Free Report: Using Article
Submission
As A Marketing Tool
Article
submission is a great way to attract traffic to your website. If you
can write (and write well) this is one of the more popular 'free'
publicity ideas that may just work for you.
Article submission accomplishes many goals in regards to attracting
that traffic. It positions you as an expert, broadens your footprint on
the web, creates backlinks and generates content.
The effective use of article submission as a marketing tool involves
learning how to do it properly. |
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The
General Idea
Here is how article submission works. You write an article covering a
specific area of a broader general interest category. You then submit
your article, for free, to any number of the hundreds of websites that
accept these articles. The goal here is two-fold:
a. to create backlinks to your website, raising your 'popularity
ranking' in the eyes of the search engines
AND
b. to position yourself as an expert in your field of expertise.
Let's look briefly at each . . .
Site
Ranking
Your website will be ranked by a number of ever-changing factors in
relationship to a search term entered by an Internet surfer. I have
been working with a number of life coaches recently so I will use this
as our example.
Typing in the word 'coach' as the search term on Google brings
10,500,000 hits. (figures as of 2/22/07). Yahoo does one better on this
one, bringing in 173,000,000 hits. That is one hundred seventy three
MILLION hits. In neither case does either engine bring up a life coach
at all on that all important first page.
Now think about it. When YOU surf the Internet, do you look much
farther than maybe the first page or
two?
Most likely not. There are many life coaches who use article submission
as part of their marketing activities.
So, why isn't anyone appearing on that first page? Over and over I hear
comments like "Gee, I spent hours and hours posting articles and
nothing has happened." Why is this so?. The answer is quite simple, as
you will soon see.
Let's change the search term. Type in the words "life coach". Google
now brings 21,800,000 hits. No life coaches on the first page. Type in
the search term life coach on Yahoo and you will get 55,600,000 hits.
One life coach's website will appear. One single site on the first
page. Now, do you know why this ONE person's website appears on this
all important first page? Again, the answer is simple. However it may
surprise you . . .
The
Article
Submission Process
Here is how the process works. To submit articles you must first
register with the individual article sites. You will be required to
fill out a form for each site. Most sites will then send you back a
confirmation link, which you must visit to activate your account. After
this has been accomplished, you may submit articles, subject to the
submission guidelines of the particular site. Depending on the number
of sites you register with, this can take from several hours to several
days.
Once registered, you will need to visit each site and submit your
article. This is where it gets really time
intensive, as you will need to fill out a form for each article, paste
the article, provide keywords, author
information, links and submit the article.
Once the article is submitted it is 'up for review'. Most sites review
each and every article submitted, not all however. Depending on the
relative size of the
site, getting your article approved can take from a day to weekss or
even longer.
The
Advantages to
Article Submission
Submitting articles, as mentioned, has two advantages; it creates
back-links to your site and positions you as an expert in your field.
The back-link is one of the criteria in determining how well your web
site is ranked among all the other sites out there. You will be
competing with, in the example above, perhaps 10's of millions of other
sites for that coveted high ranking. But back-links are not the only
criteria in ranking your site. There are many other factors, (far too
many to list here) that will contribute to the optimization of your
site for the search engines.
For the massive amount of time invested in creating back-links, you
will most likely want to use the article submission idea, but don't
expect too much in the way of quick results. The article submission
process is a bit like dropping pebbles into a bucket of water. At
first, it seems as though nothing is happening. After a time though,
the pebbles begin to replace the water in the bucket. Eventually, the
bucket will be filled with pebbles and no water will remain. Think of
this as a process, but it is certainly not as the be-all and end all to
search engine Nirvana. Time and effort not withstanding, it is an
effective tool in the free marketing arsenal.
Positioning yourself as an expert in your field should be the PRIMARY
goal here. Article sites go to great lengths to get the top rankings
and keep abreast of changes in search engine criteria. Rely on them to
get the ranking for your ARTICLES. You should concentrate on the
content. Think about this. Does it matter how that prospective client
gets to your website? It can be the direct result of your site ranking,
or it might be because your article showed up on the first page of
Google, was read and then your reader clicked thru.
The
Content
I could write a book on this subject. Someday I may.
Let us use websites to illustrate my next point. Take a few moments and
sit down and just look at your
competitor's websites. Get a feel for the content. Notice anything?
Too much information. Plain and simple. I preach and preach and
continually preach this to my clients. If you get nothing from this
article, try to understand this: Every single word, every single
sentence, every single paragraph gives your potential customer or
client the opportunity to say "No". Every single word, every single
sentence and every single paragraph should be carefully designed to do
just one thing:
Create curiosity. For it is curiosity that will lead to ACTION.
Yes, yes I know. We want to tell our potential customers or clients all
about ourselves. We want them to know what we can do for them. We want
them to fully understand why they should do business with us, and not
the competition. And so we give them everything. And when we give them
everything, they make a decision BASED on that information. No, no, no.
. .
Web site designers are not marketers. They are web site designers. They
are wonderful people and many of my personal friends design websites
for a living. But they are not marketers. An effective site or article
will create curiosity. Period.
This will lead to action on the part of the potential client. The
action should be to request more information or to sign up for a
newsletter. The 'closing' should be done in person. Unless you are
marketing a $9.95 booklet, don't try to get potential clients to take
action based on the information on the site or in your article! A $9.95
booklet is an impulse buy. It is an impulsive, hedonic response. If you
are marketing a larger ticket item, such as long-term life coaching, it
will not be an impulse buy. The action component of the sales process
should always be accomplished IN PERSON!
Using
Articles To
Market Effectively
So let us look at two scenarios to illustrate the point regarding
creating curiosity:
Scenario
One
Suppose for a moment you are standing at a party. One of your friends
points to an extremely well dressed man across the room who is
surrounded by a group of people hanging on his every word, some even
taking notes.
'That is Joe Smith," says your friend. "He is a consultant. He shows
people how to build million dollar practices. He has done it 1000 times
over."
So you saunter on over to the crowd surrounding Mr. Smith. Eventually
you get a word in edgewise, introduce yourself and coyly ask, "So how
does one build a million dollar practice?"
"Oh, it's very simple," replies Mr. Smith, "ridiculously simple. It can
be done in no time at all. All you must do is . ."
Just then someone taps Mr. Smith on the shoulder and whispers in his
ear. "Sorry, I must leave," states Mr. Smith, "it was nice meeting
you." He walks away.
How would you feel?
You might feel like kicking yourself for not getting to Mr. Smith
sooner. You might stay awake all night, tossing and turning. Mr. Smith
has the answer and it is very simple. He was willing to give you the
answer, the answer you want, the answer you need. But now it is too
late.
Come Monday, you call Mr. Smith's office and are informed that it takes
18 months to get an appointment. You offer to pay a little extra, if
you can be squeezed in somehow. The answer is a firm no. Now how do you
feel?
You have been left hanging. You are in a state of extreme curiosity.
You are ready to take action.
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Scenario Two
You are
sitting in your office when the phone rings.
"Hello,"
says a voice on the other end, "my name is Fred Jones. I show people
how to build million dollar
practices. I would like to show you how. The cost is only $400 per
month, this week only!"
"No, thank
you," you reply politely.
"But wait,"
says Mr. Jones, a hint of desperation in the voice, "I have done this
for many of my clients. I have had a lot of training. I go to great
lengths and offer many free services. Just tell me what you need and I
promise I will be able to help you. . . "
"No, thank
you," you reply, a bit more forcefully. "But wait, you don't understand
. . . " you hear Mr. Jones saying as you hang up the phone . . .
Now think
about it for a moment. If you were going to have surgery, would you
choose a surgeon who:
a. has a waiting list a month long OR
b. calls you every day and begs you to use his services?
You want to
give the impression that you are Mr. Smith, NOT Mr. Jones. The sad fact
is that most of the articles I read give the impression that the writer
is Mr Jones. This is not an impression you want to create, either in
your articles or on your website. The impression of 'neediness' is
created by giving TOO MUCH information. Your potential clients pick up
on this quite quickly and simply click away.
The Trust Factor
All other
things being equal, people will only do business with people they
trust. And, conversely, if a potential client does not trust you, they
will NEVER do business with you. YOU MAKE OR BREAK THAT TRUST
IMMEDIATELY IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH OF THE FIRST ARTICLE your potential
client reads. You make or break that trust INSTANTANEOUSLY when your
website flickers onto the screen. If your article and/or your website
does not create INSTANT TRUST, you are dead in the water.
Assuming
that you are savvy enough to get beyond the intial trust hurdle,
everything you present from this point on will either ADD TO or
SUBTRACT FROM the initial trust created.
OK. Let's
assume you have fine tuned the article to not only create trust, but
also to not SUBTRACT from it. Let us also assume your article contains
the all-important, subtle calls to further action. What then? I have
spent a good deal of time conversing with site owners. Here are some
other important considerations.
How Many Sites?
As many HIGH
QUALITY sites as reasonably possible. Notice that I said high quality
sites. You only want to submit articles to the highest quality sites
you can find. As mentioned previously, submitting articles is extremely
time intensive. Submit one article to one hundred sites. You will see
what I mean. Your fingers are going to hurt before it's all over. The
engines will most likely only index fove or six in any case, so set
that as your goal.
Different Versions of the Same
Article?
Are you
penalized for redundant content by the search engines? Do you want to
have 15 articles on page 93 of the search engine results? Or would you
rather have 1 article listed 6 times on the first page of the search
engine results? Repurpose your article content as much as you can,
without repeating the same information over and over from article to
article.
Submission
Software?
There are
advantages and disadvantages here. I am personally of the opinion that
you should retain complete control of each submission. This allows you
to fine tune the article specifically for the given site and for the
given categories on the myriad number of sites out there. The subtle
change of a word or two here or there can make a major difference in
the message to the highly targeted audience.
Sites?
Different
sites cater to different audiences. Don't submit a self-improvement
article to a marketing site.
Categories?
Different
sites have differently targeted categories. One of the major beefs site
owners have is incorrect category submission (putting a religious
article in a transmission repair category). Remember that your article
will be reviewed for quality, content, categorization, etc.
Site 'popularity'?
These
numbers change nearly as quickly as search engine rankings. Just try to
post to sites that have a higher page rank than your own.
How often?
Regularly
and continually, keeping in mind that the process is somewhat akin to
planting seeds. You may not see immediate results, but eventually you
will have a field full of plants. Some will be annuals, some biennials,
some perennials.
'Quality' of the article?
Nothing will
kill the trust factor more quickly than a shoddily written article,
catchy, worn out industry specific phrasing, insincere language or an
article containing a blatant sales pitch.
And Finally
. . .
Article
submission, done properly, is a valuable tool in your free marketing
arsenal. But there are other free marketing tools you will also want to
utilize. Media releases, used correctly may lead to your
article
being submitted for publication in newspapers or magazines. This
concept can lead to you being chosen as a regular contributor.
Don't ignore
that large segment of the population that, (believe it or not), does
not yet own a computer or
perhaps owns a computer and simply does not know how to operate the
thing. These are the folks who will type in the search phrase 'coach'
rather than the phrase 'life coach specialization depression'.
Oh yes. I
nearly forgot. Why does just ONE website appear on Yahoo's first page
when one types in the search phrase 'life coach'?
"Oh, it's
very simple, ridiculously simple. It can be done in no time at all. All
you must do is . . "
Sorry. . . I
have to go . . .
Posted by Don McCauley
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