Category Archives: Julia’s Blog

Article Automation Rears An Ugly Head

Content is king. You have probably heard that a million times but it’s true. That is why writing articles is one of the most utilized Internet marketing media today. It’s also one of the most abused marketing methods.

The online advertising craze began picking up with the introduction of FFA (Free For ALL) sites. These sites allowed you to submit your link or ad, which slowly rotated off the page as new links were submitted. Once this method of advertising became known, scores of people rushed to FFA sites and began submitting their ads. Programmers invented ways to automate the process of submitting links to hundreds of sites within seconds, causing it to become an ineffective marketing option because of the scores of people who began using this system. Links would rotate off the page within seconds and this eventually led to the downfall and popularity of them.

Another marketing method, which quickly became useless, was banner advertising and exchanges.  People covered their sites with banners, learned how to cheat exchanges and surfers began to train their eyes to ignore them completely. As a result, image advertising also became ineffective.

 

Automated page creation was also a problem as thousands of people began to create gateway pages as a means to draw in the search engines with multiple pages stuffed with keywords to increase their site’s page rank. Gateway page generators automated the process of building these pages and soon they sprang up all over the net. Eventually this fad also became useless due to abuse as well as the introduction of smarter search engine spiders.

 

The latest moneymaking craze is Google Adwords. Once pay-per-click advertising grew in popularity, webmasters discovered how easy it was to earn income by stuffing their sites with useless content in order to profit from textual advertising.  The automation monster appeared again making it fairly easy to submit articles to hundreds of content sites by merely clicking a few buttons.

Search engines have begun penalizing web sites for duplicate content.  In response, new programs are being created which randomize paragraphs and change words within an article to make them unique enough to bypass the duplicate content filters.

Publishers are beginning to recognize the different methods of article abuse and it’s becoming more difficult to get articles approved. As editors begin tiring of trying to keep up with the massive influx of articles that are obviously written for the sole purpose of gaining link popularity or to advertise affiliate links, we will see more article directories shut down.

Is automation really the monster here? I think not!

Automated article submission is a great tool for submitting articles to a large number of sites providing it is used properly. So what’s the problem?

Greed and laziness – plain and simple.

Automation allows writers to submit their articles to many sites quickly and easily, freeing up more time to write original content. The problem comes from those who are always looking for a shortcut to making money, rather than to work for it.

Article marketing abuse will soon reach its peak just as FFA sites, banner advertising and gateway pages did. For now, we can only wait until those hoping to get rich quick find another marketing option to automate and abuse.

 

Three Steps to Write SEO Content and Still Sound Natural

When it comes to tactics and strategies to improve search engine results, there’s really nothing more important than the content on your website. Content, after all, is what the search engines analyze to determine the validity of a webpage and website. For this very reason, many webmasters focus their content efforts with the search engines in mind.

However focusing entirely on your search engine results is a mistake because search engines don’t buy your products or services, they don’t click on your ads and affiliate links and they don’t contribute directly to your bottom line – customers do.

This is why it’s essential that you write your content for your audience first and the search engines second. This, however, presents a conundrum because sometimes it’s difficult to combine the two. Keywords don’t always fit into an article or blog post naturally.

Here are three steps to write your SEO content and still sound natural.

Step One

Research your keywords and keyword phrases. Choose one to focus on in your article and then set it aside.

 Step Two

Write your content, keeping your main keyword topic in mind, without even thinking about keywords and keyword phrases. For example, if your keyword phrase is, “How to housetrain a puppy,” then you’ll write an article about how to housetrain a puppy however as you’re writing it, you’re not worrying about if you’re using the keyword phrase or not. Your entire focus is on writing a quality article for your audience.

Step Three

Working in your keywords. Once your article or blog post has been written, then it’s time to go back with your keyword at the ready. Read through your article and insert this keyword or keyword phrase where it seems to fit naturally. Keep in mind the fact that search engines are also looking for relevant words so if you’re writing about puppy housebreaking, you can also use housetraining and potty training occasionally to break up the monotony and help the search engines recognize the relevance of your article.

When inserting your primary keyword or keyword phrase keep in mind the places the search engine spiders are going to look.

 

  • Your headline
  • Your subheadings
  • Your first paragraph
  • Your last paragraph
  •  In the body of the article

When using your keywords aim for a density of about three to seven percent. Anymore and search engines might recognize your content as being keyword stuffed. To determine percentage simply take the number of times you use your keyword and divide it by the total words. Therefore, if you have a 450 word article and you use your keyword 18 times you have a keyword density of four percent.

Once you’ve completed your article, read it aloud to see if it sounds natural. This is one of the best ways to evaluate it. Remember to keep your audience in mind first and the search engines second – this strategy will always pay off.

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Increase Your Online Visibility and Traffic by being a Guest Blogger

Getting traffic to your website isn’t just about building links and ranking in the search engines. That’s just one source of potential customers. Social media is the next source that most people consider and that’s definitely a way to increase your reach. The truth is that the more visible you are online, the more traffic you will get. That’s why guest posting on other people’s blogs can increase the traffic to your own site exponentially.

How does being a guest blogger work?

When you write an article for another website, all the people who visit that site will see what you’ve written. If it’s well written and engaging they will read the entire article and see the author box which gets included at the end of every guest post. If they enjoyed your article, they may then click on one of the links you’ve included in your bio. That’s where your traffic comes from. And this is traffic that wouldn’t necessarily have found you in any other way.

In addition, if you can create a conversation by encouraging people to comment on your guest post, you can increase traffic even more. Readers start to make a connection with you through the comments and want to learn more by clicking on your avatar that links to your site.

4 Keys to getting traffic from being a guest blogger:

 

  1. Write quality posts on relevant topics. You should always be presenting your best quality writing anywhere you post. However, when you write for another person’s blog you also need to choose topics that are highly relevant to their readers (as well to your own market). They won’t read your article if it’s not relevant to them and the guest blog owner may not want to publish it otherwise.
  1. Select sites whose readers are your target market. Choose the places you guest post carefully to make the most out of your efforts. Find ones that get a decent amount of traffic from people that you are trying to attract as customers. Gaining highly targeted traffic is one of the biggest benefits of guest posting.
  1. Always keep track of comments. As soon as you know the post has been published, subscribe to the comments so that you’ll be able to respond. Whenever someone makes a comment, be sure to leave your own response right away. They will appreciate it and often click through on your link.
  1. Write a tempting bio box. There’s no point writing an amazing guest post just to have a boring author bio at the end that leads to nowhere. Write a few words about yourself and then invite readers to click on a specific link for something, such as a special offer, report, free giveaway, etc.

What to write in your guest blog post

Here are just a few ideas for topics you can write as guest blog post on:

  • Create an FAQ about a topic related to your industry
  • Describe the most common mistakes people make in your market
  • Share your own experience with a relevant tool or tactic
  • Do a Top Ten list of best practices for success in your market
  • Write a “how to” tutorial on a topic that typically challenges people

If your guest blog posts are valuable and well-written, they will increase your visibility as an expert in your field. If the sites you choose to guest blog on have readers in your target market, you will start drawing more and more traffic to your site. And, as targeted traffic, these are the readers who are most likely to become long term readers and customers of your own.

 

 


Tips To Understanding WordPress

WordPress is probably best known around the internet business world as a blogging software but in reality it is much more than that. It also has amazing earning potential capabilities as well as a complete content management system.  If you are an affiliate marketer it can mean increased productivity and less site maintenance that you will have to perform over time.  If you are still trying to decide if wordpress marketing is still for you stop and take some time to think of the following tips.

Flexibility:

WordPress is a very flexible program to work with. No matter if you are choosing to use a post or promoting a product wordpress is able to do both of these.  You also have the option to choose whether you will allow comments on your product page which will allow user generated content on your website which will appear in the form of reader’s comments.  It will also allow you to further customize by choosing if you would prefer to have either a static generated page so that you are allowed to highlight certain products or your mailing lists.

Themes:

You need to remember you only have one chance to impress the visitors to your site. If they are not impressed they will simply not return. With the wordpress software you have the ability to upload the theme of your choice and click a button and you’re done. This saves a lot of time when you consider the option of picking theme after theme just to find the right one which is very time consuming.

The capabilities contained in word press make modifying your site simple and saves you loads of time.  You will be able to customize the look of your wordpress on whether your visitors will look at the home page, a category page, or a single entry page. The choice is yours with a simple click of your mouse.  This gives you the power to optimize each area of your site which will lead to higher conversion rates.

Plugins:

As most people know wordpress is considered a lightweight software program therefore it does not have a lot of capabilities that comes with it.  You can however add plugins to the software.  With these plugins it gives the wordpress program to do a number of different things including, create mailing lists, create affiliate links and track those links, and even allows you to import the affiliate product feeds directly to your site.

Author Management

One important factor of running your affiliate marketing site is learning when and how to delegate. WordPress allows multiple authors you have the authority to easily have other people create as well as add content to your site without having to give out your personal administrative information to these other authors. This will also not give them too much power to your site to where these other authors could just basically take over. They will only get enough power to get their job done and that is it.

Huge Community

Since wordpress is so popular that there are people all over the world who develop add-ons to the wordpress software. These add-ons can include new themes and plugins among others. Some of these people also understand the intricate problems associated with wordpress and will be able to assist you if you would happen to encounter an error. Along with the huge community around the world there are also books that will help you get started with installing and how to use the wordpress software effectively.

As you can see there are a variety of benefits that you can gain from using wordpress software.  What was once used for blogging has now grown into a very powerful program to help you create a site that will draw in the traffic and make money for you.

Don’t Be Afraid of Your Topic…

Have you ever thought why another causes your distress? You just saw its confusing title and it seems to make no sense to you. Or you can’t decide what topic to choose from a countless number of options spinning in your mind. Yes, I will agree with you that sometimes the choice and misunderstanding of the topic are the main hindrances in producing a good writing. But we should overcome this barrier. We will see how to get the meaning of the assigned topic and to choose a winning topic. Your paper suggests a complete exposure of the topic. Sometimes you need just to understand it and that is all.

Try reading the topic several times and find a key word in it, that is the nucleus of your topic. Relate the key word to a specific academic discipline. As you see, careful thinking over the topic helps you to understand that it is not that difficult. Before the main stage of the writing process you should memorize the title of your topic. While working on your paper repeat it constantly and that way you will not get off the point. In many cases teachers give you an opportunity to select the topic on your own. It is difficult to say what is better: to work on the assigned topic or to hesitate which to choose? It depends. We are sure you will determine which variant suits you best. Our aim is to provide you with information that will facilitate your writing procedure.

As you are choosing the topic take into consideration the following ideas:

1) You will never produce a good paper if you don’t feel enthusiastic about the topic. Your choice should be based on the area of your personal interests, preferences and the subjects that appeal to you.

2) Don’t choose the complicated topic. You will waste a lot of precious time in search of necessary information and even more time to make some sense of it. Besides there is a risk of finding nothing and then all you have to is to order .

3) Narrow your topic. It is impossible to cover a general topic in your paper. Extract more specific and particular issue from a general topic. That way you will have an opportunity to give a deeper and more detailed discussion of the question.

4) Your topic should give opportunities for doing your independent research, in which you will demonstrate your skills and abilities to collect, assemble, generalize and analyze facts and documents. We want to wish you inspiration, concentration and not so much perspiration with your term paper. Remember, when you make a choice it must be the best!

Preparing For the Holidays: Ho Ho Ho… or Bah Humbug!

Here are some great tips for organizing your holiday: Some of my clients dread the holiday season because it often represents stress, pressure, expectations, guilt, disappointment, pain, loneliness, exhaustion… and the list goes on.

This is a choice. We choose who we spend time with. We choose what activities we say yes and no to. We choose where we go. Your holiday season can be as simple or as elaborate as you choose to make it, and it can be a lot of fun if you plan accordingly.

Take some time this week to think about what’s most important to you this season, and then do a little planning. Here are some suggestions to help.

Create a list of holiday rituals that are important to you.

Seek your family’s input on holiday decisions. Ask family members what they liked and disliked about last year’s holidays. Write down the most important elements and activities you wish to include this year, and plan to make it happen.

Keeping time-consuming and irrelevant traditions or rituals “just because we’ve always done it that way” can increase stress. Keep only those traditions that have meaning to you, or create some new ones.

Give yourself permission to be in the moment and enjoy the smells, sounds, feel, and tastes that are unique to this season of the year.

Make a list of those you want to spend time with during the holidays.

Who nourishes you? Who are the family members, friends, and colleagues you enjoy being with?

Do you want to do any entertaining? If so, when and with whom? Plan ahead and ask for help if you want it. True friends and loved ones will not care how many hours you slaved over the stove. Spending time with you is what they’ll cherish most. You don’t have to be Martha Stewart to throw a great party!

Are you invited to holiday parties that you really don’t want to go to, but you’ve gone in the past because you should? Be at choice — don’t play the victim! This is not about whom you should see, but rather whom you choose to spend time with.

Mail your greeting cards, holiday letters, and packages early.

Some time-saving tips:

Write a short holiday letter that covers the highlights; copy it on holiday paper and add a note at the end to personalize it. Make a collage of pictures to photocopy on the back side of the letter.

Use self-adhesive return labels. These labels are inexpensive and often come with festive holiday designs. One great online source for these is Walter Drake at http://www.wdrake.com. Colorful Images is another source. They can be reached at 800-458-7999 .

If you have your addresses on a computerized database, consider printing out your mailing list on clear address labels. Years ago, an old college friend commented that she thought it was tacky to use address labels on holiday cards and letters. I told her that my choice was to either use labels or not mail our annual holiday letter to the 250 people on our list. Now that she has a young family, I’ve noticed she has started using address labels, too!

E-mail a holiday letter to those with whom you correspond electronically. You can easily personalize this for each recipient. Attach color photos highlighting the past year. Another alternative is to create a holiday web page, and include the link to it in a personalized e-mail message.

Mail packages early to avoid longer lines at the post office and ensure they will arrive in time. Or, better yet, sign up with Stamps.com and avoid the lines altogether. You can mail large packages without standing in any lines — as long as you have an accurate way to weigh them before you purchase postage online.

Thoughtfully plan your gift-giving.

Give from the heart… not out of obligation. Decide whom you choose to give to and make a list. This will help you avoid overspending through impulse buying.

If you think back to the most cherished gifts you have received, they are often homemade or from the heart. A gift of time — such as a gift certificate redeemable for an activity you can do together — can be very meaningful. Among the most prized gifts I’ve ever received have been homemade cards with a heartfelt note written inside. Value goes far beyond the cost of the gift.

A great resource for homemade gift ideas is a book called The Perfect Mix. It contains creative edible gift ideas, including wrapping suggestions and tag instructions, along with a source guide for supplies. The book offers more than 90 recipes for soups, breads, muffins, cookies, and other gifts. The gifts I’ve created from this book have been very well received and appreciated.

Instead of exchanging gifts with friends, consider having a holiday or post-holiday party with them.

Avoid parking hassles, gridlock traffic around the malls, and long lines at the register by shopping online and through catalogs. A number of retail stores now offer merchandise online, as well. If you are purchasing a gift that needs to be mailed, you can arrange to have it sent directly to the recipient, thus avoiding the extra steps of wrapping, labeling, and mailing the gift.

Spread out your purchase of gifts over the weeks of November and early December. It’s easier on the budget, and less stressful than waiting until the last minute.

Wrapping gifts can take a lot of time. Instead of wrapping all of them, use a gift bag with a nice bow tied at the top, or use a decorated gift box.

Consider giving an alternative gift to a friend or loved one by giving to a charity in their name. One of my favorite charities is Heifer Project International. Through living gifts of animals, HPI is helping families worldwide to become self-reliant. You can buy an animal that can change the life of a hungry family and at the same time honor family and friends. Visit HPI’s “gift catalog” at http://catalog.heifer.org/index.cfm.

Spread the holiday cheer with those in need.

Volunteer to serve a holiday meal to the homeless, work in a soup kitchen, or work at a food bank.

Adopt a family for the holidays and provide them with gifts or holiday foods. Many churches and non-profit organizations can match you with a needy family.

Look for a Giving Tree in your local retail stores. The tree is filled with cards that list a specific gift desired by someone in need. You select a card off the tree, purchase the suggested gift listed on the card, and return the gift to the tree with the card attached. The store wraps the gift and delivers it to the intended recipient.

The end of the tax year is a great time to review your budget and consider a year-end gift to your favorite charities. This can represent a significant tax deduction if you itemize, while doing great things locally and globally.

Use your calendar.

Now that you’re clear about your intentions, calendar them in. Writing them down for follow-up on a specific date will help you to remember to do it and will keep things from falling to the last minute. Here is a list of activities you can pencil in on your calendar:

Schedule family meeting to discuss plans and intentions for the holiday season
Make airline, hotel, and rental car arrangements (if traveling out of town for the holidays)– ASAP!
Holiday decorating (indoor, outdoor, office, etc.)
Finalize holiday entertainment plan and guest list
Mail invitations or call to invite others to events you have planned
Meal planning and preparation (can some cooking be done ahead of time and frozen?)
Prepare gift list
Holiday gift making/holiday baking
Gift selection & purchase
Gift wrapping
Prepare mailing list or database for holiday cards/letters/e-mails
Prepare holiday cards, letters, e-mails, Website
Mail cards, letters, packages
Gather information about volunteer opportunities and calendar in activities you choose to do
Finalize charitable giving plan for 2000

Happy holiday organizing!

Article Source: Kathy Paauw, President of Paauwerfully Organized

What Is The Truth About Search Engine Optimization?

A great many people within today’s world believe that websites are a quick ride to fame and fortune overnight. These same folks also believe they can become successful without putting in hard work. I am here to tell you; this very rarely happens and if it does it is accomplished by those with experience; in internet marketing.

Most people are also sold on the dream that SEO is the cure-all to their financial woes and they are going to become rich. Successful websites are not always successful in the beginning and sometimes beginning an internet website can prove to very difficult and time consuming.

Google Search Engine Marketing:

Google is a search engine that your internet website must be listed within. Keep in mind that Google has approximately fifty billion internet web pages, which increases daily. You have to ask yourself with those kind of figures, why should Google index your one little business website? To be frank you may not get indexed if you’re aren’t careful.

Your website is completed now what?

More than likely when your website is completed, it will join a huge population of other websites while sitting dormant. There are of course ways to list your business but a word of warning, this sometimes can prove complex and is very easy to make a mess of it; if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Search Engine Optimization:

When your website is up and running, you must jump into what is called “Search Engine Optimization”. SEO is not a one-step process. SEO is something, which must be performed often in order to retain your search engine rankings.

Your goal should be to bring customers to your website:

You must also market your site, in order for your products and services to get in front of your potential customers. Keep in mind, you must first draw these potential customers into your business website before you call sell them anything.

Long waiting periods and frustration

Some business website owners complain of a long waiting period, while they wait to appear on the Google Search engine. The truth is that more than likely you are going to wait quite a while before internet traffic will find your business within the Google Search engine. SEO is not the cure all for your marketing strategies and frankly, you would make a mistake if you solely depend on it for your marketing strategy.

Alternatives to search engine marketing

Some great alternatives are email marketing, article marketing, blogging, newsletters and AdWords and others. These are traditional methods within the internet advertising arena’s and have been found to work from not only a cost effective standpoint; but a time-efficient standpoint as well.

Is search engine marketing truly crucial for your marketing needs?

Some marketing experts will gladly inform you, that your business should not rely on Google or the other search engines for success. As a businessperson you should not expect to make all your money through search engines. However the search engines should be incorporated into a well rounded marketing plan.

Article Writing: 6 Ways Articles Increase Your Prospects, Publicity & Profits

Writing articles and marketing with articles is one of the best and fastest ways to market your business. In fact, if you can write a 6 item grocery list, you can write an article that will help you increase your prospects, publicity and profits.

Here are 6 ways that you can benefit from articles:

1. Articles will quickly position you as an expert in your field.
The written word is incredibly powerful. Writing articles sets you apart from your competition. You never have to say “Listen to me, I’m an expert!” Your articles do that for you, because articles increase your “expert-ability.”

2. Articles can become little 24/7 salespeople.
Once you have an article published, especially on the internet, you now have a 24 hour, 7 day a week, 365 day a year international salesperson working specifically for you and your business.

3. Just one article can be used in many ways. This is called leverage. Just one article can be used as a free report, a bonus, featured in a newsletter or ezine, become part of an online e-course, become part of a book, and can be used in many other ways.

4. Marketing articles is simple, easy and inexpensive, especially when compared to other ways of marketing online.
It costs you nothing to write an article. It also costs you nothing to have it listed on article directories such as EzineArticles.com. Imagine what it would cost you to pay for that kind of exposure and publicity.

5. Articles can help you build a mailing list that you can market to over and over again.
Once you have a few articles out there, you will reach a certain critical mass where the prospects begin to flow in. Continue to grow past the critical mass, and you will grow to the point where you could not stop the traffic and prospects flowing in if you wanted to.

6. Articles allow you to stay in touch with customers/clients and sell more products or services.
We know that it can take from 5 to 8 times or more that you contact a new prospect to be ready to become a customer. Articles allow you to stay in touch with prospects and provide them with quality information.

These six benefits are really just the tip of the iceberg of all the many benefits of article writing and article marketing. Please feel free to leave a comment if you find this article useful.