Article Marketing

Hey,  am I able to catch your attention with that heading. It is not hype. It is true my US.Based Multimillionaire mentor and publisher interrogate himself in his recent edition of Business Lyceum Newsletter. I don’t think any investigative policeman could have done it better.

If you haven’t heard about Business Lyceum e-letter before you are missing alot. It is one online magazine that always start my months with. If I may tell you the truth this is one of my secret source for powerful business growth information.

You can do yourself a favour by signing up here so that you can get next month edition: http://www.businesslyceum.com/join.html

But why waiting for another 30 days to receive your first copy here is extract from March edition. Enjoy yourself. And drop a comment here. I am very sure my mentor (Jim F. Straw) will drop by to read your comment one day.

Business Lyceum E-letter March 2008

Greetings & Salutations:

It seems all of you … well, a ho’bunch  of you anyway … liked the Q&A format from last month. — So, I’ll  do some more this month.

Q:  What are the biggest mistakes you’ve made in your career?

A:  Mistakes?  Who, me?  Never!  But, there was this one time …

All kidding aside, there are really no mistakes that I’ve made that stick-out as being “the biggest” or even the most important.

Babe Ruth was known as the “Home Run King” - but - he had more strike-outs than he did home runs.

I can count my successes on my fingers - but - when it comes to mistakes, I couldn’t count them on all my fingers, toes and hairs on my chest.

The secret to real success is to make mistakes. — You don’t learn anything from your success but mistakes teach you valuable lessons … IF you don’t make the same mistakes over & over again.

It’s like the one-time wonders who hit one big success, then never do it again.  They couldn’t learn anything from their success, so they are locked-in to telling the story of their one big success over & over & over; ad naseum.

Q:  What would you say are the best offline opportunities?

A:  Who is the most beautiful woman in the world?? — Depends upon who’s looking, doesn’t it.

Look around you.  There are millionaires in every field of business endeavor.  There are millionaire garbage collectors … millionaire bankers … millionaire shop keepers … millionaire day-care operators … millionaire internet marketers … etc., etc., etc.

As Albert Einstein said, “Anyone can be a genius, if they pick just one specific subject and study it diligently just 15 minutes each day.”

The same holds true in business. — Just pick one specific business. Do it every day until you do it successfully.

Most people don’t fail, they just fail to stick with any ONE thing until they have mastered it.

Q:What do you see as the best opportunities online at present, and in the next 2 years?

A:  Again, it’s all in the eye of the beholder.

There are very, very few opportunities that couldn’t be the “best” for someone.  It is all a matter of persistence.

As Benjamin Disraeli said, “The secret to success is the constancy of purpose.”

What would be “best” for me … since I have a very high risk threshold … wouldn’t be the “best” for anyone seeking any kind of security; or privacy.

To succeed in business, you must leave your comfort zone and tread into untried waters … willing to take the risks.

Q:  Do you treat your online business as you would a brick and mortar business?

A:  Yes. — As Benjamin Franklin said, “Keep your business and your business will keep you.”

Unfortunately, all too many online business people treat their business on a catch-as-catch-can basis.  They don’t establish office hours or keep with any established schedule … worst of all are the ezine publishers who set a circulation date for their publication then allow almost anything to keep them from meeting their own deadlines. — Even while I was in the hospital; after my heart surgery, my publications went out on schedule.

If you are going to have a business; any kind of business, you MUST establish all the “rules” you will follow … then, follow them.

Q:  In the respect of customers there is a kind of unwritten rule that says the customer is always right. Does this apply in the online world as well?

A:  The customer may not “always” be right - but - a customer is always a customer.

Too many wannabees want to “make sales.” — Those of us who succeed “make customers” … then, we do everthing in our power to keep those customers.  Our customers are our only real asset — BUT …

Unfortunately, there are some customers who become a liability; rather than an asset.  When a customer costs more than that customer is worth to keep, it is best to drop that customer from your roles.

Q:  How important is a business plan if you don’t need to raise funding to start your business?

A:  A business that doesn’t plan, plans to fail.

Even when financing is not required, a wise business person writes a plan … even if it is just a list of gonna do’s … to keep track of what they are doing; what they are going to do - and - what results they anticipate. — Of course, the plan is subject to change at any time.

———End———-

If you enjoy this post. Leave a comment here. I know Jim will read it one day.

Article marketing is most probably the most effective link building strategy in existence.  Picture it this way.  Article directories allow you to include a resource box for every article you will submit.  Inside this resource box, you could include a link to your website.  If you will submit just one article to 100 article directories, you’d immediately receive 100 back links to your website.  There are thousands of article directories in the World Wide Web!

Now, if you will submit, say, 5 articles to a hundred directories, you’ll get 500 back links easily!  The best part about this strategy is that quite a number of article directories have high page ranks.  We’re talking about PR4, PR5, and on occasion, PR7 websites!  Having a link to your own website in a website which has a high page rank would give a significant boost to your own pages’ search engine standing!

All seems rosy with article marketing, but as with everything else, there are doubts as to its real nature.

Let’s have a no hold barred, truly in depth discussion about the matter, by asking the questions you always had in your mind but had no opportunity to set loose.  Let’s begin.

1.  If I will submit the same article to many article directories, won’t it violate a search engine’s policy against duplicate content?

No, it won’t.  Since we’re dealing with high ranking websites, the search engines would assume that the submitted content is their original work.  This is the reason why a lot of article directories are pretty confident about the articles they display.  The problem that they encounter, really, is with regards to the credibility of their services.  They don’t want to be known as a repository of junk content, that’s why they have outlawed the posting of PLR articles as well as articles imbued with affiliate links.

2.  Does this mean that I could submit articles which I have already posted in my own web pages?

No!  Since the search engines would assume that the higher ranking websites are the originators of the content, your web pages would be distinguished as duplicates, and this could possibly lead to the de-indexing of your website.  You wouldn’t want this to happen.

3.  Could I submit as many articles as I could to as many article directories as possible?

Yes, you could!  In fact, this is very much advised, to build up your link popularity and secure for your website a great page rank. 

However, please bear in mind that search engines, and Google in particular, become quite wary about a website that suddenly experiences a great increase in the number of its back links.  It is advised that before you submit another article to the article directories, you have to wait for at least 3 weeks after your last submission.

4.  My page views are quite low.  Does article marketing really work?

Yes, article marketing does work!  If your article’s page views remain in low levels, ask yourself the following:

1. Is the subject of your article interesting enough?  Does it cater to a wide audience?
2. Is your title enticing enough to merit a reading of your entire work?
3. Is your article informative enough to merit recommendation?
4. Is your article readable enough to give your audience an easy time in digesting the information you want to share?

These are the factors that contribute to low page views.  Doing some necessary editing to correct these problems can dramatically increase the number of times your article would be viewed.  Additionally, some article directories really attract a few visitors.  But the popular ones like www.ezinearticles.com , www.goarticles.com and www.isnare.com should give you hundreds of readers in a month’s time.

5.  How sure am I that my article would be kept intact by people who would use it in their own websites or eZines?

You can never be sure.  This is why you have to run your own check from time to time.  Search for unique phrases in your article, and click on the results.  Determine if the webmaster honored your resource box.  If he did not, you could ask him to include the same, or you could file a complaint with the article directory so that they themselves could act on the matter.  Vigilance is the key.