Creating Articles
Here's a simple way of putting together an effective short article.
• Focus the subject of the article on 1 or 2 keywords that closely relate to the content of the page you want to link to. Ideally, this should be a phrase that's searched for in the search engines.
• Include the keywords in the title, first paragraph and again as required to read naturally.
• Make a list of about 3 or 4 tips or steps - more if you want a longer article. Use these to construct the middle paragraphs.
• Write the main body of the article by expanding on your tips/steps.
Tell the reader WHAT they need to do to achieve their goal, but don't tell them everything about exactly HOW to do it. Your aim is to gain the reader's attention and interest, and then stimulate their desire to learn exactly HOW to achieve their goal - by clicking on your link!
• Write the first paragraph as an introduction to the article and tell the reader what to expect. You could also use this first paragraph as the summary when placing it in Ezine Articles.
• Write the last paragraph. Use this to sum up what you've written and use it to lead the reader into the resource box. The last paragraph should be considered as a pre-sell for your resource box.
• Total Length: Anything from about 250 to 400 words for article directories.
• In general, keep sentences short and conversationable - as if you were talking to someone as a friend.
• Finally, write a very short and simple keyword focused resource box.
Example: Want to know more? Click Here to discover much more about [*Insert keyword here] *Insert your main article keyword here and link the keyword to a page on you website which focuses on that keyword. You should also include a direct link to your domain name URL as above
You can write articles yourself, from you own research, or re-write them from plr (private label rights) content, or even get others to write them for you for a few dollars each.
Submitting Articles
A popular stategy is to submit your articles to Article Directories.
Article directories list articles under various subject categories. They provide website, blog and ezine publishers with a source of relevant content that can be used without charge, provided that the articles are kept intact and the links within the articles remain active.
Article Directories also provide free exposure to the authors of the articles that are published. Because the articles can only be published if they remain intact they are a great way to self promote a web site.
There are a lot of article directories, though I'd recommend you only submit to the bigger, more established sites - the 'authority' sites with a high PageRank (PR), such as: EzineAarticles.com, GoArticles.com,
SearchWarp.com
Once you've registered with a directory, familiarise yourself with their rules and regulations by reading any editorial guidelines before you start to submit articles.
Alternatively, you can submit your articles directly to the owners of other sites. Essentially what you need to do is look for good sites covering topics relating to your site, but without conflicting interests.
In other words, sites within the same general subject area as yours, but not the exact same niche.
Finding good sites within your niche should be quite easy.
Also, if you do submit articles to article directories, over time, other websites will publish those articles, and when you notice these articles linking to your pages, contact the owners of those websites, thanking them for using your article and offer to write more unique articles specifically for their sites.
Another way to promote articles is to submit them to high quality blog networks which have been set up specifically to act as a content resource and promotional tool for blog owners, such FirePow or
Article Marketing Automation. For a fee you can submit your articles
and have them published on multiple blogs within the same niche.
The principle of marketing articles can also be extended to other forms of content, such as video, audio, software, etc.
For example, publish a video on YouTube with a link to your site.
Anything that can have a link attached that directs traffic back to your site is well worth trying.
Email Marketing
Not to be confused with SPAM, or unsolicited junk e-mail, email marketing refers to the process of driving traffic to your site by sending emails to people who have indicated they want to hear from you.
In practise, this is a list of existing customers who know and trust you, or a list of 'prospects' (potential customers), who have expressed interest in something you have offered them.
Many internet marketers use their 'list' as their main source of income. It does work if done properly and can be extremely profitable!
The importance of building lists is covered later in the report: - see VII Thou Shalt Build A List
Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)
PPC allows you to place a small 4 line ad in search results pages (for example, Google adwords), and within websites that publish content that's related to the ad (for example, Google AdSense).
The main advantage of PPC ads is that they are only displayed in positions which are relevant to the keywords associated with the ad.
Also, they are very easy to place and if worded properly can generate a stream of visitors flowing towards your site literally within 15
minutes of placing the ad!
Another great thing about PPC is it rewards the smartest advertisers.
The more relevant your ad is to peoples' search queries and the more
'clicks' your ad generates, the LESS you'll pay to be listed in a top position!
Writing a really effective, winning adword isn't difficult if you get to know your market, test and 'fine tune' your adword until it's a top performer.
Search Engine & Directory Submission
Submit details of your site to the major search engines and web directories.
Most search traffic comes from the major search engines and directories, so your initial efforts should be directed towards getting your site into the big, reputable engines & directories.
All directories have their own submission requirements and have to be submitted on an individual basis, though there are a number of internet services and software programs that can help you organise and speed things up substantially, allowing many submissions to be carried out at least 'semi-automatically'.
Viral Marketing
Viral marketing is a strategy that permits and encourages people to pass on a marketing message to others by providing them with some benefit.
Affiliate programs are in fact one of the best known and popular forms of viral marketing.
Viral promotions may take the form of free graphics, videos, games, reports, eBooks, scripts, etc.
The objective is to produce something that's really interesting, unusual, valuable or remarkable that captures people's imagination to the point where they are prepared to distribute it to others, and then those people distribute it further, and so on, to the point where your 'message' spreads out in various directions and levels, like the replication of a real virus.
Viral marketing can work incredibly well and generate loads of links and traffic.
Joint Ventures & Affiliates
Whatever niche you happen to be targeting, there are bound to be other marketers who have lists of existing customers who are closely interested in that niche.
Make a personal approach to the website owner/publisher/list owner by email, letter, fax or telephone, and explain what you are doing, and offer them a joint venture deal, whereby they offer your products/services to their list in exchange for a percentage of any resulting sales, usually 50%.
To receive a favourable response, though, you should be prepared to provide them with any sales stats you have available for your product, such as conversion rates, visitor value etc. Also, emphasise you would be providing a useful resource to their members/customers by offering relevant products, and that they stand to profit by doing very little work.
There are several affiliate management services available that will automatically organise your JV/Affiliate sales, providing sales data to you and your affiliates and paying your affiliates on your behalf, saving you the time, hassle and potential problems of managing such a system by yourself.
Such individual, one-to-one approaches are the most difficult to pull off - you may have to approach numerous sites before you are successful, but if you do, they can be extremely effective traffic and sales boosters.
A much easier route to affiliate traffic, particularly when you are starting out, is to make use of existing affiliate networks, for example,
ClickBank, which has hundreds of thousands of affiliates who are ready and willing to promote your product on commission basis, especially if it's perceived to be a good seller!
And, of course, you can market other people's products listed on ClickBank, by acting as an affiliate yourself.
In fact, one of the best ways of gaining the attention of possible joint venture partners is to promote their own products as an affiliate yourself, and then contact them with a proposal of your own. If you've made some sales for them you're much more likely to gain their ear!
Online Advertising
Advertising your site on other websites, ezines, blogs can be a very effective way of driving traffic to your site, though you do need to make sure your ads are highly targeted.
Look out for any advertising opportunities related to your niche subject. If you can see ads for similar types of products or services to your own, try out a 'test' ad of your own and measure the response.
But don't let sales people talk you into spending too much or lock you into a long term deal.
Start small and make sure you track and test response rates to your ads. Stop them if they're not profitable and continue/expand them if they are profitable, but don't stop monitoring them because response to a successful ad may dry up in time.
If you'd like detailed, step-by-step guidance on EXACTLY how to go about getting as much traffic as you could ever want to your site, blog, newsletter etc, you'll find EVERYTHING you need at the end of this report... I'm not saying that just to tease you - it's just that I don't want you to sit there thinking "OK, all this sounds fine, but how am I actually going to do all this stuff myself?" Don't worry about a thing -
for now, just take in these commandments because they are VERY
IMPORTANT!
And the next commandment is a REALLY important one - arguably the MOST important one of them all...
VI. Thou Shalt Effectively Convert Traffic Into
Sales
The second and virtually ONLY other reason why online marketers fail is they do not properly CONVERT their traffic into sales.
This is why so many sites went to the wall back in the late 90's during the so called 'dot com' fiasco.
These companies spent absolute fortunes driving huge numbers of visitors to their sites. They celebrated the millions of 'hits' their sites were getting, but the problem was, very few of their visitors were actually buying anything and these companies were making very little money, so, surprise, surprise, they went bust!
Even now, I think many online marketers are so obsessed with driving traffic to their sites, they fail to realise the vital importance of effectively converting whatever traffic they do get, into sales.
If you think about it, the EFFICIENCY with which you convert your traffic is actually more important than the AMOUNT of traffic you receive.
Think about this:
Imagine you owned a factory with 50 employees and wanted to increase profitability.
Would you:
A. Train and motivate your staff and invest in modern equipment, OR
B. Just employ another 50 employees?
Get my point?
If you have a website or blog, think of it as a factory and make it as efficient at 'processing' your visitors as possible.
Increasing the conversion rate of your site will have a much more dramatic effect on its profitability than just attracting more visitors.
And guess what? It's not difficult to achieve when you know how!
High conversion may be simple to achieve, but don't underestimate its POWERFUL EFFECT - so keep reading!
Here are some proven ways of increasing your visitor to buyer conversion rate:
1. Make sure the traffic you do get is highly TARGETED.
Create web pages that focus on and are optimised for a specific niche keyword that you've identified from within your target market.
Don't forget, this is the internet, not a general store. It doesn't matter how specific you are. If people are searching for specific products or solutions to very specific problems they want to see pages that have good information on that SPECIFIC THING and nothing else.
2. Make your pages SIMPLE, CLEAR & INTEGRAL
Don't give your visitors too many distractions or choices.
Many website designers/publishers are obsessed with loading their pages with all the latest graphics, buttons, ads, fonts, colours etc., but don't realise all these things may confuse visitors to the point where they don't know what the site is all about, where they should go and what to do next, and will probably just hit the back button and go to another site.
The adage 'Less Is More' really does apply here.
As a general rule of thumb, you shouldn't use more than about 2 or 3
different colours, fonts and text sizes and you should always use traditional colours to highlight text links.
Maintain a consistent design style on all the pages in your site, so they come across as being an integral part of one site, rather than a mish-mash of conflicting designs, colours, typefaces etc.
Keep graphics to an absolute minimum. Surfers are very impatient. If your page takes more than about 10 seconds to load they may well leave before they've arrived!
Make sure the information on your page quickly and clearly conveys what your site is all about and what it can do for your visitor. If you have researched and understood your visitors' needs and offer solutions to their problems, this shouldn't be difficult to word.
Include your contact details and reassure your visitors that your ordering process (or that of the site you're directing them towards) is safe & secure.
3. Refine your Pages and Analyse Traffic
Try different headlines, bullet points, prices, guarantees, bonuses etc, until conversion is 'optimised'.
The headline is by far the most important part of a page, so make sure it contains the keyword you're targeting and is benefit driven.
Sometimes, just changing ONE OR TWO WORDS in a headline can have a big effect on conversion rates. In fact, there was a well known case some years ago when a marketer completely transformed a failing sales letter into a massive success simply by changing ONE
LETTER in the headline!
If I remember rightly, here's what he did:
The failing headline read: Bring Music Into Your Life
The wildly successful headline read: Brings Music Into Your Life
Just by adding one 's' totally transformed the offer into something far more appealing to readers because it made it sound like they would automatically get a benefit without any effort on their part.
I know you are not trying to write a headline for a sales letter, but hopefully you get my point: headlines are an extremely influential part of your content
By changing bullets, prices, guarantees & bonuses you can also increase overall profits significantly, but the only way to find out, is to TEST!
Analyse website traffic logs and traffic stats software, such as
Google Analytics to find out where and how your visitors are entering and moving through your site. For example, it might alert you to a page that's not getting as much traffic as you'd like, or even a faulty link!
VII. Thou Shalt Build a List
One of the biggest mistakes or missed opportunities you can make in internet marketing is to fail to collect the name and email address of visitors to your site.
Collecting visitors' and customers' names and email addresses allows you to build your own list, which in turn, allows you to carry out email marketing, as mentioned earlier.
Email marketing offers multiple benefits to internet marketers. When done properly, it allows you to very effectively and efficiently drive targeted traffic to your site, interact and develop relationships with your audience, build credibility and, of course, to market your own products or affiliate/JV products.
Why do you think all the top internet marketers do email marketing constantly?
Because they know it's a very powerful way of getting a personalised and targeted message to their prospects, VERY EASILY, QUICKLY
AND CHEAPLY.
You can use all sorts of enticements to encourage visitors to fill an opt-in form and give their email addresses, for example, short reports, mini-courses, newsletters, competitions, surveys, scripts, etc.
Just make sure you're offering something free which your visitors will genuinely value and collect/use their information honestly and ethically.
Most importantly, make absolutely sure you have their permission!
You could get into trouble if you are accused, even wrongly, of spamming, so I would strongly recommend that you always use what's known as a 'double optin-in' procedure which allows you to prove an email was given voluntarily. Most auto-responder services, such as Aweber will allow you to do this very easily.
VIII. Thou Shalt Not Spam
Email marketing to people who WANT TO RECEIVE your message is HIGHLY recommended, but must not be confused with SPAMMING, which is normally defined as the bulk transmission of untargeted and unsolicited impersonal emails containing some kind of sales message and link to a sales page.
You should NEVER send out impersonal emails for marketing purposes - period.
It's a BIG mistake, it won't work, and it could get you into trouble and destroy your reputation and any chance you might otherwise have had to create a great online income.
So if you come across adverts to rent or buy lists of email addresses, or services offering to email your message to big email address lists, you now know what to do!
The ONLY time you should email any kind of sales message containing a link to a sales page is if the recipient has voluntarily supplied their email address TO YOU OR YOUR COMPANY in order to receive some information or feedback of some sort, for example, download instructions and links, a free course, report, sample, graphics, video, newsletter etc.
And even then, you