5 Content-Distribution Tools for Writers, Marketers and Thought Leaders in Tech

Marketers, writers and thought leaders in tech write to gain the attention and respect of their specific audiences and ideal customers. But the challenge they face is a big one: to get that content in front of the right people -- and impress them.

The problem is, everyone is trying to write more useful and innovative content to drive their names up in the search engine results pages (SERPs). That's because the bar for content quality has continued to rise, as more of us have realized that only the very best content reaches the top.

You could spend hours researching and writing a very fine post … only to have nobody read it. That's why content distribution is so important -- because it doesn't matter how good your content is if no one sees it.

With that in mind, here are five specialized content-distribution channels that can help get the right eyes on your content:

1. Zest: Share and discover only the best marketing content.

Zest is a Google Chrome extension that places suggested content -- curated specifically for marketers, by marketers -- on new tab pages. CMOs, VPs and marketing managers make up 92 percent of the Zest community.

Zest's purpose is to help content marketers select the genuinely useful, innovative and actionable information they need to stay on top of their industry. If your target audience includes online marketers, this is where your content needs to be.

How it works: Zest's “tribe” of active members recommends content they've found to be valuable; then, a group of super-user volunteers reviews it and decides if it's a good or bad fit for the community. Good fits are sent to chief moderators to ensure they meet rigorous quality standards, after which they land on the feed.

While there's no way to "pay to play," Zest does offer “Content Boost,” which gives extra exposure to approved, featured content, which can “boost” up to 10 times more clicks.

2. Quuu: Grow your social following and promote your content to influencers.

Quuu is designed to help businesses and individuals on social media grow their followings by posting content that's been hand-curated by Quuu -- but it also helps content creators promote their content to influencers.

How it works: Influencers sign up with Quuu for content suggestions. When you, as a content provider, sign up with Quuu Promote, your content lands among those suggestions (assuming it's relevant to the influencer's audience and interests). Your content has to pass Quuu's promotion guidelines and review process; but if it's genuinely good (and not salesy), you won't be unrealistic in expecting hundreds of shares and mentions.

Content submissions are suggested only to social media influencers interested in those topics or industries, and shared only by those influencers who think it's appropriate for their audiences.

Shopify's Aaron Orendorff used Quuu Promote and reported to Product Hunt that during his first month, his Tweet impressions went up 169.4 percent; his mentions, 218 percent; his retweets and likes, 167 percent; and his link clicks, 467.5 percent.

3. Product Hunt: Share ebooks with product lovers, producers and investors

Product Hunt is a community of new product enthusiasts, makers, marketers and investors, where products can launch (or pre-launch) to a group of people ready to embrace them. Any type of product is fair game, though many are SaaS tools and apps. Product Hunt is also a great platform for sharing ebooks.

How it works: You first need to create a personal account and become a contributor (a four-step process); then, you'll have access to post. From there, you need to write a landing page to attract users to your ebook. For that, you'll need a link to your ebook page, a tagline, description and images.

Product Hunt encourages makers to start conversations, answer questions and engage with readers on the product pages. It's a more personal type of interaction than you'll have if you just post your ebook on your website.

4. List.ly: Curate lists of your best content and engage with other list makers.

List.ly is an interactive tool that allows you to create, curate and share lists, and also collaborate with other users. It's no secret that readers love lists, and with List.ly, you can focus solely on engaging with, and distributing content to, your audience, through lists.

How it works: Users can build lists about any topic or type of content -- play lists, product lists and more. You can add multiple types of resources, including articles, videos and images. Once completed, the list may be shared and embedded on your website or blog to expand its reach.

Other users can contribute and suggest items to add to your list, or vote on or share individual items from it. This makes List.ly an extremely engaging, collaborative tool. In turn, marketers can share their content to others by suggesting it to relevant lists.

5. SimpleReach: Get better data and insights into your content distribution strategy.

This last tool isn't a method for content distribution, but rather a way to track the performance of your content across websites, social channels and third-party publishers. It's one hub that lets you measure engagement and conversions so you know what content and which channels deliver the highest returns.

SimpleReach also offers native ad programs and paid content distribution, which clients like The Atlantic and the New York Times use to expand their reach and readership.