Top Seven Ways How Writing Articles Can Explode Your Business

By Nikki Mhlanga

The importance of attracting highly targeted traffic to your website cannot be overemphasized. Routing web traffic to your site can be your only means of survival, especially in the very competitive ecommerce world. Getting a high search engine ranking can be very difficult. Fortunately, there is plethora of website promotion strategies you can use to drive traffic to your website.

There is a wide variety of strategies you can adapt, from paid advertising to affiliate marketing. However, most of these techniques require payment. Nevertheless, there are ways to promote your website and increase your web traffic without spending anything.

Writing articles is one of the best web site promotion strategies you can use, and they can be very effective. How, you may ask, can writing articles help improve your web traffic? Here are the top seven ways in which it can help explode your business.

1. Reach more people When you write good articles, you must share them with other people, and attract traffic to your site in the process. You can post your articles in your website or you can submit them to other sites such as e-zines and online publishers. By submitting your articles to these sites, you give exposure not only to your ideas but also to your website. Simply include a link back to your site or include your information in the resource box. With this, you get exposure and free advertising as well.

2. Free Advertising Submitting your articles to other websites presents an opportunity to advertise your website without paying exorbitant fees. Although you should avoid marketing language in your articles and make it informative and useful to your readers, you can always include your site's link in the resource box. In addition, by making your article relevant and helpful to your readers, you are making a good impression for your website, which could ultimately lead to a visit and hopefully a purchase. Good quality content in an article is far better and more effective than a few lines of ad space.

3. Gain High Search Engine Ranking Create a new web page for your article in your website. Optimize your article to make it search-engine friendly. Use top-ranked keywords and Meta tags that can give your website a high search engine ranking. As soon as you upload your new webpage to your server, search engines will spider through it and you can gain an increase in search engine ranking. Remember that search engine optimized content is a very effective strategy to gain a high ranking in search results.

4. Increases Link Popularity

Instead of looking for other sites who would want to establish reciprocal links with your site, you can simply submit an article to other sites. Just do not forget to include a link to your site in your resource box. When these websites pick up and publishes your article, you automatically get a link partner. Link popularity is one of the factors used by search engines in determining search engine rankings. Make your article especially useful and appealing, so that more websites will be encouraged to publish it.

5. Optimizes your site for improved search engine ranking

By making your site keyword rich, you can greatly improve the search engine ranking of your site. Remember that keyword density is one of the most important factors that search engines use when determining the search engine ranking of site. However, you should always provide relevant, useful and pertinent information. Avoid the temptation of overusing keywords just to gain a high ranking as this may turn off most web surfers. Relevance and quality is still the most important things to consider when writing articles and it will be doubly useful to your site if you make these articles search-engine optimized.

6. Establishes a Good Impression and Reputation

By writing excellent, original and relevant articles, you not only give your site exposure, you are also creating a good impression on your prospects. Encourage more people to visit your site and do business with you by establishing an impressive reputation through your articles. Be seen as an expert in the field and your will ultimately gain more customers eager to do business with you.

7. Enhances your credibility through references and testimonies

Certainly, your articles are going to receive feedbacks and testimonies when you publish them in e-zines and free article sites. Record these positive feedbacks and comments and use them as promotional material in your website or in any of your advertising efforts. Your credibility will be greatly enhanced by these feedbacks, as it will create a good impression on your prospects as well as your existing customers.

Original, relevant, useful and pertinent articles are important tools you should utilize to improve and explode your business.

About the Author:

For 3 Easy Steps To Make Money Online, Visit: http://www.smart-homebiz.com/pips.html

Branding, Branding, Brand-Ing? :: MSN Fails To Keep It Straight

By Rob Sullivan

Sometimes you see promotions come along and you wonder - did they just do that? The current MSN promotion - msnsearchandwin is a prime example of this.

Not only do they use "black hat" or at least "questionable" tactics on the site, but the messaging is inconsistent.

In this article I look at the new MSN promotion and ask the question: Why bother?

By now you've probably heard about the new MSN promotion where you can win prizes simply by using MSN search.

They did do something right by registering a domain name that implies that message. If you go to http://www.msnsearchandwin.com/ you will see the familiar MSN search box.

Wait a minute...Why is this search box blue? Didn't MSN just rebrand with a nicer, cleaner silver grey look?

That, my friends, is mistake number one. It's as if the technical team and the marketing team didn't get together to discuss this program.

I mean, when you go through something as complex and massive as a rebranding, you should make sure the messaging is consistent across the various media. Especially when the promotion and the rebranding launch within days of each other.

This is eerily similar to the article I wrote about Superbowl Ads:
http://www.textlinkbrokers.com/blogs/comments/329_0_1_0_C/. In that article I talked about how advertisers spend millions on a 30 second or 1 minute TV commercial yet they fail to carry that messaging over onto their website effectively if at all.

And here we have MSN - probably one of the most recognized brands on the web and subsidiary to the company with one of the most effective and ruthless marketing arms in the world - and it can't seem to communicate it's message that MSN is rebranding.

I mean, how hard would it have been for someone in Tech to phone up someone in Marketing and say, "By the way, you know that search and win promotion you are doing? Be sure that the colors match the new look of MSN that's launching in a few days."

But wait, it gets better.

First spotted by http://www.kerrydean.com/blog/, if you view source of the msnsearchandwin home page what do you see?

That's right, about a million keywords stuffed into the keywords tag. (OK maybe not a million but there are 256 keywords in the meta keywords tag).

It gets worse. Immediately below the overstuffed keywords tag you will see a bunch of keywords stuffed into a comments tag. Again the same 256 words used in the meta keywords tag.

So tell me, is it OK for a search engine to spam itself?

Perhaps we could all learn a little something from MSN's marketing mistake: Keep it consistent!

About The Author:

Rob Sullivan is a SEO Consultant and Writer for http://www.textlinkbrokers.com. Textlinkbrokers is a link building company. Please provide a link directly to Textlinkbrokers when syndicating this article.

Someone Stole My Site: How To Defend Yourself When Someone Plagiarizes Your Text

By Karyn Greenstreet.

I knew one day it would happen. Someone stole the text from my website and used it on their own website. Dirty rotten scoundrels!

According to the US Copyright Office website (http://www.copyright.gov):

"Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work."

What Do You Do?

Here are some ways to discover which sites have stolen your text:

1. Find some text on your website that is so "you" that it's unlikely that anyone else would write a phrase or sentence that way. Go to http://www.google.com, and put that phrase or sentence into their search, within quotation marks. For example, one phrase that of my own that I searched on looked like this: "you'll end up struggling to make your business a success, and all your passion and enthusiasm will drain away." (Go ahead, type it into Google and see who's got my text on their site.) You have to put the phrase within quotation marks so that Google knows to search for the whole phrase with all the words right next to each other.

2. Make note of the sites that have the same text as yours. While it is completely possible in millions and millions of websites that someone might have written the exact same phrase, it's worth investigating every site that comes up.

3. Another great place to search for plagiarized sites is http://www.copyscape.com

Here are some steps to getting a site to take down plagiarized text:

1. Gather as much information about the offending site as you can.

2. Print out all pages from their site where the plagiarized text resides.

3. Try to find a contact name, phone number and email address from the site.

4. Go to http://www.internic.net/whois.html and get all their registration information. If they are not in the USA, go to Google and type in "whois" plus the name of their country. You should be able to find a whois site that can get their DNS record for you.

5. Go to http://www.alexa.com and find whatever information you can there.

6. Finally, write to the offending site owner and tell them that you found plagiarized text on their site. List the URLs of the offending pages along with the copyrighted URLs of your own pages. Give them two or three days to either delete the pages, or re-write them so that they no longer include your text.

This is not the time to play nice guy! Tell the offending site owner that you are copying their hosting company and domain registrar on the letter or email, and do so.

Make sure when you write this email or letter, you don't use any passive language, and do not say "please". Demand your rights. It is illegal and unethical for them to do what they did and they need to stop doing it immediately.

Another great resource is http://www.waybackmachine.org.

This allows you to check what their websites looked like throughout the years. You may be able to pinpoint the date when those people served themselves with a hefty spoon of your web content.

Someone pointed out to me that sometimes the offender is the website designer, not the owner of the site. If you are an owner of a site, and you did not write your own text, ask your designer where he or she got the text. Make it clear to them that you will not tolerate any plagiarized text and that you will hold them legally responsible in any charge or lawsuit that comes up over the copy on your website.

Some final notes:

Always put a copyright statement on your site. If it took you a long time to write your text, you should be the only one benefiting from it, not some unethical person who is looking for a shortcut.

If the site doesn't comply with your request, you might have to get your attorney involved. Only you can decide if the expense of an attorney is worth it for you.

I have written to the six sites that stole my text. Two have complied and taken down the offending pages within three days of my request. If the others don't comply, I will be posting their websites in my blog. I'm not afraid of a little publicity, but I bet they are.

About the Author:

Karyn Greenstreet is a Self Employment expert and small business coach. She shares techniques, skills and strategies with self-employed people to boost motivation, create clear goals and cohesive plans, and increase profits. Visit her website at http://www.PassionForBusiness.com

Write A Winning Business Plan-The Neatest Trick In The Book

By MaryAnn Shank

"Writing a business plan" sounds really tough, and it can be. But there are a number of things the smart entrepreneur can do to make it easier.

For instance, justwhatkindofstuffyouthinkgetsreadlikethis? Imagine pages full of that, with virtually no margins, no paragraph breaks, no breathing room. Lenders, investors and angel investors are confronted with piles of business plans like that every day.

Take a breath. Then lure your reader into the plan with snappy headlines and easy to read formatting.

Do you know why the Wall Street Journal and USA Today use headlines? Because it's the only way anyone will read a story. More to the point, it's the only way anyone will buy their paper. (Mmmm, sounds like you may have something in common with newspapers.)

Take a look at your favorite newspaper. Those headlines tell a story. Sometimes they ooze with conspiracy, and once in a while they stand majestic. Note:

Martha Jailed
The War is Over
The Watergate Starts to Smell

Your business plan needs to do no less. The headlines and section heads need to draw the reader in, not with an announcement, but with an invitation. Compare these:

The Executive Team
The Audio Industry
The Advisory Board

with these:

Strong Executive Team is Led by Industry Insider
Audio - the Industry that Reinvents Itself
7 Top Scientists Lead the Advisory Board

So which set are you going to read?

Lenders of all ilk get far too many business plans - certainly more than they can possibly fund. Simply getting your business plan read is a big step in the right direction.

Try this trick. Imagine that you are indeed writing a newspaper, one that competes with another strong paper in your town. What headline would you put on that paper to encourage readers to buy yours, and not the other?

Honesty, of course, is essential. But within that honesty there are a thousand ways to make the same statement. How many ways are there to say that it is spring time?

· It is spring
· It is April 22
· Lilacs are in bloom
· Snow is melting in the mountains
· Baseball camps are in full force

And how many ways are there to say that your business idea is a good one?

· This is a good idea
· An innovative approach
· A sure-fire winner
· A strong contender for funding
· A strong team in an equally strong market
· Lots of community support
· This fills a need in the marketplace
· The company draws on the experience of each of its members
· Two years of strong growth
· Impressive projections

Now jot down some headlines for your company. You may or may not be able to use them. Try first just to jot down every idea, a brain storming session.

Now use the best of those headlines to help structure your business plan. If "Nobel Prize Winner Heads Advisory Board" is your strongest headline, then lead with that story. If "A Prime Location in a Prime Shopping Center" is your strongest headline, then that is your lead.

Let the strength of the headlines pull your business plan up a notch or two. The power of your business may surprise even you!

Before you actually begin writing, take the time to really look at a good publication, something like the Wall Street Journal. Look at the styling and the use of headlines and sub-heads. Note how the ideas keep a steady flow, with an invitation to read.

Your business plan likely won't look like the venerable WSJ, or any other major publication, but odds are that it will look a whole lot better than most, and it will therefore be read much more readily. And that, after all, is what you are after.

About The Author:

MaryAnn Shank is an innovative pro in the world of business plans. The best of traditional and cutting edge techniques are at her website http://www.businessplanmaster.com .

How to Advertise To Your Opt-in Newsletter List, For Maximum Profit

By Cathy Qazalbash

Your opt-in or business list is the most valuable asset to your business. Your subscribers have made a positive decision to voluntary subscribe to your free newsletter. Subscribers to your newsletter are potential customers for you and deserve to be treated like the VIPs they are. Before advertising to them in the form of Solos and other ads in your newsletter, keep a few points in mind:

1. Create trust -credibility

2. Do not over advertise

3. Do opinion Polls/surveys to find what subscribers like

4. Target your advertising

Create trust -credibility: Good content in your newsletter will do this. Info articles and tips are the main source of content. If possible use either freshly written articles or write your own. Tips are always popular, small jokes and sayings are often used to lighten up the newsletter. All these things will help your readers enjoy their newsletter and when you publish a good quality newsletter it will boost your credibility and create trust with your subscribers.

Do not over advertise: This is a common mistake with publishers. A little advertising in the newsletter and not too many Solos will make your readers more responsive and less likely to unsubscribe. Too many ads in the newsletter and sending too many Solos will cut down your subscribers and less people will actually read your ads.

Opinion polls and surveys are useful for finding out what your subscribers are interested in. Make these short and simple and always respond to those who take the trouble to fill them out. Surveys are a very valuable way of keeping in touch with your readers and builds rapport. This means you can advertise what they need and get a better response, and sales.

Targeting your ads. Advertise according to your topic. For instance if you are a marketing home business newsletter try to keep your ads in this topic, do not advertise gardening things. Your readers will expect to be offered tools, products and services specifically designed to help them in their businesses.

Fine-Tune Your Advertising To Ensure Success

Advertising your business is more than putting out a few ads and hoping for the best. Your advertising campaign needs constant testing and monitoring, to ensure success. Here are some of the ways you can do this.

1. Monitoring (tracking)

2. Testing

3. Researching publications

4. Keeping Records

Monitoring: It is critical to your advertising campaign to monitor and track all your ads. In this way you can tell exactly which ones are working and those that that are failing. This will save you a lot of time and money. Here is a good ad tracker http://www.adminder.com/go.cgi?id=cathyayb

Testing: Testing ads will ensure you have the best ad for your market, Split test 2 classifieds 1st, then take the best performer and expand into a Solo. You will save money by testing cheaper ads before you send out expensive Solos.

Researching publications: When advertising in publications do your research before placing your ad. Subscribe to the ezine/newsletter and see what sort of readers they are targeting. You will be able to assess this by the type of ads they run on a regular basis, and the articles they publish. Check out the amount of ads and how many are in the publication (less ads equals better response)

Keeping Records: Note which ezines were successful and the ones that produced little or no results. Bigger lists are not always better. Record and note all your ad results. You can use Excell for this as it provides columns, which are easy to use. Note where you advertised, how much they cost size of list, and what success if any you had with the publication. Do not expect stunning results from a publication, that will rarely happen but even if you get a small response repeat the ad for at least 3-4 times, to properly assess the results.

When you fine tune your advertising you will get the maximum "bang for your buck." You will continue to improve your campaign and build your successful business. Not all advertising will work and you may have only small results at 1st but always continue to advertise products/services and you will build your business and expand your clientele.

Keep these points in mind and you will ensure your maximum response to your advertising and even some sales from your readers. Your newsletter is a business tool and your subscribers will
expect some advertising. However remember your subscribers are not just dollar bills and should never feel you are using them. The old cliché "look after your subscribers and they will look after you," holds true for your advertising as well as your newsletter.

About the Author:

Article written by Cathy Qazalbash © Cathy is an experienced freelance writer/copywriter and publisher of the A-Y-B free marketing newsletter
http://advertise-your-business.com
http://copywriting-for-websites.com
http://a1-newsletters.com