NRao Blogs: Blog - Online Articles - Promotion and Marketing

Knol New Year Greetings

27 July 2011 Fourth Year Starts

Time to Promote Knol, Your Knols and Valuable and Useful Knols in Your Area

A Press Release - Knol is now a Top 1000 Website

19.9.2011
In the fourth year of operations Knol reached the rank of 1000 on the basis of unique visitors. More efforts by knol author to post and promote content can take Knol even up to 300 rank in this year.

19.11.2011

Google+ becoming platform of choice of Knol authors

Google+ is proving an attractive platform for promoting knol. Many knol authors are sharing their knols on Google+.
Google+ Pages Related to Knol
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Knol Authors

Do not - post and forget your knol.

Promote your Knol after Posting to get good number of visitors

Target at least one page view per knol per day.

Introduction

Knol has provided a new platform of expression which is author centric. Authors have the responsibility in both production, promotion and marketing of articles to use the platform in an effective way.

The objective of marketing is to create a product that some persons in the society desire and are willing to pay a price that is higher than the cost incurred in producing and distributing it. Hence when the product is not there marketing activity tries to understand the requirements of a product. Product, price, place of transaction, and promotion are important issues to be understood by a producer-marketer at this stage.

At the second stage, the market understanding is converted into a product. At each stage of design, market requirements are be incorporate into the product.

In the context of knol writing, you have just posted your full content knol. You think you have done the work and it is for the readers to do the rest?

Your knol will go the the dustbin of history if you take such a view. How does the customer know that you created an article that will provide a piece of information he is looking for. It is up to the producer-marketer to communicate the news to his potential customer. This is termed as promotion or marketing communication. Every producer has to communicate to the market. Knol authors also have to communicate to the potential reader. But promotion implies that you have a product useful to the potential customer.

The Knol Context

Writing in knol is no different than in any other media and the highest standards of authorship are required to be incorporate into them.

Highest quality standards should be applied and used by authors to make any significant impact.

Rational or scientific promotion of a product implies, according to marketing philosophy that it is developed by the experts, knowledgeable persons and scientists of the discipline for the target customer segment. Hence, the right of promoting a knol is earned by a knol author only when he has worked within the framework of knol platform code of obligations. Author has to ensure that the knol is relevant, original (not copy pasted from somebody's article in full) and high quality product. Quality of knol articles in terms of good subject, attractive title, key words, good summary, and original content (articles created to fulfill a need of readers rather than copy paste from other sites) can only attract and retain more visitors.

Good Knol Promotion Practises

You have just posted your high quality original full content knol. You think you have done the work and it is for the readers to do the rest?

Your knol will go the the dustbin of history if you fail to take further steps.
It is time to start a new phase of indirect and direct promotion within the knol platform and marketing outside the knol.

Direct Promotion within Knol Platform
Make an entry of your knol in knol of the Knol Promotion Board System - Use It and Promote Your Knols. You can join with some more authors and create new knol promotion boards specially made for your subject or language.

Direct Promotion in Social Media

Send email messages to your contacts.
Make a twitter message
Make an entry in your blog.
Create bookmarks - Digg, Reddit, Xomba

87% of the bloggers (popular) have Facebook pages for their blogs. Do you have a FB page for your Knol pages?
450,000 High-Income Earning Bloggers in USA
A Facebook page on Knol pages
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Industrial-Engineering/144339218927635?v=info#!/pages/Industrial-Engineering/144339218927635?sk=wall

Indirect Promotional Activities

These activities increase your visibility to readers and knol author community

Specify Categories for Knol

Specifying categories is an important SEO step in an article platform. Now there are directories and lists that are based on category search facility on Knol platform. All authors have to specify categories for their knols as a first step of SEO for their knol.

Knol Search Directory of Interesting Knols

Co-authors in Knol

Collaboration in knols

Managing interactions on your knols

Using Comments in Knol

Create Knol Collections

Arranging Knol Book Compilations

Knol Book Compilations

Contact authors to join/form or start a knol collection or knol book project.

If you have provided links to another author knol, please inform the concerned author by citing your knol.

Invite co-authors if you think you can improve and add value to your knol by experts from other related or different areas.
Appreciate and acknowledge ideas and work of others and provide suitable references.
Appreciate the work of other authors by ratings, comments, editing and suggestions.Write comments on articles of their knol authors and mention their knol in them. Comments have to be appropriate and add value to the knol. Otherwise, authors will delete the comments. Comment should not be for sole purpose of promoting your knol.
Contribute to various knols which are on open collaboration mode? Authors keep documents on open collaboration mode when they feel those knols develop better under that collaboration? Providing your contribution in such knols allows people to notice you as a contributor?

Direct Promotional Activities

Become an active Knol Author.

Reply to queries and comments promptly.

Critical comments require an objective response.
Welcome difference of opinion and invite debate of ideas
Block and delete abusive and insulting comments
Participate in Contests and Challenges
- Best Knol of the Month A competition to collect a group of knols and then select best knols of the month. Include only your best knols. When you include a knol in that list make sure that you yourself feel happy about its features - relevance and comprehensiveness of the content.
- Dummies Contest
- Knol Author Foundation

Promotion in New and Old Media

Knol is new electronic publishing platform. It will take some time for people to become aware of its existence. Awareness of a product has a directly relation to demand and sales for the product. If your knol advances knowledge, brings a new perspective, achieves a historic first or new data analysis, inform the knol help and concerned authors. Knol authors can accelerate awareness building among knowledge seekers of the world by various promotion measures.

Inform your professional colleagues and friends about knol through email, meetings or distribution of printed copies.
Write about knol in your blogs.
Contact, write and republish your knol in local press, university journal or peer reviewed journals.
Post knols in Micro blogs like twitter and social networks like Digg.
Knol Citation describes how to cite your knols in literature

Most of the recommendations for articles apply to marketing of knols as well. One key recommendation is to frequently use key words which can be picked up by SEO. There are several knols about how to market your articles which show up during search.

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Social Media

Knol authors have to use social media to make their articles popular. No other way. If you want your published articles to be read by people you need to master the use of social media to spread news about your articles. WWW and web 2.0 not only provide you space to publish your article but also provide means to popularise your article. Knol authors have done a good job of publishing their articles. Now they have to take the next step of circulating their articles in social media.

Digg.com for Article Marketing, Reading and Appreciating

Digg.com is social media site for sharing and voting various news posts, blog posts and articles. Submit your knols to digg for popularising them.

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Mr. Jagadeesh is now maintaining and updating a knol on the theme.

Ways to Improve Knol Site and Promote Knol Articles

Author Obligations

They are elaborated in the following knols.