Affiliate marketing depends on website traffic. Article marketing is one of those ways to funnel great amounts of free traffic to your website.
Writing articles, submitting them to article directories, and then waiting for people to read them is still a great way to deliver quality content to the masses. The articles are indexed by the search engines, and – if your keyword research has been done right – it will be ranked relatively high. But, that all seems a bit archaic today. Sure, it still works. I write tons of articles every month for clients and submit them to article directories for free traffic. But, there is more to article marketing than just the basic write/submit routine.
Getting More Affiliate Traffic From Your Articles
I have always believed that the true beauty of online marketing is the creative aspect of it. There are no real limits to what you can do with your marketing – this is so true for affiliates. Affiliate marketing is more than landing pages, PPC campaigns, and writing articles. Affiliate marketing is really about creativity. How to get your message, or a certain product, out to as many people as you can for as long as you can.
In my business, one of the things I have always strived to be is in the forefront of creativity. All of the marketing materials, consulting sessions, and advertising campaigns that I have put together are based upon this one principle… creativity.
Article marketing is a great way to keep the creative juices flowing. Of course, article marketing is also a great way for sustained free traffic. A lot of people think that this will mean spending long hours writing hundreds of new articles. And, it does. I do not want to make it sound like writing articles does not take any time. (This is why outsourcing your article marketing needs is a big benefit!). However, you can get more use out of one article than just submitting to an article directory. Here are 15 ways that you can do that.
1. Create A Video From It – Creating a video for affiliate marketing is a great way to get further free advertising. It is pretty simple to do and can be quite fun. Use your article and create a video on that article. You can read it into the camera, but it probably will not be very popular. But, if you spend a little time rehearsing your presentation, you can turn that article into a video.
2. Develop A Short Report – Articles for affiliate marketing work the best when they are within the 400 to 500 word range. Short, concise and easy to read. Expand on that article a little more and create a downloadable report. This can contain more information, more tips, special newsworthy items, or other things you feel are important. You can host this report on your own site, on a landing page all its own, or on a site like Scribd.com or Docstoc.
3. Rewrite Article Different Ways – I have an older post about this way to get extra mileage out of an article. The idea of this is to create three different articles, based on one, and submit to other article directories.
4. Tweet It – Twitter is a great way to get your message out. One way to be creative in your article marketing is to send a series of “tweets” that cover your article points. You only have 140 characters to use at a time, but you could break up the different points of your article into smaller bite size portions.
5. Create A Longer Squidoo Page From It – Squidoo is a place you can create a “lens” on the topic of your choice. It is like a blog only in the respect that you can write about what you want. You monetize each lens through different affiliate links an Adsense. Use your article to create a Squidoo lens. You can reword it a little if you want, add more content, embed videos, and other cool things to make your article more interactive.
6. Develop Autoresponder Series – You can do this either with one article, or with a bundle of articles all on the same topic. Create a short email series that breaks up a longer article into different main points, or uses a series of articles.
7. Use Article In Teleseminar – Setting up a teleseminar is a pretty easy thing to do. And, you can host your own teleseminar for free. The amount of people who can attend is limited, but usually there is not a problem. Host a teleseminar on the topic of your article where you can simply read it over the course of the seminar. Pause for questions or remarks, and even invite a special guest. If you have several articles, then you can have a series of seminars on all of them.
8. Get Article In Someone Else’s Product – Getting extra exposure for your article will help you gain more traffic that you might not have gotten otherwise. This extra exposure can come from other website owners. This tip will take a little digging on your part, but it is worth the time. When you find out that someone is writing a report, a course, an ebook, or some other type of product, strike up a conversation with them about the topic. From there you can introduce them to an article you wrote. Ask their permission to send a copy and maybe they will include the information – and your byline – in their new product, on their website, on their blog, or mention it somewhere else.
9. Use As A Facebook Note – Facebook has a great feature called Notes. This is where you can write down different information in the form of short articles. You can even connect the notes to your blog posts. Reprint your article within your Facebook notes and your connections will be notified of them.
10. Send To Mailing List – When you write a particularly good article, make it a special mailing to your email list. This does not need to be in the form of a newsletter or an ad. Simply a personal letter with the article in the body, or a link to it on your site.
11. Combine To Make Ebook – After you have several articles on the same topic, you can combine them into an ebook form. With a little rewriting, rewording, or editing to make it all go together smoothly, you can even sell it for a small fee.
12. Use Article To Answer Question – Participating in forums is a powerful way to get extra traffic. Combine your forum activity with your article marketing only creates double exposure. When someone asks a question that is directly related to your article, you can either repost the article as the answer (if this is allowed by the moderator) or direct the forum readers to it through a link to your site where it is hosted.
Article Marketing Creatively For Extra Free Traffic
Writing articles for affiliate marketing does not have to be a dull activity. Use these different methods to get extra mileage out of your current, and future articles.
Take a look at the articles you have now. Can you do anything else with them besides sitting on a webpage? Choose some of these tips, or come up with your own creative uses for your articles. Doing so will give you extra mileage – or more free traffic – from the articles you have already written.
Have fun!
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
- Related posts on affiliate marketing
- How to Burn Niche Markets Through Multiple Streams of Affiliate …
New Year’s Resolutions are a dime a dozen during the change from the old year to the new one. Of course, they are usually the same old ones. Lose weight, quit smoking, be more giving, be a better spouse, and on and on. One of the things that most resolutions have in common is that they are ill fated to last.
Why?
Mostly because there is no real commitment to it. It is just something that is made up on the spur of the moment to make sure you have done the “resolution” thing. Coming into 2010 I did not make any New Year’s Resolutions. Rather, I made New Year’s Commitments. These commitments are birthed out of desire and necessity. Instead of going into a long ramble about what I am doing, I thought I would put down the main points of the ten most important new year’s commitments that every internet marketer should make.
Internet Marketing Commitments For A New Year
1. Define your goal! Whatever you do, do not head into this new year without a sound, detailed goal on paper. Be as specific as you can be and plan out your entire year. This is not a list of things you would like to accomplish – more, it is a list of what you will accomplish. Many people think it is good enough to put down a wish list. What they would like to do, if they could. I believe there is much more power when you write a list of the things you will accomplish. Sure, it is still a wish list, but you have a different mindset about it.
2. Make A Schedule! Every successful internet marketer has a set schedule that they adhere to very rigidly. There will be times when you will have some distractions – this happens at any work site – but, you must have a schedule of when you work, what you plan to accomplish, what you do on specific days, and even when you will participate in social media and networking.
3. Make Social Media A Priority! Following on the heels of the last point, social media, and social networking, is the way that marketing it moving to at a very rapid pace. If you are already involved with social media marketing, that is great! But, you will have to step it up in order to keep your brand, your website, your services, your product, you yourself in front of the millions of eyes that are out there. The real important part is not to be just involved with Twitter or Facebook, but to expand your horizons with YouTube, and becoming very active specific niche sites.
4. Do Something New! One of the worse things you can do with your online business is always do the same old thing. Believe me, I know. The first few years of my business I didn’t want to try new technology, or new ways of doing things. I wanted to stay with what was comfortable. Today, it is much different. I make it a point, every day, to learn a little bit about something new. To catapult your business much farther than ever before begin doing something new. Make videos, do a podcast, go to seminars, set up your own webinar, it does not matter what you do, just do something new.
5. Create New Content Each Week! Content is still what is going to win the day as far as organic search traffic, viral exposure, and winning the hearts and minds of the people of the Internets. Every week should have some time set aside for creating new content. This content does not have to always be in the form of written. It can be videos, audio, email series, ebook, or anything else that people can grab, use, and give to someone else (or let them know about).
6. Focus On SEO! While you are out doing your socializing with social networking, you must also give SEO (Search Engine Optimization) a major part of your attention. Learn about what makes the search engines love your site and work at it until you get higher and higher rankings.
7. Start A Newsletter! We have all heard that many people think that email is a waste of time. However, many big name marketers are starting to run a separate email newsletter besides their RSS feed. By integrating a newsletter into your marketing efforts you have another platform from which to give out your content. It is not just an advertising medium. It is a content medium. Start and build an email newsletter for a much larger Internet footprint.
8. Focus In On Mobile! This is a two part commitment. We can not deny the fact that the world is going mobile. Mobile phones are no longer just for making phone calls. Accessing the web, answering emails, sending pictures, and making videos are all done with mobile phones. If you want to stay competitive you need to be available anywhere, anytime. Focus on how to move your business towards being more mobile in this new year.
The other part of focusing on mobile is to make your website more mobile friendly. This is one of the things I am working on for my websites now. You can either add a plug in for your Wordpress site, Wordpress Mobile Edition is a fairly decent plug in, or you can have it built into a downloadable application. The plug in would be much easier. 
9. Commit To Building A Business Instead Of A Quick Buck! The one thing that I have seen the most is that most of the people who are getting involved with internet marketing today are looking for a quick dollar. They join one MLM after another in search of the one BIG opportunity that will earn thousands of dollars each week. However, always looking for the ONE BIG THING will not work in the long run. Building a business – a brand – will. Commit to this year of building your authority, your brand, and a long time online business.
10. Have Fun! Least, but certainly not in importance, is to have fun with your online business. Uptight internet marketers who walk around with a scowl on their face, stressing out about their business, and just not being very friendly to anyone are just not fun to be around. Look at your internet marketing like a journey, or an adventure. I look at my online business as an Indiana Jones movie. I never know what will happen next, what treasure will be uncovered, or who I will meet. I have a lot of fun. Probably more than I should. Make it a commitment this year to have fun with your internet marketing adventure!
Internet marketing is more than just throwing up a few banner ads and buying some PPC ads. Much more. Commit to these ten things and you will a drastic improvement in all areas of your online business.
And remember… have fun!
Article marketing is something that many people just do not understand. Writing an article to promote your website is a very powerful marketing medium. Unfortunately, it is also something that is done rather poorly.
The state of article marketing today seems to be taking a turn towards the rushed. A bunch of articles that are what I call “google rewrites”. This is where the topic is simply googled and the article is a rush rewrite of something that is already written. For example, if the topic is something like use of solar panels you would simply google the term “solar panels”, find a suitable article and then just rewrite it by running it through a some type of rewrite software. All that does is change some phrases and words around making it sound a little different.
However, the information is still the same.
What article marketing is missing today is new information. There isn’t any real research going into the article or any real “defining” moments in the articles today. It is like people get caught up in the keyword instead of the actual words.
Article Writing Is More Than Keywords
Most of the time when I write an article for a client, I am given a list of keywords. That is fine, but I do not rely on the keywords totally for the article. While the search engines like keywords, people do not. They want real information that will help them with a…
There is nothing worse than trying to find something, go to a web page where an article is and see that it is simply for getting higher rankings for that page. There is nothing of valueto be found, or worse yet, it is the same information you’ve already seen!
What Is An Article?
An article that is used for article marketing purposes is something that must add value to your webpage and/or to the person who is reading it.
Did you get that? Here is my definition of an article again.
An article for article marketing is a writing that adds value to your webpage and/or to the person who is reading it.
Do your articles do that?
Writing Your Next Article
Before you open up that word processor, text editor, or Wordpress interface, make sure that you follow a few things first.
1. Design it around what people need. Don’t just rely on keywords. Write for people.
2. You are not writing a book. People on the web do not have hours to sit and read your lengthy dissertation. They want to find the information they need quickly. Keep your article between 300 to 500 words in length.
3. Keep it on point. This is the hardest thing for me to do. I like to open with stories and a lot of background detail. But, if I am writing for article marketing purposes, I keep it on point.
4. Give new information. Please. Instead of stating the same obvious information. Give a new angle, a new opinion, or even go against the grain and do something entirely opposite.
5. Use correct writing principles. I’m not saying that you need to have a grammar degree. What I am saying is please have your article edited, or proofread by someone else. While you can go over it yourself, you will not pick out all of the mistakes.
6. Use Spell Check. Besides using correct writing in your article, run it through your spell checker. It might not catch all the misspellings, but it will catch most of them.
7. Have fun with it. It isn’t going to do any good if you dread writing your articles. Most of the time, this is because we put too much pressure on us to write great articles. They do not have to be great, but they should be decent enough to read. When you have fun with it, you will write better articles.
Article Marketing Is That Important
Content, no matter what anyone else tries to say, is still king. You need it. Article marketing is extremely important to your overall success that you should spend the majority of your time with it, or find someone else that can do your article marketing for you.
Remember what an article actually is, and then go write a few.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
- Related posts on Article Marketing
- The Most Popular Article Marketing Websites
- Funtastic Feeds and Articles Blog » Blog Archive » Article …
- 7 Successful Methods to Get One-Way Back Links
While this is not really a site on blogging tips, keeping a blog is a very powerful marketing technique.
With a blog you can easily keep a fresh supply of articles posted without worrying about them being declined by some article directory. You can include as many links as you want while also being very personal. However, many people are intimidated by the thought of starting a blog. You don’t have to be if you remember one HUGE blogging tip.
Keep Posts Full Of White Space!
You have probably heard by now that people on the Internet skim the various posts and articles they find. The sad thing is that so many people do not adhere to this. They smash in 24 sentences in one paragraph and follow that up with a longer one. No one is going to read that.
The reason for this is pure psychology. If your blog posts are all mashed together your brain will say that it is too hard to read and want to move on. If there is enough white space, though, it will look easier to read.
Cut your paragraphs into smaller, two to three sentence, paragraphs. Doing this will help the reader move at a constant pace down your post. Once they have read it they will not feel like the life has been drained out them and click on a few of the links.
Have a blog? Thinking of blogging? Use shorter sentences with a lot of white space. That, my friends, is the best blogging tip ever.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
- Related posts on Affiliate
- Wealthy Affiliate Success – Make Money
- Mass PPV Traffic Review – The New Secret To Revolutionized …
- What Is The Best Affiliate Program Available? | Easy-Million.com
- Related posts on affiliate marketing
- Art.com and AllPosters.com are great for affiliate marketers …
- Anniehoakley'sBlogReviews :: Annie Oakley's Review on Affiliate …
- Mass PPV Traffic Review – The New Secret To Revolutionized …
- Related posts on articles
- [WTS] 15 " DISEASES " Articles | 400+ words | CS Passed | 100 …
Here’s a quick list of 60 online advertising tricks I’ve learned over the last 13 years of online marketing and setting up marketing campaigns. There is no particular order, just some of the do’s and don’ts I’ve come across along the way.
Do….
1. Be persistent in continuing to learn advertising and marketing.
2. Find a proven marketing coach to help you.
3. Learn, and practice simple copywriting as soon as you can.
4. Be familiar with different advertising tactics.
5. Use articles for website promotion.
6. Write and submit a consistent 3 to 5 articles a week.
7. Be an expert author at EzineArticles.com.
8. Submit articles to individual ezine publishers.
9. Get started with social media marketing.
10. Start a blog dealing with your niche.
11. Be a consistent participant in forums.
12. Comment, comment, comment on other blogs in your niche.
13. Provide quality content through weekly ezine or newsletter.
14. Send traffic to landing pages for capturing email and preselling visitors.
15. Be active on Twitter
16. Learn solid pay per click strategies.
17. Spend time optimizing webpages for higher search engine rankings.
18. Use an email signature in all your emails.
19. Seek out relevant sites and ask to exchange links.
20. Spread some ‘link love’ in your own articles and blog posts.
21. Give away a lot of free information in reports, ebooks, and email courses.
22. Keep landing pages up to date with relevant information and web copy.
23. Always test new copy, landing pages, headlines, and ads.
24. Participate in webinars, internet radio shows, and teleconferences.
25. Hold contests to increase web traffic.
26. Focus your advertising on one single action.
27. Go Viral in your advertising.
28. Have a plan and work diligently on it.
29. Use email ads in relevant ezines for targeted marketing.
30. Think of how you want to be thought of (brand) and build your online presence from there.
31. Experiment with buying targeted ad space on relevant websites.
32. List your website with all major search engines and directories.
33. Work hard in creating effective, stirring, and “pullable” headlines and titles.
34. Keep a ’swipe file’ of other advertising to learn from.
35. Create a social media landing page.
36. Do budget your advertising dollars to spread out over several areas.
37. Write guest posts on other blogs.
38. Form partnerships with other people within your niche.
39. Use social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Digg for further exposure of your site.
40. Have a multi-pronged attack in your advertising.
41. Use coupons and time limits as incentives.
42. Write and submit press releases on newsworthy events in your business, or affiliate company.
43. Use offline advertising methods (business cards, newspaper ads, etc.) to promote your website.
The Do Nots
44. Get discouraged if you don’t see overnight millions.
45. Write over-hyped sales copy for landing pages.
46. Get started with PPC advertising without really studying it first.
47. Just post your own links on Twitter.
48. Only participate in forums when you want to advertise your website.
49. Only publish your newsletter when you want to sell something.
50. Use pre-written, company supplied landing pages and ads.
51. Comment on blogs with “Great blog!” and leave it at that.
52. Spam publishers and site owners with your content on a daily basis.
53. Focus only on selling a product.
54. Limit yourself to just one advertising method.
55. Waste your money with safelists and paid “guaranteed” traffic sites.
56. Jump into social media marketing without a plan.
57. Use only free blog hosting for your blog.
58. Spam your ezine subscribers with daily issues or ads.
59. Try to do everything yourself.
60. Present an answer to your target audience’s problems.
The Biggest Marketing Do Of Them All
You can really get lost in the do’s and don’ts of advertising website and kind of lose the fun of it. (Yes, advertising and marketing is fun!)
You can also get so wrapped up in what you should and should not do that you kind of get frozen and don’t know where to go. But, I think I can lessen the anxiety a little bit with the number one marketing “do”.
Just do it.
You simply won’t achieve any type of traffic to your website if you don’t do something. Get started slowly and begin to build as you learn, work with someone, and see some results. But… you must do it!
What about you?
Do you have any tips for the “do” and “don’t” list? I’d love to hear them. Why not jotting it down in the comment section?
]]>
I want to ask you a few questions. Do you have a few minutes?
In fact, I’d really like to ask you five very specific questions about your online marketing. I like to do this with my clients when I first meet with them and then throughout the entire time we work together. The reason for this is because I believe questions get you to think and then act.
So, this post is really for you. I am hoping to be able to set the environment where not only are you reading something, but you’re also thinking along the way. So, clear your mind and let’s go enjoy a beautiful sunny day out on the deck or in a park somewhere. If you want to grab a coffee… that’s ok too. Actually, I’d rather like one.
My Questions For You About Your Internet Marketing
Ok… comfy?
Oh yeah. I forgot to mention. You might want to grab a notebook and a pen or pencil. I prefer a pencil, but that’s me. Alright, lean close, pick up the pencil and let’s talk.
Question #1. What have you already done in your internet marketing?
If you’re going to start to go somewhere you need to know where you’ve been. One of the first things I always ask my new clients is this very question. It’s so important to realize what you’re doing now and in the past. Because when you think about that then you can see where the improvements can be made.
It’s like going on a trip. If you have a very small map of the area you’re going into and you get lost somewhere off the map, then it’s going to be much harder to find your way back. But, if you took a larger map that contained the entire city, county, state, or country then you have a much better chance of finding your way back. You have a better view.
This first question gives you the view you need to get your advertising back on track. Not only that, but you could see where shortcuts, or detours, could be made. What obstacles to be avoided. Where you’re wasting gas (money) and where you are making up time.
Go ahead and grab your pencil and paper and list everything you’ve done for advertising up to now.
Question #2. What is working and what isn’t?
You probably knew that was coming. Once you see the general overview of your advertising you begin to see what is working and what isn’t.
There really isn’t any sense in chasing after advertising that isn’t working. Especially if you’re just getting started or are struggling. It’s ok to let things drop by the wayside and concentrate on a few things that are working. Maybe it just isn’t the right time for a certain advertising method.
Your next step then is to cross out everything that isn’t working. Take no prisoners. Don’t get nostalgic here. It’s time to be ruthless. Even if you’re left with just one single advertising tactic, do it.
Question #3. What would you like to see happen, this month, with your website?
There are several things here to take note of. What I’m really talking about here is your goals for the month. These goals will cover several different areas and you must keep a very close eye on them.
Grab your pencil and write down these things to make a goal for and keep track of.
1. Website traffic – how much do you want to see.
2. Profit – how much do you want to make.
3. Money spent – how much do you want to spend.
4. Time spent – same thing… how much time will you put into it.
5. Good response from visitors, customers, or partners – yes, make a goal for positive responses.
6. How many people link to you – a pretty big thing to keep track of but many don’t.
Here’s why these are important.
Website traffic – self explanatory. Please keep this goal very, very realistic. Don’t go over the top and say, “My goal is 5000 unique visitors this month!” Great goal, might not happen. Again, since you’ve already written down everything you’ve done you should have an idea of how much traffic you get already.
Profit – again, very self explanatory. And again, keep it realistic. Something you can reach so you don’t get discouraged.
Money spent – yes, you need a budget. Don’t go over it either. If you choose to spend any keep it low to maximize your profits.
Time spent – spending too much time with your advertising is just as bad as spending too much money. Especially if it isn’t working. You have nothing to show for your time and have lost valuable time with friends and family.
Good responses from visitors, customers, or partners – might be unique to me only, but it gives a measure of who is talking about you, and what they are saying. If they say it to you, then chances are they’ll tell someone else. You should have a goal for this. Six to eight positive comments in a month, personal comments, is a great goal to start with.
How many people link to you – pick a number for how many other sites you want to link to you. This can even be ReTweets in Twitter, bookmarks in StumbleUpon or Digg, or other social networking links.
Go ahead. Write it down.
Question #4. What two advertising methods do you feel comfortable with?
Like anything else, if you’re not comfortable with it you’ll have a hard time doing it. You need to look at everything you’ve written down so far and pick two, and I’m talking only two advertising tactics to start with. You can always add a new one if/when things begin to pick up, but if you waste too much time on several different ways to advertise you’re going to fail before you get started. I’ve seen it too many times.
Back to the question at hand. What do you feel comfortable with? Article marketing? Blogging? Social Media? Pay Per Click? Viral Videos? Participating in forums? Commenting on blogs? Whichever it is, pick two.
Now, set out a plan for the month to put those two into place.
Question #5. Can you commit to doing this for the month?
Don’t automatically jump to yes. Every time I start a new advertising campaign I am almost fanatic about asking my client this question. I have to know, and you have to know, that you’re going to go through with this even if the first three weeks are rough and you see very little return.
Can you… will you commit to a full month of getting the word out about your website? If so, then write it down.
Take your answers and get advertising!
That piece of paper if your map for the month. Put it somewhere you can see it everyday. Always be thinking about it and if you need to make course corrections, you can see it before you get too far off the trail.
Good luck!
]]>
Over the years I have been able to put together quite a list of places I have used to help advertise websites. Some of them have been pretty good, some just plain bombed. Some of them I have had to take off because of the changes in online marketing and advertising they just don’t work anymore. Some are timeless and will work anywhere, anytime.
So, without further ado…
25 Advertising Strategies For Traffic, Authenticity, and Sales!
Top Ten
1. Article Marketing – This is the way to market anything on the internet.
2. Become active in social networking – The way of advertising on the internet is changing and the quicker we adapt, the better it is. Social networking is very powerful in terms of creating buzz, elevating your authority, and driving traffic.
3. Optimize your webpages – Google, MSN, and Yahoo still reign supreme in the traffic department. Make sure your pages are optimized for higher rankings.
4. Build a list – Today the emphasis is on RSS syndication, but a list is a list is a list. Build one.
5. Start a blog – You need a place where people can get to know you, read your content, and feel comfortable with you.
6. Leave comments on other blogs within your niche – Not a quick “Nice post”. Leave an actual comment on the post about what you liked, how it helped, other relevant resources, or even what you don’t agree with.
7. Join social networking groups – Websites, such as Facebook have a place where you can create groups that deal with a certain topic. Of course, if you don’t want to create one, you can join one. A great place to answer questions, join discussions, and even do a little self promotion.
8. Get started with Google Adwords – Pay Per Click advertising is a great way to advertise if you do it right. Make sure you spend some time learning how before you jump into it.
9. Start making viral videos – The video explosion is something that marketers should be taking advantage of more.
10. Join forums dealing with your niche – Not only is this a great way to learn, but it’s a great way to connect with others and promote your authority on a topic.
The other 15
11. Submit your blog to blog – Two of the best places to submit your blog are MyBlogLog.com and BlogCatalog. There you list your blog, or blogs, and find others within the same topic. It’s kind of like a social network for blogs.
12. Give great content to your newsletter subscribers – It’s one thing to build a list, but you need to keep your subscribers. Provide great content and you will.
13. Exchange links with other site owners. – When you come across a website similar to yours go ahead and email the owner to see if a possible link exchange could happen between your two sites.
14. Have fun with BTR radio – BlogTalkRadio is a way to have your own radio show right over the internet. It’s also very social. You can either have your own show, participate in ongoing shows, or both.
15. Pay for advertising space on other websites that cover the same topic as your website. Of course, there is a cost involved here, but if you have the combination of right site, with right graphic and text, you’ll see some great returns.
16. Buy advertising in ezines. – Often referred to as solo ads, you can do pretty well with these types of ads. You do have to be careful because of all the spam, but as in advertising on websites, the right combination can bring great returns.
17. Give away free information – Sometimes all it takes is a notice that you’re giving away a free report, or ebook, and you’ll have a landslide of traffic. Put together a content rich package and your authority is multiplied exponentially.
18. Join with other marketers – Combine your product with another marketer’s product for a double-whammy joint venture and you get double the exposure.
19. Create content on Squidoo or Hub Pages – A great way to both advertise and drive traffic, and build revenue is to create content on sites such as Squidoo or HubPages.com. People can join your fan base and read your articles when new ones are completed.
20. Don’t neglect an email signature – A great way to advertise your site is to include a short signature that is on all your emails. It can contain your company, url, phone number, and any social networking url’s.
21. Write a press release for major announcements – Just because you are an affiliate for another company doesn’t mean you can’t write a press release concerning some development in a product or the company. Then submit the release to PRWeb.com
22. Have a contest. – People love to win stuff. Set up a contest for your email subscribers, RSS subscribers, commenters, web visitors, whoever you can think of.
23. Write a guest post for other blogs – Blog, or website owners, do like to take time off. But, they need to keep the content flowing. They do that with guest posts. Check out a few blogs, interact on them, and then write a post and see if they could use it.
24. Upload your content to Scribd.com – Great way for content providers (reports, videos, articles, ebooks, online magazines, etc.) to get that content out is by uploading it to Scribd.com.
25. Get on Digg and StumbleUpon – Social bookmarking websites provide great exposure for your website, blog, and content. When you are dugg or stumbled, other people associated with the person who initially bookmarked it will also see your content. Then it begins to grow from there.
25 Ways To Advertise Your Site. Can You Add To It?
Here’s your chance to try out on of these traffic generators now and list some of the ways you’ve been successful with driving traffic to your site, building your authority, and making sales. List them in the comments below. I’d love to hear what you’re doing!
]]>
If you haven’t heard the news yet, writing articles and submitting them to directories, blogs, newsletters, and/or for you own website content is a mighty powerful way to advertise.
A few articles each week can go along way in delivering traffic for a long time to come. Some of the articles I wrote 5 years ago are still directing a flow of traffic and I don’t have to do any new advertising.
The problem with article marketing is that you actually have to write the articles. Yes, you could outsource the writing (a decision I do support), but you can also do it yourself. How?
Good writing can be done pretty quickly if you can put your article writing into a neat, organized system. I tend to hesitate when I see the word system to describe anything that takes creativity. The creative process usually thrives amongst chaos. However, in the case of writing articles quickly, a little system doesn’t hurt. We could even call it something like, “How to write and affiliate marketing article in four easy steps”??
Step 1 To Article Writing
Start with a title. Sometimes this is a difficult process but if you begin with a simple starting point you can pretty much come up with something rather quickly. Start with something like…
“How to…”
“7 Simple Steps to…”
“Eight reasons why…”
“Solve (whatever problem) with these 10 solutions!”
We could list a lot of different things, but the key here is to keep it simple. If you only have a few to choose from you don’t have to sit and get brain freeze just from the options.
Step 2 To Article Writing
Sit down and brainstorm whatever number of points you want to make in your article. For example, for this post I sat down and quickly wrote out the four steps. Once that was done, I had most of the article completed. I just have to flesh it out. Like I’m doing now. If you’re writing an article on credit repair (hopefully you know something about it), you should be able to list some points rather quickly.
Step 3 To Article Writing
Come up with a beginning paragraph or opening sentence. This will probably take the most time as it is important that you start out on a good note. A good opening will help to keep the reader going through your article. A bad one just sends them to another article.
That doesn’t mean that it needs to be all that hard either. Think about what problem you’re trying to solve. What are you trying to show? Is your article about something that happened to you? Can you relate a story of your own at the beginning? Use this type of information to start the article.
Most people will begin reading an article if it starts off personal, relates to them about a problem they are having, or talks about something they want to know more about.
Step 4 To Article Writing
Get to writing. You’ve got most of the work done. The title is done. You have your points you want to make. You even have the opening paragraph. Now all you have to do is put information with each point – or step, or solution, or how-to – and you’ve to yourself an article.
Remember, writing for online content doesn’t need to be 1000 words articles. 400 to 500 words are great bite size pieces that most people will take the time to read. You’re not out for any type of journalistic awards, you just want traffic.
]]>
Affiliate marketing is discovering a new boom as more and more people struggle with the economy and are looking for different ways to supplement their income. I have recently seen a substantial upswing in the number of new affiliates needing services for their affiliate marketing business.
I began to think about what it is I’d wish someone had told me when I first began my own affiliate marketing. Of course, what was working back in 1997, isn’t the norm for today’s affiliate marketer. Today, the internet advertising world has a much different outlook that it did 10 years ago. And even 2 years ago. I finished thinking about what I wish I had known and then began to put it into today’s context.
My original list looked something like this;
1. Don’t expect big money your first week. Man, that was a big letdown.
2. Make your email list a priority. Yeah, there was a lot of marketing done by email back in the day.
3. Learn Pay Per Click Marketing. I really lost a lot of money with PPC marketing when I first started. I should have taken the time to learn PPC first before jumping in.
4. Work with affiliate products you are passionate about. I made a huge mistake for signing up for every single affiliate program out there thinking that the profits would be astronomical. Not so much.
5. Don’t buy everything that comes your way! This is where I wasted a lot of money. I thought that you positively had to buy every single product focused towards affiliate marketing. I wanted to like the big boys and figured the only way to do that was to buy their stuff. Again… not so much.
That’s what I would have loved to have been told before starting my affiliate marketing journey 13 years ago. It would have saved me a lot of time, money, and grief. Today, though I wonder if any of that would have changed. As I stated, after thinking about then I changed my focus to now.
What is it that affiliates might wish they were told when they started out in the 2009 era of affiliate marketing?
1. Don’t expect big money your first week out… or even first few months. This is a timeless principle. So many people get started with the false impression that they’re going to make tens of thousands of dollars their week online. It just doesn’t happen. It might take months, and even longer, to see some type of profit coming in from your marketing. At least “get rid of job” income. These people then get discouraged and quite before they even get started.
2. Prioritize your list… but make it your RSS list. Times have changed. While having an email list is still a viable advertising tool for your website, things are shifting towards ease of use. RSS (Real Simple Syndication) is a great way to view content from a website as they are updated. Yes, you need to have special reader, but most people are using services like Google Reader so it is becoming more and more mainstream. Build an email list, but start putting your efforts into building your RSS list.
3. Be active in social media. Here’s something that didn’t exist 13 years ago. Or even 3 years ago. Social media marketing has really made its presence known in the internet marketing world. Affiliates who are in specific niches, should make it a big priority to become involved in online groups that cater to these niches. Facebook and Twitter are great ways to find people involved in your niche.
But, finding them isn’t just the key. You need to be active in them. Make a voice for yourself and be someone who others will look to for advice and help.
4. Be a content creating fool. Content in the form of article marketing wasn’t real big back 13 years ago. But, in the last 7 to 8 years it has been a staple of affiliate marketing. Search engines pretty much rule the world and if you want your site to have any kind of authority it must be ranked high on the major ones. The only way to do that is to be a content creating fool. Articles and ebooks are a great way to add to the content of your site. Videos, however, are quickly becoming the choice of content for many affiliate marketers.
5. Work with products you are passionate about. Just as in my previous list, I really believe affiliates today must be told to do get involved with niches, or affiliate products, you are passionate about. This will help you for two major reasons.
First… you will feel like putting your efforts into something that you actually like.
Second… you have a headstart in creating content because you already know something about the topic.
Just by clearing those two hurdles right off the bat you have greatly reduced your learning curve!
Affiliate marketing can be a lot of fun when the stress level, discouragements, and frustrations can be kept to a minimum. If you’re getting into affiliate marketing, or have been for awhile, are these things that you wish you were told? What would you add to the list?
Effective website advertising, when done correctly, is a thing of beauty. In fact, it is almost like watching a perfectly choreographed play in sports that is run to perfection and wins the game. Flawless. Perfect. Without any glitches or mistakes.
In online advertising there are several factors that you must keep in mind and focus on to ensure the perfect advertising campaign.
And before you begin asking if you can possibly have the perfect advertising campaign , let me tell you upfront; It can happen. It has several times for people who have launched a brand new product and have seen hundreds of thousands, and even millions, of dollars in profits in one day.
Effective advertising is a culmination of several factors all working together. Some at precise times and others on a continuing basis. Now, to make this process a little bit "user friendly" and not to overwhelming here are ten of my best tips for an effective advertising campaign for your website.
1. Have a concrete, but flexible advertising plan. Effective advertising is not a mistake. It is something that is cultivated, thought about, planned for, and even foreseen. You should be able to see where you are going (what you want from your efforts) before you even get there. So many people throw up random ads here and there, buy ad space in various newsletters, do some link exchanges, write a few hap-hazard articles, and even do a hit or miss PPC campaign.
Failure to create a concrete plan will result in spotty, if any, results. However, you must also keep in mind that the plan should also be flexible enough to make slight changes here and there when you see something is, or isn’t, working.
The best way to create a plan for your online advertising is to just do it. You could follow a certain advertising how-to in creating your plan , but it isn’t going to do you any good unless you sit down and do it.
I always begin creating plans with a blank piece of paper . The power of a blank piece of paper is unlimited. In that piece of paper there are no restrictions, no boundaries, no preconceived misconceptions. Your opportunities are limitless.
Want to begin your effective advertising plan off on the right foot? Sit down and create a plan.
2. Have a multi-pronged advertising attack. A lot of times when people begin to think about advertising they do one of two things. First, they get so overwhelmed by the many ways of advertising that they freeze and don’t do anything at all. Or, two, they close their eyes, pick one of the methods, and throw something at it. As you can probably guess, neither one of these approaches does much to the overall effectiveness of your ad campaign.
An effective ad campaign incorporates several different advertising methods, and materials, so that a maximum number of people will have contact with your link. Fortunately, that is so much easier now with social media marketing. An ad campaign that uses email ads, articles, blog posts, blog comments, forum postings, twitter tweets, facebook notes, and several profiles on other social networking sites is like having a huge bat signal flashing everyone to your website.
3. Create conversational style advertising materials vs. hard sell. One of the things I’ve been telling my clients for years to do is to write conversational style ad materials. For example, let’s say you want to send an email notice to your list or a list you bought ad space in. Instead of writing this over the top, super-hyped hard sales letter your marketing materials should engage the reader in a conversation.
Response rates increase sharply when your advertising is conversational. The reason that social networking is so powerful is because of the conversation. How do you engage in a conversation in a one dimensional ad?
Simple. Create it like you’re sitting across the table from the person reading it. Write it like you would a letter. Leave room for the person to answer questions in their mind, respond to statements out loud, and be led to click on your link.
4. Always keep a main point in focus. A focus is the end result you want to happen because of the advertising. Throughout your advertising campaign there should be one central theme or focus. Keep in mind your focus must be consistent through the entire campaign. Your emails, newsletter issues, landing pages, ppc ads, ads on blogs, comments, social networking should have the same focus. The end result you want to come through should be the same. New RSS subscriber, new email subscriber, buy a low priced report, join free membership portal… whatever your focus is, keep it consistent.
5. Have at least three different sets of advertising materials with different goals. As an athletic coach I always go into a game with a few different game plans just in case our original plan doesn’t really work for our team. In basketball, for example, I usually have the team drill hard on four to five plays we can use during the game. To me, advertising is much like playing sports. And having several different “plays” that you can run is key to an effective ad campaign.
With several concise, and focused, advertising “sets” (this is just a way to say that each on is distinct and should be regarded as separate) you are able to do a few things.
Have three different goals each corresponding to a completely different landing area on your website. Create new opportunities to connect with people depending on your focus. Test to see which “set” is more effective and put more energy there. Find out why some “sets” aren’t working and make changes.
6. Become friends with others in your niche. Effective advertising has always been through word of mouth and alliances with other people doing the same thing. For instance, a hunting guide I know that shows his clients where the best hunting grounds are so they can go home with their trophy buck told me a few years ago that at least half of his new clients come from referrals by other guides.
Internet marketers often feel that everyone else is their competition and should stay away from them all, or in extreme cases, talk bad about them. When just the opposite is true. You should create friendships, alliances, joint ventures, mutual advertising, or anything else you can think of with others within your own niche.
Selling ebooks? Great! Create a friendship with someone else who sells ebooks much like yours (Facebook and Twitter are great for this) and refer traffic to them. In turn, they do the same for you. This will, and can, work for anything you’re selling online.
7. Concentrate on social media marketing. Advertising on the internet is constantly changing and social media wouldn’t have been on the radar of advertisers five years ago. Or even two for that matter. But, today’s age of relationship building and emphasis on transparency and authenticity, social media marketing has become one of the most effective traffic sources.
Starting out slowly with the most popular, and easiest, social websites like Facebook, Twitter, and StumbleUpon can get you started with networking, relationship building, and a great source of traffic.
8. Learn the fine points of blogging and article marketing. Effective marketing on the internet means information. The easiest form of information is the written form. No specialized software needed. I do realize that to say that writing is easy would not be accepted by those who find it a struggle. But, if you take time to learn about blogging and article marketing, then it does become easier.
Writing for the web is the way that you become known. It is the way that people get to know you, see what you are about, find out what you know, and then be drawn into your website. Articles are a very powerful way to do that. If you did nothing else, but write articles and blog a few times a week, you would begin seeing large amounts of traffic and long term, repeat customers.
9. Add new advertising “avenues” each week. This is where a lot of people begin to lose steam a little in their advertising. It is easy to see how this can happen, but you must keep moving ahead rather than staying static. Here’s what I’m talking about.
A lot of times people will just pick a few different ways to advertise and stay with them forever. They don’t venture out and try anything new. More than that, sometimes people will find a forum, some blogs, a social network and do the same thing… stay there instead of actively looking for new places. Effective advertising means that you never stop looking for new places to be active in. New forums to participate in, blogs to comment on, social networks to socialize on should always be found.
I try to find new places on a weekly basis and begin working with them. This helps me not only be a part of different conversations, but also spread out who I am and what I do.
10. Get away from it. Effective advertising means a fresh outlook. This fresh outlook energizes you to continue advertising and not get burned out or turn it into a despised activity. Getting away from the computer, your business, any type of marketing at all will only give you a greater desire to accomplish more when you return. One day away is not going to kill you. Some might disagree and think you need to be advertising 24 hours a day. While that might be productive it is counterproductive to your effectiveness.
Just get away from it every once in awhile. Take a day off. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Enjoy your family. When you get back to work the next day you’ll accomplish more and enjoy it more.
]]>