How To Build A Web Site with Free Stuff - Syndicated Content

Alan Richmond

January 24, 2000

In this, the fourth part in the series, we look at some third-party or 'syndicated' content. This is content that is generated or provided elsewhere, i.e. on somebody else's server rather than your own. One example is free news headlines; they will appear on your web page by means of some form of inclusion mechanism, but when the user clicks on one of them, they will get a page from another server. Another example is cartoons, which are typically embedded in your page by having an IMG tag refer to the image on another server (this is an example of an exception to the admonition to not link to images on another server - as long as the cartoonist permits it!)

Note the differences between these examples - in the case of free news headlines, you may lose your visitor to the other site if they click through to read the actual news article; but in the case of cartoons, you'll only lose them if they get curious about what else the cartoonist has to offer. This brings us to considering the pros and cons of using free syndicated content:

Advantages

You get some free content.
You don't have to maintain it.
It gets updated regularly.
Visitors might come back for more.
You can use it as a trial run for a more expensive version.

These overlap to some degree, and how much of a benefit a free service brings to you will of course depend on your specific goals and circumstances. Having free headlines or cartoons on your site might seem like a cool thing to do, but you might want to consider the potential disadvantages described below, before plunging in.

Disadvantages

Visitors may leak away from your site.
You have no control over the content quality.
You might end up with broken links if the service ceases abruptly.
Content from another server might slow down the loading of your page.

If you have just a couple of pages with syndicated content, you might want to check them frequently. I've known a couple of services to disappear without warning, leaving embarrassing holes in my pages. If you have many pages with syndicated content on them, you might prefer to create one large single page with them all on, just for checking purposes (not necessarily visible to your visitors).

News

Cartoons

Tips and Fun Stuff

Weather, Maps, and Stock Quotes

I have provided the HTML needed to implement many of the examples given, which you can cut and paste to get a result immediately. But I strongly advise you to check the hosting site for conditions of use, updates, etc., before publishing your new page. And as always - don't forget to give credit and a link back to the creator or host of the original content!