2008 was the year of Twitter, Facebook and FriendFeed. Twitter especially was phenomenal. People just seem to love twittering. If they aren’t socializing they twitter simply to promote their web presence. Hope you too did a lot of twittering for whatever reason you actually had. In 2009 there are predictions that Twitter could be a acquired by any large corporation - though nothing official about it yet.

By the way, if you are submitting your site regularly to services like Twitter, Facebook and FriendFeed you can consider this cool service called Ping.fm. It’s a major time saver as it posts your message to more than 20 services including mini-blogs and even a few blogs.

Social media marketing will continue to rule and develop into an essential part of the marketing campaign for all businesses in the future. Watch this video where Evan Williams, the CEO of Twitter, claims that the future of Twitter is with marketers. More and more e-Commerce, Business To Business will all begin entering the social media field like never before.

Apart from social media the other thing that will continue to grow big is of course the video sharing sites. If you aren’t leveraging the power of the web video sites like YouTube you are certainly leaving money on the table. YouTube is well on it’s way to become the second largest search engine leaving Yahoo behind. I heard Ed Dale telling that a couple of month back and now it seems that he can’t be more right.

Also, keep an eye on Google Friend Connect. We will have to wait and see if that’s going to be a game changer.

So, that’s it for today. And before I go, best wishes for 2009 again.

By the way, I hope you know what is a RSS Feed (or sometimes an Atom Feed). If you don’t but interested to know everything about it, you can read about RSS Feeds in Wikipedia.

But the best thing is you need not worry about going into too many technical details. All you need to do is follow the steps below -

1. Find the RSS Feed icon like this one . This is the standard icon but there are variations. Alternatively, look out for the word ‘Subscribe’ or the phrase ‘Subscribe to Feed’.

2. Right click on the Feed icon or image or text and select ‘Copy Link Location’ or ‘Copy Shortcut’.

3.  Log in to the Feed Directories one by one and submit the feed by pasting the feed url in the specified field. You may also fill up the Title of your blog and provide a short deccription too.

List of RSS Feed Directories

The answer is obvious. But before I come to that I would like to reveal a “secret”. Social bookmarking or submitting to social networking sites works beyond expectations when other members make your submission favorite or post comments on the story or topic you submit. Not that simply submitting to these Web 2.0 sites doesn’t work but it works even better when you get favors from fellow members. Unfortunately it’s hard to get because nobody will actually going to notice your story and eventually it will get lost amongst thousands of sites submitted everyday. The trick is simple - you have to arrange for it. There are groups where members favor each others submission, post comments to each others stories.

Google and the other major search engines always reward a website with good content with higher positions in their search results forone or more keywords. But how do they know if the content is goodor bad ? Yes, they have some complex algorithms which do the work for them but more than that they depend on back links count. The idea is simple if your site is not good enough you aren’t going to get a lot of back links. Directory submission and Article submissions are manually approved by humans and ensure that the site has some  sort of credibility (otherwise it wouldn’t have been approved). Social bookmarking or submitting to social networking sites let users of those sites judge your website and they either like them or dislike them. If they like your content they will rate it high or vote it which will make Google believe that your site is of good quality. This is a simple overview of how Google judge your website; rest assure that there are several other criteria. But as long as you have good content and continue to build backlinks there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do well.

1. Ezineartcles.com
2. Isnare.com
3. Associated Content
4. GoArticles.com
5. E-topic.com

To get back links, you can insert anchor texts and URLs in the resource box or the author’s area.  But to avoid the duplicate content issue you should submit separate articles to each of the above mentioned directories. However these directories don’t accept content that have already been published. After you have done this you can proceed to submit any one of these articles or even better a fresh article to the rest of the article directories ( there are 100s of them). That’s the best strategy you can adapt for article submission.

Social Bookmarking is one of the newer link building methods. And if done properly you can expect huge results from social bookmarking. Even simply submitting to the social bookmarking sites could help you a lot. But to gain maximum advantage from social bookmarking you need to learn and do a bit more. Actually there’s no limit to what you can do with social bookmarking. For example, whenever I publish a post to this blog the link to it automatically get posted to at least 15 Web 2.0 sites via Ping.fm, it also gets pinged by Technorati and several other services. And that’s only a small part of the total  social bokmarking and Web 2.0 job that you can do to promote your site.

So, what else you can do ? I’ll try to explain it on my next post.

Until then . . .

And don’t forget the traffic (which is in some cases viral) these kind of submission generate. To be very frank, directory submission is only for seo. Use manual directory submission to get backlinks from it and don’t expecttraffic from it. You can however expect some traffic from article marketing. Your article, if you are ready to do a little promotion for it, might just hit the top 10 position in Google when you subit it to sites like Ezinearticles.com. Associated Content is another good resource that you may consider. Isnare.com is a paid service who apart from publishing your article will also sumit it to thousands ofother article directories.

By the way, I just remember that there is another great way to get backlinks as well as very targetd traffic. I’m talking about leveraging video sharing sites like YouTube, Google Video etc. You can create cool little videos and submit them to YouTube and other video sharing sites. This is a very effective strategy.

Directory submission has ben an all time favorite among the wemasters and web site owners. No SEO expert can deny it’s effectiveness as a backlink getter and it is still an absolute must as far as search engine optimization is concerned. But while planning a seo for a new site (and also for older sites) you need to get as many backlinks pointing to your site as possible. Actually, it’s in your hand . . . I mean you don’t have to send emails and request for backlinks from their sites (and get turned down in most cases). All you need to do is invest some time andget all the submission done one by one. Is it going to take time to do all those submissions ? Yes, it will. But you have an alternative. You can outsource all your submission job from somebody else. Is it worthy? Absolutely, because it will save your precious time and allow you to churn out more contents and do more creative jobs.

Besides, if you hire experienced submission services like submitatonce.com , you get much more than mere submission. They know their job and practices best submission policies.

More on it in my next post.

internet marketing
I actually first found out about the possibility of making money on the Internet when I was looking for an online loan. I notice that all the loan sites online had similar ads on them. I wondered why, and when I investigated it, I found out about online affiliate programs. You can actually be paid for having a website that gives traffic to other websites. Don’t get me wrong ? it isn’t anything to count on right away. It requires a bit of, and it won’t necessarily immediately give you a lot of money. Still, with a few hits here and a few hits there, soon it can make real money on the Internet.

increasing traffic
Of course, the main way I make money on the Internet is as a freelance writer. This isn’t a good job for the undisciplined or those without a stern constitution. You see, it is either feast or famine with freelance work. It is easy to go for a month or two without lining up a gig. When you do get a job, you have to milk it for all it is worth. Fulfill the contract, go beyond the call of duty, and try to get additional work. Every employer is precious, and it is difficult to keep one for longer than a single job. Nonetheless, if you are able to impress them with the quality of the work that you do, you’ll be able to make money on the Internet quite easily. It won’t necessarily make you rich, but it will allow you to live at a good standard of living while working from home. For me, that is more than enough to make it worth it.

There are also options such as article automation systems that will allow you to spin one article and make it into ten. This system will submit your ten articles to blogs and article directories. Of course, this service is a monthly membership type service, but there are a few that you can find on the Internet that are very reputable. See what I am talking about at

Website Traffic Increase.

Well, let’s say that you don’t have the funds to invest in a monthly membership, then you set out to write your own articles and submit them.

The key about writing articles is to just begin typing and not worrying about errors until you have finished, you can always go back and do the corrections. Once you start writing or typing, the thoughts will come.

You don’t need any more than 250 – 400 words in your article. The less words you type, the more articles you can put out.
Most article directories have free article submission, but you have to go through a free registration to get set up with them first.

There are some article directory sites that let you wait for up to seven days before your article is approved, but go ahead and submit them anyway. You can also post your article on your blog for exposure while you wait for your article approval

Make sure that you don’t write the article with no value. It is easier to write articles that give tips or methods of doing something. People like that. They like to read a structured article and not one going all over the place nor packed with keywords that give the sentences no meaning.

Once you give value, the reader will want to click on your link to find out more about what you are saying.

To learn more, go to Website Traffic Increase.

home based businesses
Let’s examine the incentives of a passive residual income. For one, you can essentially work for yourself. This is obviously a perk since you won’t get fired working for yourself. Secondly, many jobs that lead to a stellar passive residual income can be done from your home. Maybe you want to sell a particular custom product you make or maybe you sell through a third party and simply collect a percentage of the profit from each sale. Think about all the sales that could be made in cyberspace while you’re sleeping. This is what residual incomes are all about. Oodles of individuals are seeking out passive income by building websites and web pages. Money can be earned this way through affiliate programs and major search engines such as Google and Yahoo. When it comes down to it, there truly are countless ways to acquire a passive income via the web and you can become a part of it all. You just need to take the first step and understand that residual income is real.

home based businesses
Take note of helpful tips found on websites such as isitebuild.com, which explains many different ways to effectively earn a fat; like setting your own schedule, working the amount of hours you choose to, spending more time with family, working from the home, not being able to get fired and greater profits from the time you invest. Start making your passive residual income now!

productivity
Let’s examine the perks of a passive residual income. For one, you can essentially work for yourself. This is obviously a perk since you won’t get fired working for yourself. Secondly, many jobs that lead to a stellar passive residual income can be done from your home. Maybe you want to sell a particular custom product you make or maybe you sell through a third party and simply collect a percentage of the profit from each sale. Think about all the sales that could be made in cyberspace while you’re sleeping. This is what residual incomes are all about. Tons of individuals are seeking out passive income by building websites and web pages. Money can be earned this way through affiliate programs and major search engines such as Google and Yahoo. When it comes down to it, there truly are countless ways to acquire a passive income via the web and you can become a part of it all. You just need to act the first step and understand that residual income is real.

productivity
Take note of helpful advice found on websites such as isitebuild.com, which explains eight different ways to effectively earn a nicepassive income. Just so you keep it in mind, there are benefits to working for you; like setting your own schedule, working the amount of hours you choose to, spending more time with friends, working from the home, not being able to get fired and huge profits from the time you [spin]begin. Start making your passive residual income [spin]now!

There are also options such as article automation systems that will allow you to spin one article and make it into ten. This system will submit your ten articles to blogs and article directories. Of course, this service is a monthly membership type service, but there are a few that you can find on the Internet that are very reputable. See what I am talking about at

RSS Traffic.

Well, let’s say that you don’t have the funds to invest in a monthly membership, then you set out to write your own articles and submit them.

The key about writing articles is to just begin typing and not worrying about errors until you have finished, you can always go back and do the corrections. Once you start writing or typing, the thoughts will come.

You don’t need any more than 250 – 400 words in your article. The less words you type, the more articles you can put out.
Most article directories have free article submission, but you have to go through a free registration to get set up with them first.

There are some article directory sites that let you wait for up to seven days before your article is approved, but go ahead and submit them anyway. You can also post your article on your blog for exposure while you wait for your article approval

Make sure that you don’t write the article with no value. It is easier to write articles that give tips or methods of doing something. People like that. They like to read a structured article and not one going all over the place nor packed with keywords that give the sentences no meaning.

Once you give value, the reader will want to click on your link to find out more about what you are saying.

To learn more, go to RSS Traffic.

There are also options such as article automation systems that will allow you to spin one article and make it into ten. This system will submit your ten articles to blogs and article directories. Of course, this service is a monthly membership type service, but there are a few that you can find on the Internet that are very reputable. See what I am talking about at

Free Article Submission.

Well, let’s say that you don’t have the funds to invest in a monthly membership, then you set out to write your own articles and submit them.

The key about writing articles is to just begin typing and not worrying about errors until you have finished, you can always go back and do the corrections. Once you start writing or typing, the thoughts will come.

You don’t need any more than 250 – 400 words in your article. The less words you type, the more articles you can put out.
Most article directories have free article submission, but you have to go through a free registration to get set up with them first.

There are some article directory sites that let you wait for up to seven days before your article is approved, but go ahead and submit them anyway. You can also post your article on your blog for exposure while you wait for your article approval

Make sure that you don’t write the article with no value. It is easier to write articles that give tips or methods of doing something. People like that. They like to read a structured article and not one going all over the place nor packed with keywords that give the sentences no meaning.

Once you give value, the reader will want to click on your link to find out more about what you are saying.

To learn more, go to Free Article Submission.

1.) Create a site with valuable content and useful products or services.

2.) Use your primary and secondary keywords in the first 25 words of your site’s content and try to use them throughout your site.

3.) Research the right keywords to reach your target market and then use them in your content.

4.) Use your keywords in the right places on your page – title, meta tags, headers and of course in the body of your pages.

5.) Keep your site design user-friendly so that your visitors can find what they are looking for on your site.

6.) Submit every page on your site to the major search engines and directories, not just your home page. If you don’t have time to do this, hire someone to do it for you. Make sure this is done manually – don’t use automated submission services.

7.) Keep up with the changes in the algorithms used by search engines and fine tune your web pages accordingly to keep your search engine rankings high. Use available online tools to track the performance of your website.

8.) Keep an eye on your competition – see what they are doing with their site design, content, functionality and use of keywords.

9.) Make use of the log files and reports provided by your web hosting company. You can analyze this data to find out where your visitors are coming from and the links and keywords they used to find you.

10.) Give your visitors something to remember you by – newsletters, reports, coupons and the like.

11.) Show off your expertise and become known as an expert in your field by writing articles and submitting them to directories as well as posting them on your own site.

12.) If you are selling products on your website, make payment and shipping easy for your customers.

13.) When in doubt, hire a professional – it’s a lot cheaper than having a site which goes unvisited.

In conclusion, don’t think of your website as a static thing; make it a dynamic, ever changing place. Think if it like you would a physical retail outlet and do the same things you would do in a bricks and mortar establishment to attract and retain customers.

There are also options such as article automation systems that will allow you to spin one article and make it into ten. This system will submit your ten articles to blogs and article directories. Of course, this service is a monthly membership type service, but there are a few that you can find on the Internet that are very reputable. See what I am talking about at

Guaranteed Web Page Traffic.

Well, let’s say that you don’t have the funds to invest in a monthly membership, then you set out to write your own articles and submit them.

The key about writing articles is to just begin typing and not worrying about errors until you have finished, you can always go back and do the corrections. Once you start writing or typing, the thoughts will come.

You don’t need any more than 250 – 400 words in your article. The less words you type, the more articles you can put out.
Most article directories have free article submission, but you have to go through a free registration to get set up with them first.

There are some article directory sites that let you wait for up to seven days before your article is approved, but go ahead and submit them anyway. You can also post your article on your blog for exposure while you wait for your article approval

Make sure that you don’t write the article with no value. It is easier to write articles that give tips or methods of doing something. People like that. They like to read a structured article and not one going all over the place nor packed with keywords that give the sentences no meaning.

Once you give value, the reader will want to click on your link to find out more about what you are saying.

To learn more, go to Guaranteed Web Page Traffic.

There are several reasons you may need a ghostwriter. The first being you just may not have the time to write the article(s) yourself. Second, you may feel you do not have the skills needed to write an article.

When searching for a good ghostwriter there is a few things to keep in mind. First, find a writer that would write the article in the way you would. A good ghostwriter should allow your personality to shine through within the article. You should also seek a writer who is knowledgeable on the topic at hand and possesses the ability to organize and write it specifically for your target audience.

Always ask to see samples of their writing, ensuring their experience in ghostwriting. You will want to look at various samples and get an idea of their personality and that it clicks with your own. Make certain you clearly specify what you expect and find out what the writer expects as well. Never go into a contract or agreement without first understanding what expected of each party.

Your chosen ghostwriter should meet all your deadlines exactly. Preferably, they should beat the deadline and make allowances for changes and corrections. Additionally, he or she should be flexible and available to you for the entire period of your project.

You should define to the ghostwriter the content the article(s), should contain. As well as, the format in which you require the article. The ghostwriter should deliver the article(s) to you in whatever manner you choose. If this is not possible, perhaps you should acquire another writer.

Finally, go with your instincts, communicate well with the ghostwriter, and then decide if they are the proper writer for your project. A good ghostwriter will maintain excellent communication, provide the utmost professionalism, and create a well-written article in a timely manner.

While I do write most of my own articles, there are times that I just need to find somebody else, usually due to time constraints. For this I recommend hiring a freelancer using sites like www.scriptlance.com or www.elance.com. On sites such as these you can post a project that you want to be done and then have multiple writers bid. Follow the guidelines in the article for choosing a ghostwriter and you will find that you can easily create a lot of quality content for very little money.