Author Archive for allen

Is Optimizing Web Content The Same As Optimizing A Press Release?

Many business owners think that the process of optimizing a press release is the same process of optimizing a website. While there are some similarities, there are some differences as well.

Press releases, for instance, don’t need meta data. That is, unless you are also going to use them as website content. In other words, if you are going to write a press release and turn it into a page on your website then you should write meta tags for it. But if your press release is going to be submitted to press release directories then the meta tags will often be written by the directory managers. You won’t have to worry about it.

Also, with website content, design is very important for a page to look good and optimization is wrapped up in the design as much as in the content. With press releases, design is not so much a concern. But you might add additional elements like videos, photos, and other graphics. You might have to include those in your optimization efforts.

Both press releases and web pages need some level of optimization. How you go about it is slightly different for each, however.

Do You Use Article Marketing For Your Real Estate Business?

If you don’t, you should. And the purpose of this post today is to give you another option for marketing your real estate business using articles. The site is Realty and Real Estate Information and there are two ways you can build links and drive traffic to your site from this specialty site in real estate.

1. Submit a real estate article – That’s right, you can submit a real estate article right to the website. If your article is published then you’ll get a one-way back link to your real estate website. And it doesn’t even have to be a real estate site. It can be a mortgage site or anything related to real estate at all. Submit directly to the site and get your article published today.
2. Become a guest blogger – You can also write to the blog and become a real estate guest blogger as well. All you have to do is sign up to be a user of the site and leave a comment on of the posts that you’d like to be a guest blogger. The owner will change your status to Contributor and you can write about any real estate or mortgage related topic you wish. You can even include a bio with links to your website.

There you have it. If you are a real estate or mortgage professional then you can write articles or be a guest blogger and build more inbound links to your website. Just another opportunity.

Can You Submit Articles Directly To The Publisher?

Yes! In fact, I recommend it.

There are two generally accepted methods of marketing through articles: Mass distribution and direct submission. With the mass distribution method you write an article and submit it through multiple article directories, hoping that publishers will find it and use it. With the direct submission method you identify publishers that you hope will publish your article and submit it directly to them for their acceptance or rejection.

The best way to go about finding publishers to submit your articles to directly is to search for blogs and websites within your niche. When you find one that you like, add it to your list. Maintain your list in a text document or Excel spreadsheet. I prefer spreadsheets because you can list the dates you submit your articles and if they are rejected then you can just send the article out to another publisher immediately. Keeping your spreadsheet updated with acceptance and rejection dates per article is essential so that you can track how your articles are received and how effective they are in your marketing.

This method works well when you have a good list of potential websites that might publish your articles. You can theoretically have an article published at each website or blog on any given day. For instance, if you have 20 publishers on your list and you’ve written 20 articles that you’d like placed, you can send a different article to a different publisher on the same day. If they all are accepted then you’ve got 20 inbound links coming from high quality, relevant sites within your niche, not to mention the traffic that can come from those articles.

Direct submissions is a very useful and effective method of article marketing. We highly recommend it.

How Articles Build Links

Let’s break it down. Articles build links in one very simple way. But in exponentially powerful directions.

You develop your authority with article marketing by writing great content. When you write great content that is highly optimized for search engine traffic, you develop your own authority and build credibility. But you drive traffic to your website by including a link at the end of the article where your readers can go to get more information on the topic.

That link is very important. For two reasons:

1. It attracts traffic to your website
2. And it builds quality, relevant links back to your website

Both are important.

Links, with the right anchor text and from the right domain, can help increase your search engine rankings. Traffic, too, can do the same thing. It’s more than just a way to get people to your site so you can sell them something. When you add value to your site visitors’ experience, they stay on your site longer and you get increase search engine rankings due to the increased exposure.

So how does article marketing benefit you? With link building and traffic. Good SEO never comes in one flavor.

Use Articles To Achieve Link Diversity

Link diversity is one of the most important concepts to consider as a webmaster. But what is it?

Here’s a quick, down and dirty definition of link diversity -

The acquisition of links from a variety of sources including directories, social bookmarking sites, social networking, blogs, and static websites both from within and outside of your niche and at varying levels of authority.

Essentially what this means is that all of your inbound links do not come from the same source. Rather, they come from a variety of sources.

Articles can help you achieve link diversity by putting your high quality content in front of the eyes of publishers who are looking for articles like yours to publish. The more articles you have to choose from and the higher the quality of those articles the more likely you are to have them published by other Web publishers. Ideally, you want those articles to be published by as many publishers who will select them.

Some webmasters look only to sites with a high PageRank for their inbound links. That’s fine if you realize that you’ll get fewer inbound links by doing that. Having links at low PR sites is not hurtful and some of those links over time could turn into links fronm highly authoritative sites. Since they will be aged links they will be of higher value. So don’t discount those low PR sites. They can be valuable.

If you are in real estate and you use article marketing you can submit an article to a site like Realty and Real Estate Information and get a back link to your website. If you are a publisher of real estate articles you can use those types of mass distribution articles on your website or in your newsletter. For more information about article marketing, contact Article Content Provider.