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How to Find and Use Free News and Articles in your Web Site
Using RSS, press releases and other free sources to create a Web “hub” for topical information
In the previous article, Linda talked about how to use RSS feeds for aggregated Web sites or blogs. In this article, she leads readers into using RSS, press releases and other free sources to create a Web “hub” for topical information. She provides perspectives on various news sources, links and information on how to use this material.
Other Press Release Sources
You also can find free press releases on company Web sites. For instance, if you followed Apple's Snow Leopard début, you might have learned more directly from Apple's Web site. Their press release, "Apple to Ship Mac OS X Snow Leopard on August 28" was available on 24 August directly from the site. Yes, you are allowed to use these press releases on your site, too.
You can find press releases for companies such as Pantone, Open Source, Adobe and hundreds of other companies that focus on design, hardware, software and programming. It's up to you to find them and to utilize them to your advantage. You even can find government news releases for local, regional and national or international news about politics and more through any given government Web site, including the White House.
The trick is to get to that company's press release and use it as soon as possible, before your competitors use it. That way, other sites may begin to point to your site as the 'source' for current news. In some cases, you can write to a company's media relations department to be asked to be added to their email press release list. This tactic can help ensure that you can be one of the first to distribute their news.
Other Resources
You may already know you can embed third-party videos on your Web site. But, you may not have searched for instructional or educational videos that might help your readers. For instance, at YouTube, you can find a video entitled, "How to write a simple java program in 5 minutes." You also can find videos about graphic design, typography, colour-matching (Photoshop) and a video entitled, "Basic Principles and Elements of Design in Painting : Elements of Color in Painting Design."
If you want to use free photographic images, you might try morgueFile, Wikipedia (for copyright-free images) and Free Images. I also use iStock for images when pressed for a great visual for an equally great story. Although the images here are not free, you can find many "x-small" images perfect for Web site use for less than $3 USD per image.
Linda Goin
Linda Goin carries an A.A. in graphic design, a B.F.A. in visual communications with a minor in business and marketing and an M.A. in American History with a minor in the Reformation. While the latter degree doesn't seem to fit with the first two educational experiences, Linda used her 25-year design expertise on archaeological digs and in the study of material culture. Now she uses her education and experiences in social media experiments.
Accolades for her work include fifteen first-place Colorado Press Association awards, numerous fine art and graphic design awards, and interviews about content development with The Wall St. Journal, Chicago Tribune, Psychology Today, and L.A. Times.