Articles are a powerful way to generate traffic, in addition to bringing you a whole lot of other benefits. When you post articles, you build credibility and trust which is very important for an online marketer. When readers believe what you have written, they don’t hesitate to click to your site and know more or sign up with you. You build a reputation with your niche market. When you are perceived as trust worthy, you also attract joint venture partners.

How do you write articles that will bring loads of traffic? Here are some tips:

• Your keyword rich articles must be focused to your niche market. Decide who should read your articles and write for them.
• An attention-grabbing headline with your primary keyword tucked into it is essential. People read the headline first, and if they find that it shows a benefit, decide to read the rest of the text. People love useful information, and you should write your title accordingly. Some suggestions are:
  • How to…
  • The complete guide to….
  • The truth about…
  • What you don’t know about ….
• Make sure your article has a proper introduction, flows well into the conclusion and states what action the reader should take after reading it.
• Your resource box at the end of the article is the most important component of your article next to the quality content. This resource box will have your contact information in the form of a link to your website. It must be worded in such a way that there is a call to action - depending on whether you want the reader to sign up for your ezine, purchase your product, claim a free report, etc. Your resource box is a lot like an ad so write it with care. Preferably use language your readers will identify with. You must include a benefit to encourage your reader to take immediate action.
• While there is no rule about the length of your article, generally about 500 words should be adequate. Don’t forget to include your keywords.

Articles are an efficient way to get back links and traffic to your website. If you already have a blog, you can always use your own content to write good articles and submit them to article directories. Article directories let you link back to your blog or website via the resource box so that they can generate traffic. Just make sure you have a headline that tempts the reader to get to the whole article.

One method to have your reader clicking to your website or blog is to post a part of the article and at the end, say “part 2 is at link” Your article must be divided at a point where the readers will quickly rush to your link to read the rest of it.

You can post your articles to your blog, your website and on forums. No Internet marketer can afford to ignore article marketing because keyword rich content is the single biggest traffic builder. Search engines love information in the form of articles especially if they are original and updated regularly.

Popularity: 90% [?]

I’ve already shown you how press releases can help in search engine optimization in my last article “How To Increase Your Page Rank In No Time“. But the truth is that a weak press release won’t get you anywhere. In order to get the most out of your online press release, you have to make sure it’s written effectively.

Do You Really Have Something To Say?

One of the main reasons why some press releases don’t work is because they don’t have anything important to say. Remember that a press release is a mix of article and advertisement- it should kindle consumer interest without sounding overtly promotional. Maybe the sleek new design of your website is exciting to you, but is it what other people want to read about? Will it ultimately drive traffic your way?

Here are some questions you should ask yourself when writing your press release:

1. Is my excitement worth a press release? Some things that you can definitely issue press releases for are product launches, poll/survey results, newsletter launches, seminars, classes, books, awards or high profile endorsements
2. Is it strong? A press release has to be written in a clear, strong manner particularly the opening. Ideally, people should grasp the gist of your press release from the headline and opening paragraphs. They should also be sufficiently interested to read on.
3. Is it newsworthy? Remember that you are sending these out to media outlets so your press release has to answer the five ‘W’s of journalism- who, what, when, where and why
4. Is it focused? A press release is not a 300 page essay- in fact, it shouldn’t run for more than one page. Make sure that your content is crystal-clear and to the point.

Content Is Key

It’s rather obvious that the content is the most important part of your online press release. A weakly-written press release will make zero impact on your website traffic. Similarly, a press release on something nobody is interested in won’t help you either. Many people spend days perfecting their online press release before they send it into cyberspace. Others shell out big bucks to hire press release services to do the writing for them.

If you’d rather write your own press release, you’re already at an advantage. You’ll be able to write truly original and unique content which will set your release apart. Remember to use the right keywords. Keywords are as important in a press release as in articles or website content. Make sure you use them coherently and don’t crowd them in one area. Using them twice in the body of the article and once in the opening line should be enough. Make sure that your headline is striking and grabs attention. It’s also a good idea to use anchor text in your press release.

Popularity: 93% [?]

In this article, I am going to cover how you can select the best performing keywords and phrases for your business.

Before I go into that, let’s first discuss the purpose of setting up any business, virtual or real. A business is set up with the intention of making profits from it, right? And how can we make higher profits? There are several ways of doing this actually. The most important ways, however, are:

1. By cutting costs
2. By increasing sales

This article deals with both these methods of increasing revenues and turning your online venture into a money-minting enterprise! But first we’ll see how we can increase the sales volume by attracting more free traffic to your website with the use of correct keywords.

What Are Keywords?

When a person, belonging to the market segment you are targeting at, wants to search for your product on the internet, he opens up a search engine first, like Google, AltaVista, MSN, Yahoo or HotBot. He then enters a specific word, or a combination of words, to search for your product. Then, depending upon how well a particular webpage has been optimized for that specific combination of words, it is displayed in the search results. Needless to say, the better optimized pages are displayed first, and as such, they have a higher probability of a click through, leading to a potential sale.

Keyword Research And Analysis

This means that if you want to increase traffic to your website, you need to find out what keyword combinations in your industry are being searched for the most, and then optimize the pages in your site accordingly, so that they are displayed at the top positions in the search engine results. This is what is called keyword research and analysis.

In simple words, keyword research helps in searching for competitive keywords and phrases, and then analyzing those keywords and phrases in order to surpass your competition.

1. Keyword research helps you find the number of times a particular keyword has been searched for.
2. It also gives you the alternate phrases that can be used for a particular keyword.
3. Keyword research lists your various competing sites for that particular keyword.
4. It helps you track your website’s search engine position for the various keywords and phrases related to your product niche.
5. Keyword analysis helps you optimize your pages for certain keywords and phrases, based on keyword density and keyword location.

Use Of Automated SEO Software For Keyword Research And Analysis

By using some SEO software for keyword research and analysis, you are able to:

1. Completely automate the entire process of research, analysis, and optimization which is associated with highly targeted keywords
2. Quickly analyze why a particular website has a higher ranking for a certain keyword or phrase
3. Conduct a quick and easy automatic optimization of your web pages for the specified keyword phrases, turning them into lean and mean search engine magnets

Popularity: 19% [?]

All Internet marketers maintain a meticulous action list of the important activities involved in running their business. But there are some crucial mistakes that must be avoided and we have carefully compiled this list. These can make all the difference in making sure your business flourishes. In fact, you might like to even print and use this as a ready reference checklist. Here it is:

• If you are running a particular promotional campaign do not group all the keywords in your list. For example if you short-listed fifty keywords for this promotion split them into smaller subgroups with related keywords. You could even have separate landing pages for each of these subgroups, enabling your focussed traffic to find it easier to navigate. The more specific you get, the more the chances of your niche market reaching you.
• Do not forget to use square brackets around your keywords and key phrases. By using square brackets you can get your ad noticed easily when this particular keyword is searched for.
• Do not set your keywords with Google AdWords and leave it at that. Constant tracking is necessary to know which keywords are profitable. This will help you drop the ones that are not. You can also reallocate your promotional dollar to focus on those that bring in results.
• Do not ignore grammatical errors, dead links and complex web pages. Just imagine visiting a sloppy website where links lead to a 404 error page - it’s the best way to lose a customer. No one has the time to browse around a website that is complicated and ill maintained. Links must point to the intended web pages, audio and video clips.
• Do not underestimate the importance of using reviews as a promotional method. Reviews make you appear as a fair unbiased marketer who prefers to be honest. As an Internet marketer you will obviously use forums and blogs - so make sure writing reviews is a regular activity. And enjoy the sales that pour in.
• If your traffic is not targeted, you cannot have consistent sales and you cannot track your activity. Be wary of traffic sources you did not target - like pop unders, free links etc.
• Not making an action plan is the worst mistake an Internet marketer can make. You cant set up a website, run a Google ad and relax hoping things will take care of themselves. When your customer places an order, they must be directed to your autoresponder. When your visitor asks a question, they must be directed to your frequently answered questions page.
• Do not analyze every how-to ebook or report you read too deeply. The time could be better spent on actual practice and experimentation. In many instances learning is better through action.
• Do not lose focus on the system you have set up after a lot of research. It is necessary to be organized and stay through with what you plan until it runs on autopilot.

It is not unnatural to want to respond to every new strategy that is promoted or launched in the market, but then there will never be an end to it. What is listed above is just a partial list.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Two excellent reasons for search engine optimization are: high rankings with the search engines, increased traffic, letting your visitors find you easily and of course, profits.

A short note on keywords here - be ready with your list of keywords and key phrases. Basic search engine optimization starts with keyword location. Here are some tips on where to place keywords:

1. Title tag - to help the search engine know what the page is about. Title tag is right at the top of your page within the ‘head’ tags. Placing the keyword here will attract focussed traffic to your website. Since it is the text in the title tag that is visible to the traffic, use the text keyword there.
2. The keywords you use in the anchor text must be the ones used to link to that page with other pages on your website. Try and link as many keywords as possible to a specific page
3. The text in the title tag must also appear in the body of the page so that the search engines know that it relates to the title. It will also let your traffic know that they are in the right place for the info they are looking for. The same keywords must be used in the text of the content on the page.
4. Avoid using the same title tag on all pages of your website. If you do this, the search engines will assume that all pages are identical and wont index them. Use the headline of your page as the title tag. This will tell the search engines what the page pertains to and index it.
5. Keyword stuffing is bad practice. Spamming the description or keyword meta tag must also be avoided.
6. Forget about link farms - search engines don’t approve of them. when you link to another site, you must make sure that the content is complementary and relates to your site.
7. In your navigation menu, put links instead of images - search engines cannot read images. Instead, use keywords in these links so that when your visitor has the mouse over these links the title of the link is visible to them.
8. If you have to have images, describe them with the alt tag. Search engines will find it easy to index these images and find your page. it will also help view your website in any browser.
9. Preferably go for manually submitting your website to the search engines. The use of submission software could make you end up paying a penalty or even getting banned. Once submitted, the search engine robots will follow your links and index your website.

You must also use your keywords in domain name, file names and folders. Make sure you have a site map for your website for easy navigation. Good content goes without saying.

Popularity: 26% [?]

AdSense is an advertising program that has been developed by the people at Google. When you have AdSense running on your website or blog, Google places a number of text ads on your page. These are related to the content on your page. For example, if your website page is about car repairs, then AdSense runs ads about cars or auto mechanics- these usually appear along the side or at the top of the website. Every time someone clicks on an ad, you make money. This is fundamentally how AdSense works.

AdSense is both appealing and easy, and it essentially means that your website will start making money on its own- you don’t have to do anything. Just let the ads run and you get to cash the checks. But for many people, sometimes these checks are hardly anything to write home about. Perhaps they earn a couple of hundred every few months but that’s it. And yet there are a number of other people who are earning anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 every month with AdSense. What’s the secret? Why is it that some people are earning a pittance with AdSense and others are getting big bucks?

The Big Secret

The secret to AdSense is that there is no real secret- these people just have a keener sense of how AdSense works. Let’s break it down to basics- AdSense works on keywords. Some keywords are worth only one cent while other keywords can bring in nearly twenty dollars per click. High-end keywords would be those that are used the most often in search engines, like travel, diet or credit repair. Naturally, the more high-paying keywords you have in your website, the more money you’ll make, correct?

Technically, yes. But remember that you only get paid if people click on the ads. If your website is just stuffed with keywords and the content makes no sense, then people are not going to click on your ads either. That means that you’re not going to make any money at all. So you need to make sure your content is relevant to these high-paying AdSense keywords as well. For instance, ‘attorney’ is a popular keyword that can bring in a lot of money. To make AdSense work best for you, you need to provide good content on attorney information that will encourage the reader to click on the ads.

Popularity: 22% [?]