Internet Marketing Magpies Anonymous

Guest Blogging – How to get more traffic by recycling your articles

Clare — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:13:30 +0000

If you are looking for unique ways to build your credibility within your market and spread the word about your website or your product then I have the answer for you. Guest blogging. It’s as simple as finding bloggers in your niche, inviting them to publish your content on their blog, and then welcoming their readers to your website.
1. Finding bloggers in your niche
I’m sure you already have a fair idea of the people blogging in your niche. After all they might be your counterparts or you competitors and knowing who they are is all part of your business strategy.
If you don’t then they are really easy to find.
Just go over to Google and type in the name of your niche.
Now click on the Show Options link that appears just below the search box.
Select blogs from the list of results on the left.
There you go, a list of bloggers in your market.
2. Make sure the blogger has readers
You understand the need to get traffic to your blog, that’s why you’re reading this article. We both know that not all bloggers are that switched on. You don’t want to waste your valuable time dealing with bloggers that have no readers; so you need to run some checks.
Visit a few of the sites that appeared in the results and see how many subscribers they have (most people have an RSS badge to show this number off) and how many comments each post has. Subscribers and commenters are a good sign of a strong readership.
3. Contact the blogger
Once you find a handful of blogs showing signs of strong readership you are now ready to contact them and invite them to publish your guest blog post.
Hopefully they have their contact details on their website, but if not you can do a Whois check to find them too.
Send them each a polite email, introducing yourself and sharing your website address. Tell them that you have enjoyed their blog and that you would be interested in writing a guest post for them. You might even want to suggest what the topic might be and why it would interest their readers. Ask them to get in touch if they want to take you up on your offer.
4. Send them the content
I know what you’re thinking, that I’ve missed a step and you don’t have any content. But I know that you do, if you are an article writer then you have a whole stash of content, complete with effective resource boxes, at your fingertips. Simply head over to your Ezine Articles publisher account, pick out a great article and then send it, with the resource box, to the bloggers who agree to host your guest post.
As a tip, it’s usually easiest to do this as a .txt document as pretty much everyone can open those files. To make life easier for the blogger make sure you include the HTML for your links.
5. Welcome their readers to your site
Now all you have to do is sit back and watch your visitor numbers increase once your guest blog post has been published.
6. Go the extra mile
Of course if you want to increase the effectiveness of this campaign you might want to go ahead and promote your guest post. Talk about it on your own blog, post about it on Facebook and Twitter, maybe even bookmark it or Stumble it. You’re spreading the link love to the other blogger’s site and in turn increasing traffic to your own.

Guest blogging can be a really effective way to increase your visibility and credibility within a market as well as driving traffic to your website, and if you write articles then it’s a great way to get more value out of them. For five more ways you can recycle your articles to get more traffic visit http://ultimatetrafficmaster.com

Clare Swindlehurst is a successful UK writer and blogger who has finally discovered the secret to encouraging targeted visitors to visit her website.

A new challenge puts Profitzon to the test

Clare — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:36:26 +0000

Well it would appear that I have a new challenge on my hands! James the Just stopped by the IMMA the other day and left me a comment, on following up said comment I found a post on his blog about how he was going to make money this Christmas with Amazon.

Sound familiar?

James is following the Amazonian Profit plan so I thought it would be a good idea to put that product against Profitzon and see which strategy works best and therefore which product you should spend your hard earned cash on.

So I challenged James to an Amazon Christmas Challenge Duel – and he took me up on the offer

So the rules of the game are:

We follow the instructions in the Amazon product we’re each following
We build a new site from scratch so we can’t benefit from past efforts
We write 5 reviews
And build traffic as set out in the instructions
The site is assigned it’s own tracking ID so that on December 31, 2010 we can see how many purchases have been made via that site and how much money has been earned

I had a product in mind based on some domains I bought a couple of weeks back but this morning I was browsing Amazon and came across a product that I thought would be great to promote. So I did some research and snapped up a domain. Three hours later the site is up, the first review is written and I’ve started some backlinking as per Daniel Brock’s instructions in Profitzon.

Over the coming weeks I’ll add the remaining four reviews and do some more backlinking.

Then I just wait – with fingers crossed and baited breath – to see if Google picks up the site and if people buy the product!

My slight worry at this stage is that I’ve picked a product that is on pre-order, and so the keyword research was lacking. I’ve pretty much taken a punt on this one so let’s see if it pays off

If you want to join in the challenge then feel free, just follow the rules above and post a comment to let us know that you’re in!

Getting Started with Article Marketing

Clare — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:18:51 +0000

Whether you have an online business or an offline business you need people to know that it exists. A great way to drive visitors to your website so that they can learn more about you and your products is to use article marketing. In its simplest form article marketing is just a clever name for writing articles and distributing them to online directories and newsletter publishers as well as newspapers and magazines.

The great thing about writing articles to promote your business is that it’s a low cost marketing method and a great way to drive targeted traffic. A well researched and well written article also goes a long way to establishing you as a credible expert in your chosen niche.

The actual process of article marketing is really simple. You write an article that solves a problem that people in your niche suffer from. You submit the article to the popular article directories like this one. The articles are indexed by the search engines and people come to read them. Hopefully they then find your article useful and they click through to your website to find out more about you and to potentially buy your product.

The key to an effective article is to solve a problem not try and make a sale. For example let’s say that you have created a piece of software that allows garages to keep track of their customers and to send them notifications when it’s time for their MOT or annual service on their car. Rather than writing an article selling your software you would instead write about how difficult it is for the garage owner to retain business, and how the solution might be to establish a contact plan for their customers. Aim for between 300 and 700 words in the article so that it’s long enough to deliver value but not so long they lose interest.

At the end of the article you then include your resource box and give the reader a compelling reason to click on your link. Here’s one way you could do it:

“If you are ready to implement a contact plan into your garage to help you retain business and become more profitable then visit www.garagecontactplan.com to find out more about my set-and-forget contact plan software. You’ll have your plan set up and reminding customers about their upcoming service in no time!”

So in your article you told them how they could solve their problem, and in your resource box you tell them how your product can automate the process so they can stop worrying about retaining customers and concentrate on servicing cars.

Once you are happy with your article check it for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors before you submit it to the article directories.

Profitzon Review – Daniel Brock shows you how to make money with Amazon

Clare — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:07:39 +0000

I thought I’d be brave and create another video review for you so you can learn more about Dan Brock‘s Profitzon course.

If you’re interested in making money online with Amazon then you need to get this course. It’s great for newbies but I’ve been playing with Amazon review sites for a couple of years and I learnt more from this course than I have any other Amazon course. And I increased my commissions too.

Check it out at Profitzon (and yes that is an affiliate link!)

Get More Website Traffic: How to Write 100 Articles in 3 months

Clare — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 08:43:08 +0000

If you need to get more website traffic then you can’t go wrong with an article submission strategy. Article directories are a wonderful source of targeted traffic but to get the most out of your strategy you need to write frequently. Here’s how you can write 100 high quality articles in just three months to kick start your web traffic.

1. Set yourself a deadline and stick to it.

It is entirely possible to write 100 articles in three months so count three months ahead in your calendar and circle the deadline with a fat red pen.

You might find it helpful to count down the days, wither by marking off your calendar or by adding a countdown clock to your computer’s desktop.

2. Stick to a niche that you have an interest in

I’m assuming that you are passionate about the niche that your website relates to. If this is the case then you will find it much easier to write the 100 articles.

Remember you don’t need to think of 100 different topics to write about, in fact it is possible to write numerous articles on one topic if you approach it from different angles and use different article styles each time.

3. Break the elephant into burgers

Have you heard that saying about the easiest way to eat an elephant is by breaking it down into burgers?

If you sit there and think that 100 articles in three months is an unachievable task then you’ll never achieve it. But break the task down into days and suddenly you only need to write 1.1 articles each day.

Better still why not set yourself a target of writing two articles each weekday. That sounds more than doable and in fact you’ll be able to turn out 120 articles in three months!

4. Look for article templates

Article templates are a great way to inspire your writing. Pick a topic and then pick a template and away you go. Here are some to get you started, a Google search will reveal many more:

* Predictions
* How to
* Things I’ve learned
* The year in review
* Pain points
* Current events

5. Do some research

If you’re stuck for ideas the best inspiration can come from other people in your niche. Hang out in forums, read blog comments, search Twitter, visit Yahoo Answers. Just look for places where people are asking questions or sharing their problems and then write an article than gives them the solution that they’re looking for.

Just write those two articles every week day and before you know it you’ll have 120 articles all sending targeted traffic to your website. And even better than that you’ll have a wealth of information that you can recycle to get even more traffic. Offer to submit a guest post, use the information as the basis for forum posts, or even combine several articles into an eBook to giveaway or sell on your blog. The benefits of taking action for three months are endless.

Moving the Free Line

Clare — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 08:35:59 +0000

These days it seems like everyone wants something for nothing. Here’s a video on the interesting concept of “moving the free line” which I think was a phrase originally coined by Eban Pagan.

Perpetual Traffic Formula – Free Report

Today’s Quote

Clare — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:02:44 +0000

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing... that's why we recommend it daily.

No related posts. No related posts.

Forum Marketing – the Right Way to Do It

Clare — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 01:17:25 +0000

Becoming a member of discussion forums in your target niche is a great way to build your credibility as an expert and promote your business. Here are some things you should consider to ensure that you promote your business the right way.

1. Look for popular forums

You can find forums in your niche quite easily by searching for the word forum plus your niche keyword in your search engine of choice. You should choose five to ten forums to focus your efforts on and you need to make sure that they have active members. Look for forums which have at least 10 to 15 posts each day in a variety of topics within your niche.

2. Read the small print

Most forums will have a user agreement and posting guidelines and it is very important that you read these before you sign up.

You need to understand whether you can include a link in your posts or your signature as this is one of the ways you will promote your business.

You also need to check what privileges are in place. Some forums require a certain post count before you can display your signature or send private messages to other members.

3. Your username is for life

Think carefully before selecting a user name. You might choose to use your real name (or pen name) or you might prefer to use the name of your company (if allowed). Make sure whatever you pick is memorable and avoid using a random combination of letters and numbers.

4. Think carefully about your profile page

When you start posting messages many of the members will visit your profile page so spend some time putting it together. Include a description of your experience and expertise. Include a photograph of yourself and any contact information you wish to provide such as your IM details or Twitter name.

5. Lurk before you post

Before you even make your first time spend some time just visiting the various threads on the forums and getting a feel for the culture of the forum. What kinds of questions are asked? Is the tone serious or light hearted? Are there already established experts answering questions?

6. Think long term

Remember that forums are a great way to build credibility in your niche but they can also help you learn more about the problems and issues faced by your customers. Make time each and every week to visit the forums and to post helpful responses where you can.