

I cannot forget to mention that Zemanta even helps you monetize any post! If you blog about a topic that has previously been included in a book, Zemanta almost always finds it! You can then link to the book on Amazon using an affiliate link through an image, a tag, etc. That way you can even monetize any post easily!

Like I said — Zemanta does SO MUCH more than just help get images into posts! It’s a fabulous tool!

Thanks, again, Alex, for letting everyone know about it. I can’t wait to hear about any other cool plugins you use!

Gina Gaudio-Graves
Dean & Founder, TheIMUniversity.com

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- TheSpotter says:
  
  February 5, 2009 at 3:38 pm
  
  Gina,
  
  You Are The Queen! What else can I say?! Your comment contains more info than original post and I appreciate you took the time in your busy schedule to write it! I agree Zemanta is so much more but I wanted to at least get the basics benefits in!
  
  thanks again!
  
  Reply
Deanna Raeke says:

February 5, 2009 at 11:29 pm

Alex, thanks for the heads up on this. I just recently moved my blog to a new domain and need to start building the links back up. Most of my work is based on current news and this could be a great addition.

I had read about this before, probably here, and didn’t use it at the time. When I thought about it again I could remember where I saw it or what it was called, just what it would do.

I just installed it and tomorrow I’ll get to see what it can add.

Thanks, as usual, for more great info!
Deanna

Deanna Raekes last blog post..Slap on the Wrist for Woman Who Condemned Dogs to Starve to Death – VIDEO

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Matt McGuire says:

February 6, 2009 at 1:34 pm

I run several blogs and I can see how this would benefit some of them. Some I don’t think would work well. The trackbacks are okay, but I am really interested in the related posted since those would be one-way. If their network is big enough and has high PR sites then I could see the benefit. I will start with the firefox plugin so I can be selective when and where I use it. Thanks for the info.

Matt McGuires last blog post..Swimming pool safety

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Jure Cuhalev says:

February 6, 2009 at 3:31 pm

Thanks Alex for review and all the commenters for ideas. I just wanted to response to some of your questions.

The big question is about backlinks, internal links and what kind of things we aggregate as well as how to make sure your content is included. A while ago I wrote a blog post on this topic: http://www.zemanta.com/blog/how-to-get-your-feed-into-zemanta/

It also describes how to use “My Stuff” to load your selection of feeds so you make sure to link only to sites you approve of. If you include the feed of your site, then you can also link related articles faster, making this process faster.

That’s not possible for links, but if you want to link selection of text, just select it in your editor, and then click on target article or image and you’ll create a hyperlink instead of insertion.

For anyone wondering, WordPress Plugin and Firefox Extension work exactly the same. Use whatever is more convenient for you.

Regarding monetization, we’ve just added Amazon DVD’s and we support music CD’s for a while now.

If anyone has more questions, I’d be happy to answer them. You can also contact me privately if you’re shy – jure@zemanta.com

Jure Cuhalev, Zemanta

Jure Cuhalevs last blog post..Find of the day: Quince: A UX Patterns Explorer

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- TheSpotter says:
  
  February 6, 2009 at 11:45 am
  
  Thank You for the great feedback!
  
  Reply
Stephan Miller says:

February 8, 2009 at 12:59 am

And now Zemanta works inside of gmail. This may not help a lot with blogging but could give you reference material right there while writing business contacts.

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Austin Graffiti says:

February 8, 2009 at 4:12 pm

I’m totally going to use this for backlink building.

But why do you need at least one external link in each post? Aren’t google ranks largely determined by the number of links going to you?

Austin Graffitis last blog post..Failure Wheatpaste

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Beamer Thuis says:

February 10, 2009 at 2:02 am

Do you get more inlinks if you place more outlinks?

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- TheSpotter says:
  
  February 10, 2009 at 6:08 am
  
  I can’t answer this one, sorry. I haven’t tested it for this particular consideration. I add only what seems like a natural fit and it works. I do limit to max of 5 links per post.
  
  Reply
Jay says:

February 10, 2009 at 2:15 am

I saw this post and thought Zemanta sounded familiar. I see that I downloaded it on Dec. 8th but never installed it. I didn’t realize the backlink capabilities of this plugin.

Thanks for enlightening me!

Jays last blog post..Warcraft Millionaire – The Perfect WoW Gold Guide?

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Peter Downs says:

October 21, 2009 at 7:54 am

I’ve been using Zemanta for some time not realising really what the benefits are. Thanks to all the comments here I can now know a bit more about what I’m doing.

I’ll come back

Peter
.-= Peter Downs´s last blog ..Tip 002: The Easy Way To Add Thousands Of Subscribers To Your List Quickly =-.

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