5 Critical Promotion Mistakes People Make With Articles

Did you realize that writing and publishing articles onlinerepresents one of the best-kept website traffic secrets?
It's true! In fact, if you learn some basic principles, youcan drive thousands of visitors to your website withoutspending any money on advertising. Publishing articles notonly establishes you as an expert in your chosen field, butalso allows you to fly under the natural "radar defenses"your prospects have against advertising.

But, beware! My experience as a syndicated newspapercolumnist has shown me that people who would otherwisesucceed massively promoting with articles actually failbecause they consistently make one or more of these fivecritical mistakes!

Mistake #1 - NOT Defining Your Target Audience
Many article authors make the serious mistake of notclearly defining a niche audience before writing theirarticle. Successful article authors always know the exact"niche" audience they want to reach before they write thefirst word.

When targeting your audience, remember this rule: Narrowand Deep! Always pick an audience with a specific,pressing, or major interest in a narrow topic!

Mistake #2 - Spamming Ezine Editors
In their desire to cover as much ground as possible, manyarticle authors resort to spam techniques for submittingtheir articles. Instead of tightly targeting appropriateezines that cater specifically to their audience, theseauthors try to hit "everyone."

By trying to save time, they actually waste every minutespent writing their article because most ezine editors willjust delete their submissions as spam!

Mistake #3 - Milktoast Topics
You can write the best article in the world, but if yourheadline doesn't grab a reader's eyeballs and pull theminto your article - you lose!

Article authors should spend at least half as much timewriting the headline as they spend writing their actualarticle.

In fact, an "average" article can get superior resultssimply from having a great headline at the beginning.

Mistake #4 - "What's In It For Me"
If they manage to make it past the first 3 pitfalls, manyarticle authors trip on their shoelaces at this stage ofthe process! Don't write about what you want to writeabout, only write on topics of high interest to your targetaudience.

In other words, give them exactly what they want and theywill love you. Nobody cares how much of an expert you rateon a particular topic until they know you can deliverinformation they need in a way they can use - now!

Mistake #5 - "No Shoe Polish"
You could write an article worthy of the front page of theWall Street Journal, but as soon as somebody spots a typoor misspelling, they immediately put your article lowerthan a Sunday sales circular.

Seriously, if you want to undermine all the good you can dowith a great article, send it out without proper spell-checking!

No matter what product or service you sell, once youunderstand the promotion power of free articles, you'llnever look at website traffic generation the same way.

But remember, if you abuse the power, spam ezine editors,or blatantly pitch people instead of providing realinformationArticle Search, you might as well skip the whole processaltogether.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-
author of an amazing new ebook, "Turn Words Into Traffic,"
that will teach you how to use free articles to quickly
drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or
affiliate link!

Simple "Traffic Machine" brings Thousands of NEW visitors to
your website for weeks, even months... without spending a
dime on advertising! http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com

Writing Articles - Avoid These Mistakes

Not writing articles yet? You really should try it, if you want a lot of free traffic to your web site. A simple "Top Ten..." Or "Six Mistakes" type of article can be written by anyone. When you're ready to start writing, avoid the following common mistakes people make when writing and submitting articles.

1. Too short. If it won't fill a page, webmasters won't want it. Write articles of at least 200 words.

2. Too long. Articles that are too long won't be picked up by newsletters or most web sites. Keep it under 700 words.

3. Poor Title. "Air Safety Information," could be the best article on air-safety ever written, and "I Survived A Plane Crash" the worst, but the latter would still get more readers. Get their attention with the title, or they'll never know how good your article is.

4. No keywords in the title. If you call your story about Barrow, Alaska, "Ten Days In Hell," people looking for information on Alaska won't find it in the search engines, and won't know from the title that they may want to read it.

5. Too many links. If you have several links in the article, webmasters and newsletter publishers won't want to use it. Who wants a their website visiters to have more non-paying ways to leave? Two links may be okay at times, but I find it's best to have just one link to your website, and keep it in the author's resource box.

6. No "hook". The point of writing articles is to get traffic to your web site, so you have to invite the reader to visit. At least precede the link in your resource box with "To learn more, visit..." It's even better if you leave them hangingFree Articles, like I do here by mentioning that there are more mistakes covered in my newsletter.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Gillman writes on many money-related topics. To learn more, and to subscribe for FREE to "Web Site Optimization Secrets," go to: http://www.TheMoneyMakerSite.com

The Time is Here: Now you can Post Articles with ease

Posting articles to article directories is vital to your on line health and traffic. Now it has become easier than ever.

The Time is Here: Now you can Post Articles with ease
After almost one year in the making, Article Submitter Pro launched Aug 23, 2005.

Easy to Use, and almost fully automatic, this article submission software is already rated as the most effective viral and time saving Article Tool on the market.

What makes this such an important announcement! Well it's this.. If you ever posted articles to article directories (submission sites), then you know what a laborious task it is. So as a result, you end up doing like I was doing , only submitting to a very few sites.

So the net result is that you lost all the exposure you should have been getting from hundreds of other submission sites. What's the big deal anyway, you say!

Perhaps you're not fully aware of the enormous viral power of having your srticles spread out all over the Net? Let me give just one quick example from my own experience.

In a period of only 6 months I posted 14 articles to only 8 submission sites. Other people then picked up my articles and are using them on their web sites and in their newsletters.

Of course my name is on all of them, along with my www.bestaffiliateproducts.com web site. My name also appears on a few pages on my web site, which today has 248 pages of good content.

Now to see the effect all this is having in just 6 months, do a search on Google for "Fred Farah" in quotes of course. 6 months ago "Fred Farah" showed up 200 times. Not impressive right? Right!

Well now, only 6 months later Google finds my name over 11,000 times, and Yahoo over 8,100. Are these pages all mine? I believe that 98 to 99% are me.

Am I telling you this to brag? No, not really (even though I am very proud of it). The real purpose is to prove to you how truly powerful it is to post articles. And remember that I only used 8 submission sites.

Imagine how this is going to change dramatically, now that I am using Article Submitter Pro. I will post to dozens of sites, maybe 100 or more, and will benefit immensely from the powerful viral effect it will bring.

Enough of this. If you need more proof check out the tons of benefits listed on the web site. Read it, and you can thank me later, after you get your name up "in lights".

See you at http://paydotcom.com/r/1609/freddy Article Submitter Pro

Need more Convincing on the Importance of Articles? Then go to these Links and read more...

Write Articles to get traffic By Jim Edwards
http://www.bestaffiliateproducts.com/write-articles-to-get-traffic.html
Don't Forget to Write Articles By Rosalind Gardner
http://www.bestaffiliateproducts.com/write-articles.html

Article SubmitterPsychology Articles, a Valuable Marketing Tool By Ken Nadreau and Fred Farah

http://www.bestaffiliateproducts.com/article-submitter.htm
Fred Farah

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fred Farah is a long time business man who is now an affilia lte marketer. Check out the best affiliate products at: http://www.bestaffiliateproducts.com/affiliateproducts.html
It's all about affiliate marketing to niche markets.
Lots to learn from the Niche Madness 7-day eCourse, as well as the Niche Market Strategies newsletter.

How to use Articles to Boost Your Online Presence

Writing articles is one of the best ways to get free targeted traffic to your website and isn’t as hard as you may think!

You don't need to be an expert on the topic you are writing about. Just pick an area that is related to the theme of your website, do some research using a search engine and before you know it you will have more knowledge on that subject than most.

Here are a few tips for writing your article:
* Think up a catchy headline to attract readers. If you’ve not re-written your headline at least a few times, it could probably be better!
* Try to keep the length of your article to around 500-1000 words
* Keep paragraphs short and to the point – lots of white space makes your article easier on the eye for readers
* Don’t waffle – people can become bored quickly on the internet and it’s easy to go and read another article instead.
* Don’t forget to spell check your article and if possible get someone to proof read it for you.

Once you have your article written, you must remember to add a resource box. This is your chance to tell everyone about you and your website.

If someone has taken the time to read your article right to the end, the chances are that they will be interested in finding out more. This is a great opportunity for you to gain another targeted visitor to your site.

Your next task is to submit your article, complete with its resource box to as many article directories as possible. Start by adding the article to your own website, then submit it to as many directories as you can find.

You can find a list of article directories that I have successfully used in the past on http://www.homebiz-direct.com/articleWriting.html

Alternatively, just type “Article Directories” into Google and start working your way through the 2.1 million results returned!

Finally, the best part ... After a few days you will begin to see your article appearing all over the web.

The beauty of submitting to article directories is that other webmasters go there to search for content for their own websites or newsletters, so you may find your article in places that you didn't expect for months, or even years to come.

Still not convinced? Here are a few more good reasons for you to start writing:

1. Improved Search Engine Positioning – all these high quality links to your web page from content rich pages will increase your popularity with the search engines
2. Increased credibility for you – it will help to brand you as an expert in your field
3. Free Advertising – you have the opportunity to advertise yourself and your site through your resource box
4. You can use your articles to add original content to your own website and send to the subscribers of your own ezine
5. It won’t cost you a penny!

Writing your first article can be scaryArticle Search, but the rewards gained from doing so are more than worth the effort!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Suzanne Morrison is the webmaster and owner of How to Start an Internet Business. Visit her site to find out more free ways to promote your website or download the free 30 days to Success ebook

How To Turn Your Old Articles Into A Profitable E-mail Workshop!

If you've written numerous articles, you can use them to further promote yourself and your business, e-zine or web site.

You can re-use your old articles by transforming them into another form of promotional tool.
And one way to re-use them is by turning them into an e-mailworkshop. By doing so, you'll be able to offer a new productthat will help you establish your credibility as a businessowner, e-zine publisher or web site owner.

Even though you'll make use of old articles, you won't be offering a re-hash.
Why? Because once you transform your old articles and gatherthem together to form an e-mail workshop, you add a more focused learning dimension to them. For this, you're able tocreate a new and effective marketing tool.

So how do you do it? In a nutshell:
1. Gather all your articles and find a common theme among them. If you've written a number of articles aimed for beginning online business owners, these articles can make up one e-mail workshop. Your e-mail workshop can be a short one (2-4 articles) or a long one (5 or more).

2. When you've identified a common theme, arrange your articles in a way that provides some sort of logic or flowto them.

3. Assign one article as one e-mail module. If you're using 4 articles, your e-mail workshop would consist of 4 modules.

4. Take a good look at each article. Does it look like you can weave the activities within 'lessons' or will it require you to separate the 'lessons' from the 'assignments' -- information first (your re-written article) and then hands-on activities or tests after?

5. Do your articles use the 'you' voice? If not, re-writeas if you're telling your friend a story. Do your articlessound formal? Even though you're 'teaching' something, strive to keep it lighthearted. Be engaging and friendly, but never be too flippant or condescending.

6. Include additional resources at the end of each module. These resources could be online references and researches,and even more intensive lessons.

7. Proofread.

8. Insert your promotional texts in the beginning, middle or end of each module. However, don't overdo this. People whowill request your e-mail workshop are going to see throughyou once they find out that your promotional texts faroutweigh the lessons and valuable instructions in youre-mail workshop. Put value over the content of your e-mailworkshop first and your workshop takers will trust you and believe in your expertise.

9. Put your e-mail workshop on autoresponder and set thetime each module will be sent. You can use free or fee-basedautoresponders.

Before you announce your e-mail workshop, test and re-testit first. When you're certain everything is fineFree Articles, go aheadand announce it.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In "How to Create and Profit from Your Own E-mail Workshops in 3 Days or Less!", Shery includes e-mail workshop outlines and modules she has created and used to sell copies of her other e-books, and promote her sites and fee-based e-mail workshops. And yes, you *can* copy them so you can have your own e-mail workshop up and running in 3 days or less! Visit http://EmailWorkshopsHowTo.com today.

The RIGHT Way To WRITE Articles

As a follow up to my previous article on the WRONG way to write articles (see link at the end), this article shows you the RIGHT way to write articles.

As you no doubt already know, writing articles is probably the most effective way to promote your web site - by writing your article in the RIGHT way, you maximize the results you can achieve from your article submissions. With your article published on heaps of web sites, and in several ezines, it's enough to set your traffic counter spinning.

So, presuming you have read the previous article, and that you don't give the publishers something they do not want, you are on the right track - they will look at your article, and they may publish it. But how can you further maximize both your chances of publication, and the results you can then achieve once it is published?

1. Provide A Link To Your Web Site In Your Resource Box
This point is, for some reason, strangely missed by some article writers - without a link to your site in your resource box, you are unlikely to get much benefit from your published article.

Just writing your name, or your company name, in your resource box may bring some name or brand recognition over time, but you will be missing out on the major benefits that article submissions can bring you.

What you need is to provide a full link to your web site that interested readers of the article can click on - this will bring targeted traffic direct to your web site. It doesn't mean you need to include any HTML (generally, never include HTML in your articles), you just need the URL, or web address, of your web site, starting with 'http://' - publishers will turn that into a proper link when your article is published on web sites, and in text-based emails, it will automatically turn into a clickable link in the vast majority of email-reading software such as Outlook.

It's also a good idea not to add a full stop to the end of your link - occasionally this can make the URL inactive if your article is sent via email, or it is published on a web site that auto-publishes articles.

I've also found it is best just to include the one link in your resource box. Many publishers don't like more than one, and if you do get published, more than one link can confuse the readership simply by giving them too many choices - and so diminish the amount of targeted traffic you can then receive.

2. Use The Resource Box To Promote Your Site
This doesn't mean you should overly-hype your resource box, or laden it with advert-speak, but you do want people to click through, don't you? Tell them clearly and succinctly, and without hype, how your site will benefit them if they click through, and then tell them to click through.

3. Make Your Article Original, Factual And Informative
Publishers are generally looking for informative, factual articles that will interest and benefit their readership through the information it shares.

They are also looking for originality, and will likely sift through articles containing the same old topics to find an article that contains a certain spark of original thought. Remember, they are looking for high quality articles that will stimulate their readership - if you can't provide that, they won't publish your article.

Can you provide a new slant on an old topic; some new timely and relevant information; a twist on an accepted concept? Is your article thought-provoking, or just churning out the same old, same old?

4. Treat Your Article Title As A Headline
In the same way that a headline on a sales page is crucial for your conversion rate, and the subject of an email has a huge effect on the open rate, the title of your article is critically important if you want publishers to publish it, and people to read it and from there follow through to your site.

Make your title interesting and enticing, and your results will improve dramatically. For example, 'The Top Ten Little-Known Ways To Improve Your Online Sales', will achieve much better results than 'Improving Online Sales'.

Often a good approach to article writing is to start with the headline first, and once you've got that right, write the article to fit the headline.

5. Write It, Then RIGHT It
An article will often vastly improve if you leave it alone a while after the first draft. Go back to it after at least a day or two, and read through it - you will be amazed at how much you can improve it.

Apart from spotting spelling mistakes, you will likely notice parts of the article that do not read well and that you can improve. Spending a few minutes doing this will vastly increase the likelihood of your article being published, and improve your results immeasurably.

By following these tips, you can turn an average quality article into one of high quality that publishers will be eager to publishArticle Search, and that readers will enjoy reading - the end result for you is a marked improvement in the levels of targeted traffic that your article attracts to your web site.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Shaw provides systems and software for effective e-marketing. For more helpful tips, and information on the popular free 'Write Articles For Profit' course, read the previous companion article 'The WRONG Way To WRITE Articles':
http://submityourarticle.com/

How To Get More Articles Published Online & In Ezines

Read this article to discover the simple tactics you can use to increase your chances of getting your articles published online and in ezines. Use these proven techniques to witness the true power articles can have on your online marketing. Start building those One-Way links today!

Copyright (c) 2007 Titus Hoskins
Using articles to boost your traffic and sales is one of the most effective online marketing strategies you can use. Why you ask? Mainly because articles are the ideal marketing tools for promoting any website or business.

But you must do this right, you just can't throw a few words together on a webpage and expect things to happen. To effectively use articles as marketing tools you must follow some simple procedures and practices in order to get your articles published online and in ezines. So here are some simple article marketing tips you can try.

Why Articles Work
Before we start, you must understand why articles are so crucial to your marketing in the first place. You must truly understand why and how articles work so effectively as marketing vehicles in our newly wired world. It all boils down to one word... information.

The main reason articles work is information. The whole Internet is based on information. People use the web to access information and your well written article can help satisfy this need. You must place your article squarely into this whole information cycle.

Your article must be informative and provide some benefit to the reader. Tips, advice, how-to... your reader should gain something from spending a few minutes reading your article. The more beneficial your article, the more popular it will become and you will have a better chance of getting it published.

Title & Keywords
Your article title should contain two vital elements: Keywords and Benefits. Your title must contain your keywords or keyword phrases, these are the exact words someone types into the search engines to find what they are looking for on the web.

To find profitable keywords many professional marketers use keyword research software like Keyword Elite but you can also use free keyword suggestion tools like WordTracker or Overture: http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/

I find short catchy titles are best for capturing the reader's attention. With our split second surfing habits, the title may be your only chance you get to hook your readers and keep them on your page. Another tactic is to make all your articles easily scannable with your main points highlighted for quick absorption.

Length
Most experts suggest you keep your articles short, in the 500 - 700 word range. Many authors/marketers use even shorter formats in the 200 - 300 word range in order to fit neatly on webpages.

I personally have found my more meatier articles in the 900 - 1200 word range have worked the best for me and seems to get featured in important ezines like Addme, SiteProNews... more often than shorter articles.

Submission

You must distribute your articles on the web. You can personally submit your articles to the many article directory sites on the web or you can purchase a service which does this for you. I do both.

I personally submit my articles to the major high PR6 or PR7 sites which display my articles. I have found articles placed on Ezinearticles.com, Buzzle.com, Goarticles.com, Articlealley.com, Promotionworld.com, Thumbshots.org, Site-reference.com, Ideamarketers.com, Selfgrowth.com... do extremely well.

I have also found using a paid online service like SubmitYourArticle is really helpful, especially when I am on vacation or away from my computer for any length of time. I also use this service to quickly write different versions of my articles for the best search engine optimization. Using different lengths as many webmasters will only publish short articles.

Resource Box/Anchor Text
Your resource box is at the end of each article and this is where you place URLS for those all important One-Way links back to your site. Many marketers are careful to place their targeted keywords and variations in the anchor text of their links. It is also a good idea to provide some benefit or free gift to enhance your 'call to action' and improve your chances of getting that all important click.

Be Consistent
I have found a steady supply of fresh articles on a regular basis works the best. These articles keep your site or products fresh in the search engines and in front of your potential customers and editors/webmasters who publish your content. Try for at least two articles per week.

Own List of Editors
Along the same lines, build your own opt-in list of editors and webmasters who have opted in to receive your latest articles. Send a copy of your article to these interested parties and you will increase your chances of getting your articles published. I also kickstart my newest articles by including them in my own ezines and blogs.

Autoresponders
Many marketers place their articles in autoresponders so anyone requesting your article can easily use email to retrieve it. Many marketers also use RSS feeds to distribute their articles. If doing your own feeds seems too complicated, then just use any of the major article directories like Ezinearticles which will supply you with a convenient RSS feed for your articles.

Spam Check Your Articles
I always make it a point of testing my articles for any words or phrases that will trigger the spam filters and block my articles. This is extremely important if you want your article to be featured in ezines and newsletters. I check my articles with my Aweber autoresponder service but you can use a free SpamCheck service offered by SiteSell. See resource box below for link.

Personality
Articles that show some originality and personality have worked the best for me. Showing and telling your own story and experiences in a light hearted way seems to work really well on the somewhat impersonal Internet. Having a sense of humor also helps, try to make your articles entertaining as well as informative and your articles will be picked up more often.

Conclusion
Writing unique informative articles is one of the most effective ways to market on the web. Remember to keep your articles informative, personable, keyword rich, short and to the point. Take a pro-active approach to promoting your articles: submit them to the major online article directories, send them to editors and webmasters who request content from you and place your articles on your site, in your blogs and RSS feeds.

Used properly, articles can be effective marketing tools for boosting both your traffic and sales. Perhaps the best part of allFeature Articles, article marketing is completely free. What more can you ask for?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The author is a full-time online marketer. Give your online marketing a real boost, try our free e-Course: www.marketingtoolguide.com To check your articles for Spam - try this: www.bizwaremagic.com/spamcheck.htm 2007 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.