Archive for the ‘General Articals’ Category
Are You Relevant to Google?
Google lists results of all searches in order of relevance to the search words. How do you become relevant? It’s no use being number nine hundred in order of relevance if people searching Google only look at the first ten or twenty listed. It’s no use having the best looking website if nobody sees it.
Never mind, you say, I can pay to be at the top of Google. Yes you can pay a lot to be a sponsored or pay per click website. Google makes a fortune from just that. However Google itself admits that its surveys show 72% of searchers ignore the paid listings and click on the natural listings, the listings that earn their position by being relevant.
Okay, you say, I’ll pay an SEO expert a lot of money to get me to the top. Yes, you can pay a Search Engine Optimization company, but the only guarantee is that you will pay a lot of money.
Let’s cut through all the spin. Search Engine Optimization is not a science. Websites really need to be designed for relevance to search engines using some common sense.
How do you define Relevance?
In a bookstore, how do you select a book about e.g. motorbike maintenance? You check:
- Titles,
- Front covers,
- Descriptions on the back covers,
- Size of each book,
- Tables of chapters,
- Samples of paragraphs, and
- Which of the books are more popular.
If the title of the book does not include the words “motorbike maintenance” there is every chance that you won’t find a lot of information about motorbike maintenance in the book.
There is usually a description of the book on the back cover. If that doesn’t mention “motorbike maintenance” either, you are looking at the wrong book.
But of the books with “motorbike maintenance” in their titles, some are larger than others. Some have more chapters and pages than others. You expect that the larger ones will have more information than the smaller ones. You also question the bookstore on which of the books are selling more. That is how you decide which book has the most information and is most relevant to your search. Is that science or common sense?
How does Google define Relevance?
On the internet, if you search for “motorbike maintenance” Google will list ten million results in the order of relevance to your search. To sort websites in order of relevance to a search, Google has used its secret algorithm to weigh up:
- Domain names,
- Titles of the websites (meta-titles),
- Descriptions,
- Page headings and sub headings,
- Menu and navigation bar (links to inside pages),
- Quantity of information, and
- Popularity of each website based on the number of other relevant websites that link to it (same as in popularity of books).
We know those factors which are similar to those you used to find a book. We only guess the weighting Google gives to each factor.
The factors
You want a website for your business or activity to be easily found by the audience that your website is targeting. So take into account the same factors that you use in selecting a book on that subject.
Domain name
If your URL (web address) includes some part of the expression “motorbike maintenance”, e.g. motorbikemaintenance.com, Google will rank it ahead of those names that don’t, (if everything else is equal).
Title tag
The website title meta-tag, that shows at very top left of the browser, is a very important item to Google, just as the book title is to you when selecting a book to buy. Amazingly, some web masters have simply put the words “Home page” into the title tag. That makes a web page very relevant to people searching the internet for a “home” but, not relevant to search for “motorbike maintenance”.
Also include other words that people might search for, e.g. “motorcycle repairs”. If you are targeting a particular region, e.g. Australia, that word is needed in the title meta-tag to capture searchers who qualify their search for the subject in Australia only.
Description
The description meta-tag is also an aid to relevance, just as the description of a book is there to tell you what the book is about. However the words in the title meta-tag and description meta-tag should also show on the web page itself, otherwise they might be ignored.
Headings
The headings of each web page take the same importance as the chapter names in a book. Page headings are more effective if they are succinct, leaving out words like “and” “the” “of” and “a”.
Hyperlinks
The navigation bar can be text with hyperlinks to the inside pages. The text can look like buttons or tabs with the help of CSS. Google ignores images and javascript navigation bars. In the body text of the home page more points can be gained for keywords if they are hyperlinks to inside pages. Points are also there for those who place a keyword in their email address, e.g. bikes@ instead of info@.
Size of Website
The volume of information counts towards the relevance of the website to a search, just the same as the size of a book. We are amazed at people who put up a one-page website and expect Google to rank it high for relevancy in front of a 50-page website. Look at page one of Google for any search. Are any one-page websites listed there?
Popularity
Google believes that if other relevant websites link to yours, then your website must be more relevant than those that don’t have such incoming links. However the test is relevance. A link from a motorbike club is relevant for a motorbike maintenance website. A link from a casino is not relevant.
Are You Relevant?
To be relevant to a search for any words, your web page needs to contain those words in its title, heading, hyperlinks and body text. Links from other relevant websites add to your relevance. Search engines use the same process that you use if you search a bookstore for a book on motorbike maintenance.
This article was not written to discourage readers from paying for SEO. However, it’s hoped that readers now understand more about what’s behind SEO. It’s not magic or science, but really common sense.
By Ken McKay
By Merle
If one or all of the following applies to you, please raise your hand – “I want to sell something on the Net”, “I have no technical or coding skills”, or “I don’t want to be bothered with a merchant account”.
Do I have your attention now? How about if I told you that there’s a quick and easy solution to your online selling problems? Well, thanks to Google, your prayers have been answered. Google Labs is a testing ground for new services thought up by the geniuses who work there. One of their latest concoctions is called “Google Checkout Store Gadget”. Its basic function allows you to copy and paste some code onto any webpage or blog, and become an instant merchant selling your own products.
Let’s take a look at the “man behind the curtain” to see how it all works. The very first step is to open a Google Checkout Merchant account, which is easy to do by going to http://checkout.google.com/signupFill out all of the required information, and you’ll also need to input a bank account where your hard earned sales funds will be sent to. Google Checkout will process all incoming orders for you. The orders will appear under the “orders tab”. On another note, make sure to uncheck the box that says, “my company will only post digitally signed carts”, then hit the save button. Also, make sure to write down your “Merchant ID” number as you’ll need it later on.
The next step is done using a Google Docs Spreadsheet which will track all your inventory. Google provides a template that can be copied which can be found here, http://tinyurl.com/yhebl4y . Take out the “dummy” product information and replace it with your own. There are separate columns for each item, even for shipping information. Each product can have its own separate shipping charge if need be. Keep in mind when filling it out that it can be viewed by the general public, so don’t include any private information in it.
After you’ve entered all your items, hit “share” in the upper right hand corner, and publish as a “web page”. Also, check the box that says “Automatically Re-Publish when changes are made.”
Google makes it easy to set up your online store by using http://storegadget.googlelabs.com . It takes you through the process step-by-step, and when finished you click on “start publishing” and select where you’d like to embed the code, for example your website, Blogger, etc. Copy the code and paste it where you want the gadget to appear. There are no coding skills necessary, and anyone can do it. Really, it’s that simple.
If adding to a Blogger Blog, go under “edit layout”, add a “gadget”, then click “add your own”, and paste the gadget code. Now you’re selling items from your Blog that quickly.
So what’s all of this going to cost? There is a small transaction fee charged by Google Checkout for any monthly sales as follows:
- Under 3,000.00 2.9% plus .30 per transaction
- 3,000.00 to 9,999.99 2.5% plus .30 per transaction
- 10,000 to 99,999.99 2.2% plus .30 per transaction
If you’ve been putting off getting up a store front because you thought it was too difficult or technically complicated, Google really has simplified the process. With “store gadgets” even a child can sell online.
By Merle
How to Use Facebook as a Branding Strategy for Your Business
If you aren’t already connected to the social media revolution, it is time to get your head out of the sand and harness the power of the digital network. If you want to get out ahead of your competition and make consumers excited about interacting with your brand, social media is the way to go. It isn’t an overnight marketing fix, it takes time to build a following, but if done correctly you can use social media to drive people to your website and ultimately to your front door. Are you ready?
After building your incredible website and blog, it is time to build a Facebook fan page. Before you run away at the thought of building your own page, let me assure you that it is easy to get started, and I am going to walk you through it. But, of course, if you get stuck or need additional help with the more complicated aspects, we’re always here to help. (But I promise; set up is easy.)
The first thing you need in order to create a Facebook fan page is a personal profile. What? You don’t have one yet? Time to get one! I am not going to waste time walking you through profile set up because the steps are pretty self explanatory. Just go to Facebook, fill out the information to get started and let the steps guide you. You can probably set up a basic profile in about 15 minutes. After setting up your personal profile, spend some time poking around Facebook and getting to know the site – have fun. Check out some of your favorite companies’ fan pages and connect with friends.
Now to set up a fan page.
Once you are logged into Facebook, scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Advertising,” and then click “Pages.” There is some great information here about fan pages, so take a moment to read through the information and when you are ready click “Create Page.” As you go through the set-up process, remember that in any branding and marketing it is important to categorize your company in the right area to help people find you. So choose carefully.
One of the great things about Facebook is the ease of set up navigation. From here, setting up a fan page is really about following the prompts. Rather than point out each step, let’s look at the important ones to get your personal branding going.
- Photo – Before you do anything else, make sure you have the perfect photo for your page. Maybe your logo is the best photo for your page, but maybe not. Think about other branding materials you have, maybe something seasonal. Obviously, you want your fans to see your photo and recognize your brand – that’s the goal. But if you have a creative image that is also recognizable, it might help your fan page attract fans with an element of fun.
- Write something about your company – See the little box under your picture that says “Write something about your company”. This is very important because this is one of the items that is visible on every tab of your fan page. This is your elevator statement in 250 characters or less. Be sure to include a link to your website here, and in order to make your link clickable, don’t forget the http://
before the www. (Note – this statement can be changed at any time, so it is a great place to highlight a promotion or other important happening for your company.) - Wall Settings – Another important tool in the set up of your page are the wall settings. You have to decide if you want visitors to be able to post messages for everyone to see or if you only want your own messages shown. Unless you have a super controversial company, I recommend starting with allowing everything. It will help you build your wall faster because people like to post messages. If the posts become out of control or unflattering, you can always delete individual posts or change the setting later. (You will find “Wall settings” under “Edit page.”)
Once you fill in all of the basic information, you have successfully created a fan page. Don’t forget, it is easy to change, so don’t sweat it.
Now you are ready to take your page live. It is important for you to let people know about your page. This is where having an already active personal profile comes in handy because if you already have a lot of “friends” who are interested in your company, you can “suggest” your new page to them.
Alright you have a page. You have suggested to all of your friends – now what? Now you start the real work. Marketing and branding takes time and attentiveness. You can’t just set up this page and hope people find you. If there is nothing on your page that interests people, no one will become a fan. Social media is fun – your fan page should be too. Post interesting things about your company, but don’t
be afraid to post something fun too. Try posting open-ended questions (to entice responses from your fans) such as “What is your favorite XYZ?” “What do you plan to do for the XYZ holiday?”
Posting links and/or photos are also a great way to get people interested, plus they are more visually appealing so people are more apt to pay attention. Posting links to your website has the added benefit of pushing people to your site to find out more. Try posting on your fan page every time you update your blog – “Check this out” and attach a link to your blog.
Remember, the most important reason you have a Facebook fan page is to use it as a branding strategy to promote your personal brand. So, if your company is very “green” conscious, share tidbits about being green. If your company is all about marketing and branding (like us), you might post pictures of events, links to blog posts and information about the companies you help brand.
Those are the basic features of a Facebook fan page, but once you get going you will realize that there are many more things you can add to your fan page such as customizable apps, connecting the page to your Twitter feed, and much more. But you can’t do any of the fancy things until you get started with the basics, so for now create your page and start building your fans. Oh, and don’t forget to include a new link on your website to let people know they can become a fan on Facebook.
And that is how you can use Facebook as a branding strategy for your business.
2010 Resolution — Give Your Website a Legal Check-Up
We all make New Year’s resolutions – some are personal, some are business or professional in nature. Even if we don’t actually make New Year’s resolutions, we engage in formal and informal “planning” as we look ahead to the new year.
If you operate a website, you’re probably aware that your website operations are now highly regulated. And the pace of legal regulations continues to accelerate.
Which means that you face an increasing risk of legal liability.
So, it’s a good idea to give your website a legal check-up and to update your site before it’s too late.
General Issue Checklist
The general checklist below covers issues that are not new issues which arose in 2009. These issues have been around for a while, but some may be new to you, particularly if your website or marketing activities changed recently.
- Copyright Notice. These are the basic elements of a copyright notice: the word “copyright” or copyright symbol (c in a circle) followed by the year of first publication followed by the name of the copyright owner followed by “All rights reserved worldwide.” Here’s an example taken from my digicontracts.com website: Copyright 1996-2010 Digital Contracts, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.
- Blogs. If you’ve recently added a blog to your site, or if your site is a blog site, it’s possible that a visitor could post infringing materials (e.g. text, video links, images). Under the strict principles of copyright law, you’d be a copyright infringer even if you were unaware of the posting. Your liability could be significant. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provides a “safe harbor” from liability provided you publish a DMCA notice and register with the Copyright Office.
- Collection, Use and Sharing of Personal Information. Your marketing activities determine the categories of personal information you collect, how you use it, and how you share it. As you evolve your marketing practices over time, it’s easy to forget that your Privacy Policy should reflect your actual practices regarding personal information. This is one area in which most online marketers are the most vulnerable to legal liability. So, review carefully your present and anticipated future marketing activities that include personal information and update your Privacy Policy accordingly.
- Data Security. Technology and security practices are in a continual state of evolution. You’re required to implement and maintain “reasonable and appropriate” data security measures, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). If your site does not actually implement up-to-date measures, you should update them immediately.
- Service Providers. Do your outsourced service providers – hosting, SEO, website development, etc. – have access to the internals of your website server and your databases that archive personal information? If so, according to the FTC, you need to enter into simple confidentiality agreements with these service providers.
- Human Intervention in Online Contracting. Two 2008 cases highlighted the fact that human intervention in online contracting may be a recipe for creating unenforceable agreements. The recipe for enforceable online agreements is well settled, but if you add intervention by your employees into the acceptance process, your online agreement may end up becoming unenforceable.
Emerging Issue Checklist
The emerging issue checklist below covers issues that were new in 2009 or experienced relatively significant new developments in 2009.
- Keyword-Triggered Ads. The issue is familiar: Whether pay-per-click advertisers should be permitted to use keywords that are also competitor’s trademarks for purposes of triggering the advertisers’ ads on a search results page. This issue continued to be hotly litigated in 2009 without ultimate resolution due to a split among various Circuit Courts of Appeals. However, a 2nd Circuit ruling in 2009 narrowed the split in favor of trademark owners. Congress may resolve the split with specific legislation in 2010.
- Behavioral Ads. Behavioral ads are highly relevant to consumers because they are based on consumers’ online behavior, including data tracked regarding sites visited, length of visits, content read, and searches made. In February 2009, the FTC issued a staff report entitled “Self-Regulatory Principles For Online Behavioral Advertising”. This report set out certain principles for purposes of protecting consumer privacy. Later, Google issued a notice that “interest-based” advertising utilized in its AdSense program required a modification to the Privacy Policies of all participants in the AdSense program. Look for congressional action on behavioral advertising in 2010.
- Red Flag Identity Theft Policy. 2009 saw deadlines for establishing a Red Flag Identity Theft Policy come and go. Extensions of the deadline were ordered by the FTC due to confusion over the scope of the regulations and who is covered. The current deadline is June 1, 2010. In simple terms, if your registered users make periodic payments payable as monthly or quarterly installments, or if you extend credit so that payment is made after receipt of the product or service, you’re covered by the regulations, and you should implement a policy.
- False Advertising. In July 2009, the Attorney General for New York reached a settlement with a cosmetic surgery company over the company’s fake positive consumer reviews on the Web. The company ordered its employees to pose as customers and to write flattering reviews. The Company agreed to pay $300,000 in penalties.
- FTC Guides. Concerned over false advertising on the Web (including the type of behavior discussed in the False Advertising point above), the FTC issued new Guides explaining how they will interpret existing law regarding endorsements and testimonials used in online advertising. if you recruit affiliates, resellers, or bloggers to promote your offering, you’d be classified as an “Advertiser” under the Guides, and if you’re recruited as an affiliate, reseller, or blogger to pitch the products of others, you’d be classified as an “Endorser” under the Guides. In simple terms, Advertisers are required to provide guidance and training to their Endorsers regarding the Guides or face liability. Endorsers are required to disclose material connections with their sponsoring Advertisers including receipt of compensation of any kind. Drafting and posting a Disclosure Policy is the key to compliance for Endorsers in order to avoid a fine of up to $11,000.
What to do if You’re Developing a New Website
If you’re developing a new website (or heaven forbid, if you have an existing website that has yet to incorporate website compliance documents), your website should incorporate some combination of the following documents:
- FTC Guides Disclosure Policy
- Legal Page
- Terms of Use
- DMCA Registration Form
- Privacy Policy
- Service Provider Privacy-Security Agreement
- Customer Agreement (click-wrapped SaaS, Membership, Subscription, Account Agreement)
- Red Flag Identity Theft Policy
Conclusion
The checklists in this article are not exhaustive; however, they should be a good start to a comprehensive legal check-up for your website as you move into 2010.
It’s not the “wild, wild west” atmosphere on the Web anymore. Legal compliance is essential if you want to avoid liability in a highly regulated environment.
This article is provided for educational and informative purposes only. This information does not constitute legal advice, and should not be construed as such.
By Chip Cooper
Who’s Linking to Your Web Site – and What Does That Say About You to Google?
Linking is the mechanism that connects all the pages on the Internet. You’ve got links throughout your web site to let people navigate their way around. You may have links going out to other web sites that you think will be useful for your visitors. And hopefully you have links coming into your web site from independent sources.
All types of links can impact your search engine optimization results, helping determine where your web site shows up online. Though the hardest to control, inbound links pointing to your site can make the biggest impact.
At its most basic, the concept is that if several high-quality sites are linking to your web site, then Google and other search engines figure your site must be a popular, valuable resource – and they will be more likely to show it higher in their search results. In effect, your site receives “link juice” from other web pages that link to it.
However, it’s not enough to secure a couple links and then sit still. The Google PageRank algorithm looks at the pattern of links to your site as they build over time.
Building the right kind of links can bring a major payoff, while a wrong turn could get you penalized – and the Google Sandbox is not easy to dig out of.
Armed with a bit of knowledge and some creativity, you can build up valuable incoming links naturally and powerfully, avoiding the traps that plague amateurs.
Spice Up Your Links With Some Variety
There are all kinds of link farming schemes to grow links, and you need to run the other way from these. This is also called reciprocal linking, where you exchange links with other web sites that will then link to you on a mass scale. Warning: Google is onto this.
While it’s perfectly advantageous to link to high-quality sites that also link to you, the key here is to cultivate a natural mix of links over time.
Is it natural to suddenly have 100 links pointing to your site, all with the same text? Of course not. When people link to you naturally, they might use your business name (SEO Advantage) or some variation on a descriptive phrase (search optimization company). If too many similar links exist, it can signal that those links were generated artificially and potentially result in penalties.
Also consider which pages on your site inbound links point to. Your home page is probably going to get the most, but it’s natural to have links pointing to specific pages inside your web site, too. Cultivate links to your services, your blog, your news pages, your articles, etc., to help those pages get indexed and build their own PageRank. Called deep links, these can help bolster your site’s overall performance.
Some links also carry a title tag, which is indicated in the source code. This is a little too technical to go into detail here, but if you can influence this you’ll want both the link text and title to vary a bit among the links pointing to your site. Once again, the key is to grow your links in a natural pattern.
Not Every Link Carries The Same Value
Links from popular, established web sites usually carry the greatest value. That’s because they have high PageRank from plenty of other people already linking to them. A link from CNN.com, for example, will carry much more weight than a link from a free press release distribution site that few people know of. Likewise, a link from www.sbdpro.com will offer greater impact than a link from a directory that uses no-follow tags.
No-follow tags are the bane of naive link builders. It’s tempting to think you can just link to pages on your site from your Twitter tweets, Facebook and other social media applications. However, many of these sites as well as online ads and also some directories employ “no follow” tags that prevent the search engines from following a link to your site. In this case, it’s as if the link doesn’t exist in the eyes of the search engines. (That doesn’t mean the links aren’t valuable to people who find you and follow the link, it’s just not helping your web site show up in Google.)
So, How Can A Business Build Incoming Links Naturally?
The mix of links created out on the web pointing back at your web site should avoid skewing toward any particular type. A good mix that you can influence may include:
A sample schedule could mean every month you list your site in two good directories, link to interior site pages from a couple relevant posts in your own blog, distribute one press release to news sites, and write one great article that other people may want to link to and then let them know about it.
A word about selecting outlets is in order, too. You’ll need to carefully assess each place you target in order to determine the link value they can pass onto you. For example, different press release submission sites and directories can offer you a wide variety in link value. This can be time-consuming to determine but worth it when your site’s PageRank starts to climb. (Find some information on how to evaluate outlets in this article on press release optimization.
See Who’s Linking To Your Web Site
You can see all the links pointing to your site via a couple handy tools online. Go to Google.com to see who Google is crediting with a link to you. Enter in the search box [link:www.yourwebaddress.com] without the brackets.
Not all your links are going to show here, though, but you can use Google’s free webmaster tools for more in-depth research if you’re inclined. You can also use the free Yahoo! Site Explorer to see what links Yahoo! shows pointing at your site.
Every month, make it a part of your link-building strategy to check for any new links and build relationships with more web properties. After all, a link is a compliment and a great way to network in addition to an important way to build value for your web site.
By Stone Reuning in Featured
How Keyword Ranking Can Make You Money
There are millions of things searched for on Google and the search terms, the keywords, the keyword phrases, etc. are what they use to search for information and things. What you want is to know what your searcher is looking for make that work to find you!
How do you do that? It’s not nearly as hard as you think, and it’s the way all the masters get their pages to the top for their selected keywords.
Here’s the way anyone can rank for a certain keywords at the top of Google. And why do you want to do that?
- Traffic!
- Targeted traffic!
- Money Making traffic! The traffic YOU want!
If the person types in “red umbrellas” and you have a good offer for red umbrellas then you want them to find you right at the top of the Google organic listings…FREE!
Free targeted traffic …it really doesn’t get any better than that.
So, here’s the plan. You have picked a keyword. Now you set out to get put at the top of Google Page One for that term.
- First – Put the keyword in your domain name! Or, at least do it this way…http;//www.yourdomainname.com/keyword.
- Second – Put a bunch of relevant content on your page with the keyword in it several times but not over 1%.
- Third – Now that that page is up, you can write an article describing the benefits of the offer on that page while using your “keyword” in the Title and Body of the article.
Fourth – This is the “coup de gras” as the French like to put it or “the biggie” as Americans are fond of saying. You write an authors resource box that asks the reader to click back to your offer for more information and the clickback (not Clickbank) hyperlinks have to look just like this example… “For the best in [rain umbrellas] selection and accessories go to my page on [rain unmbrella] (I use the singular and the plural) and NOW you have what Google wants to see. Keyword links back to YOUR site!
Getting ranked for a keyword is largely a popularity contest. The more “rain umbrella” text links pointing to your “rain umbrella” page that has your “rain umbrella” offer on it, the higher goes your ranking. One day you’ll write that last article who’s text link pushes you to the top.
One way to get a lot of the anchor text backlinks you need for Google to see fit to put your offer page at the top of Page One is to write an article and put those text links in your resource box. Everybody does this. It works.
Still, if you only submit one article to one place you are going to get only one backlink or maybe two if you go for two different keywords.
I like to write one article and get dozens to hundreds of backlinks. So would you!
And before I go off topic too far, let me suggest that you look into one of these “mass submission” article outfits. It’s what I use and I have thousands of links going all over and growing.
Even better than that is the fact that I’m on page one for some of my terms and I’m picking up more and more targeted Google traffic all the time.
This is something that works and it’s something you can do!
By Riley West in SE Tactics
How To Reach The 100 Article Milestone In A Year
You might think that writing 100 articles in a year is a Herculean feat that only the most advanced or professional writer can accomplish, but the truth is that even a beginner can reach this goal with a little bit of planning and consistency.
What’s the benefit of having a ‘100 articles’ goal?
When you’re doing article marketing, a pivotal factor of your success will be how consistently you submit articles. Many amateurs decide to try article marketing and then give up prematurely when they don’t see immediate results.
What a shame! Article marketing is one of the most effective, reliable, and user friendly website marketing tools, but you need to submit articles consistently over an extended span of time in order to reap the benefits.
Even when you know you should be submitting articles every month, it can be a challenge to stay focused and write articles on a regular basis.
This is where the ‘100 articles’ goal comes in–focusing on that long term goal and coming up with a plan on how to reach it is like building consistency into your marketing plan. Instead of thinking of each article as a one-off, you start to see each article you submit as contributing to a larger goal.
Why should you aim to accomplish this goal in a year?
The goal is not just to submit 100 articles–the goal is to do it in about a year’s time. There are SEO benefits for trickling out your article submissions consistently over an extended span of time. This allows you to build links in a more organic way, which is attractive to search engines.
So, a year’s time is a good time frame. Space your articles submissions out evenly over that time. Submit just 8 articles a month, and you will reach your goal with ease.
Strategies For Submitting 100 Articles In A Year:
Just 8 articles a month will let you accomplish this goal in a little over a year. That’s just 2 articles a week.
- Write one article 2 days a week. Create regular ‘writing days’ where you have a block of time set aside for writing.
- Or schedule, one or more extended writing sessions where you produce multiple articles at one sitting.
- Or you can stockpile articles: Write 5 articles a week for 5 weeks. That will produce enough articles to last you about 3 months and will allow you to take a break from writing for a couple months (while still providing you with articles to submit during that time). Then do it all over again.
Need Writing Ideas?
Easy enough to decide to write 2 articles a week–the hard part is coming up with ideas of what to write about. Here are some suggestions to keep your creative juices flowing:
- Use a free article writing template that gives you a basic structure for crafting an article on your topic. I’ve created some of my own, and I use them all the time.
- Adapt content from your blog to create articles.
- Remember to write for newbies and more advanced readers–you can cover the same topic in two different articles geared towards groups with different knowledge levels.
- Use customer frequently asked questions as the basis for an article.
- Use a keyword suggestion tool such as WordTracker to see what keywords your target readers are typing into search engines. Then write articles to satisfy those searches.
Your Assignment:
- Commit to writing 100 articles in about a year’s time.
- Develop a plan to reach your goals using one of the strategies I’ve outlined here or customize your own plan.
Imagine how you’ll feel at the end of a year when you know you’ve stuck to your goal and made a huge and lasting impact on your website’s health. Consistency is the key–it is not hard. It just takes writing a steady amount of articles every month. You can do this!
By Steve Shaw in Writing
10 Ways To Convey Passion In Your Articles
When you’re writing articles for Article Marketing, it is not enough just to convey facts in your article–to make a good article great you need to inject some passion into it. If you can convey passion in your articles, your articles will make a deeper impact on your readers.
Are you a passionate champion of your field?
If so, how do you convey that in your articles?
We each have our own writing styles and personalities, so not all of us will convey passion in the same way, but if you’re looking for some pointers on writing articles that touch people’s hearts and minds, give these ideas a try:
- Think of yourself as a teacher. In my opinion, this is the key to a successful article and writing with passion. With article marketing we are submitting educational articles, which means that we should be teaching our readers something new with every article.
- Empathize with your readers. Put yourself in your readers’ shoes–do your remember what it felt like when you were just starting out in your field? You are an expert in this topic now, but at one time you were a beginner. Remember how that felt and the emotions associated with feeling a bit out of your depth. Acknowledge those emotions in your articles, and you will make a deeper connection with your readers and convey your intense desire to help them.
- Encourage your readers. Your job is to help others who are interested in your field to make that journey from newbie to a person of more advanced knowledge. People need encouragement to go from Step 1 to Step 2. In your articles, encourage your readers. Tell them what they have to look forward to. Assure them that they can learn the things that you are trying to teach them.
- Share information that can change people’s lives. If you are passionate about your topic, then no matter what your niche is you do believe that learning about your topic has the potential to change people’s lives. Every article that you write should be a bountiful offering of insightful information geared to teach your reader something about your topic.
- Always be on the lookout for new ways of thinking about your topic. The best teachers never stop being students.
- Write on a level that beginners can understand. Simple is better–your job as the teacher is to break a more complicated topic down into bite size pieces that are easily consumable by your readers.
- Focus on answering questions. Choose article topics centered around answering frequently asked questions in your niche. Listen to your customers’ questions and look for topics that need further explaining. If a couple people are asking about an issue, then most likely there are many others who are also wondering the same thing.
- Write for one person. Make your readers feel like your article was written just for them. Be very specific on your article topics–what specific lesson are you teaching?
- Write in a conversational style. What if you were sitting across the table from your reader–how would you explain your topic to them in every day language?
- Experiment! Explore, ask questions, think of new approaches to your field. Just because you’re an expert doesn’t mean you’re done learning about your niche. Constantly work to expand your knowledge of your topic and approach it from different angles. People who are passionate about their fields are leaders and trailblazers.
Are you writing as passionately as you could be? Pick a few of these tips and apply them to your next article. Writing with passion is a skill that takes time to learn, and you will improve with the more articles that you write.
By Steve Shaw in Writing
How Article Marketing Can Help You Even If You Own a Local Business
Getting global exposure for your website and reaching customers all over the world are two perks of Article Marketing, but what if global domination is not your thing?
One of my long-time newsletter subscribers recently emailed me and asked:
What if you own a dry cleaning business in Madison, Wisconsin?
Or you’re a real estate agent in Ontario, Canada?
Or you operate a bakery in Marrakech, Morocco?
If you own a local business and you want to attract customers who are in your neighborhood or city, can article marketing still work for you?
My answer = Yes!
Many of my article marketing clients at http://www.IWantMoreProspects.com own businesses that have local clients and customers. They use article marketing to increase their web presence, bolster their website rankings in the search engines, establish themselves as an expert in their niche, and also to generate more targeted traffic to their website.
So, although you may not be looking for national or international attention, you can still benefit from a targeted article submission campaign. Now, when I say “targeted traffic”, I mean that the people who are visiting your website are the type of prospects who might be truly interested in your business. They are not just random passers-by.
How can you get targeted traffic for your local business using article marketing?
To be sure that the traffic you receive is targeted, write about your area of expertise and in your resource box (that’s the author bio that sits below your article) specify the location of your business. This would tell the reader that you only work with people in that location.
Also, if appropriate you could write some articles that specifically deal with your industry in your location. For example, if you are a Real Estate agent in Ontario, Canada, there may be some unique aspects of buying or selling a house that are specific to Ontario.
Here’s one article idea: “10 Upcoming Neighborhoods in Ontario, Canada That You Should Consider Buying a House In”
Then the article would have to deliver on the promise that the title makes. Please resist the urge to mention your location in the title and then write an article that offers generalized info. If you mention your location in the title, you need to provide specific info about that location.
What You Must Remember When You Are Trying to Get Local Attention Using Article Marketing
The main thing to remember is that while we talk about a “global audience”, every one of us who is doing article marketing wants to attract a certain type of person–the type of person who is most likely to be interested in our business.
I don’t know of any website owner who wants every Tom, Dick and Harriet coming to his or her site.
Whether you have a local business or an Internet business that operates worldwide, you still have a target market, and you need to write your articles with that specific group in mind.
So, don’t let the “global exposure” idea intimidate or mislead you. When done correctly, article marketing generates targeted traffic.
- You can get traffic that is targeted to your specific location (if that is what you’re going for).
- You can get traffic that is targeted to your industry.
- You can get traffic that is targeted to people with very specific needs.
- You can get traffic that is targeted to people with specific interests.
So start writing articles for your local business. If you’re stuck, grab my Instant Article Writing Templates at http://www.StartWritingArticlesFaster.com
By Eric Gruber in Writing
5 Ways To Convey Expertise In Your Articles
Your articles offer you the unique opportunity to gain expert status in your reader’s eyes.
What are the perks of being regarded as an expert?
Imagine a potential customer typing your name into Google and being greeted with a lengthy list of your articles, all on your specialized topic, and written in a way that makes the reader think, “Wow–he really knows what he’s talking about!”
When a reader sees that type of display of your authority, it builds his confidence in your abilities, your products, your website, and your services.
Yes, there is more to article marketing than just building links!
Here are five ways you can convey expertise in your articles:
1. Actively work toward increasing your knowledge, and aim to be an expert in your field.
You may not think of yourself as an expert, but if you own a business and/or website on a certain topic, you need to either be an expert or be actively working to increase your knowledge so that you reach expert status.
It may take you a while to achieve a really in depth knowledge, but in the meantime portray what you do know with confidence.
2. Develop a teaching mentality.
Write in a way that beginners can understand. Teach specific lessons. ‘How To’ articles are always a good idea. Watch your vocabulary–don’t use niche jargon that the average reader would not understand.
3. Submit articles consistently.
The sheer volume of quality articles that you submit over an extended period of time speaks to your expertise in your field.
Imagine that there are two professionals in a field. One of them has only submitted a handful of articles while the other has hundreds of helpful teaching articles on all aspects of a specific topic–which one would you regard as an expert?
The one with the largest collection of quality content on his or her topic would be seen as being more of an authority.
Maybe you are knowledgeable, but you are not the absolute top dog in your niche (yet)–you can make up for that by consistently writing and submitting articles.
4. Your writing (and your knowledge) will improve with the more articles you write.
Writing articles is a great way to stimulate learning for yourself and your readers. No matter how confident you are of your knowledge, five years from now if you look back at the articles you’re writing today you’re bound to think, “Wow–I’ve really grown!”
Look at ‘expert status’ as a work in progress. It takes time and effort. Be patient with yourself.
5. Expertise is relative.
If you’re just starting out, write on what you understand. You can be an expert at teaching introductory concepts. Do not pretend to know more than you do, but fully explore what you do know in your articles.
As a newcomer to your field, you actually have some advantages. You can easily tap into the best way to explain a beginner concept because you remember what confused you when you were starting out.
Remember, the next time you sit down to write an article–you are an expert!
Present your ideas clearly and carefully. Work to expand your knowledge on a consistent basis. Write consistently and accumulate a library of articles that speak to your authority in your field.
By Steve Shaw in Writing
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