If you scour the web looking for low-cost or no-cost ways to promote any product or service online, you surely will see the suggestion of article marketing. Well-written original articles have proven to be one of the most powerful forms of advertising on the internet for the small business owner.

Article marketing can take several forms. One of the most obvious is writing articles to post on your own website or blog. This is a great idea. Search engines love unique content and are always trolling for something new. Adding keyword-rich unique articles to your website or blog on a regular and consistent basis will keep the search engine bots coming back frequently to update their indexing of your website.

The next most commonly used article marketing strategy is for a marketer, like you, to write an article and submit it to an article directory. Since the idea is to have original, fresh content, you should not submit the same article to different directories. Each article should be unique. You can use the same theme, but the words and ideas need to be different.

Article directories are where webmasters or ezine editors go to find new content to publish on their sites, blogs, or distribute to their readership in the form of ezines. They are also visited by people researching online for information. When you submit an article to an article directory, attached to it is what is known as an author’s “resource box” or “bio”. This is a piece of text that you write to promote your personal website or a particular product. This is where you include a link to your website, your blog, or other articles you have written so that interested parties can click through to learn more about your products.

Once you get the hang of writing articles, you may want to consider submitting some of your articles to sites that actually pay you for well-written articles, like Associated Content, or Constant Content. These sites have high editorial standards, and many writers find they can earn additional money by submitting articles to these sites.  It may not be much, just $2.00 to $8.00 per article, but you can also earn lifetime residual income from the amount of views a particular article receives, so it can add up over time.  Obviously, you will want to promote your articles on the pay-per-view sites as much as you can.

Having your articles posted at article directories has a twofold benefit. The first benefit is that it gives you a one-way link from your author’s resource box back to your website. This improves your website’s ranking in the search engine placement. This is what Google calls “PR” (short for Page Rank).  A link back is like a “vote” for your website. The more votes you get, the more important your website will appear to the search engines. The more backlinks you build linking to your website or blog, the higher position your website or blog will appear in search results.

The second benefit is that real people read these articles.  If people choose to read your article, it is logical those people may be interested in your subject matter and, therefore, are potentially customers for the items you are offering on your website. This makes them “qualified traffic”, i.e. people who are more likely to be converted into actual customers.

Free advertising, in every form, is worth the effort. Getting links and real live visitors from article directories is just the start of the benefits of article marketing, though. The real power of article marketing is in its viral effects. Have you heard the phrase, “Do the work once, get paid forever?” That’s the idea behind viral marketing.

To benefit the most from the viral effect, articles need to appeal to human readers and have:o Interesting content
o Good grammar, spelling and punctuation
o Material that will not get dated too quickly
o Desirable keywords

An article with all of the above will potentially spread throughout the Internet for literally years to come, at no additional cost. It is for that reason that spending time on article marketing is one of the best uses of your time for any online marketer.

Here at Success Point Consulting, we love to help small business owners get started with Article Marketing.  We will write a package of 10 articles on topics and keywords you select for only $85. You are then free to do whatever you wish with the articles.  You can use them as blog posts, submit to article directories or ezine publishers, or use them however you see fit.  For  more information, contact Trina@SuccessPointConsulting.com.

Here’s to your success,

Trina

P.S.  Remember to check out our new ebook: Money in the Bank: A Step by Step Guide to Establishing Business Credit.

This is the part of the process where a good software program, like the full version of WordTracker or Market Samurai, really comes in handy.  But if you only have one or two websites and you only do this process occasionally (which you should update your research every 6 months or so because phrases go in and out of popularity), then you can get good results by using the free Google keyword tool.

So surf over to https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. This is Google’s free keyword tool and it is the model on which all other tools are based.  Google is currently Beta testing a new interface, which I don’t use because they limit your results to the top 100 keywords. As you’ll see, in really competitive niches, I will often look at 300 or more keywords and phrases, so the new interface makes it a pain.  So for now, if I’m going to use Google, I immediately click on the link at the upper right hand side of the page that says “Previous Interface.”  

Once I’m there, here’s the basic process that I have found works for me and my clients:

         1)  Select the second choice “website content” in the first section. 

         2)  Type in your website address in the search box and hit “get keyword ideas.”    This will create a list of what keywords Google is currently associating   with your site.  It’s not unusual to see some phrases that really don’t apply.

         3) For each “section” go to the bottom and hit the “add all” link.  This will create a  list of selected keywords in the right hand bar.

         4)  Compare this generated list with the list you created on your own.  Add any missing phrases to your list by scrolling down to the bottom and hitting the “Add Your Own Keywords.”

CAUTION:  DO NOT EDIT the list at this time.  Even if some of the phrases are just wacky, don’t remove them yet because they’ll just get added back in.

         5)  Once you’ve completed this list, hit the “Get more related keywords” box.   This will automatically move those keywords into the “get keyword ideas” box at the top of the page.  Type in the Captcha and hit “get keyword ideas.”

         6)  Go to the bottom of each section and add any new keyword ideas to your selected keyword list.  Again, don’t edit, just add. 

         7)  Repeat this process until very few new keywords come up – often takes 3 to 5 repeats.  You should now have a list of 200 to 300 or more potential keywords.

         Once you are satisfied that you’ve gotten more keyword ideas than you could possibly use hit the “get more related keyword ideas” one last time.  This time, though, go through the list in the top box and delete any obviously non-relevant words or phrases.  

         9)  Once you’ve edited your list, click on “Filter my results.”  Select the box that says “don’t show new ideas, give me data on my selected keywords” and then hit “Get Keyword Ideas.”

         10) NOW is when you really start to edit and refine.   Click on “Global Search Volume” heading.  This will sort the results according to volume.  Everyone is different, and your actual numbers will depend on your target audience, but I typically will remove every word or phrase that has more than 150,000 searches per month.  Those words and phrases are just going to be too competitive and it’s going to be almost impossible to get ranked for them, at least in the short-term. I then usually scroll down to the bottom and look at the phrases that say “Not Enough Data.”  I will remove all of these, too.  (Now, you are removing them from your list on the right hand side, not from the results box.  If it’s too confusing, you can go ahead and repeat steps 5, 8-9 to get rid of the phrases in the main results box.)

        11)  Find the box at the top of the results that says “Match Type.”  Change the selection to “Phrase.”  You’ll see the number of searches change.

        12)  Then you can start to evaluate the keywords and phrases you have left.  Look at the Advertiser Competition column.  Solid green means the phrase is very competitive, that alot of other sites are targeting those same words.  The gold is in the phrases that are NOT solid green, so start with those.

        13)  Now is when it gets fun.  Open up a new tab in your browser and open up a Google search box.  Type the phrase:  allintitle: followed by the search term you are interested in within quotes e.g.  allintitle: “divorce rules Ohio”.

        14) When the search results come up, look at the top right hand side of the page.   There will be “Results 1 of XXXXXX sites.”  This is the number of competing sites for that particular keyword or phrase.

         15)  Do this with every potential keyword phrase.  As you pull up the results, look at the sites that come up.  If Google is pulling up well-established competitive sites, it’s going to be hard to compete.  However, if the Google results are Wikipedia, and Ezinearticles.com, and directory listings, then, even though there may be more than 50,000 competing websites, they could be “soft” competitors and there is opportunity for you to dominate the phrase with an aggressive SEO campaign.

        16)  Create a spreadsheet that shows you the phrase, number of global searches, and number of competing websites.  You may also want to make a note of the top 3 or top 5 search results.  Look at the data.  Though there is no hard and fast rule, it is a common theory that the “sweet spot” for SEO is a search term or phrase that gets at least 2,400 global searches per month and has less than 50,000 competing sites. With dedicated SEO promotion, a site can often appear on the first page of Google results of a sweet spot term in less than 30 days.  If you’ve got one or two keywords that fall into that category, congratulations, you are on your way to online success.  Keep this data and compare the results in 6 months.

Congratulations, you’ve just learned the basics on how to conduct keyword research.  Next week, we’ll look at what to do once you have your target keywords selected.

Here’s to your success,

 Trina

The key to getting your site or profile found in an online search is keywords.  Period.  Whether it’s on Google or Bing, or even LinkedIn or Twitter, what words you use and how you use them will have a major impact on your results and ultimately, your online success.

Choosing the “right” keywords is part art, part science.   There are dozens of programs out there that will generate words and phrases for you.  I’ve used WordTracker, Market Samurai, and Good Keywords, in addition to the very accessible free Google Keyword Tool.  They all have their flaws and their biases.  But like so many programs, the outcome is only as good as the input.  “Garbage in, garbage out” as the saying goes.

The place you have to start is getting into the mind of your potential site visitor.  What words or phrases would they type into a search box if they were specifically looking for you but didn’t know your company name?  I don’t mean to burst anyone’s bubble, but few people with any sort of search engine experience will type in just “dentist” if they are looking for a new family dentist.  I know, I know, I hear you.  “But Trina, Google says “dentist” was searched 13,000,000 times last month.”  It was.  And those people received in their results the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wikipedia, the ADA, and many directories for dentists.  Plus the local results for Google maps.  If you truly wanted to compete on the word “dentist” then concentrate on getting listed in the right directories, and get a listing on Google maps, don’t try to use the phrase as the keyword on your website.  It is more likely your ideal new patient would type in Dentist Clintonville or Dentist Clintonville Ohio, which had 36 searches.

So the first step is to create a list of all the phrases you “think” a visitor would type if they were looking for you, your products or your services.  Think of phrases that are 2 to 3, even 4 words long.  If you take a common phrase and narrow it, you’ve created a “long-tail keyword.”  Long-tail keywords are going to bring you lots more of targeted, specific traffic than the general, short-tail keywords.  An example of a short-tail keyword phrase would be “family dentist.”  “Family dentist Columbus Ohio” would be an example of a long-tail keyword. 

The next step, if you are running Google Analytics on your site (which you should), go to Traffic Sources report section and look at the list of keywords in the right hand column.  Click on the “View Full Report” under the list to see all of the phrases people have been typing and ended up on your site.  Aren’t you amazed at the variety?  I know I am.

The third step is one that many people skip.  Take a look at your competition.  Type in the phrases you think people are using, and the ones you pulled off Google Analytics into a Google search box (or Yahoo, or Bing, it doesn’t really matter) and then click on all of the competitors.   Put your cursor somewhere on the page near the top but under the header and right click.  Select “View Source” and up pops their site coding.  Near the top, you should see their meta tags.  Look for “meta name = keywords” and then copy down all the words and phrases they are using.  Then go back to their site and read their home page, looking for those words or phrases.  Make a note of how many times each phrase appears.  Now, it’s true.  Some sites will have 20 keywords in their tags, and only 2 of them show up in their text.   That’s not good optimization, but who am I to judge?  Now, with most blogs, it’s a different story, but that’s for another day.

You’ll now have a list of what you think people search for, and what your competition thinks people search for.  Next week, I’ll review what to do next.

So, what tricks or tips do you have to find the “right” keywords?  Do you believe your keyword selection is contributing to your online success?  If you’re willing to share, please let me know.

Until next week,

Here’s to your success,

Trina

P.S.  Yep, you guessed it.  I’m going to be offering a seminar in July:  “The Key is Keywords.”  Details are being worked out now.  Stay tuned.

One of the ways you get noticed by the search engines is to develop backlinks. Backlinks are exactly what they sound like — they are links which directs others towards your site; they are also often referred to as inbound links (IBL’s). In the world of search engine optimization, the number of backlinks your site has is an indication of how popular or important it is according to your peers (other site owners). These are especially important because search engines such as Google will give more credit to those sites with a good number of quality backlinks. So they will then consider these sites more relevant than others in the results pages of a search query and will show your site higher on in the rankings.

Most search engines will want websites to have a level playing field, and so will more often than not look for natural links that have been built slowly over time. Although it can be fairly easy to manipulate the links on a web page in order to achieve a higher ranking in the short term, it is a lot harder to influence a search engine with external backlinks from another site. This is why these count so highly in a search engine’s algorithm.

One of the best ways to achieve quality backlinks to your site in a fairly short time is Directory Submissions.  Why don’t more small business owners do this?  I know it may have been some years ago, but you actually had to buy an ad to be listed in the  yellow pages, or at least buy a telephone line.  It’s no different online.  You actually have to DO something to be listed in a directory.

 It takes time, it takes effort, but it gets results. Believe it or not, you actually have to submit the link for your site to directories in order to be listed. Many directories allow free submissions. There are dozens more that want you to pay for the privilege of being listed. If you can afford it, DO IT. There are many sites around which offer a service where you can submit your site details to numerous sites. Do a search, you’ll find them. In some industries (like legal, for instance) there are well over 2,000 potential directories your business can be listed in. Every one of those listings then becomes a backlink.

But another benefit of submitting to directories, in addition to creating backlinks, is getting a boost in traffic. Imagine, some people actually use directories that they know to search for businesses instead of just Google search. The key to getting a traffic boost from directories is to actually write out a good description of your product or service and use your targeted keywords. I know, it begins to sound like a broken record, but if you use the same targeted keywords on your site, in your LinkedIn, Twitter & Facebook posts and profiles, in articles that link back to your site, and also in business directories, you will start to become associated with those keywords in the eyes of the search engines. You will start to rank higher and be seen as more relevant. Isn’t that what you want?

I almost feel like the directories I tell clients to submit their site to are a closely guarded secret, but they really aren’t. This isn’t my complete list, but here are some ideas to get you started. You should make sure your business is listed in: Local.Yahoo.com, Google.com/maps, MerchantCircle.com, Brownbook.net, Cityslick.net and if you can afford it, PR.com.

There, now don’t tell me I’m not helping to make you successful online. I don’t get paid to advertise these directories (though occasionally clients pay me to help them listed on all of them ). But because you are friends of mine, I feel like I need to at least give you a hint.

Here’s to your success,

Trina

P.S.  We’re only 10 days away from the How to WOW! Now Seminar.  Have you registered yet?  HowtoWOWnow.eventbrite.com

There’s now a discount for friends of mywebWOW!com, which I would be glad to share.  Just let me know that you are going to attend and I’ll get you a discount code for 50% off the ticket price.  What are friends for?