Wednesday, September 5, 2007

7 Reasons You Need to Market with Articles Now
by Dean Mercado
Looking for a simple way to get an edge on your competition?
Successful businesses who are in it for the long haul continually apply innovative marketing strategies and tactics to differentiate themselves and get that edge. Two such killer marketing strategies are positioning and relationship building. And guess what? Article marketing is a proven tactic that just happens to address both of those marketing strategies. Is it the "be all, end all" of positioning and relationship building? Absolutely not. However, it is an excellent step in the right direction. And on top of that, there's probably a good chance that your competition is not using this tactic. Face it. It takes some time, skill, and effort to write and effectively use articles, that's why the masses don't do it however, those looking for an edge do.
So why choose article marketing as one of you marketing tactics? Here are 7 exceptional reasons:
1. It is quite simple. People love to buy from and deal with the best. Writing and effectively marketing your articles helps you position yourself as the expert in your field.
2. Let's take this first concept a step further for reason #2. Let's be blunt here, as an expert, you can justifiably increase your rates and charge more for your products.
3. If your articles are good and distributed properly, they can spread like wildfire and literally cause a viral marketing frenzy. Ultimately driving business your way.
4. A big part of Internet marketing has to do with the Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. It's critical that we play their game. That being said, Search Engines love content such as articles! Many Internet marketers try the latest fad to trick Search Engines into getting a better ranking. If you have a lot of time and/or money on your hands to keep up with the latest trends and the ever changing Search Engine rules, then do what you feel is right. However, one tactic still holds true with improving Search Engine ranking, and that's article marketing.
5. People love to be and feel well informed – It helps them make better decisions. Your articles can serve as the source for the input they seek. And who better to buy from then the source that provided the information in the first place.
6. Talk about getting major bang for the buck, articles can easily be repurposed in a variety of ways. For example:
==> They can become content for your or someone else's newsletter;
==> Used as free giveaways to prospects/clients, in seminars, at networking events, etc;
==> Used to spark conversation in a blog or an online networking group such as Ryze;
==> Combine multiple articles into an eBook, book or info-product that can be sold or given away in exchange for contact information;
==> Become the basis for a live seminar or teleseminar;
==> And we can go on and on and on.
7. Articles when distributed properly are a great way to stay in touch with clients and prospects. Studies have shown that on average it takes around 7 touches before a prospect buys. Why not use articles as some of those touches? This will help continually boost your prospect's perception of you as someone who consistently adds value.

We live in an age where information is king. We all know something others would be interested in knowing. Share your knowledge and like a magnet you'll draw your prospects towards you.
© 2006 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.
Dean Mercado is an Internet marketing coach, strategist, author, and speaker. Dean and his company Online Marketing Muscle help entrepreneurial professionals leverage the power of Internet marketing to turn their businesses into money magnets. Visit Online Marketing Muscle for many more Internet marketing tips.


Opt-In Email and eZine Advertising still more effective than RSS, Blogs, and PPC!
When you factor in all the costs related to promoting via an Opt-In Email or Ezine campaign you are still getting the best return on your advertising dollar investment than using RSS, Blogs or PPC. The measurable results are significantly faster than RSS and Blogs and less expensive than using Pay Per Click marketing. Without a doubt, Email and Newsletter advertising campaigns are still two of the best tools available to promote your product or service.
Email Marketing Campaigns
There are a great many people that are still reluctant to use what is one of the best marketing tools available today. Many marketers associate email marketing with spam and have concerns about being shut down by their ISP or hosting company. The fact is, done right and by following specific guidelines you have little to fear. Follow the guidelines outlined below and you will probably kick yourself for not using this tool a lot sooner.
1) CAN-SPAM COMPLIANT: Just about everyone receives hundreds of spam-related emails per week and that is the main reason a lot of legitimate businesses balk at using email marketing. But if you are a legitimate business you only need to do a few things to make your email marketing efforts legal.
(a) Subject Line: It should not be misleading in any way. It should relate to the body of the message and it is a very good practice that the first paragraph relate to the subject line.
(b) Specific Opt-Out Instructions: You must include a way for the reader to opt-out by supplying a link that works.
(c) Physical Address: If you work out of an office this is the address that should appear after your signature. If you work out of the home your home address should appear after the signature.
(d) From Address: Messages should be from the same "from address"
2) USE OPT-IN EMAIL ADDRESSES ONLY: This is very important. Use only Opt-In email addresses for your marketing efforts. There are many legitimate email suppliers so you have a lot of options. And even using 100% Opt-In Email Addresses does not guarantee that you won't have a few people complaining. But if you purchase addresses that include the full name, IP and date stamp you have proof of the opt-in just in case it is needed.
Additional Tips For a Successful Email Marketing Campaign
1) USE EMAIL MARKETING SOFTWARE: We like Broadc@st HTML Bulk Email Software (http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com/u/mailwork/b.asp?id=1979) and GroupMail 5 (http://www.infacta.com/asp/common/groupmail.asp). Some of the suppliers listed below provide free email marketing software.
2) USE SPAM FILTER SOFTWARE: Don't let this software intimidate you. The software is easy to setup and use. It is a good idea to use spam filter software to filter out words or phrases that tend to get flagged by ISP spam filters. Some of the suppliers listed below provide free spam filtering software.
3) USE AUTORESPONDERS: Using an autoresponder will save you a lot of time and work. You can preload messages and assign specific criteria to when they should be sent. Some of the suppliers listed below provide free autoresponder software.
4) TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY ONLY: For best results send your email campaign from Tuesday to Thursday. These are the days that will obtain the most attention to your message. Monday is usually bad because people are planning their work-week and getting tasks out of the way quickly. Fridays are bad because most people are already planning their weekends.
5) COME TO THE POINT IMMEDIATELY: Don't write a book. Try to be as brief as possible and outline your key points in the first paragraph. If you word it right the reader will read on.
Here is a short list of companies that supply 100% Opt-In Email Addresses.
Email Leads For Less
http://www.email-leads-for-less.com/Hot_100_Opt-In_Email_Leads.htm
EmailResults.com
http://www.emailresults.com/default.asp
Exact Sales Leads
http://www.exactsalesleads.com/
Expedite Media Group's Email Marketing Services
http://www.expedite-email-marketing.com/index.htm
GetResponse Power Leads
http://www.getresponse.com/leads_offer.html
Lifeline Leads
http://www.lifelineleads.com/default.php
OptInDataSite.Com
http://www.optindatasite.com/
PermissionDIRECT
http://www.permissiondirect.com/index.asp
Prospects Influential
http://www.prospectsinfluential.com/
Red Clay Media
http://www.redclaymedia.com/
Salesleads.tv
http://www.salesleads.tv/index.html
SimplerLeads.com
http://www.simplerleads.com/
TheListGuy.com
http://www.thelistguy.com/index.html
Tip Top Leads
http://www.tiptopleads.com
VentureDirect List Services Group
http://www.venturedirect.com/html/lsg-about.htm
Please take note that the information contained in this article was up to date at the time of writing and is subject to change at any time. Additionally, it is not the authors intent to recommend or guarantee products or services of the companies listed. We believe that they are all legitimate and provide good products and services but readers are always encouraged to do 'due diligence' prior to making a purchase.

About the Author: Drew Michael is a webmaster and marketer. He is the owner of The Business Junction at http://www.thebusinessjunction.com, a major software and entrepreneur directory. For a free subscription to The Business Junction Newsletter and free software downloads subscribe at: http://thebusinessjunction.com/Newsletter_Subscribers_SignUp_Page.htm
You may reprint this article so long as this resource box is left intact and ALL LINKS REMAIN ACTIVE! Please send an email to: newsletter[at]thebusinessjunction.com and a copy of your newsletter containing this article would be appreciated.


Adsense Heresy: Revealing The Lies You're Fed Every Day And How You Could Be Eating Caviar Instead
Copyright 2006 Richard Adams
What I am about to reveal may be regarded by many as heresy. But I will expose evidence to prove that the Adsense strategies of 2005 are dying fast - and reveal what will *really* be the driving force in Adsense profits over the coming months and years.
Today's trend with most Adsense publishers is to exploit the latest software and search engine trickery to draw free traffic. They aim to build hundreds of "minisites" often using auto-generator software to create thousands of pages at a time whilst barely lifting a finger.
Due to the nature of the this process, these pages generally consist of "scraped" (a polite word for "stolen") content or legitimately reproduced articles from article directories or private label membership sites. Oh, and as many Adsense ad units as humanly possible.
They argue that if you build just one of these poor quality, cookie- cutter sites a day that brings in just $1 a day, by the end of the year you'll be earning over $10,000 a month. Whilst I can't fault their math, as we'll see this method is ill thought out and at best a short-term solution.
Without easy, free sources of traffic, you're never going to make much money with Adsense, and this is the first major stumbling block of the minisite concept. By their very definition these auto-generated sites use junk content. You couldn't physically create a high quality site filled with useful, original information in a day.
And the search engines are getting more and more trigger-happy when it comes to deleting duplicate and/or poor quality content.
Google's own advice (found at http://www.google.com/intl/en/webmasters/guidelines.html) states:
- Don't create multiple... domains with substantially duplicate content. - Create a useful, information-rich site.
And where Google leads, others follow.
Even if in the short term you manage to avoid the search engine spam- filters you're not going to have a lot of luck with the directories.
Just a few guidelines from DMOZ (http://www.dmoz.org/guidelines/include.html):
- A site should not mirror content available at other sites. - Sites... whose sole purpose is to drive traffic to another site for the purpose of commission sales provide no unique content and are not appropriate for inclusion - If the... content is poor, minimal, or copied from some other site, then the site is not a good candidate.
And Yahoo's (help.yahoo.com/help/us/submit/submit-18.html) minimum requirements include:
- Site contains substantively unique content.
So it would be fair to say that the days of generating free traffic to minisites from search engines and directories are limited at best.
But what about other forms of free traffic such as links from other websites, word of mouth and repeat visitors?
Certainly there's a chance when a visitor arrives at an auto- generated site for the first time that they'll click an Adsense ad and make you a few cents, but unless you provide a real, useful site with plenty of content they're unlikely to return ever again.
Why should they? What does the site offer that nobody elses does? Answer: nothing.
And let's be honest here - would you recommend a site to others that simply contained page after page of automatically generated garbage? I know I sure wouldn't. And so it follows that very few webmasters worth their salt will consider linking to these websites.
Without these links from other sites you're missing out on more free traffic. They're also one of the biggest factors in how sites are ranked in the search engines, so even if you can get listed in the short term, decent listings for anything but the least competitive keywords are going to be almost impossible.
Lets not forget that whilst there are still keywords out there that have no listings and so you should easily gain number one listings, these are severely limited and provide minimal traffic. Whats more, as competition increases these minisites will soon be pushed out by other, better designed sites (with more links and original content).
But if that weren't enough to suggest that the Adsense minisite strategy is stacking the odds against you, lets consider a second vital factor: leverage.
Increasingly search engines and directories are charging for listings. If you create thousands of sites and want to market them effectively you'll have to pay these listing fees thousands of times which soon adds up to some serious change.
Or about about domain names for your sites? Sure they can be bought for under 10 bucks each, but if you build a website a day you'll spend over $3000 on domains in your first year.
Another leverage technique is having visitors sign up for a free newsletter. You can email them informative articles each month and gently lead them back to your sites. A good quality newsletter leads to repeat visits so one visitor can earn you commissions numerous times.
Unfortunately it takes several days to put together a decent newsletter issue and if you've got dozens (or hundreds) of minites it's simply not going to be possible to do it for each one. No leverage.
And so it goes on.
The moral of the story is simple. The old ways of building an Adsense empire which are still being used by the majority of marketers out there simply won't work in the long term.
What I am proposing is a complete about-face - the creation of a small number of large sites, filled with original quality content, that is genuinely useful to visitors, and as a result generates numerous links to help in search engine placement.
It's this simple model that I believe, provides the best long-term and highly leveraged Adsense vehicle available.

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Richard Adams is the founder of Merchant Account Forum, one of the net's most popular merchant account advice sites. Click Here
Now => http://www.MerchantAccountForum.com
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