This document provides 4 tips to make a blog ready for inclusion in Google News search results. It notes that traditional newspapers have declined since 2008 while online news reading has grown. It explains that Google News indexes RSS feeds from news sites, allowing blogs to also be picked up if they meet Google's standards. The 4 tips are to identify authors, include a contact page with location, create a dedicated "News" category for posts, and generate an XML site map to help Google crawl the blog structure. Following these tips can help a blog get selected by Google News and increase readership.

1. NEWS

2. 4 TIPS TO MAKE YOUR BLOG READY FOR GOOGLE
NEWS

3. NEWS

4. OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT CONFIRMS
CURRENT NEWS TRENDS: TRADITIONAL
NEWSPAPERS HAVE BEEN DECLINING SINCE 2008
AND THEIR CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATE THAT "ABOUT
5% OF ALL INTERNET VISITS ARE RELATED TO
READING NEWS ONLINE." WHETHER YOU INTEND TO
HAVE YOUR BLOG PICKED UP BY GOOGLE NEWS OR
YOU'RE JUST REALIZING THE BENEFITS OF GETTING
PICKED UP BY A NEWS SERVICE, YOU'LL WANT TO BE
SURE YOUR BLOG IS PREPARED FOR SUBMISSION.

5. NEWS

6. TRADITIONAL NEWS SOURCES LIKE CBS, BBC, THE
WALL STREET JOURNAL, USA TODAY AND OTHER
NEWS SOURCES. GOOGLE DOESN'T GO OUT AND
BUY NEWS PAPERS, AND THEN CLIP AND SCAN
ARTICLES FOR THE WEB. ALL OF THE NEWS
SOURCES HAVE AN RSS FEED (A BLOGGING BASIC)
SO THAT WHEN A NEWS ARTICLE IS POSTED ON
THEIR WEBSITE THE FEED IS PICKED UP BY GOOGLE
NEWS. RSS FEED IS AT THE CORE OF GETTING
NEWS ARTICLES TO GOOGLE, WHICH MEANS YOUR
BLOG HAS THE SAME POTENTIAL TO GET PICKED UP
BY GOOGLE NEWS AS THE BIG GUYS! THAT'S RIGHT -
YOU'LL FIND PEREZ HILTON'S CELEBRITY GOSSIP
BLOG IN GOOGLE NEWS ALONGSIDE THE NEW YORK
TIMES.

7. GETTING INTO GOOGLE NEWS ISN'T JUST FATE OR
COINCIDENCE: BLOGS AND WEBSITES HAVE TO BE
SUBMITTED. TO RAMP UP THE LIKELIHOOD OF A
SUCCESSFUL SUBMISSION, YOUR BLOG MUST BE NEWS
WORTHY AND SHOULD NOT PROMOTE YOURSELF OR
YOUR PRODUCTS. FOLLOW THESE 4 TIPS SO YOUR BLOG
WILL BE READY TO SUBMIT TO GOOGLE NEWS.
1. IDENTIFY YOUR WRITING STAFF. THIS IS PROBABLY
PRETTY SIMPLE IF YOU ALREADY HAVE AN ABOUT US
PAGE. BE SURE THE PAGE IS CALLED "ABOUT US", OR
OTHER VARIATIONS LIKE "STAFF", "AUTHORS", OR
"WRITERS". THIS IS WHERE YOU IDENTIFY YOUR BLOG'S
AUTHOR BY NAME AND CREDENTIALS. IF YOU EDIT A
BLOG THAT ACCEPTS SUBMISSIONS FROM MULTIPLE
AUTHORS, YOU CAN LIST THE AUTHORS OR SIMPLY NOTE
THAT YOU HAVE MULTIPLE BLOG CONTRIBUTORS.

8. 2. HAVE A CONTACT PAGE. IF YOU EXPECT TO GET
IN THE NEWS AND REMAIN ANONYMOUS, YOU'LL
HAVE TO SKIP GOOGLE NEWS. YOU DON'T HAVE TO
GIVE GOOGLE A ROAD MAP TO YOUR FRONT DOOR,
BUT YOU WILL NEED TO SHOW A CITY AND STATE
LOCATION. I RECOMMEND TO WOULD-BE BLOGGERS
THAT THEY TREAT A BLOG LIKE ANY OTHER PART OF
THEIR BUSINESS, IF YOU HAVE PRIVACY CONCERNS,
RENT A P.O. BOX.

9. NEWS

10. YOUR BLOG TO GOOGLE NEWS, YOU'LL BE ASKED
FOR THE WEB ADDRESS WHERE YOUR NEWS
STORIES ARE PUBLISHED. YOU PROBABLY WON'T BE
PUBLISHING ALL YOUR BLOG POSTS IN THIS
CATEGORY, BUT GO AHEAD AND NAME A CATEGORY
"NEWS". THIS WILL BE AN IDEAL CATEGORY TO
PUBLISH EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS, WEBINAR
DETAILS, AND PRESS RELEASES. IF YOU HAVE
ALREADY STARTED POSTING TO YOUR BLOG, FIND
YOUR POSTS THAT QUALIFY AS "NEWS" AND MOVE
THEM TO THIS NEW CATEGORY BEFORE
SUBMITTING THE BLOG TO GOOGLE NEWS.

11. 4. DON'T FORGET A SITE MAP. LAST, BUT DEFINITELY
NOT LEAST, IS THE GOOGLE SITE MAP. GOOGLE IS
ALL ABOUT WEB STRUCTURE AND IT LOVES XML
SITE MAPS TO FIGURE ITS WAY AROUND THE
STRUCTURE OF YOUR WEBSITE. IF YOU ARE USING
BLOGGING SOFTWARE LIKE WORDPRESS, JOOMLA,
OR DRUPAL, THERE ARE PLUGINS AVAILABLE TO
CREATE AND UPDATE SITEMAPS.
WITH THESE TIPS IN PRACTICE, YOU'LL BE ON YOUR
WAY TO APPEARING IN GOOGLE NEWS AND
GARNERING YOUR SHARE OF NEW BLOG READERS!

12. NEWS