Article Submission Services – Secret to Building Links Fast

November 21, 2008

building links
Gen Wright asked:


ubmission services have been neglected by many internet marketers. The reason? Most have neglected this link building method because it just doesn’t sound posh enough. In addition, article submission requires a fair amount of time and effort, and most online business owners simply cannot afford the time to do the submissions. So they ignore this method completely, and focus on other traffic generation methods such as buying clicks or placing online classified ads.

Fortunately, there is now a better and quicker way to submit your articles – professional article submission services. Just a few years back, it can easy cost up to a couple of hundred dollars just to submit one article to several hundred article directories. But that is a thing of the past. Recently, many professional article submission services have been launched. And internet marketers are turning to look at article marketing in a more light. Finally, article marketing is becoming a more viable traffic generation strategy.

On the internet, it’s all about traffic. And traffic generation is possible using article marketing because your links will be posted on many established sites. These sites already rank very well in the search engines, and the visitors will find your articles, read them, and click on your links to visit your sites. That is how you stand to benefit from the links on the established article directories. Another side benefit is that over time, you will see an increase in search engine rankings as well. This is a sign that your own sites are being recognized as authority sites by the search engines. To achieve that, all you have to do is to continue to build links.

If you have been submitting articles for a while, sometimes you notice that your links are starting to appear all over the Internet on various blogs, forums, etc. That is because other webmasters like your content and have posted your articles in their own websites. Some article directories have many content partners that grab content automatically from their sites. Therefore, it is not uncommon to see your links being syndicated to a network of sites if you have submitted articles to these directories.

Many internet marketers ignored this powerful traffic generation method because they simply didn’t spend enough time examining and studying this method. If they have done so, they would surely have discovered the “secret” of article marketing and its numerous benefits. Once the links start growing, so will the traffic. Unfortunately, not all are patient enough to wait for the results to show. Many just want quick immediate success with no plans for long term success.

With article submission services readily available at affordable prices, it is now possible to build over a thousand links in a couple of weeks for a new site. Within a two to three months, the site should start ranking in the search engines. But don’t rest on your laurels! Now that you’ve discovered this little “secret” for yourself, continue to utilize these services to help boost your traffic on a consistent basis.



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Is Social Networking Worth All the Hype?

August 23, 2008

social networking
Joan Finholt asked:


Social networking seems to be the new catch phrase for many internet marketers. Yet it leaves many busy business owners wondering if it is worth all the hype. Social networking takes time, time that many business owners just don’t feel they have.

So is Social Networking worth the hype?

Yes…and no. It largely depends on how it is approached. Social networking is the process of joining professional and social networking sites for the specific purpose of creating business and ultimately profits.

Social networking can result in:

- Powerful business partnerships – Customer relationships – Added value and benefit to the community – Improved credibility and expert status – Brand awareness – Increased reach and exposure – Gained knowledge and education

Social networking is a very powerful tool and it can result in tremendous profits however if approached with the sole purpose of generating profits, efforts may fall short. Here are a few guidelines to get the most from social networking:

1. Where to join? One mistake many business owners make is to join too many groups. To get real value from a forum, membership site, or chat room you have to have the time to contribute on a regular basis. Belonging to 10 social networking sites is great if you have the time to contribute to them every week, however it is recommended to start small. Dip your toe in so to speak. Join one or two groups that provide the most value at the time. As your business grows and your schedule allows, add more groups to your list.

2. Join groups that are specific to your industry. There is a forum or membership on just about every topic under the sun. Fitness, pet training, recycling, hiring, cleaning, software, coffee drinking, etc the list goes on and on. Additionally, there are professional forums and social networking sites that can provide tremendous value. LinkedIn is one of the growing professional networking sites, and WarriorForum is a very popular forum among internet marketers.

3. To find groups to research simply type your industry and the word forum or membership site into your search engine of choice and see what comes up. For example, “surfing” + “Forum” generated 579,000 results on Google. That’s a lot of surfing forums!

4. How often to contribute? In order to make your presence noted and to have any kind of effect on a networking site, business professionals have to make regular contributions to the site. Otherwise membership is nothing more than a business card stuffed in a pocket. No one will know you’re there.

So what is a regular contribution? Weekly visits to a membership site or networking site are a minimum requirement. Many networkers schedule social networking into their calendar. For example, on Wednesday nights they schedule two hours to visit their forums and social networking sites they belong to.

How to promote subtly:

1. When evaluating membership sites, forums and networking sites it is important to make sure a personalized signature is part of joining. Your signature is the one resource that fellow members have to find you online. Most sites do not allow blatant self promotion so that means a signature can be key. Be sure to include a link to your website and a quick USP that states what you do.

2. Two tools to help. Because forums and membership sites can contain thousands of posts, it takes a lot of time to read through posts and decide which are appropriate to respond to and which are not. http://www.botsurfer.com/ is a tool that can scan forums for you based on preset criteria and cut your social networking time in half.

3. Adding a social networking feature to your business website. A great way to get involved in social networking is to create your own forum right on your company’s website. Snitz forums, http://forum.snitz.com/, offers free ASP based forum software. It’s a solid product that’s been around for more than 10 years.



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Should You Promote Business Through Social Networking Sites

July 16, 2008

social networking
Mike Claggett asked:


Networking whether for socializing or for business is what makes the world go around. Not Love. Well love keeps it positive and interesting, but without socializing, love doesn’t have a chance. Don’t think so? Then how do you explain sites like MySpace has literally millions of users and all of the on line dating sites combined have less.

Do you know what the main purpose of a social networking website is? If you are an avid internet user, it’s you likely do. Social networking websites are online communities that make it easier for internet users to meet and communicate with each other. If you are an internet user who enjoys using the internet to meet new people, there is a good chance that you already belong to a social networking website. What about an online blog? Do you have a blog? In a way, your blog is like having your own personal social networking site. If you have a blog, do you know that you could use your social networking website to promote your blog?

The goal of most business owners is to make a profit. There are of course a few that have business web sites only to support their products or provide information. But for the purposes of this article, I’ll only be talking about sites with the primary purpose of making money. Obviously the hope of the site/business owner is to generate income from the selling of a particular product or service. However, to sell that product or service business owners need to alert the general public and preferably a targeted portion of the public at large (Thier niche), to the availability of their products or services. Customers cannot buy a product or a service if they do not know that it exists. Obviously that’s why, as a business owner, you need to advertise your business.

When it comes to advertising there are many business owners who literally cringe at the thought of putting together an advertising or marketing plan or campaign. Have you planned your campaign and are you working your plan? Is it costing you more than your are making? There is a good chance it is because most traditional advertising methods cost money. Many cost a LOT of money.

As a business owner you want to make a profit and not spend any more than is absolutely necessary to make the profit you want/need to, right? Fortunately, if you believe that all forms of advertising take money, you’ll be glad to know you are mistaken. Although you may have to spend some money to make your business as profitable as you want it to be, there are ways to promote your business and the products or services that you sell without having to spend any money at all.

Promote your blog through your social networking site and vice versa? Why would you want to do that? Honestly, in this day and age, if your in business and have to ask yourself that question you probably need to look into the upside of owning operating your own blog and reciprocally linking with one or more of your own social networking site pages. The whole purpose of a blog is to document your thoughts, views, and opinions on a particular topic, issue, or subject to boost your credibility in the eyes of your reader as an authority on what you write about. What good will your blog do if no one reads it. Social networking sites are a way to get readers for your blog.

Is your curiosity peaked yet? There is a good chance that it is and rightfully so. One of the ways that you can promote your online business, without having to spend a dime, is by using something that is readily available online. That thing is an online social networking website. A large number of internet users, in fact literally millions of them, belong to at least one social networking website, if not several.

When it comes to promoting blogs, there are many blog owners who decide to let the search engine do the work for them. Search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN use special techniques that read/scan the content on your website. That content is then used in part to link your blog website with particular keywords. This means that you run a blog on graduating from high school in New York, there is a good chance that your blog will appear in searches done on New York high schools.

Although many blogs are successfully ranked in search engines, not all are. That is why you are advised against relying solely on search engines, when it comes to promoting your blog. There are other ways to promote your blog besides social networking, such as “blog and ping” or “Tag and Ping” but I’ll leave those subjects for another article you can find at my blog.

When it comes to social networking, there are many individuals who think of building new online friendships or online relationships. While these types of relationships are the most common, did you know that social networking is also used for businesses? A lot of businesses? In fact, that was originally how social networking got started.

As previously mentioned, if you love meeting with or talking to people online, there is a good chance that you belong to a social networking website or community. The individuals that you talk with and that are in your community are likely the individuals that you wish to target. Since most social networking websites work to connect internet users who have the same goals and common interests, there is a good chance that your online friends will enjoy reading your blog. But, before they can read your blog, you have to let them know that it exists.

Although social networking websites are traditionally focused on those that would like to make online friends or develop online relationships, there are networking sites that are designed primarily for business owners. Ryze.com is a good example. These websites will not only allow you to share your business information with other business owners, but it will also allow you to develop close relationships with those that share an interest that is similar to yours. Essentially, this means that you could not only learn valuable business information, but you could also walk away with a new business partner, a new friend or a business prospect.

When it comes to promoting your blog on social networking websites, you have a number of different options. Your first option is to include a link to your blog in your community profile or profile page on your social networking site. This will allow other community members to checkout your blog, only if they wish to do so.

The other way is to inform your online friends of your blog through Private Messages (Or PM’s). Once you join a social networking website and create or join a network of friends, you should easily be able to communicate with those friends. Sending each of your friends a private message with information and a link to your blog tends to be more effective than just placing a link in your profile or on your profile page. As well, a PM is more personal. Naturally, you will want to offer the link to your blog in a kind of “Oh, by the way”, fashion or maybe asking their opinion of one of your recent or past blog posts. The last thing you want to do is make it appear you are soliciting your new friend.

As previously mentioned, social networking websites with a focus on businesses, are a great way to promote your business. However, this does not mean that you should completely forget about the other online social networking websites, the ones that are designed to make online friendships. Although you may not learn any valuable business tips by joining “Yahoo! 360″ or “MySpace”, if you are subtle in your approach, you may be able to end up with new customers and new customers is exactly what your business needs.

As you will see, there are like minded people that will join an online community to make friends and or to learn more about what they are interested in from the people they meet in a social networking community regardless whether it is business related or not. There are a number of different ways that you will to go about promoting your own profile or profile page so as to not appear as though you are actually advertising. If you are planning on joining a traditional online social networking website, to gain access to millions of potential new customers, you are urged to be careful when making your online Social Networking webpage or profile. One thing that internet users hate is being solicited for business using the guise of wanting to make friends.

This does not mean that you cannot use social networking to your advantage; it just means that you need to be careful with how you do it. Instead of creating a “MySpace” page or a “Yahoo! 360″ page for your business, you are advised to make one for and about yourself, but, of course, you will want to include information on your business as part of your ‘interests’. You never know, but, in addition to promoting your blog, you may also make new friends along the way as well by linking to your social networking profile page from your blog.

By joining a social networking website, especially one that is popular and has a large number of members, you should be able to generate interest in your business, including the products or services that you sell. If your social networking friends are interested in the same things as you, and your blog and is compelling enough to drive your social networking friends to your business site, that interest generated traffic could turn into sales; thus making your social networking experience more than worth your time and effort.

After all, it’s FREE, it’s easy, there is the potential of making additional profits doing it, and it can be a lot of FUN! There is nothing quite like making more money and having fun doing it.



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Making Money With Social Networking Sites

January 6, 2008

social networking
Ron McNeil asked:


In many instances, social networking software is taken for a medium to develop online friendships or relationships. While, such activities are common, social networking websites are also used to promote business. That was the original thought, based on which social networking was started. If you have an online business, there are ways to utilize social networking sites to your advantage. Although social networking sites are traditionally for development of friendships and online relationships, there are several of these websites catering for business owners.

These traditional websites would not only allow you to develop business relationships with other organizations, and exchange relevant business information, it would also allow you to build close relationships with the ones who share common interest with you. This varied use of a social networking site, make the users stay longer on the site, establishing their social base, which develops into groups and communities. In course of time, you not only have the knowledge of considerable business information exchanges, which you can use to your benefit, but you can perhaps get new business directions, and partnering with a new friend who you met in the network.

While you create your profile in one of the social networking websites, you should mention about the kind of business that you are in. If you are considering joining an online community, it is advantageous if you create your own profile or profile page. In case the website is of the traditional type, you need to be careful in preparing your online profile or webpage, when you are considering joining one of them. You will meet several people, and the one thing that you should remember, that internet users do not like business solicitations. This of course does not mean that you cannot use the network to your advantage. You just need to be careful on how your profile is presented.

Social networking websites are a great place to promote your business. At the same time, with business in mind, you should not give up exploring those traditional websites, which provide you with the facility to form friendships and close relationships. Although you might not learn much about any valuable business information, it just might be, that while you join the groups and communities, and spend time on these social networking websites, you may be able to get many interested in your products, turning them into your new customers. Your business strategy needs you to develop newer customers all the time, and social networking websites are the places where you can find them in plenty.

Like any other internet business, your social networking software can generate revenue for you. Many of the existing social networks are in big business and thriving from the kind of services they offer and products that they sell. They have been able to build up their customer loyalty, and have been able to retain its members. The users of these social network websites are constantly inviting their friends to join, establishing their ever growing social base, with effect that your marketing messages are being repeatedly seen by many. This builds up your brand, and as it does, the other online business get interested in advertising in your social network websites. Revenue starts to flow in.

The first and foremost strategy in having a social networking website should be to attract users to use your social networking software to build up relationships with others. The software must be able to provide tools to the users, which would help them to establish their social base, adding on members to your site by inviting their friends to join the network. Before you can think of any revenue turn-over, you must have a solid customer base. Unless you have been able to achieve customer confidence, your social network would never be a financial success.

Any social networking website should have the capability to retain its customers. This is possible only when your website meets the interest of the users. One could be that would allow the users to put up their classified advertisement free of cost, and the other could be the availability of free music library. Your social networking website should essentially allow blogging, and the use of forums will be very much of interest to any user. You may allow the users to put up their personal video clips on your website, which they can share with their friends on the network. There could be a space reserved for the users to put up their picture albums, to be shared with their friends.

The initial stages of planning a social networkin website are very critical. The thought at first has to be around the idea of retaining the users. This would need planning. Based on the plan, you should choose the right social networking software in planning your social networking website, and you must look into all aspects of how you can attract the users to spend longer time on your network. That should be a start of success.



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