The Perfect Storm – for Online Marketing

admin — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 05:07:17 +0000

Here’s a common problem that is raised by new-to-the-business-world entrepreneurs: "I’ve created a website and I started marketing it with online marketing techniques… so why am I not getting any traffic?"

When the issue is investigated further it is discovered what the real problem is: "online marketing techniques" includes an article and a press release.

Just one of each.

In a three month period.

Sorry, folks; this won’t get you the traffic you need. Marketing online is like marketing offline. No one buys one billboard. No one buys one single commercial. No one sends out a single flyer in the mail. You need to be doing several marketing activities and communicating with people through different media and techniques before your message comes through.

It works the same online, too: You need to create a perfect storm of attention and discussion in order to drive traffic to your site. Just posting an article and a press release won’t cut it. You need to be creating several articles and several press releases and this effort needs to be ongoing.

Here’s how we recommend you do that:

Sit down and think about what topics will be interesting to your readers. Spend some time brainstorming and create 90 (yes, 90) topics. Well done! You now have enough article topics to produce one article a day for the next 90 days. Now, think about news in your business. Are there interesting topics that are newsworthy to your readers? Spend some time brainstorming and come up with 12 (yes, 12) newsworthy topics. Well done! You now have enough press releases to produce one a week for the next 90 days.

But that’s not all: You need to come up with some content for other places, too: Forums, Squidoo lenses, Facebook pages, Twitter, you name it. These are all places that will help to contribute to your online presence. Make sure you have enough material to deliver in each place for the next 90 days.

When you’re done, you’ll have a marketing plan to implement through the next quarter of your business! It seems like a lot of work but there are benefits to it: By consolidating the brainstorming into 1 long session 4 times a year (instead of trying to come up with content each day or each week or each month), you’ll be more likely able to follow-through on creating the content than if you have sit down regularly to come up with something. It’s hard work… but nothing good ever comes easily!

Contemporary VA

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Article Submissions as a Marketing Strategy

admin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:43:18 +0000

Article submission is a great way to get your name and expertise out there which can help to solidify your reputation and expertise in your particular industry. It’s also another way you can drive traffic to your sites. This type of marketing is generally referred to as article marketing. Write articles that are excellent in content and relative to your niche. But they key is to find a good balance of giving the reader some excellent knowledge but also leave them craving more on the subject. It can be a tricky balance so if you aren’t the best writer, hire one. There are many Virtual Assistants who specialize in this arena. You may be able to get another website owner to add your article(s) to their site by contacting them and offering your content to their site. Site owners are always seeking out new content. It’s not likely they’ll pay you for it, but that’s not your ultimate goal. Your goal is to spread your word. Do a search and find sites/blogs that are relative and contact the webmaster or owner. Don’t act like you’re doing them a favor, sharing your content with them does you both a favor. It creates a win-win situation. DO NOT blatantly promote yourself or your product in the article. The article should be informative and teach the reader or give them valuable information. Site owners will allow you a link, just ensure you make the most of that link! Don’t forget your anchor text. Article directories will also give you an outlet to publish your articles. Most of them don’t pay, again this isn’t your goal, but there are some sites that will allow you to earn money from your article visits like:

Helium

Associated Content

Article Income

The options to get paid via visit don’t pay much but it’s a little something on top of your exposure. Do a search and check around to find the ones that interest you most. Most article directories include a Resource Box for your promotional information; use it wisely. Check out this Article Resource Box article. You can also market yourself as an article author after your articles are published. In sales literature, you can push your article on “10 Ways to Improve Sales” or anything else you’ve written about. Other article directories:

Check out Top 50 Article Directories by Traffic and Pagerank to find out the top article directories and how they match up. Karen J. for Contemporary VA

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The Perfect Storm – for Online Marketing

Article Submissions as a Marketing Strategy