Google News Now by Eric Rosenberg is an excellent step-by-step guide on how to get your website into Google’s Google News index. Why have your site included in the Google News index? Simply because Google News results have a tendency to trump other results in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for any given search. Here’s what I mean…

Somewhat randomly, I did a search on “wind farm” and guess what came up at the top of the first page of results? Was it any of the websites that have been optimized for the search engines? No, it was Google’s News results. Check out my screen capture below.

Hmmm… so is there a way to skip all that hard SEO work and get your site into Google’s News results at the top of page #1 for the keywords you’re targeting? Turns out, there is, and Eric provides the answer in Google News Now.

Eric Rosenberg begins Google News Now by pointing out that getting a site into Google News is no easy feat. You need to meet Google’s rather stringent requirements. Fortunately, after considerable trial and error, Eric has, in his words, “cracked the code”, and goes on to explain how to meet these requirements.

Firstly, Eric shows you how to install and configure a WordPress blog with an appropriate theme and settings. To this end, Eric explains, in some detail, the specific settings and plugins you’ll need to implement.

Eric goes on to talk about the other key criteria you’ll need to meet to get indexed in Google News, such as your organizational structure, some of the ‘must have’ pages you’ll need on your website, and the type of articles you’ll need to publish. Then Eric explains how to monetize your site by running Google Adsense advertisements, and, finally, how to submit your site to Google News.

Now, you could go to Google and read all the available information about how to qualify for, and submit your site to, Google News. But in Google News Now Eric Rosenberg shares the kind of tips that Google just WON’T give you.

For example, if you take a look at the Google News application form you’ll see various questions and drop-down boxes. It so happens that some of those options in the drop-down boxes are MAJOR NO-NOs (i.e. they will result in your application being rejected). It’s in providing you with tried-and-true recommendations for what to select in this form – and for what other things to do – that Eric’s book is so invaluable.

In addition to providing his tips for getting your site into Google News, Eric also provides some great bonus tips for selecting content that is likely to yield the highest possible advertising revenues, where to place your Adsense ads for the highest click-throughs, and getting people to write for you at no cost.

At just 25 pages, Google News Now is a super quick read, but that’s just fine, because as soon as you’ve read it, you’ll want to dive in and start making your site Google News-worthy!

Now, you will need to roll up your sleeves and invest some time and effort to do this, but none of the steps Eric lays out are beyond the ability of the average Internet marketer. In fact, it could take just a day or so in total, depending on how focused you are and what resources you already have handy. Plus, in Google News Now, Eric gives you short-cuts wherever feasible to enable you to get indexed by Google News as soon as possible.

What’s lacking from Google News Now? Not much. We’ll certainly be implementing Eric’s steps for at least two of our main sites – including Kikabink News. Perhaps the only thing missing is some information about what Eric has achieved since implementing his Google News strategy – some examples of how his sites have appeared in the Google News results and the kind of difference it has made to his traffic and ad revenues.

Then again, if you go to Eric’s website at Google News Now you can see a video where Eric shows you – in real-time – how, within a matter of minutes, he’s able to get his site ranked on page #1 for a highly competitive keyphrase.

This is the kind of thing you can’t fake and it will get your mind spinning with the possibilities.