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Article submission, and article marketing as it is also known, is quickly establishing itself as one of the most well established means by which to market your online business and develop a strong brand and trusted online presence through which customers and search engines alike can trust. Being able to leverage article marketing to your advantage is becoming increasingly difficult with so many service providers in the marketplace, and few that deliver quality service time after time.

Choosing an article submission company requires an initial understanding of the service, as well as an understanding of how the service should be performed in under to yield effective results. Without this initial understanding, companies leave their self open to either paying a rate which is too high, or alternatively selecting the cheapest quote and not being aware that their provider is cutting corners and automating processes to the detriment on their article marketing efforts.

Automatic Submissions versus Manual Submissions

Many article submission companies have decided to utilize software in an attempt to compete with other providers, differentiate on price and capitalize to increase their margins. Such behavior is not only considered SPAM by quality article directories, it could result in being removed from Google, Yahoo and MSN, and in many cases your domain registrar or hosting company may ask that you remove your site from their service because of the promotional techniques that you are employing. As such, one means by which to verify the validity of submissions is to ask your company if they provide screenshots along with each submission they complete. Should they be unable to do this, or ask for a significant increase in cost as a result, then it is best to work with another provider.

Location

Many article companies come from the USA and Asian markets, however in reality most of the USA companies outsource their work to Asian companies and mark up the price. With wages being around 5 times stronger in the USA than India for example, it is simply too hard for US companies to compete on price when Asian companies provide just as good, if not better, levels of service. For those reasons it is best to consider working with an Asian company directly and cutting out the middle man, such as a USA SEO Company, that may wish to take their cut of the transaction.

SEO Experience

It is better to work with an article submission company that has a firm understanding of search engine optimization. Through working with a company which has a solid, rounded experience of SEO; you can be sure that you will gain valuable information and advise to complement your service. They will be able to offer input as to the best anchor text to use in links, they will maintain a list of article directories that will pass the most value to your site, and they will develop and tweak their service to ensure it has optimum results for your website.

Even if you don't know anything about internet marketing, it's not difficult for you to learn how to take advantage of its benefits. One of the easiest types of internet marketing that you can do is that of the email signature line. It requires nothing more than adding the address of your website to every outgoing email, thus increasing the potential that a new customer may see it, visit, and become interested in buying.

Although you may not need this so much for your work email, if you have a separate email for your personal correspondence, it can work wonders for you.

Since it's only a signature line, and not an actual advertisement, you don't have to worry about being accused of sending spam, but at the same time, you are able to get your point across. Another thing you can do is make sure that you submit your website to the search engines.

If you have a Webmaster who takes care of your website, this may be part of the deal with them, but you want to make sure of that.

If you maintain your own website, it's important to make sure that you submit the site to as many of the search engines as possible. There are some places where you can submit free, but that involves a link back to their site from your site, probably not a very businesslike proposition.

Besides, if you pay for the service, you will be able to submit to more of the search engines along with directories and other places that will give your website very high exposure.

If you participate in a Pay-per-Click advertising scheme, you will not only be putting your advertising dollars to better use, you can choose where to place your advertisements, thus assuring that a greater amount of traffic comes to your site that is actually interested in your products or services.

By targeting only certain types of websites, you have a better chance that those seeing your ad are ones who are interested in buying something from your website.

Although not as effective as the methods above, you can also place the link to your website on Free for All links pages where other people will see them. You want to make sure to choose those who do not require an email address to avoid unwanted advertisements in your email, so you want to find pages that are specifically for businesses such as yours rather than those who allow individuals to advertise services and projects in which they participate.

You may also try classified advertisements, but these are in the same category as the FFA pages, and probably even less effective. They are good to add another marketing source, but don't expect too much from them.

Having a purpose is the first step in the marketing process, as stated by Jav Conrad Levinson. Many people have tried to define purpose in its purest from. Some people find their purpose handed over to them in a silver platter. Others had to go through much of the years of their lives just to find out. There are many truths to consider about purpose and its relation to your business.

Your business purpose must be aligned with your personal purpose.

There will be that generic conflict of interest in your business if it is not aligned with your personal purpose. You must first be able to get an idea of what you want to do with you life before you actually get to do something else that will benefit other people. The more linked and consistent they are with each other, the less adjustments and conflicts you will encounter.

Your purpose for your business is what will sustain you.

Your purpose will help you get through the ups and downs of your business. If you have a purpose, you will have a target destination, and all means by which you travel will be in accordance to getting to that purpose you had in mind.

The purpose is very important in the sense that it will give you a clear idea of where you are headed and will consequently intuitively lead you to the easiest way to accomplish it.

A business without a purpose is a business that will get nowhere.

If you are putting up a business out of whim or fancy, you cannot expect it to go somewhere. That purpose will keep you grounded. As you go about your business, you will find opportunities to deviate.

There will be so many offers, so many things that will demand your attention. The sense of purpose in your business will help you discern which of these things are worth investing your time upon, and you will do better with such a clutter-free mindset.

It is best to simplify your purpose and take it from there.

The problem with most people is that they complicate their purpose from the very beginning. When they are not getting there, they get frustrated and give up the purpose altogether.

Spreading yourself too thin is a common occurrence among the idealistic, and they end up at the end of the game because they are not well able to manage through the frustrations that come with impossibly high standards.

Writing Down your Purpose Increases Its Likelihood of Being Successful. Your purpose is three times more likely to be accomplished when you write it down. That way, you won’t be able to forget it quickly.

When you merely a mental note of it, there is little chance that you will be driven to work on it. But if you write it down and place the phrase in places that you see on a daily basis, you will be less likely to do things that are contrary to your purpose.

Before you even begin hopping onto the Internet marketing e-bandwagon, you must be aware of its myths, fallacies, and fairytales. Yes, Internet marketing is fascinating, it has incredible rags-to-riches fables, and you are just dying to get a slice of the pie. But before you do so, take a breather. Maybe these tips will help save the shirt on your back one rainy day.

Myth #1: Internet Marketing is a Piece of Cake

If it were that easy, everyone and their girlfriend would be e-millionaires by now. However, in comparison to traditional brick-and mortar businesses with huge overheads like rent, salaries, etc, it is certainly more lucrative. Overheads are minimal and affiliate marketing helps you quickly start churning some decent profits.

Myth #2: Everyone Makes Money Online

Can everyone fly an airplane? You might be willing to learn how to fly it, you may even able to fly it some day, however, most people won't even make the initial effort to learn how to fly the plane. The same logic applies to making money online. Everyone knows that they can make a lot of money online but only a few pursue that dream with hard work, determination, and a bit of luck.

Myth #3: Internet Marketing = Get Rich Quick

The only way to ‘get rich quick’ on the Net is to win a lottery. Banish the idea, get rid of it completely, and erase it from your memory banks! Start building a genuine online business with real equity, sincerity, and dedication, and do it consistently over a period of time. I guarantee that you will get rich if you follow my advice. The good news is that Internet Marketing is less risky than a traditional business and also, requires relatively lesser time to establish and grow.

Myth #4: It's Zero Cost

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Everything costs money, from your Internet access costs, to the cost of purchasing a PC, to fees for the affiliation membership to a website, enrolment for an Internet marketing plan, etc. Costs crop up everywhere. However, start-up costs are relatively more reasonable here than in traditional businesses.

Myth #5: It's Too Late to Start Now

It is never too late to start anything, if you know your target market, that is. Don’t even attempt to become a Google or a Johnny-come-lately MSN. You might just fail before you even begin. Think of niche marketing as a solution to dead-end low-paying jobs or loss-making companies you owned.

Myth #6: Built It, and It Will Sell

This is opposite of the previous myth. Either it’s too late to start or it’s very easy to do just that. This is bunkum. This myth promotes the fallacy that if you hobble together any old site, people will flock to it. Why should they? Will people pay good money to buy a bullock cart, if you happen to throw it all together and create one? Similarly for the Internet. If you have planned a site, and you have designed a good business plan, implemented it effectively, then the buyers will come to you. And not a moment before that.

Myth #7: Only Tech Gurus Make it Big

Bill Gates isn’t one. And anyways, tech has advanced so rapidly, that you can find sophisticated tools and software – sometimes even for free – that help you do everything with the click of a button. For example, earlier HTML required hours of coding and months of training. Now, with the help of What You See Is What You get (WYSIWYG) editors, templates, tutorials, etc even a granny can create her own website in minutes.

Myth #8: It’s all Just Hype

Well, there is no smoke without fire. People aren’t crazy to chuck up secure jobs to venture into online marketing. Its not all just hype in the same way it’s not just a piece of cake. Between these 2 extremes lies a viable, intelligent, working system that will help you achieve great success provided you are ready to work hard and work smart.

Millions of blogs fight for readership online (over 75 million by some counts), with thousands more being created every day. Making yours stand above the rest may seem like a daunting task, but here are ten suggestions for making your blog posts stand out from the crowd.

1. Write each post title so it grabs the reader's attention. It is the first thing someone reads, and it should get your reader's attention right away. Your title should both pique the reader's interest and be informative. Do not write "Business Writing Advice"; instead, say "The Best-Kept Secret to Reducing Your Business Writing Worries." Longer titles have the advantage of describing in detail what your post is about; 8-12 words are a good range.

2. Keep sentences short and clear. A little goes a long way. Readers are busy people and they will not spend hours detangling complex syntax or sifting through blocks of text. Also, use strong language. Start a new paragraph every few sentences, and limit each post to 250 words, if possible. If you cannot write it in under 250 words, split it into two entries.

3. Break up the text. Use numbered lists, bullet points, and subheadings to make your posts easy to scan. Lots of white space on the page is a good thing-it allows your reader to take mental breaks and let the knowledge soak in. In addition, with the inevitable clutter of banner ads and side text, this technique puts some distance between your writing and all those distractions.

4. Keep current. No one wants to read old news. Your job is to stay up-to-date so your readers do not have to themselves. Read newspapers. Scour the web for references. For example, if you write a blog about business communication, subscribe to Google News Alerts using keywords related to the field, such as blogs, podcasting, instant messaging, business letters, memos, and business reports, so you will always be well informed. Posting items from last month or last year will lose your reader's interest faster than you can say "Enron."

5. Be bold. Timidity is an easy path to anonymity. Do not be afraid to create and state your opinions. Of course, there are some situations in which objectivity rules-but you have to give people a reason to read this blog by you and not by the person next door.

6. Be accurate. If you make a statement, be prepared to back it up. Know what your sources are and quote them accurately. Misinformation spreads like wildfire online; do not be the spark that sets it off or the wind that fans it.

7. Contribute to the conversation. Links are great-but then what? Do not just post links to the same tired sites, offer your reader something new. Contribute to the conversation. Your goal is to be the site to which everyone else is linking-so you had better have something worth writing about.

8. Stay focused. Once you have defined the theme of your blog, stick to it. A blog about piggy banks has no business posting about the latest innovation in alternative energy. Such a deviance will only confuse your reader and chip away at your virtual authority.

9. Use key words liberally. Keywords are, well, key. Harness your blog's search engine potential by dousing your title and post with effective keywords that will help interested parties find your page in the vast, muddled blogosphere. This is one of the most important elements of getting your blog read-go at it with gusto.

10. Be consistent. Keep a schedule and stick to it. Post frequently-at least several times per week if you want to increase your potential of attracting new readers. Let your blog languish for weeks without updates and your audience will move on to fresher ground.

Maintaining an informative blog that people want to read takes hard work and good writing skills. Find what makes your writing unique-and flaunt it for all it is worth.

Blogs are a great way to share facts, ideas and opinions directly between people, but also, they are a viable way to earn money. In fact, earning money with blogs is something just about anyone can do. Making money with blogs is completely dependent on your audience and you’re ability to attract people to click on the advertisements. Blogs are simple to set up, and relatively easy to update. As many as 75,000 blogs are created every day—almost one per second!

If you are looking to start making money on the internet and you have a budget that is very small or zero, blogging is a great way to get started. You can set-up a free blog and join advertisement programs for free. The only cost involved in setting up a blog is your time.

Although there are many factors involved in making money with your blog, there are a few vital keys to remember when setting up, maintaining and promoting your blog in order to achieve success.

1. Your blog needs to have the right layout in order for your adsense ads to be “clickable” by visitors. Choosing an advertisement’s location, size and color is very important and is something you will need to constantly test and tweak to determine which formats produce the most clicks. It’s amazing how one small change can produce monumental results. There are also many other ways to make money with your blog than with adsense alone. You could promote affiliate products and implement contextual advertising such as Kontera.

2. Your blog will need lots and lots of traffic. This is really a no-brainer, yet it’s the greatest challenge of any website owner. The encouraging reality is that there are more ways to generate traffic for your blog than ever before. This is due to the emergence of Web 2.0 sites like YouTube and social bookmarking sites. Many of these sites provide great sources for one-way links to your blog. Getting hundreds, even thousands of quality links is a must if you expect significant traffic to your blog. There are also many SEO tools on the market now such as directory and article submitters that will help you get thousands of backlinks to your blog quickly and save lots of valuable time.

3. Your blog will need to be updated frequently. You cannot expect return visitors if your blog is not a source of fresh information. You can use RSS feeds to provide your blog with relative information, however you will need to add personal posts as well at least once or twice per week. This will increase your blog’s search engine rankings and also help brand you as an expert in your niche.

Blogging is a great way to share your thoughts and ideas online, but it’s also a powerful money-making tool. Making money with blogs is fairly simple if you know what to do and if you’re willing to invest the time and effort necessary to make it profitable.

Article marketing is a powerful way to build traffic to your web site. Yet many people give up on article marketing after just a few articles because they are become stuck on what to write next.

There are two ways to quickly come up with new articles. One is to brainstorm new topics. The other is to diversify by writing different types of articles. Pick up any of your favorite magazines and you will see that they publish a variety of types of article.

Here are four popular types of article you can write.


The List Article

This is one of the easiest types of article to write and that is one reason why it is among most common types of article published online. A list article lists several related pieces of information. Here are a few examples of a list articles:

"10 Energy Saving Tips for Winter"
"5 Fruits to Boost Your Body’s Resistance"
"Asia’s Top 10 Honeymoon Destinations"
"Natural Remedies for Insomnia"

List articles need to have:

- An introduction.
- The list with a paragraph or two for each item.
- A conclusion.

The 'How To' Article

A "How to" article explains to your reader how to do something. Examples of "How to" articles include:

"How to Drive Traffic to Any Web Site for Free"
"How to Keep Your Tomatoes Alive"
"How to Install a New Hard Drive"
"How to Download Unlimited Music Files Legally"

This type of article is popular because people just love to learn how to do something new.

The Review Article

What is one of the main ways that people find out about which new products to buy, and which to avoid? They read review articles. A review article is the result of someone reviewing a particular product or service and then writing a review about it.

There are several slightly different approaches you can use for review articles but here are the essential items that must be included:

- What does the product promise?
- How well does it deliver on that promise?
- Is it good value and if so, who should buy it?

The Roundup Article

In a roundup article you provide a summary or roundup of information from a variety of sources. It can be a combination of general facts, statements, and opinions. For this type of article a writer will usually interview several experts, then round up the answers, something like this:

“Michael Wetherby, Managing Director at Becketts Consulting, is confident his company will be able to cut three months off the project timeline as a result of using Picadilly’s new software. “There is no doubt that it is going to reduce our development time by fifty percent”, he predicted. But Bill Petersen, at Drone Associates, is not so certain about the software’s efficiency. He explains why…”

So, the next time you are struggling over what you could write next, take a fresh look at these different types of articles. I bet you could write some new types of articles on topics with which you are already familiar. By diversifying the types of articles you write your writing will develop a greater depth and there will be even more demand for your articles.