Tell the Online World About Yourself - Part 1

This is the first part in a series of how to let the online world know you're alive. We'll take a look at pinging services, what they are, what they do, and how they will benefit you. Well you've done it! You have one of the best sites around. You've spent hours on getting the copy and layout just right.

But the one thing that is driving you bonkers in the back of your mind is this: How do I let the masses know about my updated content. Email marketing with newsletters is a possibility (to be discussed in a later issue), but that would require you to have an email subscription list.

Posting on forums is another popular tactic used by some, but this has turned into a new form of spamming. We all hate spam! Don't do it. As tempting as it may be, do not post in a forum just for the sake of promoting your site.

There is a solution that is often overlooked when it comes to generating traffic - pinging services.

Pinging is available via a web service that notifies multiple blog search engines that your site has been updated. XML-RPC (http://www.xml-rpc.com) is a common approach for this type of web service.

In order for this to work there are several things that take place:

• A ping is requested
• The request is accepted and recorded to database
• The recorded ping is processed
• Blog search engines begin indexing your site.

This is a basic outline of what is actually happening though. For this to work properly, the request has to come from somewhere. Sure you could spend your time searching for different services. But your time is money! Don't reinvent the wheel, use a pinging warehouse.

These pinging warehouses do things differently to set themselves apart from the next guy. Speaking of different, I have included a list of some of the more popular providers. I'm sure a Google search in one of your favorite search engines will provide a lengthier listing.

Pingomatic (http://www.pingomatic.com) - This is probably the most popular service at this time. They have access to about 17 different services.