HBB Marketing

Reasons WHY 'Articles' Remain The Internets #1 Marketing Strategy

We've all heard it... "Content IS King" and for good reason because it IS as far as the Internet is concerned.

And when it comes to web surfers, they come online for two reasons, One is to check there email and reason number Two is to search the web for "Information".

How do you think the Internet received the reputation as the "Information Super-Highway"?

Because thats what its primary purpose was before they decided to commercialize it to what it is today.

And... what do 'Articles' contain?

The answer is quite simple... "Information".

So, what does this have to do with you?

Be the one who supplies it.

It's that simple.

Now, for the rest of this article I'm going to give you 10 POWERFUL reasons WHY you should and/or need to get started using 'Articles' as one of your online marketing strategies so you too can reap the benefits.

With that said, lets move on to reason #1.

Reason #1. Search Engines LOVE them.

It's no secret that Search Engines LOVE content, so if you supply it on a regular basis your giving them a great reason to stop on by to take a look around.

Once there they'll spider and index your website which is just what you want.

Reason #2. Website and Newsletter owners always need them.

I touched base on this earlier about why web surfers come online.

Website owners need fresh content to keep there visitors and/or subscribers coming back, where as newsletter publishers also need fresh content for there "email" newsletters that they publish and send to there subscriber base.

Remember the two reasons I discussed earlier about WHY web surfers come online. BINGO!

Reason #3. They generate Life Long residual Traffic.

Articles produce Life Long residual traffic because website owners, newsletter publishers and article directories archive them for there visitors to read and search through.

And since you have a 'Resource Box' located at the end of every article you produce with your website info and URL you'll receive traffic.

Reason #4. Great way to get One-Way HIGH PR links.

This is probably one of the best reasons because when you offer your free information with 'Reprint Rights' and the website owner decides to archive your article within there article directory and their website happens to have a High PR(popularity ranking) ranking, guess what?

You'll be able to 'Piggy Back' off there PR giving your website a PR boost because at the end of every article you produce your able to leave your 'Resource Box' with all your websites info and most important of all, your URL.

Reason #5. They're VIRAL.

This is yet another great reason to start using articles as one of your online marketing strategies simple because your going to offer 'Reprint Rights' with all the articles you produce giving Website and Newsletter owners permission to publish them causing a VIRAL explosion and Traffic surge to your website.

Reason #6. You can syndicate them via RSS.

If your up to speed on the latest marketing technology called RSS(Real Simple Syndication) and you write 'Articles' on a regular basis you can set-up an RSS feed that web surfers and/or website owners can 'Opt-In' to and syndicate your 'Articles' via RSS to them, plus, you can also submit your RSS feed(s) to RSS search engines and directories.

Depending on how many 'Opt-In' this is yet another great reason to get started with 'Articles' and another way to generate LOTS of Free targeted traffic.

Reason #7. Bloggers with BLOGS need "Information" to.

Bloggers with BLOGS or Web-Logs need information to.

If you provide quality information related to a specific Blog that blog owner just might post your article on his/her blog for their audiences/readership to read giving you again more FREE exposure for your business.

It gets better. Blogs also use RSS(Real Simple Syndication) to syndicate there content to various search engines, RSS search engines and directories giving you again more FREE exposure through there feed.

Reason #8. Info-Product developers need it to.

Ever receive a free ebook of some sort in your Inbox with related articles inside it from other authors?

When you offer your articles with 'Reprint Rights' and someone decides to include your article in there ebook for a Viral marketing campaign they're working on, guess what?

More FREE targeted traffic for YOU as that particular ebook circulates across the Internet.

Reason #9. Post them to related Forums and Newsgroups.

Remember, the Internet is all about numbers and Forums and Newsgroups contain numbers to and are yet another avenue for you to gain some extra exposure for FREE for your online business through your articles.

Just make sure you read there 'Terms' before you start posting because you don't want to receive any 'Flames' in your Inbox.(They can be Nasty.)

Reason #10. You gain INSTANT credibility as an Expert.

The best way to gain the trust of your potential customers online is to supply them with quality "Information".

By doing this your stepping up and telling them that you know what your talking about within the industry your in giving them a reason to look into what you have to offer further by following the link you provided within your 'Resource Box' at the end of your article.

WoW! Are those 10 POWERFUL reasons to get started with 'Articles' or what?

You get all those benefits by just producing ONE article.

The more you produce the more you'll benefit.

Do you see how powerful 'Articles' are now and how they can take your online business to the next level?

I certainly hope so.

In conclusion: "Content IS King" online and will remain King for as long as the Internet exists.

It's now up to you to step up to the plate and decide whether or not You want to tap into this 'Proven Internet Marketing Strategy' yourself and reap all the benefits I just finished explaining above.

Are You Making These Article Marketing Mistakes?

As an article directory owner and editor I am exposed to a huge number of articles every single day of the week.

I sometimes receive complaints from authors who are angered by the fact that their article has not been published, which leads me to believe that there are still a lot of people out there who do not understand article marketing, nor the role that directories play.

For those who are not finding success with articles, or for those considering starting out, here are a few ground rules that will save you a lot of work in the long run and will likely get your article marketing career off to a much more auspicious start.

Read the article directory's specific terms of service and guidelines. This may seem like a boring, tedious and long winded waste of your valuable time but in the long term it will save you hours of frustration and wasted effort. All directories set their own rules and some are stricter than others. Most directories labor under a huge number of submissions and the work of sifting through them is often the job of one individual. This means that if your opening paragraph or introductory statement is poorly written or contains mistakes, that is as far as the editor will go before hitting the delete key. The luxury of time to edit an author's mistakes or to decline an article as opposed to deleting it, is one that most editors do not have.

Mass submissions are usually viewed as spam. Let's face it, none of us are capable of writing over 200 articles in a day - I would say that even producing more than ten would be a pretty amazing feat of productivity. It should come as no surprise to those submitting large numbers of articles in a 24 hour period to find that they are all deleted. Article directory software usually allows for quick erasure of such submissions, so if you don't want your work to fall victim to mass deletion, don't mass submit. All that is needed is a little common sense. If you are using a submission service, set the option to stagger your submissions over a longer period of time.

Proof read your articles. If you don't know what this means, look it up! If your writing is riddled with spelling errors, poor structure, punctuation horrors and grammatical butchery, don't be surprised if none of them get published. I could write thousands of words on the most common mistakes seen in people's writing. These usually involve spelling and grammar. Spell check your articles, even if you think you're perfect, you will often be surprised at the mistakes you make. If you tend to misspell a word regularly, you will never correct it unless you make yourself aware of it.

If you are of the opinion that these things don't matter (after all, people will know what you mean!) then think again. If you want to write and, more importantly, see your work published and picked up by other website owners and bloggers, you need to demonstrate an ability to write well.

As an example, all the "SEO experts" who talk about search engine optimisation (sic) but don't even understand that being able to spell their claimed occupation correctly would lend a little more credibility to their claims. Just for the record, most words ending in "ize" use a "z" and not an "s". This is a very common mistake, but it would be corrected by the use of a spell checker, as would so many others.

If you want to write with authority, you have to be able to exhibit basic literacy. Yes, this is important and should be borne in mind by those who eulogize about "the Queen's English", thus making themselves look even more foolish than those they chastise. (a good example of a word that does actually end in “ise”) Regardless of who is on the throne, it is always "the King's English".

None of us are perfect and this is not a lecture on grammar and spelling, no matter how needed it might be.

If you are tempted to use PLR articles, even if you rewrite them in an attempt to make them unique, remember that you will be competing with all the other shortcut seekers who are doing the same thing. It's another shortcut to the delete key for a lot of directories.

When it comes to the resource box, it is quite amazing how many authors defeat their entire purpose by making a mess of this vital section. If the article directory in question allows one, two or three live Hyperlinks, make good use of them. Think about your anchor text very carefully. In other words don't say......to find out more click here and Hyperlink the words "click here". The resource box is where you need to give readers a compelling reason to visit your site(s) but it is also the one place you can make the most of good keywords as the anchor text in your links.

Use the resource box wisely and take full advantage of everything the directory is offering you by way of promotional tools. Adding your URL without making it a live link is a pointless waste of time if the directory allows you to use Hyperlinks in your resource box. Conversely, adding more than the quota of permitted links will probably result in deletion of your work.

Another thing to watch is linking directly to affiliate programs. Read the directory's policies on this point or again, you may well find yourself on the cutting room floor. Many directories will stipulate that you may only link to affiliate programs indirectly by referring readers to your own site or domain. Some do not allow straight redirect links either.

Relevancy is also an issue here too. In other words, submitting a PLR piece about gardening and linking to your MLM program is not very helpful or wise, just one more recipe for deletion.

I should finish by saying that yes, you can churn out badly written articles to your heart's content, just don't be surprised at the results.

Quick and Easy Steps To Building A HIGHLY Targeted And Responsive Opt-In List

We've all heard it that in order to stay in business online you need to build a Targeted 'Opt-In' list.

Well... I truly have to agree with that simply because this is where you'll always have a consistent source of FREE Targeted traffic(also referred to as 'Sticky Traffic') to promote your offers or related information to for years to come.

It just makes sense, wouldn't you say?

And, we all know that 'Email' is where the $MONEY$ is truly made when it comes to marketing your business online because it gives You the ability to Follow-Up your potential customers until they decide to buy from You.

But, the problem that usually takes place is that people don't know where to start when it comes to building there own targeted Opt-In list.

Now, for those of you that are new Internet marketing and don't know what a 'Opt-In' list is, here's a quick definition:

An 'Opt-In' list is simply a database of peoples Names and Email Addresses that have subscribed to an email list via a web form giving that list owner permission to send them periodic emails on the topic they are interested in.

Notice how I said, "giving that list owner permission to send them email".

When they subscribe to your Opt-In list they are giving You permission to send them offers or related information on the topic they are interested in, this is known as 'Permission Email Marketing'.

This is the ABSOLUTE safest form of email marketing where You won't get accused of 'SPAM'.

This is very important that You understand this from the beginning.

So, now that you have a clear idea in your mind of what an Opt-In list is and how it will benefit You and your business, I guess it's time to share with you the simple 'Ten Step Process' that I have put together for you on How-To build your own targeted Opt-In list that you can email your offers to at any given time for $Profit$.


Step #1. Pick your Target market or Niche.

This is a very important step because this is where you need to figure out who your target market is going to be for the Product or Service your going to offer.

So, for example, if I was interested in selling a book related to Internet Marketing, well then, my target market would be Internet Marketing related.

Step #2. Can your Target market or Niche be reach online?

This step is where you need to do a little research on whether or not your particular target market can be reached online.

In order to do this you need to do some keyword research using keywords related to your target market.

You can do this by using the Overture keyword research tool located at the URL I've provided below.

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

Simply type in the keywords related to your target market in the form provided.

This will give you a detailed history of how many searches have been made in the last 30 days on the keywords related to your target market.

As a general rule, if your targeted keywords aren't pulling in 15,000 or more searches per month, then this is a market I wouldn't pursue simply because there isn't much demand for it.

Step #3. Are they making money in this Niche?

This is where you need to do some research on your competition to see if people are spending any money in this Niche.

You can do this by going to Google at http://www.google.com and type in your targeted keywords related to your Niche in the form provided.

This will give you a list of search results.

Those results are your competition, but even more important, to the right you'll notice little ads.

These are paid ads offered through Google Adwords.

This means that somebody is willing to pay to advertise and is paying attention to this particular Niche and must be making money if they're willing to pay for advertising.

That's good news for you.

Step #4. Use Forums to find your Target markets problems.

Forums are a great place to find out exactly what your potential customers TOP problems are by simply scanning there posts and looking for the most common threads.

By doing this you'll be able to know right away what your target markets TOP problems are and how you can help solve there problem.

To find Forums related to your Niche simply visit Google http://www.google.com and type in your targeted keywords with '+ forums' after your keyword.(ex. internet marketing + forums)

Step #5. What's keeping them from getting what they want?

This is where you have to figure out whats keeping them from getting what they want in order to fix the problems they are dealing with, meaning, this is where you need to work with them to find a solution to there problems.

Whether its a Product they need or a Service of some sort.

Step #6. What can you offer them to solve there problems?

This is where the money is being spent.

Now, the only thing you need in order to receive your share of the revenue is a Product or Service that will solve your potential customers problem.

If you don't have a Product or Service of your own don't get discouraged.

I'm going to give you two resources where you can find products or services that You can become an affiliate for that are related to any Niche that will pay you a commission for every sale you make by simply referring your traffic to there website.

The two websites to visit are http://www.clickbank.com and http://www.associateprograms.com

Step #7. Set-Up a simple direct response mini-site.

Here is where you Set-Up your lead generating website with a Follow-Up System that your potential customers will come to and Opt-In to your list to start receiving offers or related information on the topic or problem they are having.

This is a very simple process to do and you can view my website as an example of how one would look.

http://www.internetwondersezine.com

If you don't know how to build your own website you can always hire someone to do it for you by going to... http://www.elance.com

Step #8. Get an Auto-Responder account.

This is where you'll be laying the foundation down for your list.

You MUST have an Auto-Responder account Set-Up before you make your mini-site go live because this is where your potential customers are going to come and submit there Name and Email Address so that you can start building a list to send your offers or related information to.

So, do not miss this important step.

Step #9. You need to figure out what 'Bait' to use.

What I mean by 'Bait' is... what are you going to offer them for FREE to get them to subscribe to your Opt-In list.

Here are some examples of what you can use as 'Bait': ebooks, special reports, mini-courses, coupons, etc.

These are the most common. It really depends on who you are targeting, so be creative.

Step #10. Reach out to your target market.

This is the part where you send traffic to your website in order to get subscribers.

I'm going to mention only two methods.

These methods are the most POWERFUL and for good reason, they work.

The first method is Writing Articles.

By Writing Articles your showing your target market that You are someone who knows how to help solve there problem and may have a possible solution for them.

This is the quickest way to build INSTANT credibility in your Niche.

The second method is to send targeted traffic to your mini-site through Pay-Per-Click search engines.

Pay-Per-Click search engines are where you bid on the keywords terms related to your target market and are listed according to the highest bid for that keyword term.

By using PPC search engines, it will get you infront of your target market Instantly.

Writing articles gives you INSTANT credibility and will put you infront of thousands of readers, and Pay-Per-Click search engines send you HIGHLY targeted traffic to your website within minutes depending on which PPC search engine you are using.

The More traffic you send to your website, the More subscribers you'll receive.

It's simply a numbers game.

Well... there you have it, "10 Quick and Easy Steps To Building A HIGHLY Targeted And Responsive Opt-In List".

Now... it's up to you to take the neccessary Action in order to get started with your own targeted Opt-In list.

If you already have an existing web business online simply implement the steps outlined above to your existing website.

These are the 10 basic steps required in order to get your Opt-In listing building started in the Right direction.

Simply follow them and you'll be on your way to receiving your first subscriber in No Time.
 

Ways To Make Your Ads More Effective

I don't know everything and if I have learned one thing about doing business on the Internet it is that the more you learn the more you don't know. However, I have been doing business on the Internet since 1999 and I've managed to carve out a successful enterprise for myself with several profit streams. The largest percentage of my marketing and promotional efforts has been conducted through one simple method-Ezine Advertising.

These are the 8 important lessons I've learned regarding Ezine Advertising and Marketing Success:

A common mistake many advertisers make is to attempt to do too much, or rather sell too much, in one ad. Sure you have lots of great products but you can't sell them all in a few lines-at least not individually.  Instead focus on the benefit your customer can achieve from all your products and promote that! People are much more likely to click on a link that BENEFITS them than a link that promises to sell them something.

For example, "Help your child reach their maximum potential" instead of "Try our many reading, writing, math, shapes and colors programs"

More importantly, tell the customer "what your product or service is going to do for him."

It is important that you identify your Unique Selling Proposition before you begin your advertising program. This will determine which Ezines (or markets) you target as well as what you should include in your ad copy. Who will be interested in your product and why? What benefits does your product offer them?

Don't go for the sale in your ad! You are at a disadvantage because you can't list all your products' wonderful benefits in the space allowed. Also, there is only a small percentage of any Ezine audience that is ready to buy your product at the exact moment they view your ad. Yes, maybe they should be, but most people today live in the moment and if this isn't the time they want to buy then they aren't going to buy, end of story.

But it doesn't have to be the end of the story.  If you go for the soft sell approach your target consumer is much more likely to click on your link and then you've got the chance to go for the hard sell-again and again!

Here's an example. I'm selling a product called the Preschool Prep Power Pack. It's an educational CD for preschoolers. Now I could go for the hard sell in my promotion and I would make some sales but a lot of people who really might be interested won't even look at my site and product. However, I've chose to go the soft sell approach. Instead of selling my product in my ads, my ads offer two FREE items. I offer a free newsletter (Preschoolers Learn More) offering tips about preparing preschoolers for kindergarten. This is my target market for my product. The folks who subscribe also receive a free ABC-123 coloring book. Why wouldn't the parent of a preschooler subscribe, right?

But what's in it for me as a business person? A lot! Think about it. I now have the freely offered contact information for my target market. Now I can regularly email them information about my product. I'm confident they will buy eventually because my product provides a solution to something that concerns them-or they wouldn't have subscribed in the first place!

Another common mistake is not giving your ad campaign enough time to work.

Studies show it takes prospects an average of seven exposures to your promotion before they take the bait. Even after they have clicked through to your site visitors may need to visit your site as many as three times before they buy from you. So make sure you keep that offer in front of them. That means it may well pay to take the long-term package versus a one-shot ad.

People run through their emails rapidly and delete things they wish they hadn't. Make their wish come true! Give them a second, third, fourth chance. The formula is--when you're sick and tired of it, the public is just beginning to hear it.

Just because you've bought ad space doesn't mean you have to utilize every pixel or character-space. Short, punchy lines that do not use up every available space are more effective.  Think about the reader scanning down the page or screen. What will catch their eye and make them stop scanning and actually read?  White space is your friend so don't squander it. Use it to set off your important message.

Make sure you apply the same principal to your urls and e-mail addresses as well. Nothing can make an ad look more cluttered than giant web addresses with a complicated string of numbers and letters. If you have to use an address like that (perhaps for your affiliate code, for example) then it might be wise to use a redirect. There are numerous free services out there (http://snipurl.com for exmple) although perhaps it might be a good idea to use a page from your own web site with a redirect programmed in

USE YOUR HEAD

Your headline is the most important part of your ad. This is usually the line that determines whether the skimming reader will stop or skip ahead.

Some of the proven headline formulas include:

1. Ask the reader a question: "Are you worried about filing your
tax return this year?"
2. Tell the reader how to do something: "How to buy a
car without getting a lemon."
3. Provide a testimonial: "Big Al saved me $200 last month. Thanks, Cindy Lou from Paducah, Kentucky."
4. Make a command. Turn your most important benefit into a commanding
headline. "Stop rushing through life." "Make more money this month." "Feel better about yourself."
5. Important news makes a good headline. "Max Electronics just went international!"
6. Start the clock: "Buyers who act before midnight Tuesday will save an extra $50!"
7. Give the reader something free: "Free whatsit for the first 100 visitors!"

DON'T FORGET TO TELL THEM WHAT TO DO!

It sounds almost ridiculous, but simply giving clear, specific directions about what you want the reader to do can increase the response to your ads.

Click here to find out more: http://whatsit.com

Subscribe by emailing subscribe@whatsit.com

Visit http://whatsit.com today to save!

SET YOUR BUDGET

One of the most difficult things to decide for any business person is how much money to spend on promotion. There really is one simple way to determine the answer. How much is a customer worth to you? That tells you a great deal about how much you can afford to spend on advertising.

The simple formula to calculate the net worth of a visitor is: Net Profit divided by Conversion Rate.

First, what is your net profit on an average sale?  Let's say $10 to make it easy. (Hey, I'm an English professor, I need to keep it simple!)

Then consider what your conversion rate is for visitors to become customers.  Let's say one visitor out of 50 becomes a customer. (This makes your conversion rate 50 as you need 50 customers to make a sale)

With this example, a visitor is worth $0.50 to you. ($10 divided by 50)

So if you spend $100 on an advertising campaign that draws in 1000 visitors then you made $400 on that campaign.

SET REALISTIC GOALS

This issue is really about control. Yes, if you could control things that you would have a high sell through but that isn't always going to happen. In fact, for most advertisers that isn't going to happen. However, if your goal is to capture customers then you are much more likely to match your goal or even exceed it. And in the end a customer is worth a lot more to you than a sale because a customer can represent many sales over years to come-sales that were fairly easy to achieve.

As frustrating as it may be, advertising is usually about long-term versus short-term benefits.  Your ad simply serves as a lure to draw people into your site or long-term promotion. Once you've pulled them in then you need to sell them. So it is not really fair to judge an ad campaign on simple sales.

The success of an ad campaign should be measured by one or two elements only-first, how many people followed up on your offer (click-through rate) and second, how many of those visitors were you able to convert into customers (conversion rate).

Over time you will be able to judge where the weak link in your chain of customer creation exists and work to fix it.

Low click-through rate? Then it is probably your offer. You are not giving readers enough incentive to follow through. What is in it for them to click on your offer? Remember you are selling benefits!

Low conversion rate? Then perhaps you are not attracting the right sort of visitor. Target your incentive (the free offer, for example) to match your target audience.  See my example in  SOFT SELL.