Low Cost Business

Monday, May 5, 2008

Unlocking The Vault to Article Marketing

Web site owners come to us for training with many backgrounds. Some are very technical and excel with competitive intelligence. Some have a design background and can relate to designing a site that is user friendly. All understand and can implement basic search engine optimization. But my greatest challenge is to teach everyone (even those who say they can not write) how they can take article marketing and leverage the Internet to their full advantage.

Just as the saying from Donnie and Marie (yes that's aging me) "She's little bit county, and he's little bit rock and roll" I look at Article Marketing the same way, "It's partly science and a little bit art and persistence."

From the very first step of writing an article to the very last of seeing it get indexed I have come up with an 8 step combination to ensure article marketing success.

Let's begin with...

Step #1 - Keyword Research - As with any new SEO project I start, keyword research is my most valuable step. I always look for keywords that have low competing pages and a high KEI (Keyword Effectiveness Index.) My program of choice is Wordtracker. Many of the most successful articles I've written start with a keyword I have found in my research phase and then I write an article around my findings. Finding those phrases that result in brining industry related traffic to your site is half the battle.

Step #2 - Writing the Article - Even if you think you can not write an article follow these few guidelines and you will easily have a 400 - 600 word article in front of you within a very short time. Author, Robin Nobles taught me this outline for writing an article many years ago and I still use it every time I sit down to write for my Web site.

1. Before starting to write, list the topics you want to cover.

2. Take each topic and detail them out individually.

3. Organize the topics by importance.

4. Make a smooth transition from one topic to the next

5. Your first paragraph should be a summary of what the article is about.

6. Use bulleted lists and plenty of white space.

7. Every article should have a beginning, middle and an end.

8. Include that ah-ah moment. I try to keep in mind that those who take time to read my articles are looking to learn something so I include something that will make them glad they read what I had to say.

Step #3 - Search Engine Optimization - Up until now my only concern is to write an article that provides real value to my reader. Now I take the article and concentrate on optimizing for my keyword phrases. Keeping in mind that my title tag is the most important element of my article I try to make it compelling and always include my keyword phrase in it. I also add my keyword phrase to my Meta tags, check my keyword weight, H1 tags and link text within the body of the article.

Step #4 - Proofing - I know most of you think this is a no brainier but it is so important. Any article I write I put it aside for a couple days and go back to it. I also have someone proof it for me before I start marketing it. I always read everything I write out loud and if I stumble on any words I can be sure my readers will stumble on them as well.

Step #5 - Web Site Publishing - Now I am ready to publish it to my Web site being sure I have added a link to my site map as well as linking it from another page on my site linking it to a page that relates to the same topic as the new article.

Step #6 - Blogging - I use my blog as my ace in the whole. Search Engines love the freshness of blogs and will visit your blog on daily or weekly basis if they see you're constantly adding new posts. I name my blog post using the same keyword phrase in my blog title as in my article and write only a snippet of the article on my blog pointing back to the full article on my site.

Step #7 - Upload to Article Marketing Web Sites - I have a list of my favorite article marketing sites that I use on a regular basis and I submit my article to each one of them every time I finish one. Here is my favorite list:

BusinessKnowHow.com

ArticleDashboard.com

Buzzel.com

ArticleBiz.com

EzineArticles.com

ArticleCity.com

ArticleAlley.com

Step #8 - Social Media Marketing - I start this step by pinging my blog post through a service such as Autopinger.com. Then since there are so many Social Media Marketing avenues available today on the Internet I did a lot of testing to see exactly what sites I could see some viable results from. From my testing I came up with a handful of SMM sites that I regularly submit my articles to. Let me share them with you:

Digg.com

Del.icio.us

Reddit.com

Scribd.com

Sphinn.com

Propeller.com

Step #9 - Bonus Listing - A couple months ago I found a new Social Media Site "Squidoo." I read the guidelines and created a lens concentrating on my keyword phrase. Now every time I complete an article I create a new lens in my Squidoo account focused around my articles keywords.

One of my hard to get keyword phrases has 314,000 competing pages and within a month my lens focused keyword phrase on Squidoo was index on page two and above the actual article on my Web site using the same phrase.

These are the steps I use each and every time I write for the Web. My whole goal is to monopolize the Internet with my industry related topics opening as many windows into my site as possible.

Its' not all about just your Web site anymore! The combination is changing every day and in order to keep ahead you must adapt to finding ways to open multiple vaults into your site every day. Article Marketing will help identify you as an expert in your field and give you instant creditability with your readers.

Follow my 9 Steps to Article Marketing and unlock the possibilities for your site today!

Did you enjoy this article? If so you may like to sign up for our FREE SEO Tips of the Day and receive more ideas on how you can market your Web site on the Internet. http://www.searchengineacademysc.com/seo-tip.htm

Tracy Fredrychowski, SEO Instructor
Search Engine Academy of South Carolina
http://www.searchengineacademysc.com

Incredible Article Marketing Case Study - Brain Picking Secrets That I Have Learned

Article marketing is one of my favourite methods of traffic generation. The reason for this is that it generates the highest quality lead possible.

I have just noticed that I have written over 580 articles. These have created 58,000 page views, 4510 url clicks to my squeeze page and been published 2,500 times. These are really amazing statistics and I have just gotten going with my article marketing efforts.

In this article I would like to go through the lessons that I have learned from this. When I first started out I was not so sure what to expect from article marketing.

The one most valuable lesson that I have learned from all of this is that it takes time to develop skill. I remember when I started out I really was terrible at writing. As I continually did this I gradually improved. Over time you get better and better. However, when you first start out it will seem like a very big hurdle that you need to climb.

The biggest disappoint about this method of promoting your website is that after 100 articles you may not see that fantastic results yet. However, keep on going the results will be worth it over time. As you continue your results will get better and better. This is a long term strategy and if you are looking for quick results I do not suggest that you attempt this at all because you will totally get frustrated.

Now the most important part of marketing this way is that your leads are a lot more responsive and more likely to buy from you. One of the biggest problems with building a list is actually getting people to buy from you. It is not as easy as what people say. People only buy from other people that they like, know and trust.

Are you really interested in driving massive traffic to your website?

Here's the answer:

Secrets Of Article Marketing - Download your free ebook now.

Mark Abrahams is a full time internet marketer who has helped others to earn a living online.

Top Tips for Powerful Article Marketing

Distributing your articles (and press releases) in the right way is vital. These media releases are only half the process of getting publicity in media publications. Just like a website getting more sales from targeted visitors, you'll receive more benefit from readers of your media releases who are targeted and more inclined to buy from you.

To find the best way of distributing your articles, you first have to work out which method of distribution will result in the most publicity from your target market and this obviously requires you to work out just who they are. Research your past clients, carry out some questionnaires and use some good old common sense to answer the one simple question: "Who will buy what I have to offer?"

Our marketing assessments for example are reports which give tailored instructions and advice on how to implement and perfect a powerful marketing campaign. We are able to work out that the people most likely to buy our assessments are:

- Start-up business owners who need guidance on getting their marketing going.

- Business owners who have a new product/service they wish to launch a campaign for.

- Business owners who want a low-cost solution to improving and optimizing their current marketing.

All of these target markets are generally the same (business owners) but they each have a specific niche and can be marketed to in different ways for the most effective results.

As well as distributing articles, this concept should be applied to ALL of your marketing efforts.

Once you know who your ideal audience is you must then research the types of media publications they read. Again do some research and use some common sense to create a list of websites, newsletters, blogs, newspapers and magazines which your target markets are most likely to read.

If we take our marketing assessment market. Start-up business owners would be most likely to read entrepreneur magazines and newspapers, be part of start-up communities and generally participate in many entrepreneur/business forums and blogs. We can then further research specific publications which fit under these criteria.

Now we have exactly where we want our articles and press releases to appear.

The next stage is getting them there and this involves contacting suitable journalists with our releases. Check the websites and credit sections of your chosen media publications and contact them directly to find specific contact details of journalists which deal in your target market area.

For example in our chosen publications we would search for the business editor, a business journalist or nearest equivalent.

Once you have assembled your list of journo's and their contact details, it's time to get busy. Either phone up or drop them an E-mail, introduce yourself, explain a little bit about your story/article and ask if you can send them the article through E-mail. After this you can of course wait for a response or result. If you wait a few days to a week and see no result, just give them a call or drop an E-mail and ask how things are going.

Getting your article or press release out there as wide as possible always gives it the best chance of reaching media exposure. As well as personally targeting your selected media publications, you should also submit your article to distribution websites such as http://www.articlemarketer.com/. Many Journalists use such websites as a source of releases and yours may get picked up for additional coverage. Search on Google for similar websites to submit your articles to.

Scott Chapman is MD of SCD Marketing, a UK marketing agency specialising in consultancy, project management and marketing assessments which are tailored reports providing instructions and advice on how to optimize your marketing and boost sales.

For more information visit http://www.scdmarketing.co.uk/

Increase Your Sale by Creating Article Marketing

Most online professionals know that article marketing is one of the most effective ways to promote a product/service. Writing and marketing articles online is probably the most effective, most cost-effective way to publicize your website, and promote your products and services online. One of the best and most powerful ways to drive targeted traffic to your website and to make sales is through Article Marketing.

The bottom line of small business web site article marketing is to increase your sales and build your customer base. By including article marketing into your multi-faceted marketing and sales plan, you too can achieve success in marketing your book. Now you know how article marketing can help promote your business, it's up to you.

Do you understand the ways to make your article effective so people can find your website? Get into the excitement of writing articles for your online marketing success. Why Article Marketing is a good way to consider especially if you are on a tight budget? Its ability to send your website continuous targeted website traffic is something that you should consider carefully if you want to use this method of online promotion. These types of articles help develop a steady stream of new clients is that when submitted to article directories they help to increase your exposure in the search engines and in turn will deliver even more targeted traffic to your business website.

Most importantly, article marketing is still one of the best ways to drive web traffic to your sites in the viral manner as more and more publishers publish your articles on their sites. An effective article is one that is passed around the internet and appears on many web sites and in ezines.

In order to get the most out of your article marketing efforts, remember that you're writing for people first and search engines second. A third benefit to article marketing is that it helps your visibility in the search engines. When done right, article marketing combines the benefits of public relations, positioning, search engine visibility and branding.

There are several benefits to writing and submitting small business marketing articles to article directories on the internet. Research and construct a list of all the free article directories you can find so that you can simply submit your articles to the sites on your list when you've finished writing.

Optimize the Text Naturally: You want your article to pop to the top of a list when someone searches for it - and in search engines. Visit some article directories, (use the term "article directories" in Google to find plenty), and do a search of these article directories to see what information other authors are submitting. The first benefit of writing articles and submitting them to article directories is that it establishes you as an expert in your particular field.

The first benefit of writing and submitting articles online is that it helps to build your reputation and credibility as an expert. The second benefit is that online marketing articles is that they help to develop your reputation in your particular field or industry. A third benefit of online marketing articles is that it helps to generate more links and traffic to your website.

By writing original industry specific small business marketing articles a company or individual can position themselves as experts in their particular field. As well as writing about article publishing, my main business model is niche marketing. Keep in mind that Article Marketing is not an ad, so you can not just start writing about how great your product or service is but rather supply helpful informative content for readers.

While writing an article may seem to be an easy thing to do, you must remember that it is also easy for someone else to do as well. When you write your article lay it out in your 'key points' so readers will find it easy to digest. Then you will find out it's easy.

Article marketing revolution. Make money to submit your articles niche and get massive backlinks to your site. Go to http://www.nichearticledirectory.com/

Targeted Article Marketing - Revealed - 6 Top Ways to Excel with Article Marketing

It is no secret that writing and submitting articles to publishing sites is a free but effective way to generate qualified, huge traffic to your site. This is the reason why it became an instant hit to webmasters especially to those how have limited marketing budget.

1. Check and make sure that all links on your resource box are working. One broken link can greatly affect the result of your marketing efforts. Also, make sure that the links will take the readers to the appropriate web page where they can easily get the information they are looking for or place an order should they become interested with your offers.

2. To convince online users to read and republish your articles, they must be content-rich, offer solutions to the pressing issues of your target market, keyword-rich, easy to understand, and they must be all well-written.

3. Make search engines index your articles by simply using relevant keywords on your articles. Your content must be highly relevant to the keywords that you are targeting to avoid being tagged as keyword spammer.

4. Convert readers to potential clients by enticing them to click on your resource box. Offer "baits" such as free ebooks or vouchers to effectively move them to visit your site.

5. Don't make your articles boring by sounding like an academically-trained writer. Make your content upbeat and lively by using conversational tone.

6. Maximize the benefits you can get from your resource box. Most publishing sites like EzineArticles dot com, allow you to include a maximum of 3 hyperlinks on your author box. Take advantage of this and insert at least 2 anchor texts together with your website's URL.

To learn more, download my free guide, "How to Generate $15,000 Per Month Online" here: "How to Generate $15,000 Per Month Online"

Sean Mize is an internet marketing mentor who teaches people to generate over $15,000 per month online via automated systems and product funnels.

Article Marketing Techniques Revealed - 7 Article Marketing Techniques for More Traffic and Sales

Have you ever picked up one of your favorite books, skimmed through the beginning, then didn't stop reading until you were on chapter 10?

That's your number one technique for writing effective articles:

1. Captivating introduction
I guarantee that's a book that had a good introduction! Try to captivate your readers to read on. What good is an article if no one gets past the first paragraph?

2. Benefit driven headline, something quantitative
7 benefits of this, 4 tips of that, something with a definable characteristic they know they will be getting more information about.

3. Benefit-driven subheadings
You are providing information for the reader, but focus on benefits, not just features. Don't just say, "This widget has five arms." Focus on benefits, such as, "More family time: This widget does the dishes and the laundry at the same time.

4. No need to keyword-cram
Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to lower the quality of your writing by cramming keywords for a particular density. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, then don't worry about it.) All you need to do is have your keyword in title, a couple of times in intro, and mention it in conclusion.

5. Call to action
Make a strong close that encourages them to take action now. Do not delay, convince them that if they do not take action now, they will be missing out. Try not to sound salesy. This is an informative article.

6. Author's Resource Box
This is where you can sell yourself. Again, make it benefit driven, give them a reason to visit your website that if they don't they will be missing out on something great. I recommend making each one a little different to give it more relevant to your article subject. It's always good to offer free information or a no-risk proposition.

Something like,

Jane Doe is an experienced internet entrepreneur who coaches like-minded individuals to success.

For a free introduction to a revolutionary business model click here: YourURL.com

7. Be consistent!
Publish new content once a week or once a month. Honestly, the time frame should fit with your schedule. If you want to be aggressive, do one article per week. Less so, one article per month. Just be consistent. This looks good for publishers and readers.

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(Read my other articles for more information about effective keywords...)

Nic Mitchell is a member of a group elite internet entrepreneurs dedicated to creating 100 millionaires by 2012.

No hype. No fluff. Just results.

For your free introduction to a bullet-proof business model, visit http://www.MarketingYourMark.com

Article Marketing - How to Write Articles With Various Parts Without Irritating Your Readers

Have you ever found an article posted somewhere that refers to Part I, Part II, and Part IV, but you cant find the various parts of the article ARGH! What a dynamic waste of my time and frustration! Theres a simple way to create articles in parts, solve your time issues and creative writing problems, all while bringing your reader back to your website for some DYNAMITE Content.

Heres a challenge for you. Next time youre tempted to break that incredibly long content rich article into parts I, II, III, and IV, STOP! Dont do that! Give you reader a valuable list of informative topics with viable sub headings, publish that hummer as an ebook, and create a power-charged pitch article, such as this one, to promote your four or five part ebook. You can, if you choose, give that ebook away with a link from your website and a sign up opportunity for you to capture their name and email address.

While youre giving away great content, youre gaining something from the gift, and youre not frustrating the heck out of your readers. Theres a plus for you. Have you ever gone to a website after the writer of an article frustrated you? Did you sign up for anything? Probably not, to both questions.

My point exactly!

Content providing dynamic information can be created with multiple resources and you can send the reader to high-quality links easily without the frustration by keeping your Parts in ONE UNIT, and simply giving the reader valuable content with a link to your Big Parcel. So heres your list of ideas to drive traffic back to your site with multi-part article ideas that dont leave your reader pulling off extremities!

Create an Ebook from Multi-Part Articles and Give it away on your Website.

Create a Report from your Multi-Part Articles and Give it away on your Website.

Write Multiple STAND ALONE articles to draw your reader back to your website for those IMPORTANT Documents.

Provide Links to individual parts of an article that you have posted on your website.

Use a lead in Article and Market your Multi-Part Ebook for money from Article Marketing.

Are you ready to create dynamic content that generates massive amounts of traffic to your website?

Jan Verhoeff shares the SECRET of PROSPERITY on the Internet with High Value Information Marketing. Claim your value laden copy of this Dynamic Traffic Building Document at http://advertizeyourbusiness.com and bring POWER-CHARGED targeted traffic to your website for high-impact, profit producing value.