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What Is More Important – Quantity or Quality in Online Article Submissions?

By Steve Shaw in Featured

You may be wondering if taking the time to write a quality article is really worth the effort, considering that if you spent less time on each article you could produce more of them.

What exactly does article marketing require? Which is more important in an online article submission–quality and quantity?

The answer is “both”, but not in the way you may think.

Your first job is to produce a quality free reprint article. If you don’t, then your article won’t be republished. Republication is the whole goal of article marketing. If you throw together an article and it’s laden with spelling and grammar errors, then it’s not going to be much use to you.

You also have your readers to think about–people will form opinions about you based on your articles. If your articles are well-written, thoughtful, and helpful, then people will come away with a positive impression of you.

If, on the other hand, your articles are confusing and look thrown together, it can appear as if you’re unprofessional. It can be hard to take you seriously.

It is to your benefit to take the time to write a solid article. Here are 5 things to shoot for:

1 – You need to refine, edit, and check your article for grammar and spelling errors. You may need to spread this work over a few days.

2 – Your articles should be organized–the argument or points in your article should flow in a logical manner.

3 – The subject matter of your article is important too–your article needs to answer a question that your readers are wondering or teach them a skill.

4 – Your title should be constructed to catch a reader’s attention. The title should clearly tell what the article is about and be phrased in an interesting way.

5 – Your articles should provide fresh information. Don’t just write what you see other people writing. Instead, put your own spin on things, teach your topic from an angle that hasn’t been covered, and answer questions that you don’t see being answered.

Let your readers guide you–many times a customer or client may ask you a great question. Many times your answers to these frequently asked questions can be used as the basis for articles.

As you get more used to writing, the process gets faster and easier. It may not take you as long to write an article when you become more experienced.

There’s also the issue of quantity–does it matter how many articles you submit?

Yes, it does. You need to submit enough articles on a consistent basis to see results with article marketing. When you’re first starting, it may be something that you work up to.

If you’ve been wondering if you should be focusing on quality or quantity, focus on quality first. Get your writing process down so that you’re creating quality articles, then you can work on writing a sufficient number of article each month.

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Steve Shaw has helped thousands of business owners worldwide build traffic, leads and sales to their websites, and he wants to help you do the same – grab his free report giving you a blueprint for attracting sustainable, dirt-cheap, long-term, targeted traffic to any website … including yours! Go now to http://www.submityourarticle.com/report – some people have used the same information to boost their traffic by up to 600%!

8 Reasons Why You Should Submit Your Articles to Authority Sites

By David Jackson in Featured

If you are an article marketer and write well, instead of wasting your time submitting your articles to article directories, you should give serious consideration to submitting to authority sites.

Why? Stay with me, I’m getting to that.

Question: So, what exactly is an authority site?

Answer: Definitions vary, but my own personal definition of an authority site is “a site that is linked to and respected by thousands of people who often reference its material.”

For example, for Internet Marketing news and events, IMNewsWatch would be considered an authority site. In the SEO and Internet Marketing worlds, authority sites would include sites like SearchEngineJournal, SiteProNews, WebProNews, PromotionWorld, CopyBlogger, SearchEngineLand, MarketingProfs and ProBlogger just to name a few.

And while some sites enjoy more authority than others, the two common denominators are, the sites are all highly-respected, and they all have a large and loyal following.

Following are 8 reasons why should you submit your articles to authority sites:

1. Respect. While you may be proud of having your articles accepted by article directories, it’s really no great accomplishment. Why? Because most article directories will accept articles from just about anyone – regardless of how poorly written they are. On the other hand, getting your articles published by the aforementioned authority sites is something to write home about. Why? Because those sites are highly-respected and have a much higher publishing standard.

2. Article Directory Oblivion. When you submit your article to article directories, chances are, your article will get buried among the thousands of other article submissions. And unless you get lucky and your articles happen to get found among the masses, and published by a popular newsletter or website, they will forever live in article directory oblivion, getting viewed every now and then.

3. The Viral Factor. I stated previously that authority sites enjoy a large and loyal following. So how does that benefit you? If an authority site publishes your articles, it’s probably because your articles have value, meaning they’re interesting, useful and/or entertaining. That is exactly the type of content that readers will pass along to others via tweet, Facebook, e-mail etc.

4. The Power. When you submit your articles to authority sites, you have the power to pick and choose what sites you want to submit to. On the other hand, when you submit your articles to article directories, you surrender that power. Once submitted to an article directory, your articles are available to be published by anyone. That means your articles have the very real potential of being published by low-quality sites, which could effectively damage your site’s reputation with the search engines.

5. Diminished Link Value. One of the great by-products of article marketing is inbound links. If you write quality content, more than likely, you will attract quality inbound links. Unfortunately, many writers who submit to article directories aren’t aware article directories have had diminished link value for years. That’s why mega-popular, monolithic article directories like EzineArticles, Buzzle and Associated Content were so heavily penalized by the Panda update. Over the years, they became notorious for the amount of low-quality content they contained. Because they accepted articles from just about anyone – regardless of how poorly written or shallow the articles were.

6. Greater Exposure. Authority sites not only depend on quality content for their very existence, like the shark in the movie “Jaws”, they also devour content rapidly. As such, they’re constantly in need of quality content infusions. If you submit your articles to authority sites and prove yourself to be a trusted and reliable source of content, they will be much more apt to feature your articles on a regular basis – thereby increasing your exposure. This will not only enhance your reputation, but your bottom line as well.

7. Greater Opportunities. There’s an old saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.” What does that mean? It means people of similar taste, character or background tend to associate with one another, or like the same things. That holds true both online and offline. Online, individuals of discerning taste tend to gravitate to high-quality content and websites (i.e., authority sites).

And since I’ve been submitting my articles to authority sites, I’ve lost count of the number of joint venture opportunities I’ve been offered. I generally turn them down because my plate is quite full for the foreseeable future. But that’s not really the point. The point is, the opportunities were offered because of the respect and exposure I received from having my articles published on authority sites.

8. Enhanced Perception. If you consistently write quality articles that are factually accurate and help people, you will be perceived as an expert in your field – provided you really are an expert. But while what you write is important, where your articles are published is even more important.

Having your articles published on authority sites will only enhance your reputation as an expert. And with expert status comes increased income. Expert status will give you the ability to charge higher fees for your products and services. And if you are really good at what you do and provide good value, your clients will refer you to other clients – further increasing your income.

So are there any negatives to submitting your articles to authority sites? If there are, I certainly haven’t found them yet.

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David Jackson is a marketing consultant, and the owner of Free-Marketing-Tips-Blog.com – Powerful, free marketing tips to help grow your business! http://free-marketing-tips-blog.com

Article Marketing Debate – Is the New Google Smack Down a Good Thing?

By Eric Gruber in Featured

Every time, Google changes its algorithms – it causes a frenzy among those internet marketers relying heavily on the search engines. The latest change made many marketers stock up on Maalox and Pepto Bismol as it made them literally sick to their stomachs. Google’s latest change was an attack on article directories and content farms like Ezinearticles.com.

You see, many internet marketers were writing 150-200 word articles that gave no informational value whatsoever, just to get the link. They were after the SEO benefit and not taking full advantage of what article marketing has to offer. But now, because of the new Google algorithm change sites like EzineArticles.com have lost a lot of visibility on Google and this has many internet marketers up in arms.

Now, unlike many internet marketers, I think the change is a GOOD thing – and here’s why…

4 Reasons Why I Think the New Google Algorithm Change is a Good Thing

1. It forces article directory sites like EzineArticles.com to enforce stricter editorial guidelines. Google wants quality! Your readers want quality! I can almost guarantee this is why EzineArticles.com now requires you to write articles at least 450 words in length. And, it’s why they are going to review your articles even more thoroughly for spelling, grammar and formatting errors. They are increasing their quality control – and that’s usually a good thing.

2. It forces you the article marketer to go beyond the article directories – and target the best websites, ezines and blogs. Now, as the Google algorithm change focuses on article directories (and I’m sure this is only the beginning!) you cannot solely focus on SEO. You need to start putting your content on targeted websites, ezines, blogs and forums that your audience is going to every day. This way, you go directly to your audience instead of hoping they find you on the search engines. Plus, these sites will give you the credibility and expert status you need to build your business. To find out the correct way to submit your articles so you can get published on more websites (and not just the article directories) go to:

http://www.articlesubmissionsecretsrevealed.com/special

3. It forces you to use other mediums to get your content out in front of your prospects. If you didn’t have a reason to start engaging in social media before – now you do. Besides trying to get rid of the “junk”, Google is changing its algorithms based on the way people search. Now, your prospects are gaining the information they need from social media sites like LinkedIn. If you want to be found and if you want to be heard, then you need to engage in social media.

4. It forces you to start creating articles that give prospects the perception that you are the thought leader. You think sites like Entrepreneur.com and WomenEntrepreneur.com (which my article submission clients have been published in!) want to publish regurgitated content that is already all over the Web? No way! So, if you are going to go beyond the article directories and get your articles published on top websites, then you need to up your game. You need to start offering information that is usually held back – and you need to “wow” publishers and readers with the information you are revealing.

How to Embrace the New and Upcoming Google Algorithm Changes…

Understand that article marketing is not what it used to be. No longer can you submit an article to thousands of article directories and expect the traffic to come pouring in! Whether you’re just starting out in article marketing, or you already run an article marketing campaign, you have to learn how it should be done in today’s world if you want it to succeed.

If you need help, remember that my online article submission secrets course, will take you by the hand and literally walk you through setting up and executing your new article submission campaign from the very start.

Here’s to submitting articles the right way – that won’t have you affected by the recent Google algorithm change and any upcoming changes.

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Article marketing expert Eric Gruber creates online marketplace opportunities for authors, internet marketers and small business owners who want more website traffic, publicity and prospects. If you’re looking to build your business with article writing and article submission, check out Eric’s free ebook: How to Build Your Business Just with Articles at:
http://www.FreeArticleMarketingBook.com

Reaping the Rewards of Google’s Latest Algorithm Update

By San Coils in Featured

Now that the dust has settled a little around Google’s latest ‘farmer’ update, I thought it time to post up how article marketers can take advantage of it. Yes, there are lots of folks out there proclaiming it is the end of article marketing, but let’s be honest, people have been saying that for years. In fact, article marketing was dead when I first started but it doesn’t seem to have stopped it working for me.

First off, it’s worth noting that the whole purpose of the Farmer update was to enable searchers to find more high quality sites when searching for something. (You can read the official blog by clicking here.

Yep, Google figured its primary users (searchers, NOT webmasters) deserved a better user experience. And can you blame them? Personally, I hate searching for anything that really matters because I have so little faith in what I know is going to come up. Crappy, spammy websites designed to make money for the owner, not provide me with the information I need.

Therein lies the problem folks. People don’t want to read crap so if Google wants to stay in the game it has to quit serving it up. Can you imagine how long a restaurant would stay in business if the food it served was inedible? If folks are hitting the back button every time they click on one of Google’s results, that’s a powerful message that can’t be ignored. Would you ignore it if it was happening on your site? (hint – the answer to that question should be no)

Article Submission Services: How To Find A Good One

By Steve Shaw in Featured

So, you’ve finally made the decision to make your life easier by employing the services of an automatic article submitter. That is a very wise decision, because if you choose the right service you can save a ton of time and vastly increase the effectiveness of your articles.

When you’re evaluating article submission services, keep these tips in mind:

1 - A referral from someone who has actually used the service is your best bet in finding an excellent article submission service.

If you haven’t been referred by anyone, check the website of the article submitter you’re investigating and look for testimonials. If the service is good, its customers should readily volunteer their recommendations for it.

2 – Look for a service that has stood the test of time. In the online world, a service that is 5+ years old is a veteran one, and the longevity of the service speaks to its stability.

3 – Is it known for its customer service?

When you need help, you want to know that you can get timely and accurate answers. When considering a friend’s referral or testimonials that you are reading about the article submitter, is the business’ customer care complimented?

4 – You will want to use an article distribution business that has professional editors on staff who review each and every article.

Why? You want your article to be pre-screened for any obvious issues that might prevent it from being accepted by publishers.

5 – Does the service update their distribution network on pretty much a daily basis?

The distribution network is the list of publishers to whom your articles are sent. Having a well-maintained list is crucial, as these types of lists can go out of date pretty quickly if they are not attended to regularly.

It’s a perk if the service has a good reputation with publishers. If the publishers directly request to receive articles from the article submitter, then they are much more likely to approve your articles for publication.

6 – How many article submission are you allowed?

The most flexible option would be unlimited submissions, although I must caution you that when you are submitting automatically you need to submit far fewer articles than when submitting manually. Usually 8 articles per website is enough when submitting automatically to a large network of publishers.

7 – How about scheduling your articles?

This type of feature allows you to submit your article and then have it be distributed at a later date. This is particularly helpful if you are going on vacation and want your article marketing campaign to continue when you are away. Many people also like to submit all their articles at the beginning of the month and schedule them to be distributed at various dates throughout the month.

8 – Can you “trickle” your article distribution?

Normally when you submit through an automatic article submitter your article would be sent to the entire distribution network all at one time. However, there are SEO benefits to having your article submitted to a few publishers a day, perhaps over the course of a month or so.
This creates a more organic accumulation of links, which Google appreciates. Check to see if the service you are interested in will allow you to submit in this “trickled”
fashion.

9 – What kind of article spinning features are available?

It’s great if a service allows you to create article variations so that the same article is not sent to every publisher.

10 – Is the article submitter committed to ongoing education?

Most article submission services concentrate on the technical aspects of article distribution, rather than on teaching their customers how to improve their article marketing. If you find a service that offers ongoing training, that is a plus!

It may take you a while to find the article submitter that works for your unique needs, but it’s worth the time and effort to do this investigating. The more information you can gather about the service beforehand, the more likely you are to be satisfied.

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For more info on how you can use article marketing to reach thousands of potential prospects for your website, go now to www.submityourarticle.com/report. Steve Shaw is an article marketing expert and founder of the popular article distribution service www.submityourarticle.com used by thousands of business owners.

A Simple Guide For Achieving Top Rankings in the Search Engines – Even if You Are a Complete Newbie

By Darren Chow in Featured

The proper term for the process is known as SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. SEO is a combination of two major components. First, you must learn how to tweak your web pages so that the search bots find your content to be search engine friendly. Once you have set up a search friendly site, the next component is to build back links. But before diving straight into SEO, you must first know which keywords to target.

Choosing Your Target Keyword Phrase.

Many new Internet Marketers make the mistake of choosing the wrong keywords to target. So what makes a keyword inappropriate?

Your ideal keyword phrase should be around three to four keywords. – If you are targeting a word like “music”, you may find that you may not be able to rank for anything. That is because the keyword itself is too general. Whether you are looking for someone to sign up as a member, download a song, or buy something from you, you want to be sure that you are matching the right offer to the right audience. In other words, you are looking for targeted traffic. So instead of choosing a keyword like “music”, a keyword phrase like “local music bands” would be a much better choice.

Use a keyword research tool to make sure that the keyword will bring you traffic. – If you are targeting an obscure keyword that nobody ever uses, you may just be wasting your time and resources. Google offers a free keyword tool that will give you a good idea on which keyword phrase to choose. The tool reveals estimated search traffic, as well as the level of competition.

But don’t be over-reliant on keyword tools to help you find keywords. As a business owner, you should be very familiar with the market. Know who your target customers are. That will help you find and locate valuable keywords that no one else would’ve thought of.

Choose keywords with a fair amount of competition. – Some marketers believe strongly that keywords with little competition are easier to rank. Therefore, it makes sense to target those keywords. But if you are setting up an online business, you want to be in an active market. In other words, the best keywords are those with a fair amount of competition, but are not overly saturated. A fair amount of competition is a good indicator of the value of a keyword phrase. You stand a much greater chance of success if you target those keywords.

Setting Up a Search Engine Friendly Website.

Fortunately, you don’t have to be a geek to learn how to tweak your sites. Most content management systems are SEO friendly, and the best part is, most of them are free. The popular ones include WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and DotNetNuke. Your web pages will be search friendly when they are hosted on these systems. But if you really want to learn the basics, make sure that you implement the following.

If you are tweaking your site manually, there are two important things that you must implement. First, always make sure that your target keyword phrases are included in the title tags. Use them in your META keyword and description tags as well. Next, use a search engine friendly file name such as “your-keyword-phrase.html”. You can easily rename your html files using any text editor.

Manual tweaks can be implemented easily if you have a small site. But if you are thinking of growing the website into a huge site, you should consider using a content management system (CMS). If you are using a CMS, be careful not to overload the site by installing too many unnecessary plug-ins. Remember that your primary goal is to make it easy for the search bots to find your web pages, and to determine the overall theme of the content. By installing too many unnecessary bells and whistles, you are making it more difficult for the search bots to do their job. For that reason, you often find that hassle free templates tend to work better than fanciful ones. Don’t overcomplicate things. The golden principle here is to keep things simple.

When you are satisfied with the design and content, it’s now time to let the world know about your site.

Link Building with Articles.

There are many ways you can build back links to your site. You can post entries on blogs, submit links to Web 2.0 properties, submit URLs to a bunch of web directories, or write and distribute press releases and/or articles. You can use a combination of these methods if you have the time and resources, or you can keep your focus on just one – such as article marketing.

Article marketing is one of the easiest methods to get well established websites to link to you. These are authority sites that have been around for years, and you can get hundreds (maybe even thousands) of one way back links from these sites. One way back links means links that point to your sites, but you don’t need to reciprocate and link back to the external sites.

Every article you write allows you to include two to three simple text links at the bottom of the article. Here is when things get interesting.

In the “eyes” of the search engines, every link from an external site to your website is counted as a vote. In other words, the more back links you have pointing to your site, the better your site will rank. Of course, these can’t be any back links. They have to be links from authority sites and relevant web pages.

Now you already know that there are literally hundreds of article directories on the Internet that are recognized as authority sites by the search engines. All you have to do is to create relevant content, put your links at the end of the articles, and submit them to the article directories. When they are approved, your articles get published online, and you get a bunch of high quality links pointing to your site.

What you really need to know here is that you must be careful about what you include as the anchor texts for your links. Anchor texts are words that you place within the HTML link tags. For instance, instead of having your links as “Click here”, make sure that you create links that say, “Your Keyword Phrase”.

This is how the search engines determine the theme and relevancy of the content on your website. The assumption here is that if there are a thousand links from external sites “saying” that your site is about “green aliens”, then perhaps your site is really about “green aliens”.

Write on topic, and include your target keywords as anchor texts. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

What to Expect After Your Articles Have Been Published.

If you website is brand new, don’t expect to see miracles overnight. It can take anywhere from four to six weeks for a new website to pick up speed. If you have done everything right (choose the right keywords, optimize your site, and pick the right anchor texts), then your site will appear in the search index in about three weeks. Initially, it will appear in page 5 or 6 in the search results. That is a very good sign.

In another two week’s time, your website will move up to page 3 or 4. Don’t rest on your laurels and stop writing and distributing articles. Keep up with your link building campaigns. If you have chosen the right keywords, you should be able to rank in about 6 weeks. For highly competitive keywords, it may take longer.

Your goal is to at least get your site to rank on page 1 on the major search engines. Once it emerges on page 1 of the search results, you will be receiving a steady stream of highly targeted traffic from the search engines. Do your part by serving your visitors well by publishing valuable content or offering killer products. You will soon be enjoying the handsome rewards.

About the author:

Darren Chow is a full time article marketer. He founded a successful article submission service, and has been offering high quality article writing and submission services to hundreds of Internet Marketers worldwide. http://www.fastsubmitarticles.com

3 Hidden Traffic Tactics

By Kim Roach in Featured

If you’re like me, then you’ve probably heard all about article marketing, SEO, video marketing, social bookmarking, press releases, blogging, etc…

They are the cornerstones of Internet Marketing. And they work. But sometimes don’t you just want to read about something new. I know I do. In fact, every time I discover a new traffic technique, it’s like opening a shiny new present on Christmas morning.

And I’m hoping I can give you that feeling with this article, because I’m about to reveal 3 traffic methods that you may not have heard of yet.

1. Download Sites – You can get thousands of visitors with download sites, even if you’ve never programmed a day in your life.

Here’s what I do. I take my articles and turn them into EXE files. This allows me to submit my article to hundreds of software directories, sending me hundreds of one-way links and visitors.

Now, here’s a quick tip on how you can use this technique to build your subscriber list quickly. Require people to register for your software (in this case your ebook is considered software) before they are able to read your ebook. This allows you to grow your list quickly simply by recycling your articles and turning them into EXE files.

You can turn your articles into EXE files using some free software called WebSiteZip Packer. This software will allow you to turn an HTML page into a solid executable file (.exe) with an integreated HTML browser.

Quick Tip: This is an excellent way to get hundreds of one-way backlinks by using those PLR articles you have laying around.

Since you’re converting the articles into software, you don’t have to worry about duplicate content. Just one of your plr articles can now generate you 100′s of one-way backlinks by converting it into software and submitting it to all the different software directories.

Here’s a list of some of the top download sites you can submit to…

Download.com
Tucows.com
Versiontracker.com
Jumbo.com
freedownloadcenter.com
regnow.com
regsoft.com
5star-shareware.com
shareit.com
topshareware.com
passtheshareware.com
sharewarejunkies.com
softpedia.com
shareware.com

Plus, Google loves these authority sites, especially Download.com. I’ve found many of my software titles ranking on the front page of Google with these high-authority download sites.

2. Get your articles into Google News. Google News has become very popular in the past couple years and can send you a ton of traffic. To get your article into Google news, all you have to do is get published on one of the many sites that is syndicated by Google News.

I personally use the American Chronicle.

You can sign up for an author’s account and start submitting articles. Once your article is published, it will be listed on 20 sites owned by the American Chronicle as well as Google News.

This strategy can send you a lot of traffic, especially if you use the right keywords.

3. Webwire.com. I have saved the best for last…

Webwire.com is a hidden gem that I have been using to rank on the front page of Google within 24 hours.

Here’s a quick overview of how I am able to capture front page rankings…

First, I title my press release with the keyword phrase that I want to rank for. I have found that keyword phrases with a competition of less than 30,000 (in quotes) in Google rank really well.

I then make sure to include the phrase and variations in the first and last paragraph. Sprinkle it in but don’t go hog wild.

This simple formula has landed me multiple front page rankings and thousands of visitors.

Kim Roach – For step-by-step videos on how you can get front page rankings within 24 hours, go to http://www.buzzblogger.com/traffic

© Copyright 2012 All rights reserved. Jayde Online, Inc.

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