By
allen on September 26th, 2008
Posted in Article Directories, Article Marketing, Article Writing | No Comments »
Before you start writing articles you should do a little keyword research first. You want to come up with a good list of keywords - at least 200 or 300. That’s because you’re going to write a lot of articles. You might as well have your list laid out.
After compiling your list of keywords, start writing. See if you can write 10 articles a day. If you can write 10 articles a day and distribute them to as many directories as possible then you can drive traffic to your website. Can’t do 10? Do 5. Can’t do that? Do 3. Or 1.
The point is, the more you do the more you increase your chances of success. But before you can write you need a keyword list because each article needs to be optimized around a single keyword. Make your list first then check it to make sure your keywords are good ones. Never be afraid to add more keywords if you have to, or take away any that aren’t relevant. It’s important that your keyword list be a good one.
Learn more about article marketing from the pros.
By
allen on September 25th, 2008
Posted in Article Marketing | No Comments »
NameCritic says, “Gotta love a good blog contest.” Actually, I love a bad one, but I’m just trying to be funny.
Seriously, his example of John Chow is a good one. John Chow built a blog media empire essentially by throwing contests, offering blog reviews, and hyping up his celebrity status. I don’t know if John Chow uses articles to promote his blog contests, but it’s a good way to get the word out about your contest and it’s not as expensive as PPC.
Learn more about article marketing.
By
allen on September 24th, 2008
Posted in Article Directories, Article Marketing, Article Writing | 1 Comment »
The following article marketing practices, if you engage in them, can kill your article marketing efforts. Engage in these practices at your own peril:
- Write articles that are obviously blatant advertising messages. Articles are not to be straightforward advertising articles. If they are, many article directories will reject them out of hand.
- Include links within the body of your articles. Some directories are OK with this, but most are not. You shouldn’t promote websites within the body of articles, particularly if those sites are yours.
- Don’t include too many links in your author resource box. You’ll be rejected for sure.
- Excessive profanity. Profanity, if used, should be very sparingly, but you should probably stay away from it altogether. Some article directories will not publish articles with even light profanity and for most businesses just a little bit is too much. Think family friendly.
- Trashing the competition. There’s no need to go negative. Trash talk might work in politics, but in business it will just give you a bad reputation.
- Articles too short. If you go below 300 words, and 400 words for many directories, then you’ll be rejected.
- Writing too long. Many directories will reject articles if they are too long. 700 words is usually enough, but you should never write more than 1,000 words for an article for mass distribution.
- Excessive HTML. Some article directories frown on any HTML, but those that do allow HTML in the body of article will only allow so much of it. Don’t go overboard with your HTML.
Article marketing should be about what you know, not getting the sale. You are not offering a sales pitch, you are offering your knowledge. Give it away and they will come. Article marketing builds trust.
By
allen on September 23rd, 2008
Posted in Article Directories, Article Marketing, Article Submissions | No Comments »
There are two ways you can make the best of article marketing opportunities. The mass marketing way and the quality backlink way. There are pros and cons to doing it either way and I recommend them both depending on your own personal goals and the nature of the website you are promoting.
Mass Marketing Through Articles
This is the most popular method of article marketing and has been around for a long time. With this method you essentially write as many articles as you can and distribute them everywhere you can. You are simply going for numbers and the goal is to get your articles picked up by as many publishers as possible in order to build solid back links to your website. The problem with this kind of mass marketing with articles is that it takes a long time to build real quality back links. Even if you distribute 10 articles a day to hundreds of article websites over an extended period of time, if you are in a specialty niche then it will take a while to build good links. The more specialized your niche, the longer it will take. If your product or service has broad mass appeal then you can benefit from this method tremendously.
The Quality Backlink Method
When it comes to backlinks, quality is better than quantity. The mass marketing way of article marketing is good for building quantity and while some of your links will undoubtedly be high quality links, it is sheer logic to assume that many of them will be mediocre at best. Still, a mediocre link is better than no link at all. But if I had my choice between having 10 rock solid optimally awesome links and 100 mediocre links then I’ll take the 10 awesome links.
The way to go about building quality links through article marketing is to spend a lot of time constructing great articles. You should do that with the mass marketing method as well, but too many marketers simply write mediocre articles and then distribute them through directories and wonder why it doesn’t work. Great articles get published.
When you write a great article then it will get published no matter what method of marketing you use. But with the quality backlink method of article marketing you are targeting the publisher directly. Instead of using article distribution services or uploading your articles to directories, you find high quality websites with a strong reputation and authority in your niche and submit your articles to them for publishing. When those websites publish your articles then you get high quality backlinks. You don’t need as many of those links as you do the mediocre mass marketing links you build through directories, but it does take more concentrated time and energy to do this right.
For The Most Effective Marketing,
Use Both Methods
While I would recommend the quality backlink method over the mass marketing method for sites with a narrow specialty niche, you still should use both methods for the most effective marketing. No matter how narrow your niche is you will still need backlinks. Yes, quality backlinks are better than mediocre backlinks, but mediocre backlinks are better than no backlinks and a good mixture of both high quality and mediocre backlinks will propel your site in the search rankings much more quickly.
Want to ensure a good marketing plan? Use both article marketing methods and be aggressive.
By
allen on September 22nd, 2008
Posted in Article Directories, Article Submissions | No Comments »
Do you use automatic submission software to distribute your articles to article directories? There is a huge problem with this software, namely, that you run the risk of your articles being rejected by a number of the directories that you submit to.
First, you have to program your username and password into the software for every article directory. That takes time. But if the script in the software is just slightly off in any way then many of the passwords won’t work or you won’t get signed in properly. But the significant issue with using most automatic submission software is that many article directories are capable of detecting submissions from the software and automatically reject them.
You are must better off distributing your articles manually as you have total control over the distribution process. If you are going to use any type of automated process then you are better off using a service like iSnare, which charges a nominal fee to distribute your articles to thousands of sites simultaneously. The sites that are on iSnare’s distribution list all had to sign up to be on the list so you know they are good sites. If those sites go down for any reason then iSnare deletes them from the list. Your automatic submission software will not do that.
Learn more about getting your articles
submitted to article directories.
By
allen on September 19th, 2008
Posted in Article Marketing, Article Writing | No Comments »
You know you need articles. You don’t have the time to write them all. You decide to hire a ghostwriter to help you. How many articles can you afford to write?
If you’re looking for a sure-fire formula to help you know how much to spend on article marketing, I’m not sure there is one. You can determine a marketing budget then allocate a percentage of your budget to article marketing. A lot of it based on assumptions. Some things you need to consider when coming up with an allocation number for your article marketing budget are:
- How much does a single unit of your product or service sell for?
- What is your profit margin per unit sold not including marketing?
- How many units do you need to sell to justify your total marketing expense?
- How much traffic can you reasonably expect to get from your article marketing efforts?
- What percentage of your traffic converts to sales through organic search?
- What percentage of your traffic converts from paid search?
- Can you afford to take a loss on your article marketing to stay competitive? If so, how much can you afford to lose?
If you are a marketing agency or PR firm and you have clients who want to consider article marketing along with their other marketing programs then you’ll already have a handle on how to measure some of these stats.You just have to take the step of incorporating article marketing into the mix. If you are a small business owner who handles his own marketing then there may be more of a challenge for you in measuring your stats. Remember, it isn’t all about how much money you make, but what are the aggregate effects of your brand in the marketplace?
By
allen on September 18th, 2008
Posted in Article Marketing, google knol | No Comments »
Since its inception, Google Knol has been billed as article marketing. But is it?
While there are similarities to article marketing, Google Knol is a bit different. First, it’s not a directory so publishers don’t typically go there for articles to publish in their e-zines and on their websites. But you can build links through Google Knol.
Some marketers have compared it to Squidoo and HubPages. That may be more accurate, in which case, it isn’t article marketing so much as it is reputation marketing. The purpose is to establish yourself as an expert on a certain topic by providing links and resources about that topic. Those resources could be your own or someone else’s properties, but they’ve got to be helpful resources for your target market. But Google Knol is different from Squidoo in one aspect - you don’t really want to include resources from other people too much.
With Google Knol, you’re better off making your links point to your website so that you can get the inbound link juice from them (not to mention the traffic). That’s the real benefit to Google Knol and I think it’s a great benefit.
To read a great Google Knol on article marketing, click here.
By
allen on September 17th, 2008
Posted in Article Writing | No Comments »
What’s the deal, anyway? Closing the deal with article marketing means one of two things:
- Click throughs from your article resource box
- And a publisher picking up your article for their website or e-zine
Here are 4 article structures that you can use that are sure-fire ways to get at least one of those results from your articles:
- Top 10 list - People love lists. Provide a top 10 list of _____________. Fill in the blank for a niche appropriate topic.
- How To … - Everyone wants to learn how to do something. You have the answer. Share it.
- Why ________________ Works Better Than _______________ - Contrast two ideas, strategies, or products and tell why one is better than the other. This works really well when the one you recommend is not as well known as the more popular one you don’t, or is new on the market. For instance, “Why Product X Works Better than Microsoft Excel.”
- ____ Ways To … - Numbers work. They’re specific. They tell a story. It doesn’t matter what number you use, but pick a number and make a list of ways to do something that is important to your niche.
Now, go and write those articles you’ve been thinking about. When you’re ready to distribute them let us know.
By
allen on September 16th, 2008
Posted in Article Writing | No Comments »
I just love articles that make outlandish claims. Claims that make no sense. Claims that are easily refuted. Claims that can’t be backed up by the facts or with logic. Why do I like these articles? Because I don’t write them, but my competition does.
I found an article online about article creation software and, of course, the author is extolling the virtues of such software. Word to the wise: This kind of software has no virtue. Seriously. None.
Besides the fact that article creation software doesn’t work the way it promises to (I’ve never seen one that could write half as good an article as the worst human writer - unless that writer is Trent Dixon), there are other problems with Trent Dixon’s article on the subject. Firstly, don’t get sucked into the false claim that article creation software will save you time. If you have an ounce of self respect, it will cost you time. Otherwise, you’ll be distributing the crappiest articles online.
But take a look at this claim and tell me what you think is wrong with it (besides bad grammar):
Article creation tools is certainly and probably the best software that I have bought. Downloading and using article writing software to automate the writing and create unique content is easy. This software is reducing my research time and effort by at least 1000%.
Really? 1,000%? See, how much would that be, exactly?
Let’s suppose it takes me 1 hour to research an article. It doesn’t. But let’s pretend. If I reduce that 1 hour by 50%, I’ve now spent 30 minutes researching the article. If I reduce it by 75%, I’ve now spent just 15 minutes researching the article. If I reduce my research time by 100% (the maximum allowed by law and common sense) then I’ve effectively reduced my research time to 0. But what if I reduce it by 1,000%? Let’s see, what’s 60 X 10? 600. Subtract that from 60 … figure … think … figure … think … double-check math … yes, that’s right … a whopping negative 540. So Trent Dixon spends -540 minutes - that’s 540 minutes below 0 - researching articles? Wow. Sign me up now please! I’d love to have a product that not only saves me time, but gives it back to me as a rebate.
Do you want to buy Trent Dixon’s software now?
Don’t make outrageous claims in your article that anyone with a brain can figure out are ridiculous faster than it takes you to write them. You’ll just look like an idiot.
By
allen on September 15th, 2008
Posted in Article Marketing, Reputation Management, author resource box | 1 Comment »
Article marketing is about building links, traffic, and reputation. If you do those three things well then you’ve got it down pretty good. But what pages on your website should you focus on for links and traffic?
One rule of thumb I like to keep in mind is to send people to the nearest page to where they will actually make a purchase. In other words, get them straight to your landing page with a “Buy Now” button if you can. That takes care of three things:
- It kills buyer frustration before it begins. No one wants to look for the “Buy Now” button. If you send traffic right to where you want it to go without anything in the middle then you are more likely to close sales.
- You build links to your most important pages and that increases their PageRank. Build those inbound links to your most valuable pages because that will make them rise higher in the search engine rankings and you’ll end up getting more organic traffic.
- Builds your credibility. When you make it easier for your customers to buy from you then they will trust you more. They will know that you know how to market your product and will be more likely to trust you and make a purchase.
Article marketing is pretty simple. Build links, trust and credibility, and traffic with carefully places anchor text links in your resource box.
