Posts Tagged ‘freelance writing opportunities’

What Ever Happened To Article Marketing?

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

 

There has been a lot of confusion. Over the past few weeks. Regarding a video made by Matt Cutts.

Who just happens to be one of the top dogs on Google.

In this video. He advises people.

“Not to use “Article Marketing”.

If you have been a follower of my blog for any length of time.

You will already know that Article Marketing is one of my favourite methods of getting traffic to my web site.

So as you can imagine. I was none to pleased to hear Matt Cutts casually dismiss Article Marketing as something. That has become  yesterdays news.

Should You Give Up On Article Marketing?

In my opinion NO!

Despite all the scare mongering tactics from other. Lets just say. Less than honest Affiliate Marketers.

Who are the ones that will keep on telling you.

That traditional Article Marketing has had its day.

( Just so they can sell their latest crappy product to you)

I firmly believe that using Articles for branding, back-links, and of course “Traffic”.

Will still be effective for many years to come.

While it is true to say that. Submitting the same article to multiple directories. Like Ezine Articles, Go Articles and Article Dashboard.

Does not work as well as it use to.

You can still get plenty of link juice and traffic. From writing your articles.

By simply making a few minor changes to what you already do.

What I have noticed. As someone who use to submit articles fairly regularly to the directories.

Is that most of them now want. Only original, exclusive, and quality content.

What this means is…

You now have a important decision to make.

Which is, to choose no more than 3 or 4 Article Directories to write for.

Once you have done this.

Concentrate your efforts on writing exclusive 500 to 1000 word articles for each one of them.

By doing this. You will avoid any major Google penalties. That could hurt your blog (SERP) Search Engine Result Page ranking.

Another change. That I recommend you make is.

Get your article written by professional writers.

To write guest posts for other blog owners. In the same niche as yourself.

I only have  just started doing this.  And I must say that I’ve been surprised and pleased with the results.

To clarify. In the beginning. you only want to guest post for high traffic web sites. That are very user friendly. And get commented on a lot.

You also want to make sure that your content sharing options are the same.

For instance. I use the Comment Luv, Pretty link Pro, and Only wire sharing options. On my blog at this moment in time.

So I am more interested in guest posting for blogs. That offer the same services.

WHY!… because of product and service association.

If visitors to my web site see that I am using the same plugin, software, or content sharing tools as them.

They will be more likely to respond. To what I have written.

Because of the subconscious connection that I have just made with them.

They also have the advantage of already knowing how Comment Luv or Pretty Link Pro works.

This greatly increases the chances of them sharing my articles to their friends.

So in closing…

Article Marketing is far from being “DEAD”.

You just have to be more selective on which web sites. You submit your content too.

If you are thinking of starting a blog. Or you are just someone. Who is exploring the Freelance Writing Opportunities out there.

My advice to you is,  to make article writing a big part of your plans.

Do you think that Matt Cutts is right?  Write your comments below.

Are you Interested in starting your own blog?

Sign up to Bloggers Guide To Profits 

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How To Overcome Writer’s Block

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010

 

Eventually this will happen to you. There will come a time when you will feel creatively drained and will not have a clue what to write about next.

As far as you’re concerned you have written everything there is to know about “The Meaning Of Life” and you are struggling to find the motivation to write more on the subject.

Believe me when I say to you that this is something that happens to even the best writers.

Once you get into the habit of submitting your articles on a regular basis, it is only natural to expect your brain to seize

up every so often, and in so doing, make every little thing that you do online seem like HARD WORK!

I am writing this post as somebody who is not a natural writer. So I know what you are going through.

When I read other people’s Blogs and I see how much content that they write in a week or month, I am completely shocked and stunned in equal measure because.

I write nowhere near as much content, and I know the reason why.

It is because I see writing as a means to a end, “What I really mean is that I recognize the importance and long term value of having my own original content on my web site”…

… but, I do not have a love for the English Language like a natural writer would, which is the reason why I am finding it

extremely hard to keep up with my current schedule of writing just 3 Blog post per month.
Get your article written by professional writers.

Why Do You Have Writer’s Block?

There are a number of reasons:

  • You have gotten so used to writing about the same subject in the same way to the point where it has become tedious and boring.

 

  • Your just plain tired “mentally fatigued”

 

  • Maybe, your not being challenged enough, and have plateaued. You’ve reached all of the targets that you have set for yourself and are now wondering “What Next”

Whatever the reasons is, just remember that getting into a writing slump happens to virtually everybody.

How Do You Cure Writer’s block?

Fortunately, there is a very bright light at the end of the tunnel, Even if you haven’t written anything of note for months.

All that is required is a slight change of perspective from you. Which will then energize your creative juices and take your writing to new levels.

“As I have already mentioned, I am by no means a natural writer”.

So I have writers block every time I try to write something.

Here are some of the methods that I personally use, and believe will help you get out of you’re slump.

  • Change the word count of each article
  • Change the writing style of your articles
  • Get more out of each article

In one of my previous articles, I mention, that I try to keep all of my blog posts between 300 and 800 words.

This is because in my opinion. I believe that most readers will loose interest and click away from my page if  I write anything much longer than that.

“You might want to try this technique yourself.”

By varying the length of each article that you write. It becomes less of a chore, and far more manageable task.

Articles that begin with How to, or 5 and 10 steps to “da da da” are by far the easiest ones to write.

So many writers and non writers love this format, which is why you see so many of them all over the Internet.

I’m sure that you’ve already noticed that I am also a fan of this style.

However, it can become habit forming, which is not good over the long term.

“Its like eating your favourite meal everyday.”

At first you will enjoy it, but as time goes by.

The meal stops being special and becomes normal…

…and do you know what happens when something that you use to love becomes normal?

It becomes BORING!.

Let me just be clear, that I am not telling you to stop, or not to write articles in the “How to” or “5 Steps style.

I’m never going to stop using it, and neither should you.

I Just want you to be aware of just how habit forming it can be to write all of your articles in this fashion.

Whenever I write a article I promote it. This is because I am a Affiliate Marketer first, and a writer second.

Promoting my own articles takes up a lot of my time, but in the long run it will work out better for me.

Marketing your own articles on the popular social networking web sites is good because, you gain more exposure for your work, and if it ticks all the right boxes.

You will get a brand new audience all willing to to share your articles with their friends.

Maximizing the reach of each article that you write helps you overcome writer’s block because you will eventually get more readers for writing less.

This free’s you of having to write to strict deadlines all of the time.. 

…and you will have the added bonus of not being under the mercy of any one,  article writing web site owner.

Who could change their article submission rules at any time.

 

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What Should I Write Articles About?

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

 

If you plan to write articles on a regular basis then, you need to know how to answer this particular question. Let me just tell you straight away that when it comes to writing articles, its all about being consistent in your chosen topic.

“I write a fair amount of articles myself and I also read a lot of articles on other popular (and not so popular) blogs web sites, and article directories”.

What I have discovered is that the most successful writers are usually the most consistent on all of the topics that they write about.

They don’t make the mistake of trying to pass themselves of as a expert on every subject under the sun.

Instead they concentrate their efforts in specialising on one subject only.

You will achieve much better results from writing your articles if you follow their lead.

I know from personal experience” that you will find it hard in the beginning to totally focus all of your efforts on

writing about one topic

but with just a little bit of time and practice you will soon get the hang of it.

As far as linking content to your own web site goes, Having the right article strategy in place right from the start is absolutely crucial.

Never write a article (unless you don’t care about ranking well in the Google search engine results) submit it to one or more

Article Directories, and link from your resource box to a unrelated page.

Your article should be on the same general topic as the website that you’re linking to in your resource box.

If your website is about music, then all of your articles should deal with music and related topics.

You can write about special equipment used in music, your philosophy on music, the benefits of listening to music, techniques

for recording different types of music, etc. Any topic having to do with music is fair game.

Try to get inside of the head of the person reading you’re article.

Get your article written by professional writers.

Just imagine, that they are really enjoying your article on music. There is more than a 50% chance that they will be

interested in more information on this topic. You’ve done all of the hard work by getting them curious enough to click on you’re link.

Why waste all of that hard work by sending them to a web page unrelated to your article.

Imagine the disappointment from your readers perspective. He or she was expecting more relevant content on music.

Instead, your article resource box link. Sends them to a web site about baking a cake.

“Instant turn of, a BAD user experience, and not very good for your profit margins, I might add.”

Can you see why consistency in your articles is so important?

Your resource box is not just about the link. There will be actual human readers looking at your article and possibly

(hopefully!) clicking the link in your resource box to get back to your website. To maximize the number of readers who click

the link in your resource box, you need to write on the topic of your website.

If you think of it from a SEO perspective.

You always want to anchor your text link keyword phrase direct from your article resource box to a related web page on your

site for a couple of reasons.

1) It helps Google and the other major search engines discover what your website is about.

2) It confirms to Google and the other major search engines that your article resource box link is consistent with the information on your web page.

By always writing articles on the same subject as your web site, you will…

…increase the number of visitors to your site, get more of those vital one way backlinks, and if these 2 added benefits were not enough.

Every article that you write on your niche brings you closer to becoming a respected expert.

“As I mentioned to you before.” it takes more effort to write consistently on one topic, but the payoff is worth it.

 

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