Friday, February 22, 2008

Article Marketing - How to Become Independent of Ghostwriters

The importance of article marketing on the internet is well known: by writing and submitting articles (with a link to your site) to directories, your site gets exposed to multitudes, which optimizes your searchability and earns you a reputation as a trusted resource.

But for many site owners who wish to maximize their exposure potential through article marketing, there's an extra cost to the process. Since they don't have the time or skill to put together an effective piece of writing, they outsource their work to ghostwriters. In addition to the money allocated, site owners pay a price when they hand their expertise over to someone else they sacrifice the originality and authority that only they can provide about their topic of mastery.

If you've been outsourcing because you're not confident in your writing capabilities, here are some tips that can help you restore your voice to your articles and web content.


Spend time planning your article. First, decide what you're trying to accomplish with your article. Write down what point you'd like to make to your readers. Then figure out how you would make this point break it down into steps. You can list these steps or draw them out visually using a mind map ( http://www.jcu.edu.au/studying/services/studyskills/mindmap ).


Write it out. Spill your ideas onto the screen or piece of paper, following the steps or map you have created. Just dump the ideas out don't worry about the language yet.


Go over what you've written. Read it out loud see how it sounds to you. Read it to a friend and get their feedback. Fine-tune it accordingly.

That's it. There's tons of material out there to show you what you might want to accomplish in a marketing article. Learn that stuff, but follow the steps above and you're on your way to writing success.

Hiring ghostwriters is often unnecessary. You can build your own writing potential to save yourself that additional cost.

Aaron

BTW - please feel free to use my website as a resource that will help you through the writing process: http://helpwithyouressay.com/ !

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

My Sweet Lord! I love This Stuff!

Helpwithyouressay.com - We love music!



Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Dhani Harrison and a slew of other friends of ex-Beatles George Harrison perform his hit single "My Sweet Lord" in the Concert for George.

Here is George Harrison - the original.... 1972!

Naturally 7! This Is Amazing!



http://helpwithyouressay.com/ - We love music!

Using Facebook For Marketing

For whatever reason many internet marketers stay away from social networks on the internet. Why is that? Their claim is that the crowd that ‘hangs’ around these social networks are mainly high school and college students discussing boy/girl issues. However when taking a second look at these networks you will find that not only are high school and college students hanging out there – but also adults and professionals from all over the world and this crowd is just growing within these social network sites.

There are many social networks on the web and sometimes choosing the right one can be very confusing and at times frustrating. I have tested many of them and I have found facebook to be the most valuable when it comes to marketing my website.

Why facebook?

1] I have found the facebook crowd to be more professional, intelligent and mature.

2] I am receiving less spam then I was with other networks.

3] The general look of facebook is more mature and appealing to the adult crowd then other networks and this just attracts more and more people everyday. I think that on some levels because of this look - it also has an impact on the way people express themselves or even the things they post on facebook.

4] I found more people that I knew on facebook then on any other network. This gave me a push start in building my profile and network list.

5] I enjoy the many different ways facebook allows you to get the word out about whatever is on your mind and the beauty of this is – that anyone in your network can see your latest updates with the Mini Feed and News Feed the moment they sign in to view their profile. This means that everyone in your network is immediately updated on your latest activities.

6] I can spend weeks and months just building traffic via facebook marketing without spending a dime, just time.

7] The professional look of facebook it makes me feel like a pro as well.

Once I started getting into facebook I was really excited about marketing my website through facebook. I joined just about every group that had thousands of members and I just started bombing them with a link to my website. After facebook threatened to kick me off and close my account….. I took a few steps back to really understand how to make facebook work for me with out getting threatened to be kicked off.

Everyone thinks that “well, if I just post on this group that has 500,000 members I will for sure get at least 100,000 visitors today…” - it doesn’t work like that. Why not? Because I have found that the massive groups on facebook are not groups where people are active. It’s more like a one time shot thing – because everyone else is joining. I have found that the smaller groups are more valuable then the larger ones. When you join a group that is focused on a specific topic and you share your knowledge with that group this will help you build your credibility among the group members and eventually may lead to potential customers.
If your business is related to food – then joining a group related to soccer is just not relevant. When people see that you are constantly joining groups [and posting there as well] that are not related to your business they will stay away from you!

I also think that in your profile page try to share as much information about yourself, information that you feel will help your business. People would like to know a little bit about whom you are and where you are coming from. Try to add some projects in the past that you have worked on. Be open about your professional career.

Facebook gives you all the options of marketing: forum marketing, article marketing, building a mailing list with your network, and more.

Understanding the basics of facebook and how facebook really works can be very valuable to you and your business.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Websites That Will Help Your Business Grow/ Part 2

We at helpwithyouressay.com believe in sharing information

http://www.icontact.com/ - This email marketing service allows you to easily track sends, clicks and more! This can be a great option for anyone who is looking to outsource their newsletter or email marketing campaign

http://www.caffeinenow.com/ - Increase traffic and meet customers on a first name basis. Caffeinenow.com is a new venture that is highly recommended by the startupnation.com community.

http://www.abcsearch.com/ Marketing can be as easy as ABC. I am hearing good things about this company. It’s a great alternative to Google ads.

http://www.insidefacebook.com – Facbook marketing. This is an excellent site that shares great tips and explains the basics of how to market via facebook.

http://listings.local.yahoo.com/ - Local listing will promote your business to customers looking for information on yahoo local. There are three different plans to meet your company’s needs.

https://accounts.craigslist.org/login/signup - Craigslist gets an estimated 10 million visitors per day. This is an online classified ad format organized by region or city.

http://www.merchantcircle.com/corporate/ - This site offer a free local business listing service that allows to better manage your reputation online.

http://www.reachlocal.com/register/login.php - This site provides a central location for businesses to set up, maintain and track local search advertising campaigns. Pricing varies.

http://www.press-release-writing.com/10_essential_tips.htm - How to write a proper press release.

http://www.facebook.com/ - The best social network for social marketing!

http://www.squidoo.com/ - This is one excellent site for article marketing. Again you need to really understand how it works.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/ - This social book marketing site can drive loads of traffic to your site. Learn how to use it.

http://groups.yahoo.com/ - Join yahoo and start joining yahoo groups that are relevant to your business. This can be great exposure.

http://dailyrevolver.com/2007/09/08/5000-resources-to-do-just-about-anything-via-mashable/ - Wow! This is one powerful list!

http://expo.live.com/ - Another great classified ads site.

http://www.stompernet.net/goingnatural2/ - Watch this amazing video on social marketing. If you really get this – your business could literally take off!

Now Before you jump into these sites- please read this:

What’s better in marketing - to be a pusher or a puller? of course a puller. What is a puller? This means that you are 'pulling' people to your website, how? by doing things that will 'attract' them to you. This can be done in many ways and I will just mention a few - article marketing, forum marketing, social group marketing etc... By sharing valuable information that you have.
Use these tools [forums, articles, social networks etc..] for marketing but don’t abuse them! When you 'spam' forums and social networks - don’t be surprised that you are not getting any traffic from them.
Spam in this case means that you post once and never show up again, it means that you join a discussion group that’s not related to anything and you start posting your website....
If you want visitors to your website, if you want to build an audience around your website - then you need to build trust & respect from your potential visitors.
Be a contributor - it may take more time but in the long run it’s worth it!

Aaron
http://helpwithyouressay.com/

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Marketing an Internet Business - Helpful Information Websites

Marketing an internet business is not easy. I find that the more I educate myself the more I am learning how to navigate my way through the internet.


Below is a list of four helpful information websites that I use.


http://www.howstuffworks.com/ - I find this to be an incredible site! They tell you how everything works, from internet to airplanes.

http://www.problogger.net/ - Tips to help you make money blogging - This guy has great advice on how to make money blogging.

http://www.doshdosh.com/ - A site helping you make money online. blogging, affiliate marketing, advertising etc.. great site.

http://www.startupnation.com/ - My Gurus. A site by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs - everything you need to know about starting your own business.

There are endless blogs and websites on the internet that share excellent information. On the other hand it can make one crazy trying to read everything. Therefore I recommend sticking to a few websites for your personal internet growth.

To Your success!!

This Is How I Market My Website

I have a website helpwithyouressay.com ; well actually my two partners and I have a website. We have been working on this for about four months. It’s a free information website, we finally launched our website a few weeks ago.

In my real job I work in the afternoon, so this gives me time in the morning to work on my own site, after I take the kid to his little nursery, I then come home, make coffee and sit in front of the computer till its time to pick him up.

Oh boy it can be frustrating! I want massive traffic to my site but dear lord HOW? Every day I find another article that will tell me “how to…” Everyday I will discover a new website…. then I find myself just sitting in from of the computer flipping through sites, watching some videos on Youtube , checking my email, checking the news…..Until I decided enough is enough!

Let’s get down to business! I aint no pro. I m just like almost everyone else – learning as I’m going.

I sat down and wrote out my marketing plan. First I understood that there are two aspects when it comes to driving traffic to a website. When I got that little “ka-ching!” in my head then I was able to get to work. Here it is: There is short term traffic and long term traffic. What is short term traffic? This is building up visitors, sending someone and email, posting on a yahoo group, craigslist – I do this to continue the steady flow of traffic to my site. When I send someone an email [from my own personal email contacts – over 300 people] they will usually click on the link, visit the site a page or two and then move one. In some cases they will bookmark the site if they like it. Then the email gets lost in their account. Same thing with posting on a related yahoo group – it gets lost after a few days with all the messages being posted on that group.
What is long term traffic? This is building up an audience around your website. This means that you need to invest a little more time in some areas – and yes its hard but its worth it in the long run. Like being involved in a social network like myspace or facebook. It means making friends on the web via internet forums and when I talk about internet forums I am saying is that you shouldn’t just post things like “ I have a new site! Visit my site today! here is the link!” - You know what that is? That’s called being an internet jerk. The whole idea of a forum is where people can share information with one another , information that is helpful. Get involved in some forums and share your knowledge with the world. Most forums allow you to put your URL as your signature. If you share your valuable information – people will trust you, they will become your followers. I have some “gurus” on the internet. I have never met them. They share such wonderful information that I almost every time visit their websites [ and click on one of their google ads!] and maybe even buy something. Why? Because I trust them, I admire them. Remember this rule: People like nice people.

I decided that I need to create an action plan for myself or I will never get things done!

Sunday morning [my wife is watching the baby] I usually do a round of yahoo group postings. Before launching out site, I joined a bunch of yahoo groups that are related to my website. Then I write something up about my website and I just copy and paste it on every group that I am member of. Now some yahoo groups won’t allow you to just promote your site – so I get involved in the discussion and I add my link at the end.
By doing this I am working on the short term traffic. Then I will go to facebook, I have created a profile and a groupie for my website on facebook. I make friends over facebook and invite them to join my website group. I am very careful about spamming other people. So what I do is I search for people I know and then I approach there networks by asking “hey I am a friend of Joe, I am looking to build my network …” So they know right away that I am not some random unknown guy who trying to spam them. In 99% of the cases people have agreed since they know Joe and trust him. On my facebook group I try to make it interesting. I post music videos, updates about my site, interesting articles…. This is building my long term traffic. I am building a community of people around my site. I try to focus on one social network, If you try more then that – you will go crazy! Focus your energy on one spot and own it!

Comes Monday I focus on Forums. I try to write up an interesting article and then I post it in different forums, I try to create something that has valuable information and that it could start a discussion. Then I will go back and get involved in some discussion groups. Remember: The link to my site is my forum signature. So this really takes up Monday morning.

Tuesday! Social book marketing day! This day always brings us good traffic. We get involved in our social book marketing sites – Stumbleupon.com, Digg.com, Del,icio.us
We stumble, make friends and get involved. This is great for short and long term traffic.

Wednesday is Link exchange day. I have decided that link exchanging really needs a separate day. This is can really drive in long term traffic. When your link is sitting on another popular website – this can really drive in traffic. The beauty of this is – you don’t have to do anything! I also try to post comments on blogs related to my site.

Thursday is the day where I let myself to go wild! No not partying but crazy posting! Anywhere and everywhere I can. Its kind of like having a brick and mortar store in the center of the city- I have fliers and I am going to hang them up on every bulletin board I find in the city. Again you have to be careful about spamming. Sometimes I will send emails to my friends asking them to forward the site to others. Now! Every other Thursday I Do article marketing and submit them to relevant sites like squidoo.com, or ezinearticles.com or even forums [great place for articles!] .

Friday is when my partners and I review the week – what marketing methods worked; we discuss the content of the site and what needs to be added. We discuss ideas for the coming week and ideas for the future, we discuss the Google ads, and affiliate marketing programs… we try to cover everything. Remember: if you want to make money then you have to treat it like a business!

Saturday….. I rest!

In the evening after the baby goes to sleep – I spend time reading articles, exploring new website, I try to understand in depth the websites that I am already using and how I can make them “work for me” – I basically spend this time for my own education and to catch up with what’s new in the internet world.

Is it hard? Yes it’s hard, but one thing that I do know and that is:
“ A Quitter Never Wins And a Winner Never Quits!”