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How to Position Yourself: 6 Easy Steps – A SPN Exclusive Article

By Karl Walinskas in Featured

Small business is pretty competitive these days, whether you’re a professional speaker, a lawyer or a software provider. What are you doing to get noticed by meeting planners, industry leaders, and your clients? Making loads of cold calls and strewing Faxes all over the world? Buying email lists to total strangers? Come on! The secret word is positioning. I consult 90% of the time and only speak 10% of the time for my daily bread, so I have zero time to cold call and plead with meeting planners or worse, total strangers from a call sheet. I position myself as a subject-matter expert through write-ups and blog posts that I write to create business opportunities coming at me, and so can you.

Adhere to this 6-Step Process to professional positioning with words:

Have Sustenance

This one is obvious. It’s rather easy for professional speakers, you’d think, but you’d be shocked how they and business leaders at large cannot really explain what that is. Quick Answer: Something readers can use straightaway that doesn’t require (vital word there) that they call you to fill out the blanks. Of course, a fraction will because they don’t have the time to do what you whatever it is you just taught them but love it all the same. Cha-ching!

Write Good Stuff

They have to be informative and easy to read. Your piece has a better opportunity at publication if it tickles the funny bone, so use humor that supports your arguments (not just jokes). Your topic’s not funny? Hey, with a little imagination and half a bottle of barbecue sauce, you can make a burning hen-house full of baby chicks enjoyable. (Try to get that picture out of your head, go on.)

Find Your Venue

Years ago, you could find Ulrich’s Guide to Periodical Literature at the library and spend the day looking up publications, sorted by subscription and subject matter that back up your concepts. Now of course you can go on-line to http://ulrichsweb.serialssolutions.com/login and register to use their service.

This is print periodical stuff, but blogs are even more important if you get in the appropriate ones. Just Google your topic and the really huge blogs (translation, big following) will appear, or Google blog rankings and the leading websites with blogs by categories like Technorati will turn up. Click on the blogs you like and find their submission procedure or editorial contact to figure out if they accept external content (some don’t, some do). Now develop your list of publications and blog sites by the subjects you cover. Every time you write on that subject, you have a list of probables that might accept it (with some modifications to get it in their format).

Entice Them to Your Sales Funnel

Write a byline at the end of your piece that lets the reader to talk to you by phone, email, and whatever you do, include your website URL (or a landing page on it) as a hyperlink. That hyperlink is one more back link to your website, which not only supplies an avenue in for the reader, but it boosts your website page rank for your SEO endeavors.

You can even provide a bounce back or lead magnet in the byline where the reader can contact you to get a top ten list or something else they may want for free. Of course, link directly to that freebee so they don’t have to work a lot to find it. Then make them enter their email addresses to get it, and that puts them into your sales list. Opportunities aplenty.

Submit Again and Again

Each week I write one to two pieces that right now we call blog posts. I post them on my website. I promptly develop a library of content that I have produced that expresses my expertise. It takes a little work, but you can then make versions of your initial blog pieces, either segments with only an aspect of the text or the entire content, re-written so that it is original in the Internet world.

I can write a whole article (actually I think I will) on making unique material from your really original content the proper way. There are plenty of article spinning tools around that can help you rewrite things, but be careful with these. Unedited even the best spinning applications will create a load of useless rubbish that is neither enjoyable and gets you the Google slap. I pay a virtual assistant (VA) every week to re-create 2-3 of my articles with the same ideas but completely different headlines, subtitles, and body subject, and then submit for me to my top 10 outlets.

Promote Yourself Socially

You can promote your blog posts via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn Groups, etc. Most bloggers do. It’s just as big a deal to market the links of the blogs that publish your write ups. Your byline will give a means of getting to your site, as will well-placed text hyperlinks within the article, but by promoting the other guy’s blog, it advances your authority as a subject matter expert. It’s not only you that posted this piece on a site you control, but now a noted authority site thinks enough of you to publish your articles. That makes a big difference on your click-thrus from the byline to your website and on your ultimate conversion rate.

Keep submitting and promoting. If you observed these steps, the law of averages (my hit rate is about 75%) says your name will be in print or online. The phone starts ringing or the contact page starts generating and you’re in business.

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Karl Walinskas is the CEO of Smart Company Growth, a business development and cost management consulting firm for small to mid-size enterprises. He has made a career of leading, inspiring and raising the game of small business people. He is author of numerous articles and the Smart Blog on leadership, business communication, sales & service, public speaking and virtual business and Getting Connected Through Exceptional Leadership, available in the Smart Shop, Amazon.com, or Barnes&Noble.com. He can be reached at kwalinskas@smartcompanygrowth.com.

5 Reasons Why You Need to Use Rel=Author on Your Content

By Jill Whalen in Featured

Have you heard of Google’s Authorship program yet? Whether you’ve heard of it or not, you’ve likely seen its fruits in the search results. You know those listings that have a photo of the author next to them? Most likely they get that extra cool stuff because they’re using Rel=Author correctly and Google has accepted them to participate. Unfortunately, it’s been a bit hit-or-miss as to whether your content gets accepted or not. I saw mine accepted for a day or two many months ago, and then *poof!* it was gone. I reviewed their new guidelines recently, however, made a few changes, and sure enough, within a week or so, my content started showing up… yay!

While you may or may not get your content into the program, the only way to know is to try, and persistence is definitely a key.

If you’re thinking it’s just not worth the trouble, here are 5 reasons why it’s super important:

An Argument Against Outsourced Content – A SEO-News Exclusive Article

By Nick Stamoulis in Featured

Let me start off by explaining exactly what I mean when I say “outsourced content.” Just because a piece of content wasn’t written inside the four walls of your office, that doesn’t automatically mean it’s “outsourced” as I define it. Do I think hiring a freelance writer to manage your business blog counts as outsourcing? No. Do I think having a PR firm write and distribute press releases under your company’s name counts as outsourcing? No. Do I think hiring a social media marketing or SEO firm to write and promote content counts as outsourcing? No.

So What is Outsourced Content?

To me, outsourced content comes from two main sources: overseas and writer databases. Many black hat SEO firms will outsource their clients’ link building activities to India or the Philippines because it’s cheap and easy to do. Oftentimes they do the same thing with content. A writer overseas is only going to charge $5-$20 for a 500 word blog post while a professional freelance writer in the States might charge $200 for the same amount of words. (Notice I said same word count, not same post! Keep that in mind for later…)

I would also classify outsourced content as the content a business might get from a writer database. I’m sure you’ve come across something like this before – you can plug in your topic, content type (blog vs. article vs. whitepaper) and how much you are willing to pay and a handful of writers pitch you for the job. I’m not saying that there aren’t great writers to be found on these writer databases, but those few great writers are often buried under a flood of not-so-great ones.

Ten Steps to Building a Loyal Readership – A SPN Exclusive Article

By Dan Stokes in Featured

Starting a blog from scratch can be intimidating. There are a countless number of established blogs on the web, and you must differentiate yourself to compete. These ten steps can help guide you on your way to penetrating the elite fraternity of professional bloggers, and building a loyal readership.

1. Have a Plan

One of my favorite quotes comes from Lewis Carrol and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by way of the Cheshire Cat – “If you don’t know where you’re going, how do you expect to get there?”

Decide early on what the specific goals of your blog might be. If you don’t outline your goals, you will risk writing meandering content that will lack focus. Write a detailed business plan and content schedule to avoid getting too far off track. Compiling a list of article topics early on can help you avoid the dilemma of writers block every blogger experiences.

2. Be Yourself

Whatever you do, don’t try to be something you’re not. This can be one of the most difficult obstacles for newbies to overcome when launching a blog. After all, you probably decided to go out on your own after reading other blogs and websites. Everyone is influenced to some degree, but to truly be successful, you must find a way to stand out from the pack. Take a break from reading your competitors’ material for a few days before launching to avoid the temptation to imitate and to crystallize your blog concept.

3. Be Unique

Quite often, aspiring bloggers make the decision to begin publishing content because they have a unique opinion and a voice that is unheard. This is the way it’s supposed to be, and Google rewards the concept through high search rankings. Bloggers whose only goal is to make money often write uninspiring content, and find themselves banging their collective heads against the wall to improve their SERPs. Research other blogs in your niche to see what is being talked about, and more importantly, what is not.

4. Show Your Personality

I know many bloggers who are funny, entertaining, and interesting, but don’t let their true colors show in their posts. Think about your audience only so far as determining your voice. Speak from the heart and don’t worry about what people think.

5. Write With a Purpose

Another mistake many bloggers make is to get trapped into the idea that they must post content every single day. If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say it. You never know when a potentially loyal reader will stumble across your content. It is always beneficial to have your best content front and center when new users visit your site. Furthermore, if you post entries that are hollow, or appear to be forced, you risk turning off the users who followed you for your unique perspective.

6. Interact With Your Audience

User generated content is the best kind of content. It’s easy, free, and hands-off. However, it’s not always easy to sit back and let readers write your content for you. In the early stages of blogging, it’s important to respond to every single comment, even if it’s simply to agree with the commenter’s sentiments. Users are more likely to join an existing conversation than to kick one off by logging the first comment.

7. Link to Quality Content

Don’t be afraid to share interesting content from other blogs. A common mistake bloggers make is to be overly stingy with external linking. It’s easy to read a Page Rank 101 guide that admonishes sharing link juice, but you may find that linking to interesting content improves your ranking. Linking to great content adds value to your users and should add value to your blog. Additionally, webmasters might notice incoming links to their sites and decide to link back to you.

8. Write Conversationally

Your written word should sound as if it were flowing from your tongue. Avoid the temptation to break out a thesaurus to use flowery language. Readers can spot unnatural language from a mile away, and if they feel it isn’t genuine, you may lose credibility. Rather, you should use your unique voice and perspective to your advantage.

9. Detail Your Credibility

Chances are you have chosen to blog about something you know a thing or two about. Be sure your readers know this. Tell them why you are writing about your subject matter and don’t be shy when it comes to your qualifications. Readers want to read blogs written by experts, so let them know why they should listen to you. Create an “about” page that serves as a virtual resume listing your relative experience and accomplishments.

10. Utilize Social Media

Add social media links to your site to show new readers that they’re not alone. Facebook likes, fans, and Twitter followers serve as testimonials from like-minded readers on the web. If you are just starting out, ask your friends and existing social network to share and endorse your content. Users are more likely to share content that has already been shared.

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Dan is a search engine optimization expert and marketing consultant. In his free time he blogs about baseball and various other topics.

5 Ways to Beef Up the Content on Your Site

By Steve Shaw in Featured

When you first get your website up and running, your first thought may be to implement some article marketing strategies to get the traffic pouring into your site. Your sole thought may be to do something “out there” in order to produce the results that you want on your site.

There is one step that should happen prior to that though, and it’s one that a lot of site owners overlook. Before anything, you need to develop the content on your website. You see, in order to attract readers, you need to have some reason for them to be at your website.

What sort of information are you providing?

What problems are you solving?

How are you helping your readers?

You may attract readers when you submit articles, but if you don’t have any “stickiness” on your site, then the increased viewers don’t do you much good. They just show up at your site and immediately click away because they haven’t found the information that they’re looking for.

Before starting to market your site, go to the effort of adding content that will make readers want to stick around. Here are some ideas for you:

1 – Create a Blog That is on Your Website

With a blog, you will be creating a regular stream of content that is fresh and helpful to readers. New content gives readers a reason to keep on returning. Sites with regularly updated content tend to rank better in search engines as well.

You can do this by simply setting up a WordPress blog. After your blog posts are published for the month, then you can rewrite them and submit them as free reprint articles. Making the content you create do double duty is a great time saver and helps you maximize your time.

2 – Create a Page on Your Site That Addresses “Frequently Asked Questions”

Now, it depends on what type of business you have as to the appropriateness of this idea, but if you have a service based business, a list of FAQs can be a really helpful bit of info to offer. This also saves you time, because potential customers can find answers to their questions immediately and there’s no need for you to answer the same question repeatedly for each individual person.

3 – Create a List of Helpful Sites and Link to Them

It may seem counterintuitive to link to other sites (won’t that make people leave your site?), but actually the opposite is true. Your job as the site owner is to provide information that is helpful to your readers. Many times there are websites that provide complementary services to your own that people would benefit from (let’s say you’re a real estate agent, and you provide a link to a mortgage calculator). When you compile these resources for your readers, you are creating a more valuable website.

4 – Add a Web Page That Tells About Your Niche

Some people arriving at your website may have very little information about what you do or what your niche has to offer them. It is worth your while to compile some basic information that will act as an introduction to your field.

5 – Create a Web Page That Catalogs Your Articles

When you start publishing articles, they will be very helpful to your readers. Why not let the readers of your website know about the articles you’ve written and give them an easy way to find them?

You can separate your articles into sub-categories to help your readers find the information they need. This “library” of your articles can be a web page containing the title of the article, a short description and a link to the article.

If you want to create a site that your readers love, anticipate their needs and put content on your site to satisfy them. Really, the more you create a website that your readers appreciate, the more you’ll be pleasing Google as well. Google just wants to send their search customers to websites that offer the information that they’re looking for. You can put your website in position to satisfy that need by creating a website full of helpful information.

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Steve Shaw is a content syndication specialist. Do you own a blog? Need content? Join thousands of other blogs and get free high-quality, niche-focused, human-reviewed content from quality authors sent on auto-pilot – and it’s all 100% free! Go to http://www.autoblogit.com for more information.

Blog Writing Tips – Where to Find Great Guest Posters

By Enzo F. Cesario in Featured

One of the best ways to keep a fresh angle in blogging is the guest blogger. They can provide good content, take some of the work load off the primary blogger and can bring new perspectives and ideas that the parent blogger can follow up on in later posts as he or she sees fit. Guest blogging also promotes inter-community relations, resulting in shared links and audiences, and can bring together previously unrelated audiences who find they share interests. It may not be for everyone, but those who embrace guest posting have a lot going for them.

So where, exactly, does one find these mysterious guest posters?

Guest #1 — The Ascended Commenter

An active and successful blog should have an equally active comments section. Comments are a great way to gauge the level of interest a group has in the message of a blog. Sometimes a blog post will spawn a series of comments that end up being as or even more enriching than the blog itself, including links to other sites and videos that further expand on the message.

Some commenters are active, regular members of the community and consistently provide very good and insightful material on a number of topics. Those who participate in all the best discussions and are always there to provide discussion on the topics raised are a prime source for good guest-posting material.

If you have such a gem of a commenter, contact them and ask them if they’d be interested in writing up a guest post. Give them all the guidelines and style rules your publication uses, and of course draft-check their work to make sure it fits the needs of the site, but definitely recruit your commenters into your service. This will have the two-fold effect of creating guest posts and improving the quality of commentary in the blog as a whole. As guests see they can be invited to post, they will be encouraged to become more active if they want to do the same.

Guest # 2 — Fellow Bloggers

Many blogs provide cross-links to other blogs who discuss the same or similar issues. Blogs on cooking provide links to other blogs on cooking, or to blogs on cookware and appliances, and so on. Bloggers exercising good blogging judgment also go to their colleagues’ blogs and participate in the comments sections as well.

Just like inviting in a member of the commentary team, calling in a fellow blogger is a great idea. As mentioned, it encourages cross-promotion of both blogs. Even though the audiences of the publications may not overlap 100 percent, each will at least see some benefit as visitors from the other blog come by to have a look. At least some will subscribe, and that’s a big overall goal.

One of the best ways to arrange this is to propose a swap. Both bloggers trade posts for a day, so that both can get the benefit of the exchange. Additionally, try to focus on bloggers with a similar but slightly different focus. The idea is to get new information out there, after all.

Guest #3 — The Celebrity

People like big names; there’s really no getting around it and no shame in it. Experts are good at what they do, and good at it for a reason. If our aforementioned cooking blog is able to get an authority figure with a big name in the community to post, they really should take advantage of the opportunity.

Celebrities are often hard to get a hold of, but not impossible. They are people, too, and they often have interests that they like to follow. Sometimes it requires contacting their agent or handler, but it can be rewarding to a blog to have a star pop on and offer some advice on the topic at hand.

On the other hand, such a post should stick firmly to the message at hand. Making it a chance for the celeb to simply promote his new cause or book might distract from the goal of the blog, and nobody wants that.

Guest #4 — A Polite Opponent

There is a benefit in bringing aboard someone whose views differ from those of the core audience for the blog. The most important mode of discussion for the web today is dialog. People want to talk, they want to learn and be heard. Unfortunately, the largest mode of dialog is argument and flaming, and very little gets accomplished in this circumstance.

On the other hand, if a blog has taken a principled and reasonable stand on a topic, chances are they have an open-minded yet critical commenter or “rival” whose views differ from their own. This is common in philosophy-and politics-oriented publications.

In these cases, consider contacting a rival and asking for an exchange of views. This may seem a bit odd, but it really can make all the difference. It will show both parties that the other side is willing to talk and reason about things. It will give both audiences a sense of pride in their chosen blogger. It will create a greater dialog and benefit the web as a whole and, if handled properly, it will almost always be a hit and generate a great deal of discussion. Take the risk and see if a civil exchange of conflicting ideas is right for your blog.

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Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the “voice” of our client’s brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at www.iBrandCasting.com/

What Is No-Hype Copywriting? A Guide to Excellence Without Excess

By Marcia Yudkin in Featured

Whether you’re a business owner or nonprofit head who wants to promote your offerings with dignity or a copywriter troubled by the prevalence of exaggerated, over-the-top writing on the Web, you’re wondering whether it’s possible for marketing copy to nail the sale without a carnival-barker tone, without overheated language and without stretching of the truth.

The answer is yes.

When people talk critically about hype, or say they don’t want to use it, they are referring to techniques like these:

* An emotional pitch that tries to rev up the reader into a buying frenzy by appealing to greed, envy, scarcity, laziness or hatred.

* Strong, hard-to-believe claims without proof, such as “With a Flick of Your Pen, Get Tens of Thousands of Dollars From the Government, Tomorrow” or “You’ll Never Have to Pay the Asking Price For Groceries Again” or “Publish a Book Even if You Don’t Even Know How to Write Your Own Name”.

* Typography that’s heavy with bold colors, exclamation points, capital letters and underlining, making for a fast-talking pace and a breathless tone.

* Puffing up of the value of what’s being sold way beyond what’s reasonable.

* Vague references to “secrets”.

* Lots of fluffy, non-descriptive adjectives, such as “amazing,” “awesome” or “killer”.

* Outright or subtle lying.

If that style of writing turns your stomach or would make you ashamed to use it, do reject it. There are plenty of honest, effective copywriting techniques left over with which to stock up your promotional toolbox. Here are five no-hype techniques that perk up your marketing while keeping you out of the gutter.

1. Story Telling

A true tale with dramatic happenings attracts and holds a reader’s attention and can illustrate a general point vividly. For example, I might describe receiving tubs full of envelopes at the Back Bay post office in Boston and opening them with my husband on the floor of our apartment. Each envelope contained either a $2 check or two $1 bills, which we stacked in piles that got so high that they tipped over. (This happened in the early 1990s.)

Anecdotes with this kind of specific detail brings reality to life for readers, more so than an abstract summary like “It’s fun to make money” or ungrounded promises like “Your neighbors will gossip that you must have won the lottery.” A story can be about you, about someone who experienced what you’re selling or even about a historical figure.

2. Before and After

For greater impact, writing teachers have always advised, “Show, don’t tell.” Hardly anything convinces more than using words or pictures (or both) to show the situation prior to the application of the service or product you’re selling, then the situation afterwards. In using photos, realize that you may also need verbal description, because without commentary, the uneducated eye may not see the dramatic differences that a professional notices immediately.

3. Creative Touches

Whereas hypesters use outlandish and inflammatory metaphors, you can spice up your presentation with the same techniques, but used sparingly and gracefully as an aid to the imagination and understanding rather than as extreme promises. For instance, an executive coach pitched his services for corporate leaders as helping them “navigate the seas of change”: “organizations need leaders who know how to survive stormy seas and avoid hidden reefs and icebergs.” The design also accentuated the nautical theme with images of compasses, and the overall tone was restrained and professional.

4. Skillful Use of Language

Did you notice the wordplay above in “techniques that perk up your marketing while keeping you out of the gutter”? The words “perk” and “keep” contain the same pair of consonants, but in reverse order, which pleases the reader’s ear.

Another guideline: Never use an abstract expression when you can instead create an image in the reader’s mind. Reach especially for language that gives readers something to hear, see or touch in their mind. For instance, my bio doesn’t say I was published often in magazines but rather, “her bylines in national magazines on journalistic and opinion pieces began piling up.” Such concrete wording imparts vigor and energy to your marketing.

Orchestrating phrases the way expert speechwriters do (as in “of the people, by the people, for the people”) is one more way to give your presentation balance and finesse.

5. Proof

This element can set you most decisively apart from those relying on hype. Provide evidence that what you are selling does what it promises to do, and more. Your evidence might consist of client testimonials, third-party endorsements, media coverage, scientific research results, credentials, case studies, client surveys, referral statistics, descriptive details that only someone immersed in your work would have and why-it-works explanations. All of these persuade to the extent that they are firmly and frankly grounded in reality.

To avoid hype, be truthful and vivid. You’ll thereby keep the reader awake, connect with the reader’s imagination, quash skepticism and arouse the reader’s desire to buy.

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Veteran copywriter and marketing consultant Marcia Yudkin is the author of Persuading on Paper, Meatier Marketing Copy and 13 other books. Besides writing for selected clients and mentoring marketing departments in copywriting skills, she runs a one-on-one mentoring program that trains copywriters and marketing consultants. In 10 weeks, participants learn no-hype marketing writing skills and business savvy. For more information, go to http://www.yudkin.com/become.htm

7 Secrets to Creating Compelling Content

By Tinu AbayomiPaul in Featured

Let’s face it.

If we’re not creating compelling content, no one is reading it (or listening or watching it as the case may be.)

As business people, that doesn’t mean our content has to be trendy, hip or fast-paced, though in some cases, that may help. The most important thing is that the people we want to target like our content are compelled to act on it.

What is it then, that makes content compelling? And how do we use that knowledge to create compelling content?

Here are seven tips – some of them you may know. But are you using them?

#1 – Know What Your Audience Wants

Here’s where your market research comes in handy. If you haven’t done any, even basic keyword research can help you out here. Your research into your target audience will tell you things like where your audience is, and what they’re looking for, if successful.

#2 – Create Into Your Customer’s Content Vacuum

Once you know where they are and what they want, on some level, creating will appeal to them is as simple as being where they are with the information they most desire.

This doesn’t mean you have to give away all your best solutions. Just solve one problem they have that’s related to your product or service.

#3- Infuse Your Content With Emotion

It’s no secret that humans are social beings. An integral part of social being is connecting – and not much creates that instant feeling of belonging than knowing that someone else feels what you’re feeling. It’s even better when you share a feeling that they have for the same reason.

#4- Make it Cross-Platform

More consumers are connecting through mobile than ever before, and that’s worldwide, not just in the United States. Creating something worth sharing is just the first part. Next, you’ve got to make sure that everyone can access it.

#5- Leverage the Theory of Star Deflection(TM)

Star Deflection(TM) is a completely made up term. It’s shorthand for a technique we developed at my company for deflecting the attention we get in our marketing efforts back out at another chosen entity.

For our purposes here, it’s the act of making your customers, clients, peers, audience, employees or other deserving people the stars of your content instead of the company or publisher. Bloggers are particularly good at this. You’ll see them get an endless stream of attention for their writing and expertise, and then observe them putting the spotlight on a customer they helped, or a peer they believe has a valuable insight.

Why does this work? Attention is scarce these days. Providers of attention are even scarcer. If you can give that to people, the very act can provide more for yourself.

#6- Be an Information Buoy

Why is attention scarce in the first place?

Because we’re drowning in a sea of information. The firehose shoots data at us in ever-increasing speeds. Just sorting out what pieces of raw data qualifies as useful information can be a full time job.

Thus began the rise of the curator as a popular and valuable person. Go beyond curating and provide insight into a special niche of the news. Be the one that others cling to in order to rise above the level of noise in their incoming news stream.

#7- Invent News, Don’t Just Report On It

Where does news come from? Journalists? Bloggers? PR companies? Industry experts?

How do they get the news? Press releases? Eyewitnesses? Twitter?

What’s stopping you from creating the news? I don’t mean just repeating whatever just happened at Google, or even providing intelligent opinion and analysis of that news.

Those are great tactics.

But if you have the option of actually being the original source of a news story, even if you have a small budget, there’s nothing stopping you from actually turning events, knowledge and discoveries you’ve made into news.

If you want to be seen, to be heard, to have customers come to you instead of always paying to hunt them down, creating the content they want to consume is a key part of your marketing strategy. Not only can it save you money gaining new customers, it can help you keep existing customers when they see that you care enough to address their most pressing concerns.

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Tinu Abayomi-Paul is a website promotion specialist at Leveraged Promotion. Now that you can create compelling content, she invites you to come and learn how to get it discovered in search and social media at http://freetraffictip.com – or you can call her office at 702.508.8468 for a free strategy session.

Article Marketing – Get The Basics Right First

By Toby Russell in Featured

In your Article writing try-using AIDA, (stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and finally Action) possibly the most recognized method ever for creating great copy writing for content, ads, articles – you name it, it does the trick. After all being successful online is all about being able to successfully ‘market’ yourself and your products or services on the Internet to the right-targeted visitor.

Sounds easy but its not, here’s what happened to me early on. When I first started out, I wrote some copy, read all right, put it up and thought naively as it transpired that I’d suddenly have loads of traffic – blimey, didn’t think that one though at all, then a friend said to me ‘you did do your keyword research?’

Wow that was a light bulb moment – because no I hadn’t, I was pretty Internet ‘green’ back then, so yes I’d written a great article but because there were no keywords in it that people were actively searching for, it got buried on probably page 365,000 of search results – not my finest hour by any stretch.

So rule No. 1 is do your Keyword Research well and comprehensively. But also here are a couple of other key areas to help you in your article marketing activity, so read on.

Researching your Subject Successfully

To be successful in article marketing your research is key, research your chosen niche, read a variety of articles online or in books and other literature, I always find magazines a great source of information and there’s bound to be some in your chosen niche (if not then you should be worried) then make sure you have done your keyword research as well, not like me who then felt a total idiot when the obvious was pointed out to me – stupid or what!

Building Trust Through Your Writing

Writing articles has many people stumbling and believing it’s not easy especially when you do not have a clue about the niche you are writing on. To make your article writing experience easier, it is better to start out in areas that you are comfortable with. These are likely to be topics you are already familiar with and in which you can have a steady flow of information almost like a conversation.

But here’s the real key ‘like a conversation’

Get quickly to the point where you’re writing style and therefore the kind of articles you are writing are in a conversational and matter of fact manner- it will be like talking to your best friend, this is a really important part of creating content – articles, blogposts etc – if you always try & craft it as though you are having a conversation with a friend you’ll find it easier, your writing will be more believable and you’ll build trust faster.

Look at it this way-what do you know about me – you know I write my own copy, you know I’ve made stupid mistakes in the past- hopefully I’ve connected with you through my writing, and that’s what its all about!

Don’t Overlook Keywords Like I Did

Over and above the AIDA approach, article marketing requires the targeting of keywords as I’ve identified. Articles should be written around a certain set of keywords that best define the service, product or niche you are involved in. If you can properly target keywords within the title and body of your article, then you will be successful in your article marketing campaign as search engines would place you in a position where website visitors will have easy access to your site.

Not Familiar with Keyword research?

Sorry if this bit sounds a bit basic but hey we all have to start somewhere and there will be some reading this just starting out so bear with me because keywords are vital, so here goes …Keywords are the words website users are likely to type into search engine boxes when looking for a specific topic. To make the best out of your article marketing efforts you start with a keyword research. Keyword research means you trying to figure out the words with the highest number of searches within a given period say a month.

The reason for this is to estimate the amount of traffic that keyword or phrase generates monthly. A keyword with high traffic can mean more sales potential and vice versa.

When the keyword you are interested in has a low search numbers it therefore follows it has lower competition levels (i.e. fewer competing websites), you have an even better chance to easily rank higher on search engines.

Don’t Overlook Other ‘Marketing’ Opportunities

There are other forms of website promotion such as pay-per-click (PPC), forum posts and blog commenting, but article marketing has proven to be highly effective when done properly. This is because an article that is rated “high quality” will be used over and over again in different websites on the Internet. All these link back to your website – how cool is that? Yep now possibly you can see why Sam (my wife) & I bang on about the power of article marketing, now ‘heads up’ the links, traffic etc is not immediate but its sustainable and that for us is more important.

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Toby Russell, Internet Marketer, Publisher & Property Investor offers tried and tested methods to help you succeed on line. Want to know more about Article Marketing? Get his popular Free Special Report – features over 10 pages of Key Copywriting hints and tips that will have you writing like a “Pro” in no time. available at => http://www.startinternetmarketingonline.com

How to Choose the Right Copywriter for YOU

By Ken Hoffman in Featured

What Type of Copywriting Are You Looking For?

What kind of copy are you looking for? There are many different kinds. First, there is copywriting by niche specialty. For example: copywriters who only write for alternative health, or financial, or self-help markets. Second, there are copywriters who specialize in the type of copy: landing pages, white papers, video scripts, etc. There is advertising copy. There’s corporate copy such as marketing collateral, newsletters, and product literature. There’s slick ad agency copy. There’s branding, direct response, and B2B. There’s web SEO content and web sales copy.

For the sake of this report I will divide copy into two primary types: copy designed to sell and copy designed for other reasons. Now there is some copy that is supposedly designed to sell, but has no way of measurement. The most powerful type of copy and the hardest one to find is the one that sells. If you just want content, you can find that cheap anywhere.

Think Marketing Strategy First, Copywriting Second

What will your marketing strategy be? Unless you yourself know and understand marketing strategy it’s important to get some feedback on this. Copy is one part of three things: Your message (the copy), your list (or target market), and your marketing strategy (the process of getting the prospect to your copy, through your copy and to your order page).

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