Article Writing – Increase Traffic and Drive Sales

Article writing is a great way to increase the amount of traffic to your website, more importantly increasing your exposure to the world. Writing articles is all about getting links to your website, usually done from within a "resource box." Your resource box should contain links back to your website, after someone reads your article if they are looking for additional information on the subject they are re-directed to your website.

Resources boxes play an important role in developing back links to your website, which are very important to search engines for ranking your site against your competition. Back links are one of the key factors that search engine use to rate your website based on relevance of a specific keyword, or topic. Creating an effective resource box will drive traffic to your website each time a reader would like additional information about the topic.

Article writing by far is the fastest way to build your back links, drive traffic to your website. Traffic is ultimately, what you want right. You did not build your website just to sit there and wait for people to stumble upon it occasionally. In addition, article writing is a fast and effective way to get your website indexed with the major search engines. When articles are published to directories that already have a lot of traffic your site is "picked" up by the search engines crawlers the next time they visit their web site, this means faster indexing and inclusion in search engines

Once you write an article you have to get it published, this is very easy to do, find article directories that are high traffic and user friendly. High traffic sites are your best option, your article spread around the internet much faster, and therefore getting you traffic faster.

The more articles that you write the more traffic you drive to your website. A good number to start with is five articles, write and publish a minimum of 5 per day, or at least 150 per month. In the right directories and distribution, you can build thousands of back links a month.

SourceOne Technologies offers article writing and marketing packages for our clients.  If you are interested in a consultation please complete the form below to get more information.

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Your Guide For Blog Marketing

Blogs also known as web logs are the latest thing on the internet. With there being so many blogs out there on the internet, how do you make yours known and get people to read it. How do you have the most often read blog on the market that you are promoting? Because there are so many people that are trying to all accomplish the same thing, how are you going to stand out?

There are several things that you can do to make your blog marketing a success, and we are going to cover some of them right here. The first thing that you should know is that you should have  a domain name for your blog that identifies it with your target market or keywords.  For example, if you are trying to promote and sell sunglasses from your blog, you want your URL to say www.sunglasses.blogurl.com. Doing so will give you an extra advantage.

The next step would be to customize your blog. Rather than having the same old blog interface like everyone else has, make your unique and interesting to look at. This will also help anyone from getting your blog confused with others that look just like it.     There are so many types of blog software on the market that having your own look should not be that difficult to accomplish.

Keyword research is another very important part of blog marketing. If you are not using the keywords that people search on, then chances are no one is going to find your blog. Have a variety of keywords in your blog as well. Not just the same one over and over. Not everyone just uses the term ‘sunglasses’ when they are searching for shades to keep the sun out of their eyes. Keyword research is an important factor to remember.

Using SEO on your blog, which stands for search engine optimization is a great idea as well. SEO will help get your blog out there and read, and will also help you get a better ranking with Google. Being as high as you can be in the Google search engine results is something that you want.

Find other sites and blogs that are in the same market as yours, but not in direct competition with you to exchange links with. This will help you out a lot as well, especially if you can get some good exchanges with high authority sites. The higher the page rank of your link exchange, the better for your blog.

Many people do not realize this, but having a different title tag in the HTML code on each page makes a big difference. If you have given the first page on your blog the title of ‘sunglasses’, you need to be sure that none of your other pages are named this. Doing so will make Google think that you are spamming that keyword, and that will result in them punishing your blog URL.

Once you have done your keyword research, you will want to write content based on the research you have done. Using one or two keywords, make entries into your blog using the keywords will make it easy for your blog to be indexed under those terms. That will also result in people searching on those particular terms able to find your blog.

Pinging your blog frequently is another good way to get your blog seen. Every time that you update it, use the ping tools to ping it. This will let all of the blog directories know that you have added something new to your blog. This also brings you in some more traffic.

Blog marketing is pretty much the same as website marketing. However, if you have never had a website, and are not familiar with marketing these great tips will help you get started. Be sure that you put new entries into your blog on a regular basis as well. This will help keep you up to date and current and also will keep your readers coming back for more.       

If you would like to discuss a blog strategy for your business please complete the form below and a member of our staff will get back to you for a consultation.

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How To Write Quality Articles

How to Write Quality Articles

Writing articles is one way to effectively promote your web site and help establish yourself or your business as an expert in your field.  When you publish an article you are able to provide an author resource box where you can include a link back to your website.  The link published in your article creates what is called a backlink back to your website and helps you with your SEO efforts and general exposure to your site.

This post will cover how to write articles that make the biggest impression and maximum impact.

Here at SourceOne Technologies we write articles for all of our websites as well as for several of our clients.

The following are some key items that we focus on for all of our article writing and suggest that you do the same:

Article length

Your article should not be too long, the reader should be able to read your article in between three and five minutes.

Keep it simple

Not everyone who reads articles on the internet are brain surgeons. Keep it simple by using easy to understand text.

Short paragraphs

Keep each paragraph fairly short, on average about three to six lines.

Make it interesting to read

When writing, try to write from the heart with a passion. Keep the reader interested and make it fun.

Give the reader a reason to read the article

Try to provide a lot of free advice and information that your reader can use.

Just to recap, Article writing is a great way to generate exposure for your web site and create backlinks for SEO purposes.

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Tips for Keeping Your Blog Up to Date

Keeping a blog up to date is one of the most important aspects of blogging. This is so important because regular blog visitors expect new postings on a regular basis. Not all visitors expect to see a new post as often as once a day but most blog readers expect the content on the blog to be updated on a regular basis. In most cases visitors expect new content on at least a weekly basis. However, depending on the subject matter the visitors may expect updates on a basis which is either more frequent. Similarly visitors may not be interested in receiving this type of information more than a few times a year. Blog owners should be aware of the frequency of which readers expect new posts and should make an effort to oblige the readers with updates this often. This article will discuss methods for keeping a blog up to date including scheduling a regular time to post blogs, using publishing tools wisely and hiring guest bloggers when necessary.

Finding Time to Post Daily

One way to help to ensure a blog remains up to date is to schedule time to post blogs on a daily basis. This is especially important when blog readers expect new posts on a daily basis or at least several times per week. Bloggers who allot a specific block of time each day to researching, writing and publishing blogs are more likely to have a blog which is up to date than bloggers who plan on accomplishing tasks when they find time to do so. There may still be days in which the blogger is unable to publish a new post on the blog but these days will be less frequent than if the blogger does not have a block of time strictly dedicated to keeping the blog up to date.

On days in which the blog is unable to devote time to blogging, the blogger may wish to at least publish a short message explaining why it was not possible to post a new blog entry. This will let readers know you are aware of their desire to read more information but are simply unable to publish a new blog post. As long as this does not become a regular occurrence, blog visitors are not likely to stop viewing a blog simply because the blogger skips a day or two.

Taking Advantage of Publishing Tools

Some blog publishing tools enable bloggers to write blog posts ahead of time and specify when each post should be published. This is an excellent feature for bloggers who want to publish new posts daily but are unable to dedicate time each day to writing blog posts. This way the blogger can dedicate a block of time each week to write blog posts and have the posts published throughout the week. This is often an easier method for many bloggers because they are able to be more efficient this way.

Hiring Guest Bloggers

Bloggers may also want to consider hiring guest bloggers to assist them in keeping a blog up to date. This can be a worthwhile method for bloggers who are not only having difficulty keeping their blog up to date but are also interested in providing readers with a little variety. However, blog owners who opt for this message of keeping their blog up to date should carefully consider how the dedicated blog readers will react to this change. This is important because some readers may not be interested in reading blogs written by a guest blogger. Therefore the use of a guest blogger can actually be more detrimental to the blog than not updating the blog regularly. Bloggers can gauge reader reaction to the use of guest bloggers in a couple of different ways. The simplest and most straight forward method is to poll the readers about the use of guest bloggers. This can be done by asking readers to comment on the issue and tabulating the comments received. Another method to gauge reader reaction is to introduce a guest blogger and compare the traffic the guest blogger receives to the traffic the blog owner receives.

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Innovative Ways to Build An Opt-in Email List That Stands Above The Crowd

Innovative Ways to Build an Opt-in Email List

With so many opt-in email lists out there, our list really needs to come up with a hook to attract and subscribers. It needs to have something special or different. It could be something you offer inside every newsletter issue, like interviews with experts. Or the hook could be a unique incentive that website visitors can take advantage of immediately when they sign up.

Here are some ideas that you can incorporate into your own website to entice new subscribers to opt-in to your list.

Build your List by Creating a Private Members Section on your Site

Create a private web site and have people sign up to get free, immediate access. For example, you could say, "Subscribe to our newsletter and get free access to our private membership area”.  You can choose to have them receive a username and password that they will use every time they want to login, or you can just provide a link to the site in your welcome email.

Your private members only site can be as big or as small as you want. Some of the things you can include inside are: reports, software, articles, eBooks, etc. Inside the site, you can market your business, as well. And you can follow-up to let them know about updates, new products they might be interested in, the latest news in your industry, etc.

Build Your List by Giving Subscribers a Free, Tangible Gift

Instead of offering a free eBook (or a whole package of them) like most everybody else, promise to give your visitors something they can hold in their hands if they give you their contact information.

For example, you could say "Subscribe today and get our new report mailed to you via First Class." You could print out your report on standard 8 x 11 sheets of paper, fold it up, put it inside an envelope, and mail it off.

Or you can offer a tips booklet and mail it to new subscribers. Or you can create your own CD full of information targeted toward your market and mail that. Or if you have a wholesale supply of a product of interest to your subscribers, then you can send one to each new subscriber. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

Follow-up possibilities include: articles (your own or written by others), tips you pick up, news in your niche, reviews of products or other interested, related websites, etc.

Build your Email List Through a Contest or Sweepstakes

Hold a free contest or sweepstakes at your website where they must give their contact information, including their email address, to enter. Make the prize something that your market will be interested in. Otherwise, they'll never want to enter.

If you already have a newsletter up and running, you could offer free automatic entry for new subscribers. For example, you could say, "Subscribe to our free newsletter and get automatic entry into our contest." You'll also want to retroactively include current subscribers.

You can announce the winner(s) at the end, as well as send any new contest announcements or product announcements. Or you can make this an ongoing contest, where you give away the same thing to one (or more) lucky people every month. That way you'll entice many subscribers to stay on your list.

You can find products to give away through wholesalers or drop shippers. Or you can create it yourself. One of my favorite ways to do this is create a CD-Rom with a guide or report (or sometimes several) that my market will find interesting.

Once again, you can follow-up with tips, articles, news, new product announcements, or just an announcement of each monthly winner(s).

These are just a handful of ideas on how to entice new subscribers to your list.  It is important to be thinking outside of the box and coming up with ideas that you can use to grow your list on a regular basis.

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How to effectively use your content

How to effectively use your content

We have had a huge push lately explaining to our clients how important it is to have a blog and start blogging regularly.  There are several reasons that you want to do this, but some of the main ones are building trust with your target market and for SEO purposes – Google loves blogs.

There is another topic however that goes hand in hand with starting a blog and posting content to it regularly is – are you effectively using this content and sharing it in other places?

Content is very important to building your brand and driving traffic to you.  There are many sources for content distribution.  The following are some of the most popular sources: Article Directories, Facebook Pages, Twitter, Syndication, as well as YouTube.  These are places you should be distributing your content to in addition to your blog.

I know it sounds overwhelming, but it really isn’t.  When you create a blog post you can use that blog post and share it on your Facebook Page (If you don’t have a Facebook Page yet – we can help you), You can also take that blog post and make a few minor wording changes and submit it to an article directory, you can also post a link to it on Twitter as well as you can take the content and turn it into a video.

You need to share content and you need to do so in many places, however that doesn’t mean you have to re-create your content every time.  You can effectively use the content you are already writing for your blog and use it in other places.  With will allow you to work smarter and not harder as you master creating a web presence for yourself and your business.

We work with a lot of Real Estate Agents and in order to help them effectively implement Internet Marketing for Real Estate we work with them on repurposing their content to use in many places.  A blog post with tips for buyers or sellers can easily be turned into an article and posted to article directories as well as turned into a short little video and of course shared on Twitter and Facebook.  A property listing can also be turned into many forms of content that can be distributed.

Keep in mind too that the more content you produce and share online the more pointers or links you will have back to your website.  This will greatly help you with your Search Engine Rankings and building brand loyalty and recognition.

So – start producing and sharing content!

If you need assistance with a content marketing plan SourceOne Technologies can assist you in getting this in place and running.

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Customize your Facebook Profile

Customize your Facebook Profile for Branding

Facebook is a great tool to use for marketing and branding for both businesses and individuals.  Depending on what your focus is you may opt to build your network with a personal Facebook profile verses a Business Facebook Page.

If you choose to use a personal profile there is a new application that you can use to tweak your profile and help strengthen your personal brand.

Schwepps the beverage company has created this application and made it available to you for use.  It is called “Profile Yourself” and it gives you the ability to run a giant photo via multiple windows on your profile page.

Here is a video that show how this app works.

 

You can get the application at Schweppes Fan Page:  http://www.facebook.com/SchweppesFanPage

If you are looking for a few more examples of tweeks you can make to your page you can check out this article from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2010/12/14/new-facebook-profile-hacks/

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Article Writing is a Great way to Market your Business

Article Writing can be a Great way to Market your Business

Internet users and potential clients seem to be starved for information especially free information. Blog and newsletter publishers are constantly looking for good, original and informative articles they can add to their websites or newsletter.

Businesses that write articles have a great source of hungry readers and publishers ready to pick up their articles for publication. 

The article writers have the ability through the author profile and the signature box on the article to advertise their website using hyperlinked or a link with keywords back to their website for FREE.

In many cases an article can be written within a few hours, and can easily be viewed by many hundreds if not thousands of eyes over its lifetime. Articles have a long life span, and assuming you have chosen to write the article yourself, it is a very effective form of free advertising imparting yourself as a knowledgeable expert in your field of writing as well as giving publicity to your business.

You may also hire ghost writers, or if you are more comfortable speaking an article, you can hire transcribers who will put your spoken words into written form, easing the labor for you.

Tips to help you produce better articles

Choose Your Headline Wisely.

eaders like to read words like tips, secrets and free preferably all in the same headline. Do not overdo your headline with too many irrelevant key words. You may get your article published but you may not attract as many readers as you may have done using words which promote a strong benefit to the reader.

Make The Content Interesting.

You should at least know something about your subject, but spend at least a little time on doing some research on your subject and the results will be superior. You do not need to be a literary genius, but check your grammar, spelling and have a friend proof read your work before making the mistake of submitting your blooper for all posterity.

Linking To Your Website.

The benefit an article writer has in submitting his work is that the publishers will allow a signature line, profile or resource box about the author. It is best to write in the 3rd person when writing about yourself. Hyper-linking your website to appropriate key words is the trick to get the search engines to notice you. Whether you use article submission software or do it manually, keep track of the articles you have written and the number of hits to your websites. You can also use the technique of using differing keywords that are appropriate for your website, so building internet traffic to your website using alternative search terms. Check that your links are working before you submit your work.

Have Fun.

Article writing can be a lot of fun once you get the hang of it. Read other articles to get ideas, read the newspapers and watch the news. In time you will find inspiration for your next literary work in the most unusual places. Originality is the key. Your article content can be checked quickly for duplication, so keep away from removing content away from others.

 

If you want to get started using Article Marketing in your business but just don't have the time, SourceOne Technologies can assist you with this.  We have several full service Internet Marketing plans for your business that include content creation services.

 

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Internet Marketing Tactics to Drive More Traffic to Your Website

Internet Marketing Tatics to Drive More Traffic to your Website

 

The top question that many business owners have when they begin to market online is how to I drive traffic to my website to capture leads and make sales.  The simple answer is to expose your site to many potential visitors, but there is some work that needs to occur to make that happen.

Efforts, strategies and techniques need to put in place in order to drive traffic and create exposure to your site. Below are some common marketing techniques that can be used to drive traffic to your website:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Successful search engine optimization will greatly increase the number of visitors that come to your website since over 60% of people who are looking for products and services use search engines to locate them. If your website is ranked high in the related keyword search by the search engines, you will get tons of free internet traffic to your website.

One of the ways to optimize your website to be search engines friendly is by generating back links from other websites to your website. When websites provide a link to your site, the search engines deem your site as valuable and this affects your position in the listings.

Article Writing

Articles are the greatest tool for marketing online. It helps in SEO by generating back links to your website and it also helps in getting exposure for your website through your articles' hyperlinks.

By writing short articles on the topic related to your website, products or services, you can offer these articles for other website owners or newsletter publishers to use by submitting them to article directories, forums or blogs. When the publishers use your articles in their ezines or websites, they will remain your bio information which contains links to your website at the bottom of your articles, which means that the publishers will contribute their link from their websites to yours. These back links are counted in SEO. When their visitors who read your articles and if they want to know more about your products or services may click the hyperlinks at the bottom of your articles to reach to your website.

Affiliate Marketing

An affiliate program is another way to drive traffic to your web site. Your affiliates are your commissions-based sales people who make money when they sell your products. They drive traffic to your web site in exchange for commissions on sales. If you don't want to manage your affiliates yourself, you could subscribe to affiliate network such as ClickBank if your products are digital items. ClickBank marketplace is able to exposure your products to thousands of affiliates who are looking for products to sell online.

Pay Per Click Advertising

Pay Per Click is advertising provided by the search engine providers (Google, Yahoo! and others) where you pay for top placement. Most search engines give top positions to the highest bidder. It is a quick way to have your ad on the first page of the keyword search as listed in the search engines. There is a catch: you have to pay for every click to your web site. Make a budget and stick to it and make sure to monitor your account, those clicks add up fast.

 

If you need assistance in increasing traffic to your website SourceOne Technologies, Your Internet Marketing Consultant can help you create a plan that works for you and your business.

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Why Your Marketing Plan Should Include A Blog, Starting ASAP!

Why Your Marketing Plan Should Include A Blog, Starting ASAP!

Blogging is a great way for a business to effectively market their product or service without spending a lot of money. There are many benefits of business blogging. Businesses that keep up with a blog can introduce their products or services to consumers and can better communicate their customers. In addition, businesses that blog can understand what their customers want and serve them better.

A blog, sometimes called Weblog, is defined as a web page that serves as a journal or diary for individuals. Most blog writers update their blog on a regular basis and writers often share what most interests them. Individuals are not the only ones that have found blogging beneficial. Businesses have learned that this new way to communicate is a good marketing tool for their products and services.

Every company should have a blog for their businesses. Larger businesses may opt to hire a several special writers with certain areas of expertise to update their blog. A smaller company may have one writer that can effectively write about their product. The idea of blogging for any size business is to get the word out to readers. A reader who frequents a certain blog is more likely to share the blog with others. Also, blogging is a great marketing tool because it allows consumers to be better informed.

When a business chooses to blog, it allows them to introduce their product or service to consumers. Keywords and search engines help consumers quickly find the blog they are looking for with ease. For example, if a company specializes in making handmade jewelry and keeps a blog that is on a search engine, then that search engine would list their blog on a search. Blogging allows customers to research the product they are looking for with ease.

Companies can also use their blog to communicate with their readers and customers. There are many features that a blog can offer that will allow a reader to enter comments and contact the writer. Companies that encourage their readers to leave comments can take the comments and improve their services and products. In addition, companies can email their customers back and let them know that they are interested in what they have to say. In addition, a company that uses blogging to market their service or product should always rely on an experienced writer to update the blog. Business blogs should be polished and easy to read.

Another good reason why businesses and companies should include a blog in their marketing plan is because a blog provides a unique way to understand what customers want. Companies that are in tune with their customer’s needs and wishes can better serve them. Keeping an updated blog will initiate more customer communication that can help a company know right away how to improve. Blogs provide good public relations and are generally much cheaper to maintain than a regular web site. Also, a business that keeps a blog can reach out to other complimenting companies and link those blog sites together. This will help build readership and customers.

When setting up a blog for business purposes it is important to look for a blog-hosting site that can offer the right kind of features. Most businesses will use a site that can offer them more search engines and options to add links and URLs on their page. Free blog sites may not have the capabilities to offer as many features as the ones that charge a monthly fee. The search engine option is very important for a company that keeps a blog. This will ensure that readers can easily locate the company’s blog page. Also, a company setting up a blog should always keep the links and contact information within the blog current. A customer will not want to continue using a blog page that is full of broken links or outdated contact information. If a company relies on their customers to read the blog, then those customers will always rely on the company to make their blog experience a positive one.

Blogging can be a great marketing tool for any size business. It is important for businesses to realize that blogs are not a passing fad, but a unique way to interact with customers and gain recognition in a particular field.

If you need assistance getting up and running with a blog for your business SourceOne Technologies can assist you with your blogging needs.

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