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Posts Tagged ‘article marketing’
Sunday, November 13th, 2011
Article marketing has changed over the years. In the old days of article marketing, you could do a mass submit of your articles and see it appear all over the web. In a period of time you’d see a load of incoming links show up for your website and those inbound links helped you to rank better in the search engines.
Mass submit article marketing still works to a limited degree, but it doesn’t work anything like it used to. You’re much better off today spending your time submitting fewer articles to websites with higher authority. And the three websites I recommend all have a Google PageRank of 8 or better.
- Squidoo – The brainchild of permission marketing guru Seth Godin. Build information portals called Lenses and use it to build links to your most cherished web properties. You can also monetize your Lenses.
- HubPages – HubPages is somewhat like Squidoo, though not as sophisticated graphically. You can monetize your hubs and the idea is to build hubs around a particular topic. Focus each article on a small part of your niche and make hubs rich in the macro-sense.
- Knol – Knol is owned by Google so it’s got to be good, right? In fact, it is good. The great think about Knol pages is that you can put links right in your articles. And you can make them long authoritative encyclopedias of knowledge.
Article marketing may not be what it used to be, but the benefits are still just as good as they’ve ever been – if you do it right.
Tags: article marketing, HubPages, inbound links, knol pages, Squidoo
Posted in Article Marketing | 6 Comments »
Saturday, October 8th, 2011
Amazon recently announced its own version of the tablet PC – a competitor to Apple’s iPad. It’s called Kindle Fire.
The astonishing thing about the Kindle Fire is its price. For less than $200, anyone can hold a PC in the palm of their hand. You can watch videos, listen to music, download your favorite apps, read e-books and store all of your entertainment on Amazon’s cloud. It’s clearly the best value for the money in the tablet PC market.
Why is that important? I think it’s extremely important for small business owners because it unleashes a new opportunity in e-books.
Pre-orders for the Kindle Fire are off the charts. Its official release date is November 15 and it’s selling in the millions. Of course, that’s good for Amazon, but it’s also good for small business owners.
The ease of publishing a book in Kindle format is phenomenal. You can write an article in one hour and publish it to the Kindle in ten minutes without needing an ISBN. You don’t even have to know any code. That means you can effectively have a string of white papers that you sell through Amazon on the Kindle and if you price them right they not only can serve as an additional source of income, but they will also boost your reputation – just like quality articles always have.
E-book marketing has always been good, but it just got better – thanks to the Amazon Kindle Fire.
Tags: Amazon Kindle, article marketing, e-books
Posted in Article Marketing | 4 Comments »
Monday, August 1st, 2011
Article marketing is generally thought of as something that takes place off of your website whereas blogging is generally something thought of as something that takes place on your website. However, you can publish articles on your website and you can blog apart from your website.
However you look at it, both forms of marketing can fit nicely into what we call “content marketing.” Here are 5 things blogging and article marketing have in commong:
- High quality content is very important. If you are going to publish articles that promote your website and drive traffic back to your website, then you want that content to be the highest quality possible. The same is true of onsite content designed to gain search engine rankings.
- Speaking of traffic, they both have the potential to deliver high quality targeted traffic to your website.
- Consistency is key, both with article marketing and with blogging.
- Both article marketing and blogging have the potential to affect your reputation online in both the short term and the long term and for better or for worse.
- As with any type of content marketing, articles and blogs both have huge SEO and social media benefits. Be diligent in your efforts and it could pay off big time.
Forget the hype and just focus on the benefits – both for article marketing and blogs.
Tags: article marketing, blogging, content marketing, Reputation Management, SEO, website traffic
Posted in Article Marketing | 9 Comments »
Saturday, July 30th, 2011
Remember when Facebook first opened up personal domain names? You could get your own name and it was on a first-come, first-serve basis. Well, recently, HubPages has decided to give you your own subdomain and you better hurry if you want it to be your name. Otherwise, you might have to settle for your name plus a few numbers, or a variation that you’ll be forced to live with.
Let me say that I think this is a good move – for HubPages and for you. Subdomains will likely be considered a higher authority since you’ll have control over all the content in your domain name.
Another benefit to you is reputation management. If you’ve noticed that your profile pages on your most active social networks rank highly for your name, then I expect that your HubPages subdomain will rank well for your name as well. That is, if you keep your subdomain active, and that means writing articles on a regular basis.
Article marketing has long been a very good way to get new traffic to your website and build links. HubPages is one avenue for your articles to get you traffic, links, and an increase in your authority and reputation. Now you can do it with a branded subdomain.
Tags: article marketing, HubPages, Reputation Management
Posted in Article Marketing | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
Article marketing is still alive and well on the Internet. Do you ever wonder where you can publish your articles and build links back to your website or get the attention you deserve as an expert in your field? Here are 5 non-article directories that are great places for marketing your article content.
- Squidoo – Squidoo is the brainchild of popular author and marketing genius Seth Godin. You start a “Lens,” which is a single-page resource on a given topic. You’re allowed to link to other places on the Web, and that includes your own websites.
- HubPages – HubPages is a place for authors to publish articles on a variety of topics. You can monetize your articles on HubPages with your Amazon affiliate links, Google AdSense, eBay, and other monetization strategies. Another thing you can do is link out to other pages on the Web.
- Knol – Google Knol pages have become very popular as well. These articles tend to be more technical in nature and you can add as many links to your Knol pages as you want. Written well, they can be a great source of information and establish you as an expert in your field.
- Helium – Helium is another site similar to HubPages where you can write articles on specific topics, monetize them, and build links to other pages on the Web.
- Triond – Triond is unique. You publish your articles on topics at Triond and they are syndicated to niche websites so that you can reach a larger audience.
For greater leverage and flexibility, try using these 5 websites for publishing your articles. Note, however, that you’ll be more effective at each site if you publish only original articles.
Tags: article marketing, self publishing, website promotion
Posted in Article Marketing | 9 Comments »
Monday, June 6th, 2011
It may seem odd to call any Internet marketing strategy an “old-fashioned” or “traditional” strategy, but we are now over 20 years since the invention of the World Wide Web and commercial Internet marketing. It’s interesting to note, however, that what worked in 1992 still can work in 2011. Hare are 4 old-fashioned Internet marketing strategies that still have the power to work some magic.
- E-mail Marketing – E-mail marketing has been around for so long that it hardly seems just to say it’s new. It IS new, however, compared to old icons like television and radio advertising. But compared to new Internet marketing strategies like social media and video marketing, it’s as old as the hills. Still, it can be very effective.
- Article Marketing – Internet marketers were marketing with articles as early as 1991. Now, in 2011, article marketing is still a powerhouse despite the Panda update.
- Forum Marketing – OK, I’m being a little bit misleading here. Today’s forums are 1991s bulletin boards. Still, those old bulletin boards were a lot like forums. People signed on, read the threads, and posted their rebuttals. They also got some business from that effort. Today’s forums are a bit more sophisticated and have rules in place to control spam, but they are still effective marketing venues.
- Websites – This one is so simple it’s a no-brainer. From the very first website ever built to the most modern-looking Web 2.0 communities, a website is still the perfect online marketing tool. This is such a basic truth that it’s hard to believe that online marketers attempt to run a business using other tools without a website. I see Internet marketers using social media, forums, articles, videos, Squidoo Lenses and HubPages, and all sorts of other online channels without first having built their own hub – the company website. Build your website first, then do all the rest.
If you are serious about marketing your business online, start with the basics. Build yourself a website, then market it with articles and join a couple of forums. Start an e-mail newsletter. After that, branch out into the newer, more modern online marketing channels.
Tags: article marketing, e-mail marketing, forums, internet marketing, online marketing, website
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Props to David Jackson for his article “10 Biggest Internet Marketing Myths Exposed.” These 5 Internet marketing myths come from his list, but I could just as well have created them from scratch. These are myths you’ve probably heard over and over again (and may have even bought into yourself). I’ll tell you why they’re myths.
- Anyone can succeed at Internet marketing. Just like anyone can succeed at rocket science. Every profession has a set of skills that are necessary to become successful in that career. If you don’t possess those skills, and in some cases you need specialized knowledge, then you won’t succeed. Internet marketing is a skill. If you don’t have it, hire someone who does.
- You can get rich quick on the Internet. I’ve never met anyone who has gotten rich quick at anything. Ignore the hype. The reality is, online marketing is hard work.
- All traffic is good traffic. This one is a doozy. Try paying for traffic from a traffic exchange and see if you come away with the same idea. Targeted traffic is good. Slush traffic is not.
- E-mail marketing is dead. Really? I’ve had some of my best sales through e-mail marketing. It’s not dead. It’s still very effective and if you do it right, then you’ll get a lot of good business from it.
- Article marketing is not as effective as it used to be. Yes it is. You might have to change how you do it a little bit, but article marketing is still effective.
These 5 Internet marketing myths are often repeated, especially within the context of small business marketing. They’re not true because many small business marketers use these tactics every day – to great effect. You can too.
Tags: article marketing, e-mail marketing, internet marketing, small business, Small Business Internet Marketing, traffic
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | No Comments »
Monday, May 9th, 2011
If you’re new to Internet marketing and you’re not sure what an IM package might consist of, relax. They’re all different. In fact, the first step to designing a good strategy for marketing your business online is to analyze your business and plan a strategy that is based on the needs of your market and your business.
Strategic Internet marketing takes time. It doesn’t just fall into place. What works for one business may not work for another. Therefore, it’s important to know your market.
Market analysis and competitive intelligence are both very important when approaching your online marketing strategy. Once you’ve done the initial legwork and you’ve determined what may or may not work for your business, then it’s time to get to work. Your Internet marketing plan might include some or all of the following elements:
To add to the variability of Internet marketing strategies, your business might benefit from local search strategies or global search strategies or some combination of the two. The first step, of course, is to see what you’ve done in the past and what you are currently doing with your marketing efforts. In most cases, you can get better results from online marketing on a smaller budget than you can from traditional marketing.
Of course, your first consultation is free. Let us check the health of your website today.
Tags: article marketing, blog marketing, internet marketing, mobile marketing, newsletter marketing, Pay Per Click, search engine optimization, social media marketing, website design
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 2 Comments »
Saturday, April 30th, 2011
Anyone who has read my blog for very long knows that I am a strong advocate of article marketing. That is, I believe that writing articles and publishing off of your website with links back to your website is a good way to promote yourself online. The benefits are simple:
- Free one-way links
- Enhanced reputation for the author
- New targeted traffic to your website
- And that’s just a start
HubPages has done well to provide these benefits. But due to a recent Google algorithm change, which everyone has started calling Panda, HubPages has had to undergo some policy changes.
Some of these changes makes me wonder why HubPages ever accepted some articles in the first place. For instance:
Duplicated Content: While we used to allow some duplicated content (e.g. if it also existed on your blog and so long as you did not link back to the source), it is now required that all content published on HubPages be unique to the site
I’d have thought that would be a no-brainer. But I guess not.
There are other policies HubPages are incorporating that I give them credit for. Some authors may not like them, but I think they are great changes. The result will be more credibility for HubPages and for its authors. Everyone wins. How can that be bad?
Tags: article marketing, content, HubPages
Posted in Article Marketing | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
Article marketing is a mainstay of Internet marketing. It’s been around since the earliest days of the Internet and Web-savvy marketers have been very effective in using article marketing to drive traffic to their websites and in closing the sale. But recently, article marketing has taken a huge turn – for better and for the worse.
Google slapped the article directories hard, so hard that you might not want to keep putting your articles there. They may work and they may not. But there is actually a better way to go about marketing your business and your website these days.
The 2011 way to market yourself through articles is to distribute them through other channels. Try HubPages, Google Knol, and Squidoo Lenses. Or find websites within your niche that publish articles. Even niche-related blogs.
Articles are still good marketing tools. But distribution channels change, and the methods that article marketers use should change right along with them. If you want to be successful at article marketing, study your niche. Whose doing what? Where are they publishing? What are they publishing?
Don’t ask those questions to follow the trends. Rather, ask those questions so that you can move ahead of the trends. Then, write your articles and send them to the right places.
Tags: article marketing, articles
Posted in Article Marketing | 3 Comments »
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