Friday, May 23, 2008

Why SEO Is The Ultimate Traffic Generation Method

First of all, SEO provides you with targeted traffic, not just any visitors. That means visitors that are looking specifically to buy what you are selling.

Common traffic methods like traffic exchanges, safelists, popup or popunder traffic, buying traffic and other methods provide visitors, however these visitors are not always looking for what you sell. In other words most of the time they are looking for something else. It means they will not buy from you.

There are many other reliable traffic generation methods, it is not just SEO. However SEO is one of the best methods and here are some reasons.

First of all you can get a ton of traffic, not little but a lot. You may require some time if your website is brand new to get rankings and start getting traffic. But once you get that first keyword ranked on top, you start getting rankings much faster and much easier.

It is because you get more link exchange requests. Search engines prefer old sites, instead of those brand new. Once you start making money you can invest to automate SEO completely.

So if it takes you two months to get that first keyword ranked on top, it will then take you a month to get three or four more at once. The experience alone and results motivate you to do more. There is another advantage.

If you just got the top position for a keyword such as free mouse traps it will be easier to get on top position the keyword mouse traps or cheap mouse traps. It is because you already have several backlinks with the anchor text mouse traps. If you have the top position for free mouse traps, you should have backlinks with that anchor text.

That is another benefit of choosing long tail keywords, which means keywords with multiple words.

The more backlinks you have the better. So after you get that first keyword ranked on top, while optimizing your site for the new keywords you already have a ton of backlinks. Your site is already established, not brand new. This all makes it easier to get high rankings again and again for new keywords.

So do not believe into what you hear that SEO takes long time, like six months or a year to get results. It all depends on how well you know SEO and how properly you follow SEO strategies. You need to learn SEO from a proven source, someone who can show you results. On the Internet there are many so called SEO experts and firms, who guarantee too good to be true results.

You should get on page one within two months, not a single day more. If it takes you three months you are doing something wrong or you can do something much better, or you are not applying some method correctly enough.. SEO can be fully automated and it can be your traffic generation machine day in day out. SEO alone is enough to give you enough traffic to make four, five or six figures income assuming your website copy and other elements are properly set as well.

There are keywords you can target once you get that experience and you have that extra more investment which can give you fifteen thousand visitors or more a day. Just from one keyword.

That alone should be a good reason to think about implementing SEO in your business as one of the main methods to get targeted traffic.

OutRankSmart brand new seo software to make automatic link exchanges. Karl Sultana's software is fully automatic, so even a 7 year old kid can use it.

Article Marketing Ideas For Online Income Business Success

The most popular place to first start distributing articles is of course to the article directories. Whilst this is a proven method to build back links to your online income business website as well as generate free traffic there are other ways to spread your articles far and wide over the internet.

Be sure, prior to submitting your articles, to include the resource box at the end of your article as this will not only provide another valuable back link to your site but is also a form of free advertising for your online income business. It is also a good idea to put your publishing guidelines in your resource box as well i.e. "You are welcome to publish my article provided you include the resource box with links intact."

Let`s start off by doing a search for the terms e-zines and article publishing websites as you will be sure to find many links on these sites to submit your articles.

Create a free e-book with all your own articles and offer it on your website as a freebie, or give it away to your newsletter sign-ups. You can get even more free advertising by adding your own online income business advert to the e-book as well.

Adding an article directory to your own website will encourage visitors who are looking for free content for their own websites.

Submit your articles to print publications that pay for submissions and earn extra online income by becoming a freelance writer.

Create a free report on internet marketing or online income businesses and include a few of your related articles and give it away as a bonus to those who purchase a product or service from you?

What about considering publishing a book containing all the articles you have written and selling the book from your website?

Gain huge exposure by offering other webmasters the opportunity to get an instant article directory by linking to yours. This could also increase the traffic to your website.

Submit your articles to related online communities, such as newsgroups, forums and email discussion lists as this will attract a huge amount of free advertising to your online income business.

Try searching using your own main keywords and have a look through the authority sites in the top rankings and you may well find an invitation to submit your articles to them. Some of these sites also have their own forum with an article marketing section.

Be sure to advise others that they are welcome to include your articles in their free e-books. This really is free advertising as you don't even need to promote the e-book.

You could also set up a campaign in your auto-responder offering a weekly article to your website visitors and include your online income business email advert with each article.

As you can see there are so many ways to use your articles to build back links and generate free traffic to your online income business and that is what makes it such a worthwhile and successful internet marketing tool.

Cynthia Minnaar is the owner of http://www.cyns-home-biz.com Subscribe to her Free Online Home Business Ideas Newsletter and learn how to start and build a successful online income business. Have a peek at the free internet income training included in the newsletter subscription. You may publish my article if you include the bio.

Ethical Search Engine Optimisation Services: Are You Selecting the Right Keywords?

Selecting keywords to drive website traffic to your site is a very crucial point in search engine optimisation. Many people believe selecting keywords with the most searches will get them the desired ranks and traffic they wish to have. Unless you already have a well established website within the search engine ranks, selecting keywords with a high number of searches should be avoided. These sorts of keywords will usually mean that there is a large number of competing pages, which in turn means it will be extremely difficult to achieve high ranks.

Due to a large number of competing pages for generic terms, optimisers should focus on selecting keywords that have a reasonable amount of searches and a minimal amount of competing pages. The key is to focus on a small list of keywords, say 20 to 30, and then once a strong presence has been made for those keywords the list can be expanded to include slightly more generic terms.

Having said that, selecting keywords with less search numbers doesnt necessarily result in less visitors to your website. Search engine users these days tend to refine their searches to more specific keywords since they are given a broad range of websites when they use the generic terms. For example, if you have people wanting to buy a car, most search engine users will enter the phrase buy car. Once they are given a wide range of websites to choose from, they will in most cases change their search to include a car model type. For those who have optimised for the more refined phrases, the more likely they are going to get an interested buyer.

For those of you who are looking for a good keyword tool, Wordtracker and Overture is a good place to start. To determine the number of competing pages for a keyword phrase, enter that phrase into a search engine and look at the number of pages indexed. As a rule of thumb, I always tend to select keyword phrases that have less than a million pages indexed in Google or Yahoo.

With all that in mind, provided you target selected keywords that have a reasonable amount of search numbers and a minimal amount of competing pages along with proper optimisation practices, you should be able to achieve a strong presences in search engines over a period of time.

About the Author: David Touri is a search engine optimisation specialist working for SEO Sydney. He has worked on many projects and offers ethical search engine optimisation services to companies in Australia. For further information, please visit http://www.seosydney.com.au

Keyword Research Is Your Key To Success

If you find the right keywords you will more likely find success on the internet. Keywords drive the search engines and many webmasters know this but they still fail to find the best keywords for their website.

The best tool for this is the father of keyword research, Wordtracker. Most SEO's believe that Wordtracker will give the best results, especially when compared to the Overture keyword finder. You must be a paying subscriber to use Wordtracker but they do have a free trial subscription.

Another "pay as you go" keyword site and in my opinion is as good if not better than Wordtracker is the newer Keyword Discovery site. They were a little shaky when they started a few years ago, but have grown into a formidable opponent to Wordtracker.

The Overture keyword tool is a free tool. Many SEO's frown upon Overture because they feel the results are not accurate, I tend to like them. Overture's results are not as precise as Wordtracker or Keyword Discovery. Overture tends to lump all singular and plural phrases into one singular phrase category. This makes knowing what is searched for hard and you have to guess which keyword term to use as in "automobile" or "automobiles". You have to think to yourself how you would search for the term and go with your gut feeling. Wordtracker gives you results for both terms and is a little more accurate.

There are many keyword tools that use Overtures keyword research. A free tool and one that I recommend is Good Keywords, by Softnik Technologies. It can be downloaded free from their website.

Digital Points free Keyword Suggestion tool at digitalpoint.com is an excellent tool that will give you both wordtracker and overture keyword suggestions. Though, you are limited to the first 10 keywords on Wordtracker.

Finally, Google's Keyword tool at: adwords.google.com/select/KeywordTool is also a very good tool to try. It is suppossed to be used for your adwords campaign but it can find nice targeted keywords and it is a free tool.

Finding the right keywords for your site is not very hard. Though I think it is important to do research and not rush into it. You must come up with the initial search term you are thinking of using. Then input it into one of the keyword search sites and see what keywords they find.

Look for phrases instead of single words. It is best to look for 3 to 5 word phrases. This will ensure that searchers who are looking for your product are really interested in that keyword and not just browsing general keywords to see what they can find.

Searchers don't look for Acne. They might be looking for "acne skin conditions" or "acne cream that works". These terms are much more targeted and though they might get fewer searches than just the word, "acne", you will have visitors to your site who are interested and more willing to buy.

Now, compile a list of the best keywords or keyword phrases. This might be five or fifty and it depends on how large you want your site to be. Go to Google.com and do a Google search for each keyword. Look at the results in the top right hand corner. This will tell you your competition.

Now you must do a little analysis. You are looking for keywords that have the most searches from the tool you used and the least number of competing sites as listed in your Google results.

You will need a spreadsheet for this. If you don't have one go to OpenOffice.org and download their Open Office suite. It is a very good product and comparable to Microsoft Office Suite.

Start your spreadsheet program and you will need to use three columns. From left to right label the columns: Keyword searches, Google Competition and S/GC. For, every keyword fill in the column. The first column will have the searches from your Keyword Suggestion Tool. The second column will have the results from the Google Competition results you found from Google. In the third column you will divide the searches by the Google Competition. You want keywords with a lower S/GC. The lower score the better. A lower number tells you that for a given keyword there will be less competition for the searches performed by searchers.

Choose the best keywords from your list and these will be the keywords you will want to focus on with individual web pages on your site. This brief introduction into keyword mining will get you started on the right track to acquiring traffic to your website. Good Luck.

Ken Katz has best job in the world as an internet marketer. Join him and learn to work at home. Check out his website: Internet Millions Review and claim your free "7 days to $70,000" report that will help you start as an internet marketer.

Tips to Improve Search Engine Traffic and Designing Search Engine Friendly Web Site

Look around on the internet and you will come across several websites that have tips on how you can improve your search engine traffic. But before I get on to the tips, let me work first to clear a few misconceptions about search engine traffic.

  • If you think that the moment you submit your website to a leading search engine, you will have traffic, then you are wrong.
  • Also if you think that if you follow an SEO program for one month and then stop it, you will have traffic, then you are wrong again.

Search engines are a peculiar kind of software that works in strange ways. You need to understand it carefully and then work towards creating a steady flow of traffic to your website.

SEO in mind

If you are planning to use search engine optimization, then you must plan it right from the moment that you are designing the website. A lot of people use the latest technology like CGI, frames, java, Ajax, perl etc without properly structuring it.

The result is that the search engines get confused and your listing goes haywire. The trick is to create a website with these in mind. You can use the above mentioned technology. But use them in such a way that it creates minimum impact on search engine spiders. Once you have the website ready, run a maintenance check on it. This is also one of the overlooked aspects of a website. You need to remove any errors on the website to avoid visitor disasters.

Understanding and accepting waiting periods

Every one has a certain waiting period associated with it. During this waiting period the search engine looks to gauge the trust worthiness of your site. The only way to speed up this procedure is by following legitimate SEO practices and sticking to it. You might have to wait for years in some cases while in other ones, your website might be listed in a few months.

For more info visit: Search Engine Traffic and Design Tip

Page Rank Purgatory - Simple Things You can Do to Keep Your Web Site Out of Search Engine Hell!

Are Meta Tags Really Dead?

Right in their Guidelines Yahoo Tells You that Meta-Tags are Not Totally Dead and Buried

(The Below Information was Taken Directly From the Yahoo Help File http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/basics/basics-18.html)

Pages Yahoo! Wants Included in its Index

  • Original and unique content of genuine value
  • Pages designed primarily for humans, with search engine considerations secondary
  • Hyperlinks intended to help people find interesting, related content, when applicable
  • Metadata (including title and description) that accurately describes the contents of a web page
  • Good web design in general

Right in their Guidelines Yahoo States "Metadata (including title and description) that accurately describes the contents of a web page." By Title MetaData they mean the text between the title and /title Tags in the header section of your HTML Page. By Description Yahoo mean the actual Meta Tag Name="Description" in the same header section. So Meta Data at least as Far as Yahoo is Concerned is Not Dead.

Let's Examine Some of the Key Points that Yahoo states are important in their help file and see how we can employ some simple methods to meet Yahoo's Guideline.

Original and unique content of genuine value

Yahoo is looking for well written Keyword rich Content that has useful information. Concentrate on 1 Keyword or Keyword Phrase per Web Page. If You web Page is less then 500 Words use a Keyword Density of about 2-3%. If your Web Page is Above 500 Words Use a Keyword Density of About 5%. Try to Keep your Web Pages under 750 Words.

Pages designed primarily for humans, with search engine considerations secondary

Yahoo and Google are working hard to get rid of those Robotic Page Writers. Your pages should be fairly well written, It is OK to Optimize for search engines as long as your content is Human Engineered Well.

Hyperlinks intended to help people find interesting, related content, when applicable

Try and have 3 or 4 Links to closely related Content. It is ok to link to other web Pages within in your site but 1 or 2 external links should be mixed in when Possible. Make sure you use your Keyword or Phrase in the Anchor text for the Links.

Metadata (including title and description) that accurately describes the contents of a web page

Your Title and Description Meta Data Should Accurately reflect your web page Content. Every web page from your site should have unique Title and Description Meta Data. Both Title and description Meta Data should use your target Keywords and Keyword Phrases for the Web Page. Don't use the same keyword or keyword phrase directly next to each other in your Title or Description Metadata.

Title Meta Data

Keep your Title less then 80 Characters if at all possible. Place your Title Meta Data First (Firectly below the Head Tag. Place the exact same Title at the very top of your Web Page Preferably inside an H1 /H1 Tag.

Description Meta Data

The Description Meta Tag should appear directly under the Title Meta Data. Keep your Descriptions between 100 and 150 Characters if possible. Your Keyword Density in your Description should be about 10%. Make sure your Description accurately reflects your web page. Where possible the text in your description Meta Data should actually appear Word for Word near the Top of your Web Page.

Power User Super Tip Where it fits use your description within h2 tags as a Sub Page Header Directly under your title

Good web design in general

Books have been written about Web Design, Some key points is to make sure your web sites is thematic and pages are related to each other,. For every page you create to target a Keyword phrase have 3 or more (as many as 10) related pages. Add new pages once or more a week or significantly change current pages. Make your Web Pages easy to crawl. Have a well organized Drill Down Site Map. As an Example if your Web Page is about Real Estate your Site-Map may look something like this

  • Real Estate Topics
    • Buying a Home
      • Your Perfect Neighborhood
      • Finding a Lender
      • Hidden Deals in those FSBOs (For Sale by Owner)
    • Selling a Home
      • Picking a Realtor
      • Pricing your Home
    • Investment Property

    Yahoo in it's Guidelines is telling you exactly what you need to do to get a Better Page Rank. If you Give Yahoo want they want by following these suggestions then Yahoo will reward you with what you want - A Better Page Rank.

    About The Author:
    Mike Makler has been Marketing Online Since 2001 When he Built an Organization of over 100,000 Members

    Get Mike's Newsletter:
    http://ewguru.com/newsletter

    More Articles by Mike:
    http://ewguru.com/tips

    Permission Based E_Mail Marketing Methods
    http://ewguru.com/hbiz/amazingoffer.html

    Copyright 2005-2006 Mike Makler the Coolest Guy in the Universe

SEO Basics

Search engine optimization or SEO can be a very difficult thing to master. SEO is a skill some companies are willing to pay top dollar for. For some individuals the skill is simply a great opportunity to advance. Mastering SEO requires a great understanding of how each search engine lists each website. Some of things it can take into consideration are link popularity, content, keyword ratios, etc. Learning to optimize these aspects of your site can be a daunting task. There are many tools however to help you analyze your website and learning to use each tool and provide high placement on a search engine takes fine tuning of these aspects. Do searches for things like "link popularity tool" or "Keyword ratio analyzer" and you will find website that tailor to SEO.

Once you have found your tools to analyze your website it is time to try to make sense of it all. Online community forums are the greatest way to get expert information on nearly any topic. When you find an internet forum based around SEO or internet marketing reading through the pages of knowledge will help shorten the learning curve. In these forums you can learn what others have had to learn the hard way and ask questions to fill in the blanks.

Next you should type in the keywords you hope to profit from and start analyzing your competition. What are they doing? How many links point to their website? What is their keyword ratio on the keywords you want to capitalize on? What keywords do they use in their meta tag? Try to mimic what they have done to make their website number one in search engines.

As you can see it can lots of work to get your website to the top of the search pages, but there is a reason people get paid so much to get websites to the top of search engines.

Now that you know the basics here is a website that will help speed up your learning curve.

Learn more about SEO, how to sell products and build a successful online business - http://www.ditchtheladder.com/

Article Marketing - Discover 6 Profitable Ways to Increase Your Article Marketing

The competition in getting the attention of online users cannot get stiffer these days as millions of entrepreneurs are going online on a daily basis. If you want to get your fair share of online visitors, you must use an effective traffic-generating tool like article marketing that can attract online users by giving them something what they truly need - information.

Here are the 6 profitable ways to increase your article marketing:

1. Always use attractive titles. One of the few elements that can guarantee your success in article marketing is using striking titles that can easily get online users to open and read your content.

2. Use keywords. You need to keep the search engines in mind when writing your content so you can make your articles highly searchable online. This can easily be done by using relevant keywords all throughout your content.

3. Deliver fresh information. Avoid offering your readers with content that are similar to what they see on other articles online. To make your article more valuable to their eyes, strive to give them fresh and unique content that they cannot simply find elsewhere.

4. Do not advertise on your articles. Avoid posting blatant ads on your content if you don't want your articles to be rejected by both search engines and article submission sites. Instead, focus on giving your readers the kind of information they need that they will find truly valuable and useful to their lives. These could be solutions to the problems they are currently experiencing or answers to their burning questions. These can also be information that can empower them to do certain things on their own.

5. Use a compelling resource box. To easily increase your conversion rate, make use of a resource box that can easily entice your readers to check on your website. It must contain your expertise, the problem that you solve, your name, a powerful elevator pitch, a call to action, and a link that will take your readers to your website.

6. Widely publish your articles. To easily boost the number of your inbound links, submit your articles not only on publishing sites but also on major directories. You can also post them on relevant blogs, on your website, and social bookmarking sites. Lastly, use them as viral marketing tool by compiling them together to create a short electronic book that you can send to your potential clients.

Do you want to learn more about how I use article marketing techniques, and list building methods to generate over $15,347 per month online?

Find out free here: How to Make 5 Figures Online.

Sean Mize is an internet marketing mentor who teaches people to generate over $15,000 per month online via automated systems and product funnels.

Four Key Strategies to Marketing on a Shoestring

Even if you have a ton of money to pay for advertising, there are four key strategies to marketing on a shoestring that will in the long run that will build your brand and create links that will ultimately be far more effective than any paid advertising that you may do. In fact, paid advertising is typically only effective while you are using it and after the money has run out, you are back to square one. If you use these strategies, however, the effect is long lasting and provides a solid basis for a real internet business. The four strategies are:

1:List building. You have always heard that the money is in your list and this is a time proven method of business building. You will need a good opt-in page and a good autoresponder. For an opt-in page, you have several options. You can find free ones on the net just by doing a Google search, you can easily build your own or some of the better business opportunities will have a built-in opt-in page. The other thing that you need is a good autoresponder an this is one area that spending a little money will save you a ton of heartache. You can get a top of the line autoresponder for less than $20 a month and be assured that you will have a near 100% delivery rate. With the free or cheap ones, you will get what you pay for.

2.Article Marketing. The internet has a voracious appetite for fresh content. Ezines, newsletters, websites and blogs are always looking for fresh content. In article marketing, you write a simple content rich article that people can use and you will find you name being spread all over the internet. Make sure that you adhere to the article directories policies and don't ever try to advertise in an article. If your article is interesting, the reader may click on your signature information and this is what links to your business offering. This is probably the single best method of free marketing. Not only does it build your reputation as an expert in the field but, it also produces links back to your website or blog.

3. Forum Marketing. No matter what your niche is there is a forum that is dedicated to it. It doesn't matter if it is internet marketing or dog grooming, there is a community of like minded individuals who want to hear what you have to say. Typically, unless specifically allowed, you should not try to advertise in your posts. Let your signature do your advertising. If you can help someone answer a question and your comment is information rich, they will click on your signature for more information about you. There is a land-mine to watch out for. If your comment is not valid, contains misinformation or is overtly commercial, you can destroy your reputation just as fast as you can build it.

4.Blogging. Not only do you want your own blog but, you also want to comment on other peoples blogs. Just remember to treat this just the same as you would Forum Marketing. On your own blog, you can, of course, directly advertise but people came to your blog for information and not simply to hear a sales pitch. Let your links do your advertising for you and make sure that your blog is content rich. If you can help your reader become successful, they will also help you to also become a success. Wordpress has recently prohibited blogs that are for the purpose of affiliate marketing. However, you can still use Wordpress on your own site and there are also a number of companies offering your own blog with free hosting. Just Google "free blog hosting". Make sure you read the Terms of Service (TOS) before signing on to one of these free hosts.

Although these methods will not have the sudden impact that PPC ads have, they will have long lasting results that will build a solid business base for you.

Stan Pontiere has been an online marketer since 1997. At first part-time and then full-time since 2004. For further information on Marketing on a Shoestring please visit: http://www.myezybizonline.com or my blog at: http://www.internetbizops.myccblog.com Please feel free to reprint this article as long as the article and resource information are left in tact.

Article Marketing Mistake #2 - Believing That Just a Few Will Do When Writing Your Articles

Article marketing requires you to have a high article volume in order to be successful.

Ive heard it so many times. People have tried article marketing and it doesnt work. Well, how many articles did you write and put out there?

Six? Well, guess what thats not enough. You need at least 25 out there to begin to get a small steady trickle of people heading your way. Thats in general. Some people can get a great stream of traffic with 10 because they are well written strategically from the beginning.

The more articles you write, the higher your article inventory, the higher all your other numbers will be. Its as simple as that. Its a numbers game. The higher your article volume, the more visitors, prospects, subscribers, publicity and profits you will have.

Now what if somebody told you that you could be involved in a business that you could control, or at least greatly influence, your numbers your visitors, your subscribers, your teleseminar listeners, your customers, your members, your students, your mentees whatever you want to call them and you could do that for free. The only cost would be time and energy.

Thats what article marketing is. When I submit articles to the article directories, I dont hope my other numbers will increase. I dont think my other numbers will increase. I absolutely know my other numbers will increase, and thats a great thing and a great feeling.

"Life begins at 250"

Christopher Knight of EzineArticles says that "life begins at 250." Now before you let that scare you off, realize that while it does take consistent effort to get to 250 and beyond, it is very doable and very, very worth it.

And now I would like to offer you free access to two of my Article Writing Templates. You can download them by going to http://www.GreatArticleMarketingBlog.com

Would you like to get in on our free weekly Article Guy TeleSeminars? Visit http://www.TheArticleGuyTeleSeminars.com to get started today!

From Jeff Herring - The Article Guy & GreatArticleMarketingNetwork.com

Small Business Marketing Strategies for Tackling Big Competitors

One of the great challenges facing small business owners is that they must often battle for customers against larger competitors, who can afford to run more advertising, offer lower prices, and who are better established in the marketplace.

And yet some small business owners do it very successfully. How?

There are some proven marketing strategies to use when competing against larger, more established competitors. These strategies have been used successfully by companies of all sizes to drive sales and carve out a sustainable position in the market. They apply to online commerce and traditional small businesses.

Here are details on two such strategies that you can use as a small business owner to help grow your business when competing with larger competitors:

Take the Alternative Position

If you are up against the market leader in your business, shift your market position so you dont compete directly with them on their turf. Become the alternative to the market leader that is, promote and advertise an aspect of your product/service that the leader simply cant offer. This is a classic marketing strategy that has been used successfully by small companies and major corporations, because it allows you to compete with the leader in a part of the market where they may not be very strong.

Pepsi couldnt beat Coke at the cola wars, because Coke was viewed as the original cola drink that had no substitutes. That was fine with Pepsi. It let Coke have that territory, and instead marketed itself as the Choice of a New Generation. Its marketing appeal and target audience was young and cool - everything that Coke couldnt be with their more traditional positioning. Pepsi successfully carved out the number 2 position in the market by becoming the primary alternative to Coke, and made billions in the process.

The rule applies to everything from .com companies to local furniture stores. Survey the competitive landscape in your market and determine how you can position your business as the best alternative to the established market leader. Second place in a given market can be a very nice place to be from a profitability standpoint.

Sell what they dont have You!

Many small business owners have found success by building their personal reputations as experts in their field, with significant benefits to their small business. They have become the public face for their company.

Some large companies have a public face, a person who represents the company in the minds of customers (Richard Branson for Virgin is one). But most dont. As a small business owner, you can effectively represent yourself as an expert in your area of expertise, and drive awareness for your small business in the process.

One of the most effective ways to build your reputation is through the credibility that comes from publicity and media relations activities.

Here are some guiding principles to working with the media as a small business owner:

View it as a relationship reporters need story ideas and expert sources - you can offer both when it comes to your area of expertise to create a win-win situation

Pitch story ideas about whats new and whats changing the media likes to break news about emerging trends, either in your industry or related to your experience as a small business owner

Strive for repeat business once a reporter has identified you as a good source of information on a topic, they will keep coming back to you so ensure that early in your relationship you are available to them and willing to offer help in getting information for them to pull a story together

Having a single person leading the charge to build media relationships and run the company makes it easier to transfer the goodwill that you achieve in the media over to your business activities. This doesnt work nearly as well for larger companies, so leverage this competitive advantage and take a personal approach to building your business through publicity.

You Can Compete!

Small business marketing is all about leveraging the built-in advantages of being a small enterprise in the battle against larger competition for customers and sales. Establishing your business as an alternative to the market leader in your business, and building personal credibility that can be transferred to your small business are just two strategies that you can implement to help your small business succeed against bigger competitors.

Will Dylan is a small business marketing expert and the author of Small Business, Big Marketing, available for download at no charge from http://www.marketingyoursmallbusiness.com

Revealing Article Marketing - 7 Strategies For Shocking Profits with Article Marketing

It's your job to provide your readers with profound information if you're going to have any success online with article marketing or anything else online today.

I'd like to offer you a fast condensed, brief crash course on article marketing and writing and quickly demonstrate to you how these little "viral cash generating machines" can quickly increase your traffic and sales.

Stay focused on your niche topic and provide useful information and you will have mind-blowing results...

Here are 7 very effective strategies for explosive article marketing:

1. Quality is most important! Do your research and write your marketing articles to educate your readers.

2. Folks like it when you're specific... so give them specifics. Offer links to additional resources if needed.

3. Use popular search engines like Google and Yahoo to read over similar articles and find websites focused on your subject to research your topic.

IMPORTANT: There's nothing illegal or unethical about using information you've discovered from another article or website to create an article of your very own. Just remember -- NEVER copy someone else's work word for word. This is copyright infringement. You can take notes from an informative article you've read and use that information to write your own article just as long as you put things into your own words.

4. List everything you already know about this subject in an easy to reference list.

5. Next, go to Google and do a few searches on the topic. I'm sure you'll find several listings related to the subject. Yes, you might have to be clever in your search, but rest assured -- you'll find the info if you dig deep enough.

6. Then, read over the best of those articles and websites you find and make yourself an ultra-resourceful list on your topic.

7. Finally, take your notes and construct your own marketing article in a simple, easy to read format.

Dean Shainin has helped hundreds of Internet marketers create wealth from their own online information product empire using article marketing tactics, secrets and techniques. Grab your free 10 page PDF Ebook from his "Secret Bum Marketing Golden Article Writing Formula" loaded with tactics and secrets at: http://www.bummarketingwiz.com/golden_writing

Website Traffic - Why Article Marketing Blows Away Pay-Per-Click Marketing

It's always great to compare traffic generation strategies because you can tell which strategy is giving you results and which isn't. Or maybe both strategies may be giving you results but you want to know which is more effective in generating qualified prospects.

Two of the most popular traffic generation methods online today are article marketing and pay-per-click marketing. This article won't talk about what both methods are (there are already tons of articles on that) but will compare the two to see which strategy you should invest your efforts in.

Personally, for me, article marketing blows pay-per-click marketing out of the water. Pay-per-click marketing consists of Google's Adwords and Yahoo's Search Marketing, so that's no small statement I'm making. Well, there's a reason why I say article marketing is more effective.

Let's say that you spend $10 a day on Adwords. That's $300 a month. Now take that $300 and spend it on 100 articles written by a freelancer. Those 100 articles will bring you traffic for a long time, whereas your Adwords traffic was a temporary thing. And prospects generated from articles are way more responsive!

You'll often people willing to spend crazy amounts for cost per click on Adwords, but you won't find that many 'insane' competitors in article marketing. Although the competition has grown massively in recent years, it is still nothing compared to pay-per-click marketing.

And that's why I say article marketing trumps over Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, or any other pay-per-click network. If you don't want to write, outsource your articles. You'll see some terrific results from this marketing strategy if you do it right.

Fabian Tan is the author of the free 51-Page Report:

"Murder Your Job: How To Build Cash Sucking Autopilot Businesses In 30 Days Or Less!"

Head over to http://www.MurderYourJob.com to get your free copy now before it's gone!

Bum Marketing Methods - How To Make Money Online Writing Articles

Have you heard of Bum Marketing? If you haven't then you are probably new to Internet Marketing. Bum Marketing is a powerful and proved technique that has been used successfully by thousands of Internet Marketers over the years to generate income online.

The best part about Bum Marketing is that it is a no risk strategy that anyone and everyone can take advantage of.

Before writing articles, you should do research.

First, analyze the competition in Google for the keywords you are writing the articles on. However don't spend too much time on keyword research. Use your common sense as you do keyword research. You can do keyword research using Google Keyword Tool.

Take advantage of the hot selling products on Clickbank.com and Commission Junction and write articles on the product. In your article you should focus on the following.

What are the product features?
How does the product have an advantage over its competitors?
What are the benefits of using the product?
What needs of the customer does the product satisfy?

Churn out articles regularly. Don't spend a lot of time thinking what to write. Just start writing, you need not be a top notch writer, write your articles in a conversational manner. You should plan on writing at least 5 articles everyday.

Don't write lengthy articles. Instead of writing a 1000 word article, split the article into two. Even better create multiple accounts online with the article directories and tweak your articles so that you have a better chance of being listed in Google.

Avoid submitting the same articles to different article directories because it affects your article ranking.

Apart from ezine and goarticles, you should also write articles on Squidoo. Squidoo is very popular among Google Page rankings and you should add a RSS Module once you complete your lens to generate greater traffic to your articles.

Remember that Bum Marketing is the best technique for Internet Marketers. There is absolutely no reason for you to give up on Bum Marketing. Article Marketing remains the most powerful technique used by many to generate income online and you can do it as well.

Sri is an independent reviewer of the Top Internet Marketing Programs. Learn more about Affiliate Marketing at Internet Money Marketing.

The Benefits Of Article Submission For Website Traffic and Lead Generation

Article submission is a great way to genuinely increase your organic website ranking and boost your one way links pointing to your website. Not only does article submission have a positive SEO effect it will also help your business to position itself as an expert and build credibility in your chosen niche.

In order to achieve a better organic website ranking it is important to get as many websites linking to yours without you having to do the same to them. This is called one way link building and is one of the most prominent ways to achieving a better ranking in Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

Doing this much harder than it seems but the best way to build your one way links is to submit your articles to as many Article Directories and Ezines as you can. Each of these is a one way link to your website and will generate an enormous amount of traffic being pushed to your website. This also means that the amount of potential leads you are now generating is also growing.

Submission can be a very time consuming and tedious task however there are a number of options which can solve this problem such as article submission softwares.

The results are well worth it when you start to see your ranking increase and your website traffic levels doing the same.

Not only will article submission benefit your website traffic and lead generation but you will also build the credibility of your business by writing informative articles about your industry or niche.

You will position yourself as experts in your field and this will also generate further leads and website traffic which you can transform into buying customers.

Barbara Mesar is Marketing Manager at Apex Pacific, the leading developer of Internet Marketing and Web Promotion solutions. Apex Pacific helps organizations of all sizes increase their online marketing presence leading to stronger business results. If you would like to learn how to improve your website performance, visit Apex Pacific at http://www.apexpacific.com

Jeff Paul's Shortcuts To Internet Millions - Is It The Real Deal?

So there are 2 beautiful women talking to you like they've known you all your life, wanting to tell you how easy it is to earn a massive income online. Are you dreaming...or maybe you've died and gone to heaven? Of course not, you've just been exposed to Jeff Paul's Shortcuts To Internet Millions. But is Jeff really going to reveal to you shortcuts to millions? Or is he simply lining his own pocket?

Well straight from the top I'll tell you that becoming an online millionaire doesn't happen out of the blue, and that should straight away tell you that something isn't right about this deal. Sure, if you had a substantial sum of money to invest, you possibly could hit the jackpot with either red or black, but from a business point of view it just won't happen.

So how do people eventually go on to earn huge incomes online? Well, the truth is that anyone can do it. With the Internet evolving so much, it's now possible for anyone with any level of experience to at least earn some extra cash online. What is important is choosing a mentor with a proven record...someone that will give you experienced guidance on what is a very dangerous, but extremely profitable business. Unfortunately, Jeff Paul won't do that for you, despite how appealing his shortcuts to millions might be.

Making money online certainly is possible, but let me tell you from experience that it doesn't happen overnight. If you're prepared to put in a bit of effort, you might one day find yourself in the position of earning a very comfortable income online. But do me a favour...don't ever fall for someone that tells you they will make you millions online because it just won't happen, and that definitely applies to Jeff Paul and his Internet millions.

So if Jeff Paul's not going to make you money online, who is? This Jeff Paul's Shortcuts To Internet Millions website will tell you a lot more about this shady deal and why it really sucks.

I'll also show you a real method for making a steadily growing income online, as used by 1000's of ordinary people from all walks of life. They've seen the light, and you can see how by watching this video.

How Many Articles Should I Submit Every Month To Make Sales?

Do you want to make more money with article marketing? Let me show you some of the common mistakes made by newbies just starting with this form of advertising, then I will show your the exact steps to quickly becoming more profitable.

Deadly Article Marketing Mistakes

1. Submitting one article per week.

Actually, it's not really a sin, but you will not make a lot of profits except if nobody else write and submit articles in your niche.

One article will not make you a lot of profits.

2. Submitting to only one directory

If you only submit to a single directory, you will not get the exposure you deserve. Profit from leverage in every single thing you do.

3. Mass submission

I see that many newbies try to submit with articlemarketer or articlepostrobots.com. There is no need to do this.

Will this hurt your article marketing plan because of the threat of duplicate content?

No, I've submitted with those services as well and my articles still bring me traffic. Duplicate content is another issue that I will discuss with you later because it needs a more in depth analyze.

What are the exact steps for success?

You need to do the following:

* Write several articles a day. I suggest a minimum of two per day to start. If you can't or don't have the time, this tedious work can be outsourced.

* Submit to the top twenty directories. For obvious reasons, you need to outsource this part as well.

If you are on a budget, you need to do this yourself. I know it's not easy but it's how I started.

To learn more, download my Free Guide: "How To Earn $100K Per Year With Article Marketing"

Franck Silvestre makes thousands of dollars a year from affiliate and article marketing. Wonder what the secret to his success is? Discover how he does it at: http://www.mynetmarketingland.com/article-marketing/

Advanced Article Marketing Techniques - Attract Visitors To Your Site Like Bees To Honey

Article marketing is a proven traffic producing strategy. One of the main benefits is that it helps to establish you as the expert in your specific niche. Several other benefits also exist. It helps to establish your backlinks and link popularity. Many publishers are looking for content and they will publish your content that are submitted to the article directories. This improves your search engine rankings and is also viral in nature as your content gets syndicated all over the web. It really is a very powerful promotional technique if you do it correctly.

Now let us look at the time tested and proven formula to getting visitors to your web site cash in hand and ready to buy using the AIDA formula. The very first part is to create an attention grabbing headline. For somebody to visit your web site you need to create a headline that will attract attention.

Once the visitor has clicked on your headline they will start to read your article. Now you need to create an opening paragraph that will create enough interest to read the rest of the article. This could for example be the benefits of losing weight.

Thirdly you need to create desire to make the reader really want the product that you are selling. You can do this in a few ways. You can expand on the benefits of achieving the solution to their problems or magnifying the existing problem.

Finally you need to get the reader to action by clicking your website in the bio section of your article. You can do this by describing what it would be like if they were to get started and the reader actually solved the problem.

Article marketing is a really good and reliable method of generating traffic to your website. It is really becoming a popular method for people to get started on the internet and create wealth online.

Here's your chance to drive massive traffic to your web site:

Download your free ebook Secrets Of Article Marketing

Mark Abrahams is a full time internet marketer who has helped others to earn a living online.

List Building - Get Opt-In Rates Soaring Today

Thinking about list building pages, you probably think: headline, bullet points, opt-in box, am I right? Well, of course. Those things are mandatory, or you won't collect many names. Yet, under the stuff you see on the list building page, there's a psychological perspective to consider. Why do people sign up for other people's lists?

The first thing they see on the list building page is your headline. How well written is it? Does it tell readers: What's in it for me? Or the WIIFM principle. What's in it for them is very, very important. Your headline has to show people some benefit of being on your list. If it's something you want, you're more likely to sign up, right? For instance, if you consider the title of this article, you want more opt-ins or you wouldn't be reading now. Well, it's the same thing with your squeeze page. If you don't give people a good reason to join your list, they won't.

Even then, they may not join if they aren't curious. I mean, their mailboxes are already so crammed with messages, why would they want one more from you? They won't unless you make them crazy to know something that you're going to tell them. So, tease them a little. They want to know the "how." You're reading because you want to know how to get better results with your list building pages and ultimately, more opt-ins. You're wondering how to do it.

Your title should lead them to the discovery that if they sign up for your list, they'll find out how. So, to get them going make your title "punchy." That means it should hit them right in the face and get them to read more. Punchy is like curious, amused, and interested all at the same time. An example might be: "How to Find Happiness in a Simple Bullet." What in the world is that about? Well, it could be about philosophy, or it could be about bullet points, right? Want to know? You read more, right? List titles are always good, too. "6 Ways to..." or "15 Different Things to Consider When It Comes to..." and whatever. There are a gazillion ways to use that one.

Use the same concepts when writing your bullet points, too. You want them to be mini-headlines, not full sentences or worse, paragraphs. Keep them short and easy to read. "How to set up an automated money-making system" or "How to get others to send traffic to your website for FREE." If you're a business owner, you'll surely want to know how you can do these things. They're benefits for obvious reasons--more traffic, more money. They're easy to figure out, but interesting enough to make people want to know "how" even more.

You need a sense of urgency, too. When will they be able to do these things? You'll notice in the title to this article, I used "today." Don't you want more opt-ins right away? I know I do, and I already have a pretty big list. You create urgency in any part of your list building page, but one often overlooked place is the "submit" button in your autoresponder box. Change it to say, "Claim your..." or "Instant Access..." or something other than plain old submit. Otherwise, you may end up in the bookmarks file, where people intend to come back, but never do.

Having a great list building page is important to building a great list. Without compelling copy, people probably won't join, so remember to let readers know about the benefits of being on your list, but not in detail. Make them curious. Give them a sense of urgency, too. Why would they want to sign up immediately? That's what they need to know. If you try these tactics in your copy today, you'll probably see your list building efforts improve immediately. Isn't it worth a shot?

Tellman Knudson, CEO of OvercomeEverything, Inc., is a master list builder and well-known for his first project, List Crusade. Tellman teaches you his system for explosive list building at MyFirstList.com.

Article Marketing Or Pay Per Click - Which Is Better?

There are many ways to advertise your business online; two of the more popular ways are by article marketing and pay-per-click marketing. With article marketing you write articles and they will usually be indexed in the major search engines such as Yahoo and Google as well as picked up by owners of ezines. This is how you get traffic to your website.

With Pay Per Click, you would pay for your ad to show up above the natural search results or beside them when a user does a keyword search with the search engines. You pay the search engine company each time someone clicks on your ad; the price you pay depends on the competition for that keyword.

I believe that when you are entering a new market you should start out with article marketing. If you have to write good articles about a topic or subject, you have to do research. The research you do will help you find pay per click ad space that is empty and you will be the only one advertising in that space.

Also keep in mind that the primary reason people use search engines is to get information, a lot of people believe that the useful information is only found in the search results as opposed to the pay per click side of the page. This is a big advantage to article marketers because they are able to give the user what they are looking for first, before trying to market to them. It's a very effective way of marketing.

When starting how I say go with article marketing, once experienced you can branch out to pay per click marketing.

I wasted 17months trying to drive profitable traffic to my website, but you should not do the same. Instead click here to get a copy of my "Quality Traffic Report". In it I will show you my results after testing article marketing vs. google pay per click, you can use the results to start driving profitable traffic to your website.

Best Article Marketing - 4 Incredible Methods to Energize Your Article Marketing

If you want to attract more people to your website, you need to figure out some effective ways on how you can offer them with what they really need - information. The best marketing tool that can help you achieve your goal is article marketing. Through this, you will be able to impart your knowledge to your target market to build rapport and trusting business relationship.

Here are the 4 incredible methods to energize your article marketing:

1. Write from the readers' perspective. To make your articles highly targeted, useful, and focused, you need to keep your potential readers in mind when writing your content. Consider their needs, their demands, their language, and the solution they require to resolve their pressing issues.

2. Choose your topics. The best way to ensure that you will benefit from your article marketing campaign is to write topics that are closely relevant to your products. Simply put, writing articles about clothes when you are selling food supplements will not drive interested parties on your website.

3. Use powerful resource box. In this section, you can make your call to action to move your readers to either visit your site or join your email marketing list. Whatever is your objective in publishing your articles, make sure that your resource box is compelling enough to maximize your chances of realizing your marketing goals. Don't forget to include your name, your photo, your expertise, and the problems you solve to make it more enticing.

4. Widely distribute your articles. Post your articles to all possible avenues that can give them exposure online. Submit to article submission sites, directories, and social bookmarking sites. You can also post them on blogs, forums, and even on your website.

To learn more, download my free guide, "How to Generate $15,000 Per Month Online" here: "How to Generate $15,000 Per Month Online"

Sean Mize is an internet marketing mentor who teaches people to generate over $15,000 per month online via automated systems and product funnels.

What to Expect from Article Marketing

Article marketing is a complicated, hazardous mess, but with a little work and a lot of dedication it can be one of the best ways for you to generate a steady steam of incoming users. The plan is simple: have lots of content and use some article marketing websites to get your writing distributed to websites and newsletters.

Before you get started, though, there are a few things you need to understand about article marketing that will help you understand what it is you're doing.

Quality Quantity

You need to generate a lot of content - a lot of quality content. Sure, you could write a bunch of garbage about your toenails, but nobody cares that you've got a hangnail. You could also write a three sentence article on how to properly implement AdSense, but if you don't get into details nobody is going to read your content again.

The first tip for article marketing is a simple one: create quality content on a daily basis. Get into details. Give the reader everything they need to know about the topic you're writing about.

One Hit Wonders

Every once in a while you'll write an article that generates so much traffic you may think that you've won, you're done, and you don't need to do anything else, because the traffic will just continue to roll in day after day. Don't fool yourself! This traffic, while it may continue to bring in a substantial amount of readers over a long period of time cannot be relied on. You need to continue to create quality articles to continue to build incoming traffic.

Don't Expect the World

Most of the articles you write will probably fade into obscurity. In fact, I would venture to guess that almost 99% of the articles you write will only bring in one or two unique visitors a day; but, the secret is to create hundreds or articles that each bring in one or two visitors - that's a couple of hundred extra visitors per day to your website.

Article marketing is a slow process, but it will reward you with a stead flow of visitors to your website (which eventually translates to more clicks on your advertisements).

Jason Pullara has run a successful sole proprietorship in New York City building, repairing, and maintaining workstations and personal computers for local businesses and consumers for 5 years. You can contact him on his personal website at http://www.geekstreak.com.

Lucrative Article Marketing - Latest 5 Targeted Methods to Increase Your Article Marketing

Thousands, if not millions of marketers are growing more and more satisfied with article marketing not only because it delivers great results but also, it is very easy to utilize. Anyone can actually do it even if they don't have the money to spare, as long as they can write quality articles, they will surely succeed in this traffic-generating technique. Here are the latest 5 targeted methods to increase your article marketing:

1. Make sure that your articles are informative. Remember, the only reason why online users will open your article is because they are looking for useful information. To meet this need, fill your articles with data that are relevant to your potential clients.

2. Write articles that are relevant to your products and services. The reason behind this is very obvious. You are writing articles to promote your offerings, thus, articles that are not related to your products will not help you close a sale.

3. Proofread your articles. Before you submit your articles to publishing sites, make sure that they are free from any error. Also, make sure that your ideas are presented in a logical way and your sentences are easy to understand.

4. Pick the best publishing sites. Not all publishing sites are created equal; some are not even indexed by Google! To make sure that your articles get the exposure they need, stick to those publishing sites that have high page ranking and great online traffic like EzineArticles.com.

5. Cross reference your articles. Once you got the attention of an online user, make sure he or she can get an instant access to your other articles. You can include link on your resource box that will take the reader to your other articles for further reading.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide'

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

Website Traffic Development - 4 Proven Strategies For Launching A Link Building Campaign

When operating a business on the Internet, the foundation of your success will depend upon the volume of traffic that you can generate to your website. In this regard, there are a number of different programs that you will want to implement in order to generate traffic to your business's website, chief amongst them being a link building campaign. There are four proven strategies that the most successful business owners utilize to establish their own link building efforts.

Identify reputable websites: Underlying your efforts to increase your website traffic is the process of identifying reputable and well regarded websites at which you can try to get backlinks to your site placed. You need to keep in mind that when it comes to link building campaign while quantity is important, quality of placement of links is crucial.

Consult with other businesses: In regard to website traffic development, you do not need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to a link building campaign. Rather, you should take the time to consult with your colleagues and with other Internet business owners or operators to determine what has worked and what has not worked for them when it comes to link building campaigns.

Develop strategic alliances: Along these same lines, you will want to consider developing strategic alliances with other businesses as part of your overall link building efforts. In this regard, there may be some instances in which reciprocal link placement might be beneficial to both you and your colleague.

Consider engaging the services of an expert: Finally, if you are serious about creating the most effective link building campaign, you might want to consider engaging the services of a professional to assist you. There are experts in the field of link building that can assist you in coming up with the most effective link building campaign designed to increase website traffic.

Do you want to learn how to drive massive traffic to your website? Download my free guide here: Traffic Generation Secrets

Mike Upshaw is an experienced internet marketer specializing in list building, traffic generation, article marketing and affiliate marketing. http://www.secretstointernetprofits.com