Archive for the ‘Automation’ Category
Posted on December 6, 2008 - by Kelly Verge
RSS Directory Submission - Easy, Semi-Automated, and Free
Yesterday I posted a comprehensive list of RSS directories to which you can submit feeds from your sites for both backlinks and traffic.
However, the list is huge.
I can only speak for myself, but although I’d like to be able to say that I would submit every new site to that entire list, I know that over time there would be a dropoff. Before long, I’d be lucky if I remembered to add my feed to the first five on the list .
I prefer an automated solution for this type of repetitive task.
I have a couple of software tools that are designed to help automate this - one of which only handles RSS directory submissions. Neither has anywhere near as many directories as are on the list. (The second tool, SENuke, also does many other things very well, so I’m still happy with it.)
I’ve ironed out a mostly-automated system over the past few days that will make it super simple to add your RSS feed to all of the sites on the list with just a couple of easy steps each time you create a feed-enabled site. Follow along:
- Copy the link for one of your feeds. For Wordpress blogs, http://yoursite.com/feed/ will work.
- Go to http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/.
- Either create an account or log in to your account if you already have one.
- Once inside your pipes account, click on the “Create a pipe” button.
- Drag the “Fetch Feed” block into the workspace. This will also create the “Pipe Output” block.
- Enter your feed URL’s into the feeds block. If you want to add additional feeds, just click on the small “+” next to “URL.”
- Click and drag the control point from the feed block to the output block. This will create the “pipe” for your data. (Yahoo pipes is designed to be able to do some pretty complex stuff, but we’re just mixing feeds)
- Click on “Save” and name your pipe something memorable. Your new pipe will be your friend, so treat it kindly.
- On the next page, click on “More Options” to get to the URL for the pipe’s RSS feed.
- Right-click on “Copy Link Location” to copy the feed’s URL into your clipboard.
- Paste the RSS URL from your brand new pipe into every single directory on the list from yesterday’s post. This step is tedious, but the great news is that you only have to do it once.
Whenever you create a new site with a feed, just head back to your saved pipe and add the additional feed(s) to the pipe’s input. You’ve already added the resulting combined feed to the RSS directories, so you’re just adding content to the existing feed.
If you think this is a great tip, sign up for my list at http://backlinkage.com/secret/ and I’ll let you know when I find a cool trick, technique or product (complete with the occasional affiliate link so you have the chance to say, “thanks”).
Also don’t forget to digg or stumble this post if you found it extremely useful. Just use the “share/save” button just below this text.
Posted on December 1, 2008 - by Kelly Verge
Streamlined, No-Duplicate List of Ping Servers
One of the benefits of using Wordpress as a platform is its ability to automatically notify “the world” when you’ve made a new post. It does this by sending a small bit of XML to a ping server letting it know that there’s new content. These ping servers are used by aggregators and search engines to determine when a site has changed so that they can more efficiently crawl for new content.
By default, Wordpress is set up to use rpc.pingomatic.com, which in turn relays your ping out to a list of other ping servers.
The problem with using ping relays like pingomatic is that if a server starts using their service and you already have that server on your ping list, they might consider the duplicate pings as spam and stop announcing your blog’s changes. This happens even more frequently if you just grab a big list of ping servers from the web since pingomatic isn’t the only relayer (pingoat is another, for example).
If you leave the default setting alone, you’ll be safe, but you’ll also miss out on a handful of ping servers which in turn could cause delays in getting your new posts crawled by some sites.
I’ve begun using a streamlined list of ping servers which doesn’t include any relay services. This should eliminate any chances of getting flagged for ping spam while maximizing my exposure when I make new posts.
Here’s the list:
http://1470.net/api/ping
http://api.feedster.com/ping
http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://bblog.com/ping.php
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC
http://blogmatcher.com/u.php
http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc
http://coreblog.org/ping/
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://ping.bitacoras.com
http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/
http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.myblog.jp
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://ping.weblogs.se/
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://rpc.newsgator.com/
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates
http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi
http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud
http://xmlrpc.blogg.de
http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/
Please note that some of these servers require you to manually visit the site and initiate the first ping for your site. It’s fast and easy, but that step keeps their services from being abused.
If you know of a ping server that you think should be on the list, comment below and I’ll do some research to see if it is a relay server.
Posted on October 14, 2008 - by Kelly Verge
Speed up Your Link Building
If you’re like most people, you spend a part of each day building backlinks for your various projects (or should). I’m a firm believer in automation or outsourcing, and parts of this process are perfect for this. However, when it comes to posting comments on bloggeries, I prefer to handle this task myself.
When I post comments on blogs, I do my best to find blogs related to my niche and will only post if I have something relevant to add to the discussion. I suppose that if you had an intelligent employee they could handle this task, but I like having control - especially when my name or site is attached to the comment.
Because of this, any little trick that speeds up this process helps shave time from my work day - freeing me up for other tasks.
I’ve found a Greasemonkey script that will automate filling in comment forms on Wordpress blogs. I’ve tweaked it a bit to allow me to use it with multiple sites, but if you’re working with one site primarily, you should be able to use the script as is.
Basically this script automatically fills in your name, email address, and URL. I know Roboform can do the same thing, but I’ve never been a fan of that program. Again, it’s a small tweak that can shave a few minutes off of your work every day. And who couldn’t use a few more minutes?
Here’s a link to the post where the script is located.
