TheDailyBeast.com is a site that curates content from other sources, adds commentary, and focuses on breaking news. It’s a very popular site that allows people to quickly catch up on the news that interests them. The Daily Beast is actually the Newsweek/Daily Beast Company which is owned by IAC – a company with a large list of popular websites and well-known brands, including Ask.com, CitySearch.com, Dictionary.com, Match.com, Shoebuy.com, Vimeo.com, and many more.

Andrew Sullivan is a blogger for TheDailyBeast.com and he recently sat down with Big Think to talk about his advice to bloggers. You can watch the video interview below. Some of Andrew’s tips that I agree with include:

• Your blog is a dialogue, not a monologue, so you should treat it as a community and your readers are members of that interactive community.
• No single person knows everything, so the collective mind is what The Daily Beast tries to get to. That’s good advice for all bloggers.
• Write content with your angle of entry based on your knowledge, but the goal is to provoke conversation to get to the core of a subject.
• Be yourself. Be honest. Be open.

Keep in mind when you watch the full video interview that Andrew writes for a big blog powered by an even bigger corporation. The vast majority of bloggers don’t have the manpower or time to publish new content twice a day at minimum as Andrew mandates let alone the 4-5 times per day that he outlines for a successful blog to live. Your content publishing schedule needs to match your abilities, your budget, and your goals.

I disagree that a blog isn’t really a blog if you only publish new content once a day. There are many successful blogs and bloggers (although not at the level that a powerhouse like TheDailyBeast.com has with its quick-hitting content curation business model) that publish once a day. As long as you publish meaningful content that your audience likes and engages with you to discuss or share and your blog is allowing you to reach your goals, your doing just fine.

Images not only add visual appeal to online content such as blog posts, but they also make your content more marketable to mobile content distributors. In other words, taking an extra minute to add an image to each of your blog posts or pieces of online content can mean more exposure, more readers, and more money for you.

Here’s why you should care:

When you license your content for syndication through Newstex, distributors provide that content to their end-user audiences through closed systems such as university libraries, corporate libraries, government agencies, and more. Recently, large-scale distributors are also making licensed content, like the Authoritative Content syndicated through Newstex, available to their end-users through mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. As the market for these mobile devices continues to grow rapidly, you can bet that demand for Authoritative Content through mobile devices will grow as well. The potential for Authoritative Content publishers who syndicate their content through Newstex also grows with the mobile market.

Here’s what you need to know:

Content with images is more likely to be selected by distributors for mobile distribution to their clients, and it’s more likely to be viewed and deliver royalties to publishers than content without images.

When content is syndicated and distributed through mobile devices, it doesn’t just look a bit better with an image. It looks a lot better. Both syndicated content distributors and end-users are more likely to view content through their mobile devices with an image than without an image. That’s because syndicated content is distributed via mobile devices as a feed, which means there is a lot of text. Images draw attention to posts within all the text in those feeds, add visual relief to text-heavy pages on a mobile device, and can improve click-through rates simply because images are easier to view on small mobile devices than text.

A highly relevant, interesting image can make a huge difference in getting your content noticed among mobile audiences. Take a look at the image below which shows how mobile content feeds look with images — much better than a page filled with text looks!

Keep in mind, the first image used in your blog post or content is the one that will appear as the “thumbnail” or “cover image” with your story in the feed of syndicated content that distributors provide to end-users on mobile devices, so choose your first image carefully.

If you haven’t been using images in your content and don’t know where to look to find images you can legally use on your blog, check out this article on About.com for some suggested sites to find free images.

If you’re not already syndicating your content through Newstex Authoritative Content, follow the links to learn more or to contact us for more information.

Do you know the truth about blog and Twitter content syndication?  Here are 5 reasons you should learn the truth:

1. Syndication models: There are 3 primary types of online content syndication.  Make sure you pick the right syndication opportunity to reach your goals.
2. Increased exposure: Licensed syndication can put your content and name in front of influential audiences who might not find it otherwise.
3. Credibility: Licensed syndication can put your content alongside of content from major news and media organizations.
4. Money: You can earn royalties through licensed syndication.
5. More traffic: Licensed syndication doesn’t compete with your blog’s existing traffic stream.  It adds to it.

If you don’t already know the truth, you can learn the whole story in Newstex’s free ebook, The Truth about Blog and Twitter Content Syndication.

Here at Newstex, we’ve been putting a lot of thought into the authoritative voices behind the blogs and content we syndicate (watch for news about that coming in the next month).

In the clutter of the online world, it seems like everyone is claiming to be an expert, which makes it challenging for true authorities to stand out from the crowd.  Ultimately, the term ‘expert’ has lost a lot of its importance now that anyone can start a blog and call himself or herself an expert.

Brian Solis discussed this exact problem awhile back on his blog as it relates to social media expertise, but it actually transcends into all areas of expertise and authority across the Web.  In today’s world of self-proclaimed experts, you need to find a way to position yourself as the true expert.  How can you do that?  One of the easiest ways to establish yourself as a true expert in your field is to publish authoritative content.

Authoritative content is useful, meaningful and continual.  Readers can depend on it and trust it.  Newstex only syndicates editorially-selected authoritative content, because our distributor partners (such as LexisNexis) and our end-user customers (including influential professionals in the fields of business, law, government, academics, and more) need to know the content they’re accessing is not just coming from so-called experts, but actually produced by authorities — people who are truly knowledgeable and experienced.  In other words, authoritative content producers aren’t just ‘thinkers’, they’re ‘doers’.  They live and breath their topics of expertise and produce valued content.

How do you ensure the content you publish online is authoritative?  Simple — meet your audience’s needs by talking about the topics and concepts that matter to them.  Back up your content with your own experiences and personal knowledge.  Don’t just think, show your readers what you mean in your content.  That’s how you can differentiate yourself and your content from the self-proclaimed experts.

Follow the link to learn more about content syndication through Newstex and give your content an instant credibility boost.

Twitter is by far the fastest growing social Web site in history, and it shows no signs of slowing down.  Everyday, people are tweeting about companies, brands and products.  The problem is that there is no perfect way to search Twitter for this kind of information.

Even Twitter’s Twitter 101 for Business guide offers only slightly helpful advice by telling businesses to conduct a site search to find conversations happening “right now” on Twitter.  That’s great, but what about conversations that happened a few days ago?  And what about finding all of the conversations happening on Twitter about your brand, company or products?  A Twitter site search is not an exact science and doesn’t always deliver all of the results you might be looking for nor does the search function always deliver relevant results.

Instead of searching Twitter everyday (Twitter searches only go back a few days so repeated searching is a necessary evil to stay on top of brand and business conversations), Newstex offers an easier way to find company, brand and product information through its NewsTwits Twitter feed syndication service.  The Newstex feed of authoritative Twitter users’ content provides a complete archive of tweets allowing users to categorize searches and find relevant and comprehensive results faster and more accurately than a simple Twitter site search can provide.

With NewsTwits from Newstex, content distributors get a full text archival feed of tweets, and end-user customers get an answer to a common problem – finding and tracking online conversations about their companies, brands and products.  Since NewsTwits search results appear alongside other information already found in their search results from Newstex’s authoritative news and blog publishers, no extra steps are necessary to stay on top of those powerful and fast-moving online conversations happening on the social Web.

Distributors can contact Newstex to learn more about adding Newstex NewsTwits from Newstex’s Blogs On Demand publishers to their current feeds and provide another valuable tool to their clients.

And if you’re a blogger or online content producer, you can syndicate your content through Newstex Blogs On Demand and your Twitter updates through NewsTwits.  Contact Newstex for details (new Newstex publisher inquiries — click here; current Newstex Blogs On Demand publishers who would like to syndicate their Twitter feeds through NewsTwits can click here).

The July 2009 Blogger in the Spotlight is Esther J. Cepeda of 600 Words.

Blogger in the Spotlight is a monthly series where Newstex turns the spotlight on our publishers with in-depth interviews that give you a glimpse into the stories, tips and secrets of successful bloggers and content producers.

This month’s interview is with Esther J. Cepeda who is an opinion journalist and expert on the issues of U.S. Hispanics/Latinos. She writes about that and much, much more on www.600words.com.

Newstex: How did you get started writing your current blog?

Esther J. Cepeda: I was a columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times when the print media industry started to melt down because of the migration of advertising dollars to the internet.

When the newspaper had its second round of mass layoffs I was let go and the city lost the only metro columnist who regularly wrote about Hispanic and Latino issues, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from reporting and opining on news, sports, and culture. So instead of mourning the loss of my printed perch, I decided to keep writing on-line where all the action is anyway.

Newstex: What makes your blog unique?

Esther J. Cepeda: “600 Words” is unique because its foundation is laid on first-hand reporting of stories that are unique and relevant to a mainstream audience – news, politics, sports – yet also focused on Chicago and on Hispanics, who comprise such a large share of the internet traffic these days.

My readers – who write to me from all over the country and are young, old, black, white, Hispanic, male and female – honor me with comments such as “you tell it like it is,” “you’re never boring,” and “why isn’t everyone talking about this?”

Newstex: To what do you attribute your blog’s success?

Esther J. Cepeda: Recently, the Chicago Community Trust commissioned the Community Media Workshop to rank local on-line news publications (exclusive of the web sites of major mainstream media outlets) and named “600 Words” number 19 on a list of 60 Chicago-based news, information, and opinion providers.

“600 Words” has enjoyed such success in a relatively short timeframe. People read me because I’m a trusted journalist and media personality who delivers unique, compelling and entertaining content that many times is completely ignored in the mainstream media.

Also, I stay visible by promoting each blog post through various social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook, and by sending out a weekly email to approximately 7,000 media types, community organizations, and fans.

Newstex: What are the top 3 tips you can give to bloggers looking to develop successful blogs?

Esther J. Cepeda: Developing a successful blog requires a long-term commitment of passion, time, and financial resources.

1. You have to be inspired and pour your passion out in your content frequently and on a schedule your readers can learn and then rely on year in and year out.
2. You have to put the time into really researching your content, making it engaging, and then polishing it by letting others edit or react to it before publishing it live. This level of professionalism requires a sizeable time commitment and the responsibility to never cut corners.
3. To make a blog look and feel professional, invest in paid professionals who can help you attain a unique design for your site while still using common blogging software, and professionals who can help you with both aligning your visual brand to other social media tools and executing search engine optimization for your blog posts.

Newstex: What is the best thing that has happened to you as a result of your work on your blog?

Esther J. Cepeda: I’ve been on TV, on the radio, featured in magazine and newspaper articles, had my columns reprinted and re-posted across the country, been offered speaking engagements and had publishers express interest in me writing a book.

Newstex: What inspires you to keep blogging?

Esther J. Cepeda: My inspiration comes from the satisfaction I get when I tell a person’s story, or throw light on an otherwise ignored subject, and the subject subsequently gets the attention it deserves in the mainstream media.

Newstex: What are your favorite blogs and why?

Esther J. Cepeda: I love Chicago’s “Beachwood Reporter” because of the biting media analysis the editor Steve Rhodes delivers daily.

I love “Taking a Second Look” by Jack Spatafora because of the homespun, folksy observations.

And I love “Back Garage” (“a virtual museum dedicated to all things beautiful on a budget”) because of the gorgeously curated garage sale finds.

Newstex: What effects do you think blogging will have on traditional media?  How about on your industry?

Esther J. Cepeda: Blogging has already changed traditional media by forcing reporters to write in more engaging and reader-centric styles, and to be accountable to readers by providing them with a forum to react to their stories.

Blogs will continue to change media by raising the bar on content written by true experts in their fields, rather than content provided by someone whose professional training is in the reporting of information. This is not to say that the solid foundation of journalism is not a requirement of good news, but we are entering an era of authors who bring authentic expertise to their content.

Newstex: At what point did you decide to syndicate your blog with Newstex and why?

Esther J. Cepeda: I decided to syndicate “600 Words” with Newstex immediately after launch because it was important to me that my content be vetted and that I could differentiate my work as professional journalism. I also wanted to ensure that my work could be indexed to news databases and also distributed to news websites across the country.

I feel the Newstex credential has really given me a stamp of approval as a trusted news source to those who might not have known me from my previous work at the Chicago Sun-Times.

Newstex: What’s next for you and your blog?

Esther J. Cepeda: In the next year I’d like to see “600 Words” be featured in more print publications. On-line, I’d like to add more audio and video features to the content. Off-line, I’d love for a book deal to come through. No matter what, I’m going to continue bringing passion and fun to all I do.

Esther J. Cepeda’s Bio:

With a diverse background in journalism, education, and marketing Esther J. Cepeda is one of Chicago’s most prominent and thought-provoking media personalities, as well as an esteemed public figure within the Hispanic community. After joining the Chicago Sun-Times in 2006, Ms. Cepeda became Chicago’s first Latino metro columnist where she covered news, politics and sports. Prior to this, she reported on political and social issues at a local and national level, for various Illinois newspapers and magazines across the country. Currently serving as the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Cepeda writes the ‘600 Words’ column (www.600words.com), which is distributed nationally through NewsTex, a news content provider, and syndicated on HuffingtonPost.com, as well as translated and posted on the “Migrantes” blog of El Universal, Mexico’s national newspaper. Ms. Cepeda has been a frequent radio and television contributor on local and national outlets including Fox News Channel, The O’Reilly Factor, CNN Headline News, Chicago Public Radio, the nationally syndicated Jerry Doyle Show, Chicago Tonight, Telemundo and has been published as a guest op-ed columnist in newspapers across the country, including the Sacramento Bee, the Orlando Sentinel and the Chicago Tribune.

If you’ve ever wondered whether or not blogs are a source of authoritative and influential content, then that question was answered this week when President Barack Obama held a special conference call with a group of bloggers to discuss health care reform.

Some of the bloggers on the conference call with President Obama syndicate their content through Newstex Blogs On Demand, and we’d like to give them special recognition today on the Newstex blog.  You can also follow the links below to read more about their experiences on the historic call.

John Aravosis of AMERICAblog

David Dayen of D-Day

Jane from Above Average Jane

(you can read more about Jane from Above Average Jane in this Newstex Blogger in the Spotlight post)

We truly live in an amazing time where authoritative content from sources outside of traditional news media are getting the recognition they deserve.  Newstex is proud to make the content from these blogs available to a wider audience through Newstex Blogs On Demand licensed syndication.

Image: Flickr

The free ebook from Newstex, The Truth about Blog and Twitter Syndication, passed 1,000 downloads this week.

The Newstex team is very happy to hear feedback from readers that the ebook has cleared up a lot of confusion about licensed syndication and started some interesting conversations about the subject.   We’d also like to thank everyone who has helped us to spread the word about the free ebook.

If you haven’t downloaded the ebook yet, follow the link and get your free copy of The Truth about Blog and Twitter Syndication.  It carries a Creative Commons license, so feel free to share it, tweet it, email it, post it on your blog, and help clear up the confusion, myths and hearsay about content syndication.

State governments are looking for ways to make some more money, and sales tax on affiliate program links is an easy target.  Already, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Hawaii have passed new tax legislation that requires companies which use Internet affiliates (including bloggers) for online sales to collect sales tax on purchases when the affiliate link that generated the sale originated on a Web site or blog whose owner lives in one of those states. 

The new sales tax is a matter of intense debate with states claiming affiliate Web sites and blogs are acting as salespeople vs.companies who use affiliates, Web site owners and bloggers claiming the relationship is an advertising relationship.  However, states claim that not charging sales tax on sales that are generated from an affiliates site who lives in one of these states causes unfair competition with local businesses who must charge sales tax by law (remember, prior to this legislation, companies only had to charge sales tax to consumers who lived in states where the company maintained a physical presence — an office, warehouse, manufacturing plant, etc.). 

According to the American Marketing Association, the definition of affiliate marketing is:

An online marketing strategy that involves revenue sharing between online advertisers/merchants and online publishers/salespeople. Compensation is typically awarded based on performance measures such as sales, clicks, registrations or a combination of factors.

Looks like this argument is going to continue for quite awhile.

In the meantime, Overstock.com responded to this new state legislation by dropping its affiliate programs in those states that enacted it.  Amazon.com also responded.  First, Amazon agreed to collect sales tax when this legislation passed in New York.  However, the process must have been a big burden (bigger than the sales generated from New York affiliates according to Amazon representatives), so when North Carolina, Rhode Island and Hawaii passed similar legislation in June, Amazon dropped its affiliate program in those states. 

There is no word on the ultimate fate of the New York Amazon Associates affiliate program.  We’ll have to wait and see.  In the meantime, rumors are buzzing that California is considering passing similar legislation and other states might follow suit.  In other words, the fate of online affiliate programs as we know them today, might be very different a year from now.

For those Web site owners and bloggers who publish authoritative content that professionals are looking for to do their jobs, licensed syndication through Newstex is a great way to not just earn money through royalties but also provide broad exposure to new audiences that traditional Web searches don’t provide.  Check out The Truth about Blog and Twitter Syndication for more information about licensed online content syndication, or contact Newstex to learn how you can make money and broaden your exposure through licensed syndication.

If you have a Kindle wireless reading device from Amazon and enjoy reading books and ebooks on your Kindle, then you might be interested in hearing that the new ebook from Newstex, The Truth about Blog and Twitter Syndication, is now available on Amazon Kindle.

The Truth about Blog and Twitter Syndication is available at the lowest price point available through Amazon Kindle, $0.99, which includes free wireless delivery.  You can follow the link to download the ebook for your Amazon Kindle.

You don’t need to have an Amazon Kindle to read The Truth about Blog and Twitter Syndication.  If you’d prefer, you can view the free ebook here.