Apart from the fact that it is cheap, or even free, if you do the writing yourself, what are the benefits of article marketing? Here are five ways your company can benefit from this very useful technique.

1. Gain backlinks. This is a vital part of building up your business. Getting backlinks not only means you will end up with more visitors to your website, you will also boost your search engine ranking, which makes it easier for potential customers to find you. There are many ways to build backlinks, but article marketing is one of the quickest and easiest ways to do so. Backlinks are vital for increasing your rank on Google and other search engines, and with articles, you’re getting one way links, which are infinitely more valuable than reciprocal links.

2. Spread your content around. You can gain quite a bit of exposure through article marketing. While initially you will probably be submitting to article directories, it’s also possible to do guest posts and present your writing elsewhere. However, the biggest benefit comes from submitting such great quality content to directories that other websites pick it up and republish it, complete with your bio box.

3. Establish yourself as a guru. When your name appears on hundreds of articles revolving around the same topic, you’ll find that people start to look to you as an expert in your field. The more they’ve heard of you, the more they’ll trust you and that means more sales. Article marketing isn’t just about traffic, it’s also about providing useful information that people can use. When articles are nothing more than an ad, no one will read them or click through to your site, but when they see that you are actually offering them a solution, they will be eager to learn more.

No matter what your industry or business interest, article marketing can be used to boost publicity and increase search engine rankings. It does take some time and effort, as well as a little money if you need to hire someone else to do your writing for you, but it is something that is more than possible to do for a very low budget. With all the benefits that you reap, it’s most definitely worth it.

It’s something that can set you apart and brand you as a true professional — but only if you know how to address it correctly and don’t go so overboard that you seem stiff, overly formal, and too hard to work with. You still have to be friendly and personable, or you’ll make people uncomfortable and actually lose business based on that instead of gaining business based on the polite way you treat people.

Using Proper Online Business Etiquette

No matter what else is taking place, there are three things that you should be sure to do:

• Address the recipient of your communication by name, instead of a greeting that’s too casual. ‘Hey, man’ is not an appropriate greeting unless you know the person well, and even then you might want to avoid getting too ‘friendly’ with business contacts. There’s a reason that business and social lives are often kept separate.
• Make the message personal by letting the person know a bit about who you are, and be sure that it’s clear why you are sending the message or why you have contacted that person. Don’t just assume they know.
• Request action. There’s nothing worse than reading an email from someone and not having any idea what — if anything — you’re supposed to do next. Sending emails just to talk is fine for friends and family members, but it’s not usually done in the online business world, so make sure the person who reads your message knows what he or she is supposed to do with it. Whether that person takes action is then up to them, but leave the metaphorical ball in their court.

What If You Make Mistakes?

If you make mistakes — and most people will — be quick to clear them up. Even if you do something wrong and seem impolite or insensitive, apologizing quickly and providing a brief and realistic explanation (the person you’re apologizing to doesn’t need your life history) can go a very long way toward keeping businesses intact.

Avoiding mistakes is obviously better than having to apologize for them, though, so think before you click ’send,’ before you respond to an email or other message in anger, and before you make a comment that you think is funny. That doesn’t mean that everyone else will share your amusement level, and with written communication it’s often hard to convey emotions. People can’t see your facial expressions or hear the sound and tone of your voice. Sometimes putting “:o)” after it is enough. Sometimes it’s not.

If you’re very unsure about how to proceed with online business etiquette or you feel that your skills are lacking, there are training courses that you can take and DVDs that you can buy to be more aware of business etiquette issues within the online community and in the face-to-face business world, as well.

Michi Beck is a YouCanSubmit writer. You can visit her on the Web.

If you’re going to hire someone to do your emarketing for you, make sure that you know what you’re getting. Different companies specialize in different things. You might not be sure which kind of emarketing will be the best for what you’re trying to sell and who you’re trying to reach, but good emarketing companies can tell you what will work best, if they handle that kind of marketing, and –if they don’t handle it — which companies would be more likely to be able to help you.

What Does An Emarketing Company Really Offer?

Most emarketing companies handle  search engine optimization (SEO), blogging, pay-per-click advertising, banner ads, affiliate marketing, viral marketing, and email marketing. That doesn’t mean that all of those options are right for your company, though. It will depend on your target market and your product or service.

Emarketing companies that are good at what they do also offer explanations of what they are doing and why, reports that show you whether the work that they are doing is effective and how they plan to change it if it’s not performing the way that they had hoped, and advice on other areas of marketing that might help your business. They aren’t there to tell you how to run your business, what to sell, what to charge for your products or services, or how to set up your Web site and populate it with content.

Don’t expect that from them, because there are other companies that are designed to do these things. Emarketing companies are only designed to effectively market your business so that you get the highest return for your advertising dollar. That’s very important, and even more so with the problems facing the economy today.

Since the recession appears to be global and not just confined to your home country, you can’t escape the financial difficulties by selling online, so you have to ensure that the money you spend on advertising is put to good use.

Get The Right Emarketing Company 

Obviously, finding the right emarketing company is vital to your business. Getting the wrong one could be very detrimental because it will just use up the money that you have to spend on advertising and won’t be effective in helping you sell your product or service. When trying to decide which company to use, it’s best in most cases to judge off of two factors: the track record and experience of the company, and your comfort level, or ‘gut feeling’ about that company.

Facts and logical reasoning are definitely important in business, but so is intuition. Even if a company has good credentials or comes highly recommended, if you don’t feel good about that company you might be wise to avoid it and look elsewhere. It just might not be the company for you.

On the other hand, don’t choose a company only because the people seem friendly, the logo is attractive, or anything like that. Those things are nice, but they have to be coupled with experience, reliability, and the capabilities to do the job. Take the time to find a company that offers all of that. In the long run, you’ll be glad you did.

Michi Beck is a YouCanSubmit writer. You can visit her on the Web.

Podcasting Companies

If you’re just getting into podcasting, you might not be very clear about how to go about it. The good news is that there are plenty of podcasting companies that can help you. Some offer basic information and software, some offer services like podcast hosting, and you can even find companies that will create podcasts for you based on what you need and want for your company’s target audience and Internet presence.

Most of these companies have been in operation for a while now, and they know what they’re doing. They can create the kinds of podcasts that you need and want, help you to better understand what podcasting can do for your business, and make sure that your podcasts are doing the most good when it comes to bringing in traffic to your site and converting that traffic to paying customers.

Some of the most common and highest-rated podcasting companies are:

• Libsyn
• Odeo
• Podomatic
• Podcast Pickle
• Podshow
• PodcastAlley
• Podcasting News
• Podcast.net

Podcasting For Your Business

If you’re going to use podcasting for your business, it’s important that you do it right. If you’re not sure about how to handle podcasting, it would be better to take the time to learn before you start broadcasting yourself. If you don’t have time to wait, then getting someone knowledgable to do it for you is also a good choice. Either way, you’ll save yourself and your business some potential embarrassment.

It’s not just about doing something embarrassing, either. It’s about the current state of your company and the future of it, as well. If you aren’t offering something valuable to your potential customer base, those people will look elsewhere for what they need. When they do that, you lose business and your profits suffer. Especially in this economy, that’s not something that you can afford.

Move forward with podcasting with care and only once you’re properly prepared to do so. You’ll do more harm with bad podcasting than you will with no podcasting at all.

Michi Beck is a YouCanSubmit writer. You can visit her on her Website.

It was about time for Twitter to consider a monetization model – and although the Twitter community is not fond of ads, Twitter doesn’t have any other chance to attract paying customers in my view. Twitter is already extensively used by marketers who try to build up communities of “followers” and bombard these with links to their latest product offerings. Even the so called Twitter gurus spam the network with links to products they sell, webinars and ebooks that apparently will teach people how to use Twitter to “maximize profits” for a fee.

Due to its amazing viral nature Twitter is open to abuse. Many will argue that if you don’t like the updates of a fellow tweep you can just “unfollw.” And so begins the follow – unfollow dance, one that costs time and energy and it is pretty frustrating for those who use Twitter for fun.

Probably Twitter will monetize by including “analytics” that will show pro users how many times their links were clicked, what were the most popular terms and trends, and so on. This, however, is a slippery-slope: everything related to lightweight twitter analytics has already been created and it is free, online. Who would pay for “lightweight” analytics anyway? The professional SEM/SEO already uses other tools to monitor the online media, and frankly, Twitter is not such a complex platform anyway.

Twitter has nothing groundbreaking. Its power is in the hands of the users. Once something cooler comes along Twitter will face the unavoidable decline. Twitter’s only real chance is mobile, but the company already rejected Apple’s offer.

You can also get them directly off of the Internet with no portable music player needed, and you can make your own podcasts the same way. RSS feeds are often set up for this very purpose.They allow you to reach out to your customers and potential customers in a way that you otherwise could not.

How to Make a Podcast

You can make your own podcast without a lot of fancy equipment or expensive software.  There are various types of software out there that you use for this, and the best news is that all of them are free. These include:

• Skype
• iChat/AIM
• VAC
• Soundflower
• Audacity
• Lame Lib
• iPodder 

All of these programs work well, and they work together. You won’t need them all, certainly, but you’ll need more than one because they do different things. Since none of them cost any money you can explore the different options that the programs have and choose the one that you think is right for you.
Why It’s Good for Business

When you start doing podcasts you might not really have any followers, but that will change. As more people become aware of what you’re doing you’ll find that more people will start listening to what you have to say. If you already have an RSS feed for the blog posts that you’ve been making that will help more people be aware of you more quickly. No matter what, though, getting people to listen to you and then go to your Website or blog and try your products or services is what it’s all about.

You don’t want to get left behind when it comes to the Internet and the way that people communicate with one another. If you start moving forward with podcasting it shows that you’re paying attention to what’s new and what people are interested in, and it shows that you want to give more to your customers. It’s very hard to go wrong with that.

Michi Beck is a YouCanSubmit writer. You can visit her on the Web.

If you aren’t sure how all of this happened so fast, you aren’t alone. not everyone uses Twitter, and the people who don’t use it generally don’t know that much about it — but many of them are becoming more and more interested in learning.

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not exactly an overnight sensation. It’s been in the works for a while and it’s becoming popular with celebrities as well as ‘normal’ people who are just going through their day-to-day lives. You can find most anything on Twitter and be a follower of all sorts of people, just to see what they’re doing, where they are, and what they’re thinking about — and you can share your life with them, too.

Celebrities Use Twitter

It’s true that many celebrities are using Twitter now, too, and that included both Hollywood-style celebrities like actors and actresses and other types of celebrities, such as CNN’s Rick Sanchez. Among those who use the service to keep up with fans and the world around them are:

• Rick Sanchez
• Oprah Winfrey
• Britney Spears
• Arnold Schwarzenegger
•  US President Barack Obama
• Senator John McCain
• Former VP Al Gore
• Lance Armstrong
• Demi Moore
• George Lucas

What are Twitter Tools?

Twitter tools are applications that you can add to your Twitter account, so you can get more things done, keep better track of what’s taking place in your life, and be more efficient. Some of the most popular Twitter tool options include:

• Twittercal — If you use this tool you can connect your Twitter account directly to your Google calendar.
• Twitpay — You can pay for things over Twitter with this tool.
• Twibs — Locate, follow, and interact with services, businesses, and apps this way.
• Twittermail.com — Sending a message to your unique email address gets it posted to your Twitter account.
• Twitzu — You can promote your business and special offers this way.
• Twuffer — Lets you compose a list of Tweets that will come out in the future and schedule when you’ll release them.
• TweetLater — A calendar-style function that allows you to set up a Tweet to be posted at a later date.
• GroupTweet — You can send private messages over Twitter to only a selected group of people.
• TwitterAlerts — Lets you know if anything you’ve set up an alert for is mentioned in a conversation.
• TwitPic — Lets you share your photos on Twitter.

There are currently more than 100 different applications and tools that you can use on your Twitter account, and the site looks as though it’s going to keep evolving, so there will undoubtedly be more people using it and more options to choose from in the near future.
Michi Beck is a YouCanSubmit writer. You can visit her on the Web.

Outbound marketing may not be the way to go anymore, though, because inbound marketing is showing a lot of promise. Inbound marketing is designed to ensure that your site and your business get found by the right people, rather than marketing to a whole lot of people and hoping that marketing will make them come to you.

When the right people find you, you get the maximum ROI (return on investment) from any marketing efforts that you’re making, instead of losing a lot in marketing to the wrong people. Outbound marketing can also be misconstrued as ’spammy.’

With inbound marketing you’ll see more leads coming to your site and you’ll be able to increase your sales and please more of your customers because they will have sought you out. They’re already looking for what you have to offer. You know it and they know it. It’s a much better choice to only market to those who want to hear from you. You don’t waste a lot of time and money that way.

Using marketing analytics to convert more of these leads into paying customers is important, too, because people just visiting your site won’t do you any good at all unless they’re buying. By using inbound marketing software like HubSpot, it’s easier to keep track of your marketing efforts and maximize them more easily.

Pros of Inbound Marketing

There are a lot of benefits to using inbound marketing software. These include:

• Higher lead conversion
• Being found by more prospects
• SEO optimized pages
• Custom landing pages
• Being easily located on social media sites
• Being recognized in the blogosphere
• Pay-per-click advertising to generate more income

Cons of Inbound Marketing

Like anything, there are disadvantages to this kind of marketing. The more significant of these are generally:

• Time to learn the software
• Installation
• Need to change and adapt
• Cost — both software and consultation

It’s easy to see that there aren’t too many cons to inbound marketing when looked at in light of the pros, and the costs of the software and consultation between the business owner and those who provide the software are generally offset by the increase in business and the higher conversion rate.

This can make inbound marketing and the software used for it a great investment for any business owner who wants to increase his or her sales without the outbound marketing tactics that are falling out of favor.

Michi Beck is a YouCanSubmit writer. You can visit her on her Website or her personal blog.

When you’re involved in a business and when you’re using the Internet as a large marketing tool, you have to stick to business, and not just on your Web site. Posting those pictures from your latest vacation on your MySpace or Facebook page can be great for your friends, but do your current and potential customers really need to see you in a bikini with a drink in your hand on the beach somewhere?

Having a Life: Not OK Anymore?

There’s nothing wrong with having a ‘life’ outside of work, but don’t advertise that life online to everyone, because the Internet is blurring the ability to keep work and personal lives separate. Keep your private life private by not posting it on the Internet and think carefully about the information and the pictures that you release on your personal and business Web pages and blogs.

If you wouldn’t want an employer to see it because it would paint you in a bad light, avoid putting it out there. It’s human nature for most people to want to share, but the ease of use on the Internet encourages oversharing, which can lead to problems. There’s nothing wrong with clients having basic information about you and seeing a picture, but both information and photograph should be professional. Stick to things that people who would hire you or buy something from you would want and need to know, like your experience, your accomplishments, and your educational attainment.

Human Nature

People are people, and they all have personalities. There’s nothing wrong with letting a little bit of your personality come out even during a business arrangement, because it helps you connect with others. If you find out that a client has a passion for theater and you do as well, it’s ok to mention that. Sending that client thirty pictures of your last theater trip is probably unnecessary and may be misconstrued as unprofessional.

Keeping your personal and professional lives separate is more difficult now, with the Internet, but it’s not impossible. It’s something that individuals need to be aware of, especially as sites like Twitter take over and let you give information in real time. By having the opportunity to do that, poor judgement can be exercised more quickly than ever, and it’s difficult to take back, especially once everyone has seen it.

Before you, as a businessperson, post anything on the Internet, business or personal, stop and think how it could affect clients, potential clients and their opinion of you, and anyone else who you might come in contact with. If posting anything you like and freedom of expression is the most important thing to you, by all means post anything you like. If you’re more focused on your business and your clients, though, always make the effort to put business before human nature. It’s a better recipe for success in business and on the Internet today.

Michi Beck is a YouCanSubmit writer. You can visit her on the Web. 

That being said, you can`t just record something at random and expect everyone to listen to it. Well done podcasts not only sell you to the listener, they also tend to go viral, with people promoting your audio on their blogs and to their newsletters. Let`s take a look at how you can make sure your podcasts are excellent.

Write a Script
You don`t need to have a word for word script, but you do need to plan out what you want to talk about. An outline including your main points and any details you want to discuss should be included. This will help you stay on track without sounding too rehearsed.

Prepare Your Guests
Having guests on a podcast can be a very effective way of boosting value, particularly if you are interviewing or having a guest speaker that is well known.

It`s important to make sure your guests know exactly what will be expected of them so they can prepare adequately. For guest speakers, be sure to let them know how much time they will have to present and give them a topic. For interviews, send a list of questions to the person ahead of time so they won`t be surprised and tongue-tied by the questions.

Offer Transcripts
One way to really make your audio more useful is to offer transcripts for the recordings. You can do this yourself, or outsource the task for a small fee. Having the entire program written down makes it very easy for listeners to find the information they want to remember and it is also a way to get the search engines to index your podcast content.

Listen to Successful Podcasters
There are already many audio recordings out there that you can listen to for inspiration. This is a very good way to learn what is effective so you can implement it into your own recordings. Here are a few to get you started:

AI Digital: An ongoing podcast series on internet marketing that covers everything from Twitter to the latest trends in SEO.

David Maister: This link will take you to David`s Business Masterclass podcast series, a good one to listen to if you are looking for examples of good podcasting.

Duct Tape Marketing: These social media podcasts are useful to listen to both as examples of effective audio and to boost your knowledge of social media.

Business Week: This site has several amazing podcast series for business owners. You can literally spend hours here, listening to some great information.

Podcasting is a growing method of reaching out to potential clients and building trust with them. Whether you are currently using this method of marketing or are just considering it, make sure you take the time to plan your podcasts and make them excellent . . . you`ll be rewarded with more listeners.

Genesis Davies is a YouCanSubmit writer. You can reach her through her website.