How I Use Article Marketing to Boost My Link Popularity

Writing articles is by far the best way to increase your link popularity in the search engines. It is also one of the most important, easy and effective tools of viral marketing. Let’s have a look at how this works and why it’s so effective.

To increase your link popularity, you have two options. You can take the slow and tedious route of manually exchanging links with other sites, or you can write articles and submit them to article directories. Manually exchanging links with other websites will take many months to increase your search engine rankings.

I write content to boost my link popularity in the search engines. Content is king as always. I write articles and submit them to high traffic article directories. These are quality article authored through my own expertise related to my site. Search engine positioning happens to be a very popular topic. Getting article directories to post my articles along with with my site’s URL(s) is very easy. Over time, websites publishers will pick up my articles from these high traffic article directories and use them on their sites.

Most article directories will allow you to include at least one website URL in the signature file or resource box. The resource box located at the end of each article is the primary reason for you to write and publish your articles. By including your site’s URL in the resource box, you are effectively increasing your link popularity in the search engines. If your articles are well written and useful, they will also be pick up by website publishers who need content for their sites.

Now, you do the math. If you submit to 100 article directories a week times four articles a month that’s 400 articles a month. Google will love you. Google has these three factors: content, quality and one way links. Within a short period of time, those links will boost your link popularity and drive your site to the top of the search results for your targeted keyword phrases.

A higher ranking in the search engines means alot of things. To a Webmaster, it means a move in the right direction, pure, unadulterated achievement or alot of money in the bank (Hmm, feel good?). To Google, link popularity means importance and relevancy. It also means your site is a valuable and viable resource.

Article marketing will generate tons of traffic to your site, as your articles are published and syndicated across the world. Traffic to your site will pick up speed as you submit and publish more articles. You will also enhance your search engine positioning just by increasing your link popularity in the search engines.

You can get started right away. Simply write a high quality article related to your website or commission someone to do this for you. You can find a ghost writer for a reasonable amount of money by posting an ad in the “Gigs” section on Craiglist.com. You don’t have to live in the city you post in. Post in the larger cities to get better results, but be prepared to get tons of emails.

I hope this advise helps you. Gook luck in the search engine positioning campaign.

Upshur Creative builds custom ecommerce websites with drop shipping. All websites are pre-stocked with brand name products from trusted suppliers. Visit UpshurCreative.com

Making Room For Marketing In Your Business Budget

by Melissa Brewer

As a business new to marketing, you may say you say you know where your money goes and you don’t need it all written down to keep up with it. But marketing is tricky – as with all plans, your results must be both achievable and measurable. You need to be able to track a return on your investment. And you may say you spend enough time on it – but if your business isn’t growing, it may be time to spend a little dough to keep it moving.

Unless you have specific objectives built around your strategies, your marketing plan may never be achieved properly. Marketing requires specific resources and you need to communicate these with your staff (if you have staff) or your outsourcing partners. You will be shocked at what the smaller expenses (such as paper, mailings, and stamps) add up to. Take the total you spend on just one extra mailing each month, multiply it by 12 for months in a year and multiply the result by 5 to represent 5 years – and then subtract it from the results. Is your marketing really as effective as it should be? Is it worth the resources you have been using?

When you start to implement a marketing plan for the first time, it’s best to start with a small sampling and wait for results first. It is true that doing something is better than doing nothing – but don’t overwhelm your staff or your budget by attempting several new marketing methods that you are unable to track – for example, if you direct traffic to your website, make sure to target each campaign to a different page or product to track your results.

If it is overwhelming to create several marketing activities, make a small but definite commitment to add at least one new marketing tactic a week. For example, set aside an hour every day to make cold calls or send emails to your prospects. Add one service listing to Craig’s List every week. Send “Thank You” emails to your customers once a month and let them know that you’ve added a new product to your product line. And, I issue you this challenge. Keep track of every penny you spend on marketing for one month – could you have afforded more? Did the amount of time and money you spent seem worth the effort? Set some specific long term and short term goals for making more money – and allocating more money to your marketing endeavors. There are no wrong answers here – just remember, it always takes money to make money. If it’s important to you, then it’s important period.

Some suggestions for powering your marketing strategies
follow:

• Make room for marketing in your business budget by cutting other expenses.
• Barter expertise and skills with other businesses you may network with (LinkedIn contacts, Chamber of Commerce, etc.)
• Cut expenses for services you rarely use. Do you really need call waiting on your business phone line? How about that subscription to Entrepreneur online?
• Don’t discount the power of low-cost and free marketing activities-such as online forum postings, ezine advertisements, article marketing, and blog advertising

Melissa Brewer is the author of the Little White Ebook of Virtual Assistant Jobs, available at LittleWhiteEbook.com. She has worked as a freelance writer for the past 9 years and currently resides in Washington, DC, three miles from the Obama White House.

Marketing from the Heart

by Monique Rider

Does the thought of marketing your business create a knot in your stomach? Does it conjure up thoughts of pushy salespeople, hours of phone soliciting, or stacks of monthly mailings? Marketing doesn’t have to be a business owner’s nightmare; and you don’t need a college degree in that field to do it. Depending on the type of business, you don’t even need a set strategy. As a matter of fact you can make up the rules as you go along!

As business owners many of us cringe at the thought of promoting our business. After all, we are offering a particular product or service and that is where our strength lies. We are knowledgeable about what we offer, not about how to offer it. Trying to promote your business can be mentally and physically draining, not to mention time consuming. This is especially true if you are using a method that doesn’t seem natural. Yet, visibility and exposure is key to attracting customers and building a sound business foundation. Is there a way to market that is actually fun and enjoyable? I hear that question a lot and I can honestly say that there is if you market from the heart. When coaching my clients around the subject of marketing it doesn’t make sense to start talking strategy. They aren’t marketing majors and they are pretty shy about stepping out there to gain exposure. My clients know their product or service inside and out but they don’t know how to tell others about it. That’s why marketing from the heart resonates so well with them.

Marketing from the heart means that you break the stereotypical mold and do it your way! Forget all the “shoulds” you ever learned about marketing and do what comes naturally. If you are a people person how about setting up a booth at a trade show? You’ll meet people, network, and get to promote your business. Do you love to talk and educate people? Hold workshops, presentations, or classes and inform people about your latest product or service. This can be done at colleges, libraries, bookstores, or for professional groups.

I love to write and have been very successful using this method to market my coaching practice. Are you a natural born writer? Start writing articles about what you do and submit them to local magazines, newspapers, or online venues. This will get your name out there and will attract potential customers. If you enjoy helping people then volunteer your services or donate your product. People will get to know you and will tell others about your business. I am a certified personal trainer as well as a life coach. I spend one day a week volunteering my time to teach fitness classes to at-risk youth. As a result, the person in charge of the facility is now interested in hiring me to teach the staff.

During one of my recent book signings, the manager of the bookstore liked the way I interacted with the customers. He has invited me back at the end of the summer to host a group-coaching workshop. This will bring customers into his store and it will also allow me to promote my business. All I did during the book signing was chat about the book and answer questions. I was having fun and it was all very natural.

If you enjoy communicating via the Internet then post advertisements or announcements in ezines and on message boards. Have some fun sending online or local press releases to announce what you’re doing and what you’ve been involved in. By typing in key words on the Internet, you can locate web sites that will circulate your press releases for free. By sending press releases I landed five media interviews in local papers, four online interviews, and one radio interview. Again, this opened many doors for me and attracted potential clients.

This is all marketing from the heart. Doing what you love to attract customers, network, gain exposure, and build a strong business foundation. In addition, this will rarely cost you any money. Allow yourself to feel inspired by doing what comes naturally. If you are doing what you love and having fun at it, how can it be a chore? Make up your own rules, do what inspires you, and watch your business flourish!

Monique has over 15 years of business experience in areas such as healthcare, corporate training, teaching, management, and IT project management. She has been a certified personal trainer for fourteen years, an executive and business coach for seven years, and has vast experience in the areas of wellness, fitness and nutrition, life coaching services, transition coaching and other professional services. You can find information about her Seven Dimensions of Wellness at her website, bodylifedynamics.com.