What Is Article Marketing?
It’s pretty simple. Article Marketing is just what it sounds like. You are marketing via Articles. I’ll go into this later but basically it’s one way of promoting your website and product and it can be achieved for FREE.
As an additional bonus, this “free” method can boost your sites and sales, doubling and even tripling your income.
Articles. One of the easiest ways to promote your website in order to generate traffic and increase your earnings.
How does this work?
Write articles relating to your website and submit them to “free content” submission sites. Easy to do, takes little time and can increase your website traffic, sales and of course, your income.
How can article writing boost traffic and income?
The article on the free content site contains a link to your own website. Readers, after reading your articles, may choose to click on the link and pay you an unexpected visit. Having them on the free content sites is also making these articles available to other webmasters who may wish to publish that article on their site.
If they do, your article will include a link back to your site. And anyone who reads the article on that site can still click on the link to visit your site.
As the list of your published articles grow larger, and more and more of them are appearing on different websites, the total number of links to your site increases also. Major search engines are placing a lot of significance on incoming links to websites so they can determine the importance of a certain site.
The more incoming links the website has, the more importance search engines attaches to it. This will then increase your website’s placement in the search results.
If you site is into promoting a product or service, the links that your articles have achieved will mean more potential customers for you. Even if visitors only browse through, you never know if they might be in need of what you are offering in the future.
There are also those who already have specific things they need on their mind but cannot decide yet between the many choices online. Chances are, they may stumble upon one of your articles, get interested by the contents you wrote, go to your site and became enticed by your promotions.
See how easy that is?
Search engines do not just index the websites, they also index published articles. They also index any article that is written about your own website’s topic. So once someone searches for that same topic, the list of results will have your site or may even show the articles that you have written.
And to think, no effort on your part was used to bring them to your site. Just your published articles and the search engines.
It is no wonder why many webmasters are suddenly reviving their old writing styles and taking time to write more articles about their site than doing other means of promotion.
Getting their site known is easier if they have articles increasing their links and traffic and making it accessible for visitors searching the Internet. Since many people are now taking their buying needs online, having your site on the search engines through your articles is one way of letting them know about you and your business.
The good thing with articles is that you can write about things that people would want to know about. This can be achieved in the lightest mood but professional manner, with a little not-so-obvious sales pitch added.
If you think about it, only a few minutes of your time is spent on writing one article and submitting to free content site. In the shortest span of time also, those are distributed to more sites than you can think of.
Even before you know what is happening, you are getting more visitors than you previously had.
If you think you are wasting your time writing these articles, fast forward to the time when you will see them printed and wide-spread on the Internet. Not to mention the sudden attention and interest that people are giving your website and your products or services.
Try writing some articles and you will be assured of the sudden surge in site traffic, link popularity and interest. Before you know it, you will be doubling and even tripling your earnings.
Nothing like getting benefits for something you got for free!
Online Business Owners: Avoid These 5 Outsourcing Mistakes
For those considering outsourcing in their online business, the goal is to create a more profitable company while streamlining the owner’s work. Taking the time to avoid common outsourcing mistakes will make the process go much smoother and avoid the feeling that you are spinning your wheels and getting nowhere. Or to quote Nicole Dean of Outsource Weekly, “You must plan your outsourcing wisely. Otherwise, you’re simply throwing money into the wind.”
As with any part of business, outsourcing has its good and bad points, however if you are aware of the potential problems before hand, you increase your chances of an enjoyable experience.
Here are 5 potential outsourcing mistakes every online business owner should be aware of, in order to avoid making them.
1. Not Knowing Who You Are Dealing With
Most business owners who outsource will tell you the biggest benefit of doing so is the fact that their assistants work remotely. The number one problem when it comes to outsourcing, though, is not thoroughly checking out the contractor or company who will be performing the work. Keep in mind that sometimes this independence can work in the opposite direction if not taken seriously. Make it a point to carefully interview the people you are considering working with before assigning a task or project to them. The person or company should be someone you can trust to represent your business.
2. Non-Communication between Owner & Assistant
Whether you are outsourcing tech support, writing, web design or something else, there is a great deal of effort needed in order to keep the lines of communication open. If you allow your workers to do work for you without communicating your goals and what it is that you need, you will find that your work will not be done as you’d hoped. Assistants are not mind-readers and do need guidance. Take some time to make sure that you and the people you outsource to understand your expectations. This is an important part of making sure that you get what you need.
3. Forgetting to Budget Wisely
In order for outsourcing to work properly, you’ll need to keep a good eye on what you are spending for the work being done. While some projects will require single payments to your assistant, others may involve recurring or retainer payments and you will more than likely have some type of contract or agreement that binds you. Some of your assistants may charge by the hour while others may invoice by project or expect payment based on a commission of some sort. Take the time to figure out how much money you can afford to spend on certain tasks and budget appropriately.
4. Under Utilizing Your Contractor & Their Resources
When you choose to outsource certain tasks, make certain you are using your assistant to their fullest capabilities and not just outsourcing for the sake of outsourcing or splitting up work between two assistants when it makes more sense to have one handle both jobs. Sometimes you can find freelancers who are willing to work on a recurring basis or who will complete larger projects at a reduced rate in order to get and keep your business. Don’t be afraid to ask potential contractors if they have room for more than just one or two jobs and don’t outsource something just to say that you’re on the outsourcing wagon.
5. Misunderstanding Your Role as the Outsourcer
As the one doing the outsourcing, you need to understand your role. In order for the relationship between business owner and assistant to flourish, you’ll want to keep the lines of communication not only open, but clear as well. Be detailed in what you expect from your help. Also keep in mind that you are probably not their only client and as much as you would love to have them all to yourself, that probably isn’t the case. Be respectful of their time and give feedback on their work. This will help them do a better job and respect your time in return.
Making yourself aware of possible problems that often occur in the outsourcing relationship now allows your business to grow by leaps and bounds. Don’t be afraid to start your outsourcing journey, especially that you are now better prepared to do so.
5 Easy to Outsource Tasks for Online Businesses
When you are looking to save yourself time and to make sure that your online business is running to the best of its ability, you will find that one of the things that you should look at is outsourcing. You may consider outsourcing to be something that only huge companies do, but you’ll find that online business and outsourcing are a perfect fit. Because online business calls for a wide variety of skills and talents, no one person can or should tackle them all on their own. There are several tasks that can easily and, more importantly, beneficially be outsourced elsewhere. Here are just a few of them.
Writing
For many people, writing is not a strong point in their business. Therefore, putting well written, action provoking content on their website is a difficult task. However, this is NOT an area to be skimped upon when it comes to online business. The content on a website has a direct effect on search engine rankings. Copy that is neglected will show when it comes to a business’ bottom line. If you find it difficult to get the results you are looking for with your writing, consider outsourcing it to a qualified writer. You will find that there are a ton of freelancers who can help you get the content you want, to help generate sales from your visitors.
Website Design
If you are running an online business, you need to put as much time and effort into your website as you would a brick and mortar store. Getting an attractive, easy to use website is not easy and you will find that there are many professional website designers who are looking to wow you with their expertise. This is something that is well-worth the money spent. You’ll be able to rest assured that your website design is attractive and easy to navigate, which is always a plus for turning visitors into buyers.
Search Engine Optimization
If you run an online business, you already know how important search engine traffic is to your success. In order to rank high for your keywords and phrases, hiring a search engine optimization expert or link-building service will help to put you on the map. Search engine optimization, when done correctly, will increase the traffic to your website and is an easy way to get your business name out there for the entire world to see.
Customer Support
For those who sell a product, whether it’s candles or ebooks, more than likely you will need customer support. Outsourcing is a great deal easier than putting together a full support staff, training them, and then getting them set up with equipment. When outsourcing customer support, you will be making the most out of your time and ensuring that your customers get the most out of their products.
Blogging
If you’ve been online for any amount of time, you already know that Web 2.0 and all that goes with it are important parts of your business. One way to add value to your business is to create a blog. You can easily find a qualified contractor to help you update the blog and provide ghostwritten blog posts for you. A great way to keep in touch with customers, clients and others interested in your business, outsourcing your blog tasks will keep you from overextending yourself.
Outsourcing is something that every business owner, whether large or small, can do to help make their business more successful. Put the work in the hands of the experts and you can focus on the things that you enjoy and come easier to you.
These are only a few of the many business activities that you can outsource.
