Health Upgraders

Strategically developing online content helps to ensure a small-business owner’s success in both the short and long term.

Article marketing is a smart, comprehensive way to broaden the online presence of your small business enterprise. By posting articles to ezines, directories and newsletters, you can reap benefits ranging from new clients and a solid reputation to increased website traffic and heightened visibility.

At the heart of most successful article marketing is a comprehensive strategy known as Search Engine Optimization, a process through which keyword rich documents are published online to help to improve website traffic. Online marketers using SEO techniques choose a keyword or phrase that people will likely search for when conducting research. They then create relevant, engaging articles throughout which the critical word or phrase is used. Once these documents are posted online, search engines add them to their immense cache of information which helps to strategically drive traffic to selected websites. In addition to keyword rich document publishing, though, a second critical component of an online marketing strategy must include the distribution of a given website’s URL. Publishing a website’s address at the end of SEO articles will allow interested readers to easily visit the site by clicking on the embedded link.

When executed with quality, a useful article that is correctly formatted and well written, can provide a free way to quickly strengthen your online presence. Seek out a few places to post your articles. There are many free article directories and e-zines that actively request informative articles on any number of given topics. These resources are important allies when developing successful article marketing strategies.

Online article marketing, however, does more than simply heighten your internet visibility. Unlike direct paid advertising, it actually presents an opportunity to educate and assist your customer base. By providing useful resources online, you can make a case that benefits your business while building a reputation as an authoritative and knowledgeable entity. Further, article marketing offers a longer lasting form of promoting your business than does standard advertising alone. Paid ads usually lose potency and relevance over time. But a well-written, useful article will acquire hits and encourage viral marketing for months at a time.

Additionally, article marketing is one of the few forms of promotion that have the potential to reach a large audience without considerable financial investment and it is unique because it empowers you to position a nuanced message prominently in the vast landscape of the web. You can reach customers who you would have no access to you otherwise and the cost is typically measured in time rather than dollars.

Article marketing offers significant numbers of benefits to retailers who choose to engage in the strategic method of search engine optimization. For many small business in particular, it is the best way to use the power of the internet to bring prospective clients to your door. Importantly, the most successful marketing campaigns understand that quality, content and keyword relevancy are critical components of good marketing. Therefore, investing the time to ensure you develop great ideas, witty content and informative articles will help you reap the greatest benefit of article marketing in both the short and long term.

© John Doetsch 2006. Online reprint rights granted as long as the article is published in its entirety, including links and resource box.

John Doetsch is editor at Websition.com, a content provider, where you will find fresh articles to use on your website, newsletter, or ezine, all with royalty-free reprint rights. http://www.websition.com

Mixing and mingling with industry professionals is an opportunity that you should NEVER let slip by. Here are some tips from my own experience to help you make the most of your conference:

1. Agents and editors are people too. Just like you, they have an agenda as well as their anxieties when attending conference. As an agent or editor walks into the party, she might be thinking: will I find that writer who will get me promoted, or will I have to get a restraining order from the lady in purple? A slight exaggeration that I hope illustrates the point.

2. Introduce yourself if you do, and especially if you don’t have an appointment with that person. Be a familiar face when you walk into your appointment; you’d be surprised how much more comfortable you feel and how much she pays attention. Or, seize the opportunity to chat up your first-choice agent who was booked by the time you signed up for your appointment.

3. Small talk doesn’t have to be small. When I attended my very first writer’s conference in 2001, Red Dress Ink Senior Editor Margaret Marbury sat next to me during the keynote lunch. Rather than pester her with my pitch or worse, ignore her, I said hi and then complimented her on her dress. We started talking about life in New York versus L.A. and then, she told about the new line she was starting called Red Dress Ink. From that chance meeting, I didn’t get a six figure offer for my book; rather, I got a valuable education on the editorial process (especially submission faux pas that irritated editors the most), what makes a book marketable, the books she had edited, etc.

4. Don’t drink and drive. Keeping the previous point in mind, don’t fuel up on liquid courage even if you are at a wine and cheese party. Social mixers are ultimately professional events. The agent holding a glass of wine while laughing at your witty repartee still has an agenda at the conference: to size up potential authors and meet up with her current authors. You have an agenda too and don’t screw it up!

5. Have an entry and an exit plan. I met my editor during the Q&A session of the Avon Spotlight during the Romance Writers of America conference in New York. After the session, I went up to her and introduced myself. She was surrounded by authors who wanted the guidelines she was passing out, so I kept it short by asking if she would like to see the synopsis and the first three chapters of my book I had referenced in my question. She said yes and I thanked and then wished her a good conference. Do you know that when I asked her about that day eight months later, she remembered? What she appreciated was that I respected her time and yet took the time to introduce myself and my book. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

6. Do not channel your inner used-car salesman. Present yourself as a confident and professional author that agent or editor would enjoy working with. If you find the conversation dwindling or there are six people lining up behind you, end the conversation with a thank you or “it was great meeting you, may I have your card so that I may send you the synopsis and first three chapters of my [insert tagline here].” Trust me, she will remember you.

7. Don’t let the encounter end at the party. If you have a book ready to be sent out, get that letter, synopsis and first three chapters in the mail. An editor once revealed to me that they are never inundated with conference submissions immediately after a writer’s conference. That was why my editor called my home three weeks after I sent her a partial submission to request the full. She bought that book two months later.

However, if you don’t have a book ready, send a short note reminding the agent or editor of your meeting. Thank her for her time and that you look forward to sending your book after it’s done.

Mary Castillo is the author of “Hot Tamara,” a romantic comedy that was was excerpted as a Red Hot Read in Cosmopolitan Magazine and deemed “what is sexy right now” by the New York Daily News. Castillo is also a featured author in the anthology, Friday Night Chicas. She was a reporter for the Los Angeles Times Community News and her articles have appeared in Romance Writers Report as well as the University of Redlands’ alumni magazine, Och Tamale.
2006.

Article Marketing Builds Momentum and Traffic

When I started submitting articles to ezines and directories
I was happy just to get an occasional article written and
widely posted online. I assumed that was the point. But I’ve
since learned about equally important considerations–like
the Page Rank of the site where it appears.

Each article was written to inform and appeal to the human
readers. Search engines were incidental in my mind. I wasn’t
systematic about submitting new ones on a regular basis so
they built momentum. Nor was I careful to emphasize my
website’s keywords and principal theme. But I do now–it
matters. Despite that, the articles already posted have been
hard at work for me.

My list of places for submitting keeps expanding. And it’s
further refined with every article posted. After a year and
a half, that’s a large list (nearly a thousand). And I’m a
known quantity with sites and ezines that consistently post
my contributions. My best-received article to date shows 181
Google mentions (with their related incoming links).

Starting from Zero Online Visibility

I launched a new website mid-June, 2004, using article
marketing as the primary traffic-building strategy (Yellow
Page Sage, getting your Yellow Page ad and website working
together). The first article was a strong one, getting 135
Google cites.

Over the next three months I wrote and posted seven articles
related to Yellow Pages or Local Search. The website also
provided extensive information about Yellow Page advertising
by other authors–making it very sticky and content-rich.

Creating an Article 12-pack

After they were submitted to my list, I combined those seven
articles with five of my prior marketing articles – twelve
in all (with a link to each article). Instead of offering
them as onesees, I now send the whole batch (letting the
receiver pick what they want).

I prepared a letter offering the 12-pack, asking if they want
to receive similar future ones. That letter is only sent to
websites I’ve visited. I’d never offer it to a site unless
there’s a good fit. Sending out the 12-pack is an ongoing
activity, and another way to expand my list. Some websites
have posted the whole set – twelve return links from one
letter!

Surprise! Google Noticed me!

Since I was busy getting the site polished and launched, it
caught me by surprise that in two months my Google Page Rank
was 3/10 (the first time I checked). And the following month
it had climbed to PR 4/10 – without doing anything but post
seven articles. I didn’t yet realize it was getting extra
mileage because of the strength of my list. So moving to PR
5/10 can’t be too far off, can it?

Then I started paying serious attention to Page Rank–the
posting site’s AND mine. Page Rank shows the extra
importance that Google gives to the number and popularity of
websites linking to yours. Links from higher Page Rank pages
elevate your Page Rank.

Two Things I didn’t Know When I Started Posting Articles

First – I posted my articles to get website traffic and
incoming links (via the Sig at the end of each article). I
treated every article appearance as equivalent. But Google
doesn’t. All those articles appearing in high-Page-Rank
directories were giving an extra boost to my score.

So I’ve re-assessed my list. Websites with higher Page Rank
are now my “A List.” Articles that they publish are doing my
Page Rank way more good than other places. Of course, I
still need to post widely and pursue both types of links.

Second – I didn’t realize that the “Page Rank of a website”
doesn’t exist. Every page on a site has its own Page Rank.
(Although there are ways to make every page on the website
share the same Page Rank, it’s not widely done.) So a home
page with PR 7/10 that links to mine from a PR 3/10 interior
page only provides a PR 3/10 link. That awareness influences
who and how I link with other websites anymore. And it
dictates the way I organize external links on my own
websites.

Get a Free a Page Rank Tool

To assess other sites, you need a Page Rank tool. You can
compare multiple sites at

http://www.phplivesupport.com/google_pagerank.php

Lilengine.com provides a free Page Rank Tool. Use theirs, or
you can post it on your own website.

http://www.lilengine.com/tools/pagerank-tool.php

Articles Give your Ideas a High Profile all Over the
Internet

The benefits of article marketing are well documented. And
if it can build your Page Rank as well, it’s even a better
use of your time. Start writing and posting articles that
show your expertise. And start getting the traffic and
attention you’d been wishing for.

–Dr. Lynella Grant http://www.promotewitharticles.com Use posted articles to build your business Expert in the “body language of printed materials” Author, The Business Card Book and Yellow Page Smarts grant@promotewitharticles.com (719) 395-9450

Have you noticed the inundation of violent words used to “positively” promote web site and online services? In today’s atmosphere of terrorism, why is there “not” a recognition that terms like the following promote fear and negative emotions: “Killer ads” “Blast your Readers with…” “Explode your traffic…” And if the user of these terms “intends” to gain customers by tactics of fear – Why? Do you ‘want’ to do business or buy from someone who would personally hurt you? Offend you? Blast you? Kill you?

Those who use such terms will be defensive against my viewpoints, but as a person who wants peace in our world, I encourage all of us, including myself, to “think” before we use such words that depict fear, violence, hatred and words used in terrorism.

Am I an extremist? Perhaps, but before using such phrases, visually place yourself in the same room with someone who lost a loved one on 9-11 and try to ask them if they like these terms? Would they ‘buy’ from you?

The unfortunate reality is that if a person were to totally avoid working with web sites that use these terms, he/she might as well not work online — the usage of these words is That Prevalent!

It’s obvious that the users of these phrases do not mean them literally, but what concerns me is how saturated the mind can become with such syntax. “Words” DO affect each of us. There is a Bible verse that says, “As a man (woman) thinketh in his heart, so is he/she” (Proverbs 23:7). As we think, we speak — as we speak, we influence — as we influence, we change lives!!! Let’s not blast, explode, nor kill each other in our advertising! There are “numerous” online dictionaries and thesauruses where nonviolent words and terms can be found! Bookmark this one today: http://www.dictionary.com.

This IS important! What can each of us do to make a stand against violence and terrorism? — help change our “speech” on-line and off-line!

These are really exciting times for writers. This is mainly
because the World Wide Web has opened up opportunities that did
not exist previously. There are amazing new opportunities that
are capable of helping any writer market and sell their work
very efficiently and successfully.

1. Sell More By Giving Out Information On Your Book

One of the greatest obstacles potential buyers of books have
always had in making a decision on whether or not to purchase a
title, is getting enough information about It. Detailed
summaries and synopsis as well as comments by others who have
read the book can be very useful. This is the reason behind the
phenomenal success of the legendary Amazon.com site.

Any writer can create their own miniature Amazon.com-like site
that can do miracles for their book sales. The idea is to
solicit comments and views from those who have already read the
book and then publishing them on your website.

By joining a useful affiliate program or two, you can ensure
that you have the potential to earn maximum from visitors to
your site who do not end up purchasing anything. Pay-per-click
affiliate programs like Adsense are especially worth
considering.

2. Sell Information Through A Newsletter

As you gather the information for your book, you can sell it in
bits and pieces through a newsletter. A newsletter is extremely
easy to do and manage online. More so if you have all the right
tools. Incidentally it is very possible to gather them all from
one site.

3. Special Reports Are Still Hot Sellers Online

Special reports are in high demand online because many people do
not have the time or inclination to read a whole book to pick up
the skills and knowledge they are looking for. A special report
offers all this information where it can be picked up quickly
and implemented immediately by the reader.

Writers can make a very useful income from information that
grows from a short article in their newsletter into a special
report.

4. Build Up A Mailing List For Book Sales

All the three activities mentioned so far, can be used to build
up a valuable mailing list that can be used later to market the
book once it has been published.

Some writers have managed to sell thousands of copies of their
books in this way by simply getting the word out to their
mailing lists of several hundred thousand targeted and very
potential buyers of their books.

5. Publish Your Book Online

Again with the right tools, you can publish your book and make
it available online at your site, only when somebody has paid a
small subscription fee. There is a certain free site with the
amazing feature where you can do this. It is Sitekreator.com.

Every writer should make an effort to make full use of all the
high number of unprecedented weapons and tools that are capable
of helping a writer earn much more from their writing.

Mobile Broadband has taken off in such a big way, more of us are opting to use it and the way we work and play has changed along with it. But what occurred first? Has mobile broadband become so popular because it fits into our changing lifestyle or has our lifestyle changed because we now have access to mobile broadband and access to the internet from virtually anywhere we want? Mobile computing is very popular and is now an everyday concept; we use it for work, education, socialising and relaxing. It has to be said though that another contributory factor to the rising popularity of mobile broadband and the increasing demand of mobile internet is the array of offers for free laptop with broadband by the service providers.

Orange, O2, Vodafone and more all have various offers for a free laptop with a mobile broadband contract. These sorts of deals are very attractive and although service costs can be grater in the long run they can be an excellent means to getting a laptop without the initial big upfront cost. Mobile broadband uk sales have been given a massive boost by these free laptop offers. With Christmas rapidly approaching many see this as good time to save money on a mobile internet package bundled with a free laptop.

If you’re shopping around for the best mobile broadband offer, price will be a concern, so don’t rush into the wrong broadband service contract just because it looks like a good deal. Today service providers design mobile broadband packages with consumers’ choices in mind, so you should be able to find the perfect package for your requirements factoring into account your level of usage, preferred features and of course your budget.

Avoid the Top Ten Costly Author Mistakes with Professional Coaching Judy Cullins ©2005 All Rights Reserved.

Maybe you are thinking about it. Maybe you don’t know it it’s worth it. A book coach can help you save time, frustration, and money down the drain because you will stop book writing, publishing, and promotion mistakes before they start.

Here’s some common mistakes and how you can avoid them.

One. Emerging authors don’t know their book’s purpose. Answer the question why your are writing it? For fame, fortune? To answer a challenge? To brand your business and make money? To entertain?

Two. Emerging authors don’t know what their preferred audience wants. They just have an idea and start writing in a kind of automatic voice. If fiction, who is your audience? Do they mainly want entertainment? If self-help, what benefits will your reader get after they read your book? Where is your audience so you can promote to them? Online?

It’s always best to write the book your audience wants rather than write a book and hope others will buy.

Three. New authors think they need to write a print book of 200 plus pages, need an agent and a publisher. But today’s audience is Online and wants a short book with just the key points. They don’t need so many stories because their reading time is limited. They want it fast and easy. They will be happy to buy and print out a short electronic book under 100 pages, and as long as they get answers, they don’t care if you have a publisher.

Four. Emerging authors leap into an introductory chapter all about THEIR story. You audience wants what you can do for them first.

Five. Writers don’t realize they need to write the easiest chapter first. If they pick a difficult one, they get stuck fast, and either give up or go more research.

Six. Emerging authors think they need to research a lot. Really, what you know is already in you about one particular topic. Make a short list of questions on one topic in your book. Then, answer them. Now you have part of the middle of your chapter.

Seven. Both emerging and professional authors write on and on without giving their reader a break or a reason to read on. Get your readers to turn pages and keep turning to finish when you put headlines up in your non-fiction work.

Eight. Authors forget to use a hook at the beginning of the chapter and after each heading. They launch on telling their reader all kinds of info they didn’t set the reader up to want.

Nine. Authors don’t realize a hook includes a few questions about where your audience is now. Or, some wild facts that affect your reader. Just not including your reader.

Ten. Non-fiction authors forget to put a finish on the end of the chapter. Maybe action steps. But always a last paragraph that gives the reader a reason to turn to the next chapter. Remember benefits sell.

Most clients tell me that they receive the value of the coaching costs and more when they get coaching.

Imperial Holiday is a bed and breakfast in Rome, located in Via Carlo Alberto 26

The Bed & Breakfast Imperial Holiday is located within the walls of Rome(historic center of Rome),in an important torist road that allows easy reach of de magnificient Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and a short walk from the railway station Termini on foot.You can also reach on footeven some of the moust important attractions of Rome:the Colosseum,the Fori Imperiali,Piazza Venezia and the Basilica of SAn Giovanni in Laterano.

Also using public transport services(with the metro just 2 meters from the B&B),you can get to other places of tourits interet in the capital in few minutes.

The family atmosphere and welcoming Bed & Breakfast Imperial Holiday ensure a paceful holiday relax.

Our Bed & Breakfast has three large rooms and cozy,complete with all necessary services,in addition,each room is equipped with LCD TV small fridge.The rooms have heating for the winter and a cool ventilation for summernights.Our customers can use an elegant bathroom in coomon..For make pleasnat and comfortable stay of our clients we offer the free services of a micrwave oven+grill to cook or heat the food and coffee maker in common.

The rooms are well ligt,two of wich overloock the main street and one in the courtyard.

The residence also has a special room to use hostel also provided with bath for common use(only accomadation for customers of hostel) that can also use microwave oven and coffee machine in addition to tv and heating.

If you think that Imperial Holiday is not exactly what you are looking for, click here to visit our catalogue and a run a search for Apartments in Rome, or make a search for a luxury hotel in Rome, or make a reservation for a Rome tour.

Many sites that feature articles are now posting and putting up articles on the holidays. I wanted to write an article on “Thanksgiving”. Thinking to myself “you can do it, go ahead”, with this, I thought and thought. “What about the holidays”? “Was there one that stands out in my mind”? As I pondered, I actually wrote another article on an entirely different subject. Then I posted it around on the ezine articles and on my site. As I re-read it this article, I could sense the warmth of a memory coming back. You know those don’t you? When you settle back and then all of a sudden a warm memory strikes you. It starts at the back of your mind and works it way out. That’s the way memories do at times. They get stuck in the back of your mind, shelved for some reason or another. Maybe you are too busy, wham; you end up pushing that memory back because there’s no time for it now. This memory came up like a lump in my throat and a tear stinging in my eye. It actually brought me back to a time in my life during junior high. Out of this inspiration I wrote “Tears, Thanksgiving, and Mom”. You see, many people operate on this kind of inspiration. Others write out of boundless research they have done. After this the author puts all the material into concise and proper order. I have written both of these ways for years. The best method for me is to research a topic. For instance, I write a lot about biblical topics relevant to today’s society. When doing this I first write the main sentence about what I am writing. For instance, I might want to write about “The courtroom of God”. Then I immediately go to my bible study software. I have a number of these, which I recommend to have on hand. Theophilos is a good one. I take the noun, in this case God, and put in other nouns referring to the courtroom. This would be God judge and search for it in the software search engine. Perhaps I would put judge in and follow all the search items for this. I do this when searching a topic, then putting the information into order following a outline. Moreover, this method works for virtually anything you want to write about. If you were writing on Thanksgivings in the south, for instance, your search item would be southern thanksgiving. Now for this search we would search the internet, encyclopedias, and even southern cooking magazines. In following this method, I like to have inspiration to go with my research. This inspiration usually comes quickly as I follow a line of investigation. Sometimes I end up in places where I did not think it would lead. That is the fun of it. When the inspiration is flowing, I have literally written thousands and thousands of words until I am finished. Then when I am done, I save it and wait for a day or two. By doing that, I allow all preconceived ideas about the article to lapse somewhat. Then, I go and review it. After this I rewrite and correct, then repeat the procedure. For articles on the internet I publish to my own site [http://wingswatchman.org/WordPress] . I then have a number of article websites where I put the finished product. I do recommend, though, that you find a good article submission site. These can be very helpful to you as they automatically have the connections to thousands of other people that would be interested in your article.

You want people to read your article. By getting people interested in your article, you can have thousands of back links from your articles that are posted on other sites. This is helpful in the google page rank system. It also gets your article into the hands of editors that would actually pay you for your work. The doors can also be opened for free lance work as more people come to know you and how you write. The last thing I must say, if you want to be a writer, then write and write some more. Do this on a daily basis by putting down your thoughts on paper if nothing else comes to mind. By Dana G Smith ©2005

Do you know that some of the greatest salesmen do it on the phone?

Yet, I keep hearing how cold calling is a nightmare, how they hate it, and how even some sales gurus say “cold calling is dead.” Here are some of the reasons I’ve heard from my own sales trainees, at least in the beginning:

1) RejectionAll I got was No’s and the phone slammed in my ear.

2) All I got was voice mail jail and no one ever returns my calls.

And there are others, but most come back to the same thing: the obstacle you are facing isn’t out there in the cold cruel world. It resides right between your own two ears. Your own beliefs are the obstacle. It isn’t anywhere else.

For this article we’re going to deal with the “all” syndrome and rejection.

A client and I once developed a cold calling campaign plan. He was to make 200 cold calls in the next week. We developed the general idea of what he was going to say, who he was going to call, and how he was going to say it. Then we practiced it until he sounded natural.

When we got together the following week, I asked,
So, how’d it go?
“Horrible, all I got was phones slammed in my ear, P.O.’d people and No’s galore. It just didn’t work at all.”

How many calls did you make?

“30, and after all those No’s, I gave up.”

How many appointments did you get?”

“Only one.”

So, what was your success ratio? How many appointments for how many calls?

“Let’s see, I think that is….1 in 30, or 3%.”

And what was our original estimate. Wasn’t it 1 in 25? So, how can you say that it was a failure? You weren’t far off.

“…….but….but…all of those No’s, 29 out of 30. That was mostly failure!”

Let’s see, at 1-2 minutes per call for No’s, and maybe 5+ for the yes, how many minutes did you spend to get just one appointment? Isn’t that around 60 minutes to get an appointment? Not bad if you ask me.
What would have happened if you had made all 200 calls?

“Maybe 6-7 appointments….Wait a minute, didn’t we target 8 appointments for the 200 calls?!?!”

How many calls were necessary to achieve your goal of 8 appointments a week? (This is probably THE MOST important question since it tells you clearly what you have to do to get the needed RESULTS).

Another thing would have happened if he had made the 200 calls: He’d have gotten better and better, gotten over his fear, and probably would have seen his call success improving toward the 1 in 25 calls, or even better.

I tell most of my clients that they need to make about 500 calls to get good at it. The trouble is that most never reach 500 calls, or if you do it takes them 2 years to do it, and by that time either the boss has eliminated you, or if you are a business owner your overhead costs have eliminated you.

It all started with the “all” syndrome. In other words our belief that

• ALL we got was no’s,

• ALL we got were Voice Mails, and that NO ONE ever returned a call.

It’s the glass half full or half empty issue. That is a belief that in this case isn’t valid.

Use the Plan – Do – Improve/Optimize scenario.

• Plan what you are going to do,

• Do it (make sure to measure the results so you know what works and what doesn’t), make changes (new plans), and
• Go back through that loop over and over.

Let’s apply that to the scenario above.

• Develop what you are going to say, how you are going to say it and to who. Find the reasons why someone would even want to talk to you and develop it.

• Measure your success, measure how many successes you had out of how many calls. In most cases, it really isn’t as bad as everyone makes out.
• Now that you have the key measurementsfix them. That means, change what you say, how you say it, or who you say it to, and watch the numbers. Do they go up, or down? Capture what works, and learn from what doesn’t. You’ll see those numbers constantly moving up.
• Learn the best way from the experts…get every book you can, go to training classes, hire a sales coach.

You are always in control. Don’t be at the mercy of anything, someone else, the environment, the market place.

Sales Training — Get results not just Training

Some typical results

What is needed?

Skills or removing the barrier between the ears? We focus on measurable results.

Alan Boyer, President/CEO of The Leader’s Perspective, LLC

Helping People and Companies Worldwide Reach Further Than They EVER Thought Possible…FASTER

Check out our website, and sign up for our weekly newsletter “Hints and Tips to Increase Your Business.”

http://www.leaders-perspective.com
mailto:AlanBoyer@leaders-perspective

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