A couple of weeks ago I wrote about getting your site listed in Google News.  How'd that work out for you?  The Official Google Blog has more information on Google News, but this time T.V. Raman shares more great ideas on how his techniques for using Google services despite his lack of vision can be of use to everyone.

Of particular interest is Raman's use of custom Atom feeds for searching out news on specific topics.  He's published the link for his feed on XForms related news, which could be customized to search for anything.  Raman also talks about using News Alerts and the provided topic feeds in Google News to keep track of everything he needs to get from the news.

You could put these techniques to use on your own website and offer them as a service to your customers:

Google Alert Links 

You could create links to Google Alerts on topics related to your business, products, or industry.  Let's say, for example, that your company sells fish bait.  You could create a Google Alert for "your company name", "fish bait", "fishing", and "worms"… and then post links to those alerts on your website for your customers to use.  Not only will stories about you and your company show up, but it also lets your customers know that you're informed about the industry… and you want them to be as well.

Custom Atom Search Links

In addition to publishing Google News Alerts, you could apply T.V. Raman's tip for creating custom atom searches and then offer those links as well.  You could even use the same keywords or phrases that I mentioned above (or create new ones).  Atom feeds can be viewed in most news aggregators and readers (like Google Reader) and in some web browsers.  Site feeds and syndication are one of those big emerging medias we've talked about before.  Remember the Bluestreak study?  51% of respondents said syndicated feeds were essential parts of their day.  What a great way to put that popularity to use on your site!

These techniques are especially useful if your site is included in the Google News service.  But even if it isn't, you can still use targeted news ideas like these to offer value and service to your customers.  Like I said before… it lets your customers know that you're on top of what's going on in the industry.

Educated consumers are looking for the same thing in the websites they frequent.