Article Marketing: Dress Up Your Own Site

Article directories are a great way to submit high quality articles, have webmasters pick them up, and for you to reap great back links to your site. Still, all directories have restrictions and these restrictions can limit the number of quality links you put within the body of your article or strip them out entirely. If you run your own site, these rules have no bearing on how you manage your site. The following are some strategies I have employed that not only have given my site a Google page rank of 6, but have helped me to maximize my articles’ exposure on the internet.

<b>Lots of links.</b> My articles have a similar resource box to those found on article directories, but I don’t stop there. Within the body of an article, I frequently add additional links, sometimes lots of links to other sites. They don’t have to be to sites I run, but to other <u>high quality</u> sites. If I am writing an article about Ford cars, you better believe it that I have links to pages for the Ford Mustang, to the Explorer, and any other vehicles I mention. Google seems to like these types of pages as some of my articles are getting ranked high too. One article already pulled down a page rank of 4!

<b>Add pictures.</b> <i>A picture speaks a thousand words…</i> A picture can help your article look more professional. I also will use a company logo, if I have express permission. With some of my links and pictures I will hyperlink them to other pages on my site or to other sites altogether.

<b>Welcome the robots.</b> I mentioned in another article that <i>Googlebot</i> is my friend. Do everything possible to keep your site crisp, clean, and clear and toss out anything that looks <u>spammy</u>. Most of my articles also have the requisite AdSense ads on them in part for me to make income, but also to tell me if the ads served up are related to the article I wrote. Almost without exception they are, but you need to check back to verify.

So, why go through all this trouble? Hopefully, to bring in additional business for yourself. Most of the work that I get is  directly from my site, which I only set up on May 31, 2005! Not a bad track record, don’t you agree? If I can do it, you can do it too! What are you waiting for? Get started today.

Article Marketing: Breaking Free

As a prolific article writer I have been asked by some how I am able to generate so many quality articles in such a short period of time. Frankly, it isn’t always easy, but there are some things I would like to share with you in order that you may, perhaps, increase your production as I have. Increased production for you means additional and regular submissions resulting in greater exposure of your name on the world wide web. All of this should translate into more money for you, the chief reason for article marketing I might add.

In a seven month period this past year, I wrote over 400 articles that were submitted to various article directories on the internet. In addition, I wrote another 1100 articles for clients that were then delivered to them to publish on their own sites. These web content articles were all short, concise, and generally averaged below 250 words for each article. Most of my regular articles are typically 500 words in length with the rare article or two approaching 1500 words. Still, this achievement was no small feat for me, especially when the subject matter brought me into unfamiliar territory.

After much trial and error I have learned that the best way for me to keep my production high -- while at the same time delivering useful and interesting content -- meant that I had to streamline my operation. The following are some “tried and true” practices that I have put to the test and you can too.

<b>Stick With What You Know</b> -- I don’t mind writing on subjects that I have little knowledge about, but in doing so I can get bogged down by excess research time. If I am writing for a client, I charge accordingly once they are aware that I am writing in an area that is outside of my particular areas of expertise <i>and</i> they are still desiring to utilize my services. As far as submitting articles to the online directories, I purely keep my subject matter limited to a handful of areas where I shine.

<b>Start, Then Stop</b> -- There are times when I am in the midst of writing an article that I find myself unable to complete my undertaking due to a lack of information. If I cannot garner what I need right away, I put the unfinished article to the side until I obtain the information needed to complete the job. Let’s just say that I have a regular supply of “go-to” articles that I plan on finishing at a later time. I don’t get hung up on any one article, instead I move on and focus on the next. Overall, my production level stays high as I don’t let one article hamper my work flow.

<b>Outlines, Everywhere</b> -- Well, not exactly. Still, there are times when I am in between projects, but still in the writing mood [which for me is almost always!] Therefore, what I do to stay busy is to craft a list of article subjects or titles and then work on writing an outline or two or three…you get the picture!  Some of these outlines have come in handy when a client requests a specific topic. I simply pull out the outline, expand on each of the points I already have listed, and I flesh out my article. Quickly and almost effortlessly a draft version is ready and sent out for my client’s review. At times I use the same technique for submitting work to the various article directories.

<b>Be Consistent</b> -- If you aren’t writing on a regular basis, getting started again can become much harder to do than if you were to write on a consistent basis. In the days before electronic fuel injection was standard equipment [guess which topic I write on chiefly?], a cold car could take long to warm up. Much like those particular automobiles of yesteryear you need a constant stream of fuel [articles] going to stay warm. The hotter you are, the more you will produce.

In all, article writing is an enjoyable task for some while it is laborious for others. As you write, do not overly concern yourself with style, grammar, punctuation, and verbiage as these are things you can massage once your draft is done. Break free of the article writing rut and get yourself into a working rhythm today. If you do, you will become a recognized and respected author in no time.

Give Potential Customers A Preview With Autoresponders

Building customer interest and excitement is the first
step to successfully marketing many products.
Autoresponders play a vital role in building this
interest and excitement. For instance, if you were
developing an ebook, you may want to start telling
your website visitors and opt-in subscribers about it.
Start building interest; tell them what this product
will do for them, and how soon it will be available.

Do more than build interest by telling them about it.
Use an autoresponder to let them preview your
product! Even though you will be selling the product,
you can allow your potential customers to preview
the information. Have you ever seen previews for
movies that will be playing intheaters soon? It is the
same concept.

Load one chapter of the ebook into an autoresponder,
 and put a form on your website where your visitors
can enter their name and email address to receive
the preview chapter free of charge. This gets their
name on your list of potential customer. Each
week, send a reminder email, letting them know how
close the release date is, and what they can expect
from your product – keep building interest and
excitement.

Finally, a couple of days before you are ready to
launch your product offer those that received the
preview the option to buy a pre-release copy. You
canopt to offer a discounted price, or leave the price
as it will be on launch day – the choice is yours.

Take a look at the list of people who signed up to
receive the preview. How many of them are still ‘
subscribed’ to that list? They’ve had the option to
stop receiving notices about your product, but they
 chose to keep receiving the information you were
sending. These are highly targeted prospects for
 your product. They have already shown you that
they have an interest in your product, and a large
 number of those people are simply waiting on the
 autoresponder broadcast message that will let
them know that it is time to pick up their copy of
your product!

Isn’t automation a wonderful thing? Using an
autoresponder, you are able to see how much of a
market there is for your product, and build a great
deal of interest in it before it is ever released. This
isthe key to making sales on launch day. Use
autoresponders to build the interest. Get your
prospects excited about what is about to come –
andon launch day, give them what they are waiting
for andwatch the sales pour in!