Archive for January, 2010
7 Reasons You Need to Market with Articles Nows
By admin on January 24th, 2010
7 Reasons You Need to Market with Articles Nows
Looking for a simple way to get an edge on your competition?
Successful businesses who are in it for the long haul continually apply innovative marketing strategies and tactics to differentiate themselves and get that edge. Two such killer marketing strategies are positioning and relationship building. And guess what? Article marketing is a proven tactic that just happens to address both of those marketing strategies. Is it the be all, end all of positioning and relationship building? Absolutely not. However, it is an excellent step in the right direction. And on top of that, there’s probably a good chance that your competition is not using this tactic. Face it. It takes some time, skill, and effort to write and effectively use articles, that’s why the masses don’t do it however, those looking for an edge do.
So why choose article marketing as one of you marketing tactics? (You’ll find great information here about how to get targeted web traffic for profit.) Here are 7 exceptional reasons:
1. It is quite simple. People love to buy from and deal with the best. Writing and effectively marketing your articles helps you position yourself as the expert in your field.
2. Let’s take this first concept a step further for reason #2. Let’s be blunt here, as an expert, you can justifiably increase your rates and charge more for your products.
3. If your articles are good and distributed properly, they can spread like wildfire and literally cause a viral marketing frenzy. Ultimately driving business your way. (You’ll find great information here about how to flip websites for profit.)
4. A big part of Internet marketing has to do with the Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. It’s critical that we play their game. That being said, Search Engines love content such as articles! Many Internet marketers try the latest fad to trick Search Engines into getting a better ranking. If you have a lot of time and/or money on your hands to keep up with the latest trends and the ever changing Search Engine rules, then do what you feel is right. However, one tactic still holds true with improving Search Engine ranking, and that’s article marketing.
5. People love to be and feel well informed It helps them make better decisions. Your articles can serve as the source for the input they seek. And who better to buy from then the source that provided the information in the first place.
6. Talk about getting major bang for the buck, articles can easily be repurposed in a variety of ways. For example:
==> They can become content for your or someone else’s newsletter;
==> Used as free giveaways to prospects/clients, in seminars, at networking events, etc;
==> Used to spark conversation in a blog or an online networking group such as Ryze;
==> Combine multiple articles into an eBook, book or info-product that can be sold or given away in exchange for contact information;
==> Become the basis for a live seminar or teleseminar;
==> And we can go on and on and on.
7. Articles when distributed properly are a great way to stay in touch with clients and prospects. Studies have shown that on average it takes around 7 touches before a prospect buys. Why not use articles as some of those touches? This will help continually boost your prospect’s perception of you as someone who consistently adds value.
We live in an age where information is king. We all know something others would be interested in knowing. Share your knowledge and like a magnet you’ll draw your prospects towards you.
2006 Online Marketing Muscle — All Rights Reserved.
Off-page Search Engine Optimization-Article Marketing
By admin on January 23rd, 2010
Off-page Search Engine Optimization-Article Marketing
The next step in your overall plan to drive a torrent of free traffic to your web site is to start writing articles for submission to free article directory sites. The reason that you should start doing this now is that article marketing is a slow burn, long-term traffic generation strategy.
Therefore, the sooner you get started, the sooner you are likely to begin to see significant numbers of visitors who are prompted to visit your site because of your articles.
We have already highlighted that keywords and keyword phrases are extremely important as far as your efforts to market your business for free are concerned.
This is especially true when you start to use article marketing. (Learn more about a great way to make money from home by flipping websites.)
Every article that you write has to be created around the keyword terms on your list that are relevant to your site, and they have to be created in such a way that those keyword terms are picked up by the search engine robots.
Until recently, the recommended method of writing articles for submission to article directory sites was to pick one of your keywords, do some research, and then write an article where you were aiming for a certain level of keyword density within that article.
You were expected to write an article of between 300 and 400 words, and a certain percentage of that article (generally somewhere between 3% and 5%) was expected to be made up of your keyword phrase.
In certain respects, things havent changed very much.
Articles of between 300 and 400 words are still the accepted norm, and you still need to use keyword terms as the central focal point of every article you create. (You’ll find great information here about how to flip websites for profit.)
Other Methods of Getting Articles Without Writing
By admin on January 23rd, 2010
Other Methods of Getting Articles Without Writing
There are several ways to producing articles without having to write them yourself. Using a ghostwriter is one way, using private label rights articles you have bought is another option and doing an expert interview is yet a third way to compile article information.
Borrowing another writer’s article for use is yet another way to provide content for readers. Give the original author credit within the body of your article and fill in the rest with quotes from that author’s article. (For more detailed information on how to get backlinks.)
This is a can’t lose situation for everyone. You don’t need to do the writing of your article, the writer who wrote the original article gets free publicity, and the reader gets the information that they want or need. Everybody wins.
Using public domain articles that are related to your subject is yet another way. Permission from the author to use their work isn’t necessary, but letting your reader know where the content originated will keep their trust. Don’t try to pass the words off as your own.
Use survey results from a self-conducted survey as an article. This does mean you’ll have to write a little, but compiling the results and turning it into a fast article isn’t very hard or time-consuming. You can create surveys through Survey Monkey at www.surveymonkey.com .
Use government provided information. Articles written by United States Government Authors are automatically in the public domain. The government is a prolific writer - on a wide variety of topics. Visit any United States Government website, and you will be greatly surprised with the amount of information that is free for the taking. (You’ll find great information here about how to get targeted web traffic for profit.)
As you have seen, providing quality articles without writing a single word, or with just a bit of writing is possible. The information and means is there, use them.
Off-page Search Engine Optimization-More On Videos
By admin on January 20th, 2010
Off-page Search Engine Optimization-More On Videos
As suggested when we were looking at using articles to promote your business, marketing with videos is a numbers game. The more videos you have published and the more networking sites those videos were featured on, the more traffic you will draw to your web pages.
Therefore, you should not limit yourself to uploading your video to only one networking site, irrespective of the fact that YouTube is (according to Alexa) the third most popular site on the internet. (You’ll find great information here about how to flip websites for profit.)
There are many online video viewers who prefer other sites, and it makes sense to put your video in front of these people as well as those who use YouTube.
Once your video is ready, there are a couple of sites you can use to upload the finished movie to most of the leading video networking sites.
The first resource that you want to look at is offered by TubeMogul, a place where you can mass upload your video to many of the leading network sites completely free. The site also offers many outstanding analytical tools, so it is definitely one that you should be using if youre not doing so already.
As you can see from the screenshot, TubeMogul will distribute your video to most of the leading sites (YouTube and Yahoo Video are missing from this graphic), but it does not serve every major network site. If you want to complete the picture and are willing to spend a little money (and it is very little money) then you should also look at HeySpread because there are few sites that you can distribute your video to from here that are not served by TubeMogul.
Videos are an effective way of promoting your business for free, but the secret is to make as many videos as you can and to have them published in as many places as possible. Also, while it is not necessary to try to publish a Hollywood blockbuster, what youre trying to do by publishing videos is to create one video (or many) that everyone loves. Do this, and a traffic landslide is well on the way to your site! (Learn more about a great way to make money from home by flipping websites.)
On-page Search Engine Optimization
By admin on January 20th, 2010
On-page Search Engine Optimization
Probably the most important aspect of on-page optimization is the domain name that you choose for your site. It must fulfill certain criteria, such as:
Are your business activities accurately represented by that domain name?
Is it a name that will be easy for your prospects and customers to remember?
Does it contain at least one of your main keyword phrases?
Wherever possible, the domain name that headlines your business should satisfy all three of these requirements.
For example, if your online business sells green widgets, then your domain name should be greenwidgets.com if possible. (For great information on flipping websites for making money on the internet.)
However, there may be times when you already have a domain name registered that is appropriate to your business, but not particularly product relevant. In this case, make sure that the html file name is relevant to that product. As an example, if you already owned BestOnlineWidgets.com and you have just launched a brand new range of orange widgets, then the page on your site where those widgets are advertised should be BestOnlineWidgets.com/OrangeWidgets.html.
This is not as strong as having a completely focused domain name but it will help the small software robots (spiders) that the search engines send out to survey new web pages, to understand what your page is about. (You’ll find great information here about how to flip websites for profit.)