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Whether you run a business totally online, or you operate a brick-and-mortar business and have a supplemental website, you need to implement article marketing. If you aren’t marketing your business with articles, you’re missing a huge chunk of the marketing pie. Let me give you a few reasons why.

Reason #1: Article marketing is free. Every business owner knows that advertising isn’t cheap. Every newspaper or magazine ad you run costs you dearly. By spending just a little extra time writing and submitting several articles each month, you’ll save quite a bit of money. Best yet, article marketing doesn’t cost you a dime–just a few hours every week.

Reason #2: Article marketing brands your business. Have you ever wondered how some businesses seem to become so well known in such a short amount of time? They’re getting their name out there. They’re giving away something of value for free to their potential customers. Your articles will brand your business and make it a well-known name.

Reason #3: Article marketing makes you an expert. If you write articles about the subjects you know well, you’ll quickly become known as an expert in your field. Do you run a website on bird watching? Writing and submitting fifty articles on bird watching will show people that you know what you’re talking about.

Reason #4: Article marketing teaches you how to relate to people. You can’t write a bunch of articles without learning how to communicate effectively. The more you write, the more you’ll learn how to get your message across in a friendly, personal tone.

Reason #5: Article marketing creates back links to your website. Without getting into the technical details of this, back links to your website are good and you’ll want lots of them. Back links help boost your rankings in the search engines, thus gaining more exposure for your website.

Remember that article marketing isn’t the cure-all answer to advertising your business; it’s one piece of the pie. You also can’t submit a handful of articles one time and expect to see results.

Article marketing requires persistence and patience. You should plan to spend a certain number of hours each week writing and submitting articles to promote your business. Pencil in this time faithfully and stick to it. Within a few months (maybe even a few short weeks!), you’ll begin to see the results of your hard work pay off.

Ready to jumpstart your article marketing empire?  Take a spin with Instant Article Wizard!  You’ll pump out articles in about 15 minutes, even if you don’t know the subject matter! Get it now!

Until next time,

Mike Paul

P.S. Don’t forget, you really can make $100 a day online.  Anyone can.  Yes, even you!  So stop sitting there thinking that you can’t and get started with 20 Ways to $100 a Day!

One thing I always worry about when I hear that someone wants to start their own online endeavor is how concerned they are about achieving their financial goals.  Some people just want to make a couple of extra bucks to supplement their regular income, and others dream of the fancy cars and mansions that you see in every infomercial and most spam emails.

Many people have that goal of making 6 figures a year from their online business.  Now, it may not seem like a lot to you, but for many people, making 6 figures a year is more than enough for a comfortable living.  I’m not talking about driving around in a Ferrari or owning a 10,000 square foot house, no way.

I’m talking about living comfortably with your bills paid off, except for maybe your mortgage.  Now, that’s not to say that you can’t make enough online to drive around in a Ferrari, but most people won’t.  And too many get discouraged when they realize that they will never see that lofty goal.

But 6 figures?  Now that’s a goal that is very, very achievable.

Let’s break it down, shall we?

• 6 figures a year means, at a minimum, $100,000 a year.  I’m going to avoid discussing whether that figure is gross or net right now, just to keep the peace.  For now, let’s just assume that $100,000 a year is your gross income.  Once you see the numbers, you can see how to make that your net income.
• $100,000 a year is roughly $8,333 in monthly income.  Still sound too high?  Wait a sec…
• $8,333 a month is roughly $277 a day.  $277 a day.

OK, so now let’s get more realistic.  In order for you to make $100,000 a year in your business, you just need to make $277 a day. That’s 6 copies of a $47 ebook, training course, video series or some other product that you create or someone creates for you.

That’s about 9  $33 CPA leads that you generate through a website, email campaign, survey site, or some other means.

Or, there may be some other way that you can make that money online.  Maybe you design websites.  Maybe you can write articles.  Maybe you can produce audio for someone else.  Maybe you have ad space on your blog/website that can bring in that income.  Or maybe it’s a combination of several different income streams that gets you to that $277 a day point.

Regardless of how you get there, know this.  The goal is within sight.  It’s not some pie in the sky dream that is only achieved by people that you think are smarter than you.  Number 1, you can achieve it; Number 2, they’re not smarter than you.  No way.

So, how are you going to start making your $277 a day?  Or maybe you just want to start with $100 a day?

How would you like to see 20 different ways to make $100 a day?  Check this book out - 20 Ways to $100 a day

You can do it.  Yes, there is work and action that you must do, but you can do it.

Get started here - 20 Ways to $100 a Day

And make sure you keep coming back here or subscribe to the RSS feed for more updates and tips to help along the way.

Technorati Tags: affiliate marketing, email marketing, make money, make money blogging, make money online

Every internet marketer knows the importance of discovering good and profitable niches. Many internet marketing gurus have a very simplistic way of teaching about niche discovery. The sum total of some gurus’ teaching on this can be summarized as:

1. Choose a topic that you like, have experience or are interested in.

2. Take the main keyword from this topic and plug it into a keyword research tool.

3. Look at the search count. If it is about 30,000 per month, it’s a good niche. If it is below 30,000 searches, there is very little market and therefore it is not a good niche. If it is way above 30,000 searches, there is probably too much competition and therefore it is risky to enter this niche market.

That’s it. Based on those three steps, you are supposed to find a niche. What’s wrong with such a teaching?

Firstly, there is no research into the competition. No step is taken to discover how strong a competition you face in that niche.

Secondly, there is no research into long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are defined as keyword phrases of at least 4 words (the more words, the better). Every marketer knows the importance of long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords can lead you to lucrative sub-niches.

Thirdly, there is no research into the tendency of the searchers to buy. It’s not only a matter of whether the searchers have money or not. Some people in a particular niche market may have money but are not intending to buy anything.

So here’s how the gurus really do their niche and keyword research:

1. Examine your own interests, abilities, knowledge, experiences. Anything from these may be a potentially good niche to market to.

2. Identify what’s hot in the market i.e. what is currently the most talked-about thing, what’s buzzing or new in town. Is this a potential niche?

3. From the above two steps, identify potential niches. Then run these potential niches through these ‘filters’:

a. Are people in this niche ready to buy and not merely information seekers or looking for freebies? For example, ‘how to score an ‘A’ in your SAT examination’ would probably not be a very lucrative niche because it would interest only students who may not have the money to buy anything much.

b. Is there a problem that the people in this niche cannot solve themselves? Any niche involving technical expertise would nicely fit into this criteria. For example, ‘how to solve Windows Vista registry problems’ would likely be a good niche because very few people are technologically competent enough to deal with these problems.

c. Do the people in this niche have an urgent crisis that needs to be overcome? The more urgent the better. For example, ‘how to stop your teenager’s drug habit’ is an extremely urgent crisis that begs for answers.

d. Is there an ‘evergreen’ need in this niche that is not a just a fad? ‘How to improve your golf swing’ is an evergreen need compared to ’strategies for World of Warcraft’ (World of Warcraft is a PC game). Once the fad for World of Warcraft is over, the market in this niche disappears.

Obviously, the more ‘yes’ answers you get to the above questions the more potentially profitable a niche is.

4. Once you have identified a potentially profitable niche based on the steps above, it is time to look for some long-tail keywords. These long-tail keywords will reveal some sub-niches which you can further profit from. For example, if you type in ‘golf swing’ into Wordtracker, you would get a whole list of related searches. Look for keyword phrases with four words or more. Some of them are ’stack and tilt golf swing’, ‘biomechanics of golf swing’, ‘what is the proper weight distribution during the golf swing’ etc.

5. To find out how much competition there is in this niche, simply type in all the keywords you have into Google’s free keyword analysis tool. This tool will give you the estimated advertiser competition (which is the same as marketer competition), average search volume for the previous month and average monthly search volume. The great thing is that this tool also gives you synonyms for the keywords which means you get more keyword suggestions. You identify keywords with as little competition but as many searches as possible.

Now that we’ve covered those 5 tips, I’ve got something else for you.  5 free videos on Niche Market Research that will show you how to find untapped niche markets and absolutely dominate them to add another income stream to your business.

Get your 5 free videos here, but hurry!  I literally don’t know how long this guy is going to keep these videos available.  I don’t think he wants too many people to find out the secrets!

Until next time,

Mike Paul

Technorati Tags: market research, niche domination, niche market, niche research

OK, so I’m a little behind on getting this post put up, but I’ve been contemplating my direction for this year of 2009.  Let me start off by saying that the last 18 months have not been my most successful online, although there have been some highlights in my personal life that have kept things in perspective.

My own efforts online have been hindered by a number of things, none of which are anything that I can’t overcome or deal with.  I just have to decide to take control of them and become the master of my own destiny.  I’m sure you’ve come to that point as well, at least at some point in your life.

It’s one thing to have a bunch of great ideas that are going to help you achieve your dreams.  It’s another thing to put those ideas into action.  A great idea doesn’t pay the bills.  A great idea doesn’t get you out of your day job.  You want to know what does?

Action.

Focused, purposeful action.

I’m talking as much to myself as I am to anyone else.  I’ve had a ton of great ideas over the last year or so.  How many of them have I implemented?  Only a couple, and of those couple I haven’t followed through on any to their full extent.  The blog you’re reading now is one of those ideas.

Expect that implentation to change, starting today.

How much longer are you going to wait?  How many more days are going to pass before you finally “do something?”

How much more time are you going to spend thinking about what you might have before you finally start getting it?

I’ve spent the first few days of this year re-evaluating my online efforts and getting refocused.  Today, I start putting ideas into action.

My goal for this year - leave my day job and go full-time online.  By July.

There, I’ve said it.  I’ve put it in writing.  Now I’ve got someone to be accountable to.

And if you’re willing, leave your goals in the comments below and we’ll both be accountable to each other.  Don’t let another day pass without doing something to move your closer to your goals.  Get that web page up, put up a new post on your blog, send an email to your list.  Start building a list, for that matter.  Do something.

You’ll see your goals come closer every time that you do.

See ya next time!

Mike

Technorati Tags: goal setting, goals, new years resolutions

It is said that the pen is mightier than the sword. That is so true especially in internet marketing where there is very little face-to-face interaction between the marketer and the prospective customer. Therefore, it is imperative for internet marketers to ’speak’ to their prospects through what they write. Successful internet marketers have learned the art of communicating through powerful, compelling copy that almost hypnotizes their prospects into buying their stuff. How do they do it?

Successful internet marketers employ certain tried and true principles of sales psychology in crafting their copy. Here are some of those principles.

Read the full story

Blogging has been around for a few years now. Most people use blogs to record their thoughts and lives, while the select few use them as a free way to make a fortune.

One guy who uses this to his advantage is Rob Benwell. In 2006 he dished the dirt on the tips and tricks to making a fortune using blogging. But as time passes the old systems become obsolete and new techniques are required. This is where his brand new, fresh off the press Blogging to the Bank 3.0 system comes into play.

For those who know who Rob Benwell is like me, you’ve probably made a killing using blogs.

For those who don’t, he’s the story:

Back in 2005 he was struggling to make any profit online, had dropped out of college and was getting deep into debt. He was trying all the techniques the gurus tell you and wasn’t getting anywhere fast. All of that went in the bin and he started using his own techniques and started making more and more money using simple blogs. In early 2006 he shared this with the world and had a great ebook called blogging to the bank. Tons of people got rich from using these techniques (including me). He then spoke at Online Marketing Legend Yanik Silver’s underground Seminar where he revealed even more of his underground strategies. Then July 2007 he released Blogging to the Bank 2.0 which showed users his new methods to creating online wealth using blogs. In total both versions have been read by over 50,000 people across the world.

But as I said earlier, the techniques used in these ebooks are now showing there age. Some of them are not even working in the slightest! This is where blogging to the bank 3.0 comes into play.

It’s full of great new techniques that work online right now! Everything’s explained in plain English with all the fluff cut out. I got hold of an advanced copy of the book for a much higher price than what it actually sells for and it has been worth every single cent! I got it in the afternoon and by the evening I was creating new profitable blogs. Within a couple of hours of them being active I had made a nice little profit.

Blogging To The Bank 3.0 teaches you Robs new step by step blueprint to creating highly profitable long term niche blogs using the newest optimization techniques. There’s even a section on advanced Search Engine Optimization. Most people think SEO is difficult but Rob explains this nice and simply so even the blogging newbie will understand it.

Blogging To The Bank 3.0 is a breath of fresh air and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to make easy money online.

Click below for more information about this system

Blogging To The Bank 3.0

Technorati Tags: Blogging, blogging to the bank, make money blogging

Procrastination is almost a way of life for many people, but it’s hard to know exactly why people procrastinate. When people procrastinate, they are usually putting off doing something that will be a benefit, but for some reason there is more energy put forth to put off the task than to do it. This is a very bad habit and is one reason many people do not achieve their dreams.
Read the full story

Technorati Tags: destiny, procrastination, stop procrastinating

Everyone knows the importance of driving traffic to your website. Due to this, there are tons of techniques being taught about traffic generation, some of which cost money while others are free. But when you’re first starting out in Internet Marketing, money is often in short supply. This means using more free traffic generation techniques than paid ones. Again, there is a plethora of free traffic generation techniques taught online. But in each of these techniques, there is a certain twist or two that the gurus don’t disclose. It’s in these twists that real money is made.

Everyone who has been in Internet Marketing for any length of time knows that one of the most popular free traffic generation tactics is writing articles. Every guru teaches you to write keyword-centric articles in a properly chosen niche and submit them to article directories. This is a tremendously effective technique that creates backlinks to your website. The effects are basically two-fold. Firstly, your website increases in Page Rank and propels up the search engines and secondly, the articles you wrote also gets indexed by the search engines thus providing another way for people to find your website. All this is well and good and has become common knowledge. But here’s the twist to this technique.

Instead of only submitting your articles to article directories, it is more effective to submit them to website or newsletter owners in the same niche. Offer your articles to them for free and request that they publish them. Chances are high that they will if your articles have good content, thus giving you lots of article exposure to targeted readers. This is more pro-active than submitting articles to directories.

Next is the forum marketing technique, another popular free traffic generation method. Every guru teaches you to scour the forums in your niche and make comments, ask questions, offer solutions and attach a link to your website in your signature file. Once again, this is a great tactic to generate backlinks which will ultimately draw traffic to your website. Here’s the twist to this tactic that most gurus don’t teach.

When you join a forum in your niche, take time to read every category therein. Get to know the problems faced or questions people ask in each category. Compile these problems and questions and create a report with solutions and offer this for free to the forum members. Inside this report you put links to your website or blog. Once again, this is a far more effective method of generating traffic than just making a comment or two in forums.

Lastly, there are the free social bookmarking sites that can be used to generate traffic. What gurus teach you to do is to bookmark your webpages or your articles in article directories so that they get linked by social bookmarking sites like Digg or Stumble Upon. Here’s how to tweak this strategy.

Instead of just bookmarking your webpages or blogposts etc, look at what’s highly ranked in the social bookmarking sites first. Search for something related to your niche and if found, then write an article for your blog and bookmark it. Then go to the existing highly ranked post and add a comment to it that includes a link to your blog. That way, you get another quality backlink to your site and draw the visitors reading the highly ranked post to your website or blog. Hopefully, they will vote for your article, too thus pushing your post up the social bookmarking site’s favorite list.

These are the little tricks about free traffic generation that the gurus hardly teach you in their coaching lessons but they use these themselves to earn the big bucks. Now you can do the same.

Technorati Tags: traffic generation, Website Traffic

The only traffic known to man that is wholly accepted with open arms is, of course, website traffic. Every website owner loves traffic because the steadier the flow, the more probable that it will result in earnings. But the fact of the matter is that it is hard to achieve, let alone maintain, especially for new internet marketers and website owners.

Do not let this stop you from realizing your goals. You should be able to cleverly utilize all obtainable techniques to drive traffic to your website. There are lots of ways, and one of them is to build a long lasting relationship within the World Wide Web’s vast community. In this article we will discuss two of them:

Relationship Building with Customer

The credit should go to e-mails, because since its conception the communication practice hasn’t been the same. Whether existing or would be customers, you should always try to communicate with them in such a way that they will feel important and not stalked. It is advisable to adhere to the best practices in achieving that much needed website traffic and traffic conversion. By all means, try to avoid spam e-mails, which will only result to receiving hate e-mails, or even crashing the website’s internal e-mail system.

An average user has at least two to four e-mail accounts, and they log in more than five times in a day. It is not surprising that before anything else some of them reach first for the mouse to check for incoming e-mails every morning. That alone translates to exceptional probabilities for website owners. To utilize the e-mail to catch the attention of prospective customers and to build a powerful long lasting relationship with the existing ones will definitely drive traffic to your website.

Towards the end of each day, e-mail does not only change our routines, it also has an impact of the very way we communicate. A marketing technique that uses e-mail promotions will give you a chance to get to know your customers. Moreover, you achieve visibality into the type of content that customers are interested in, and by providing these contents you are developing a progressive customer online relationship.

Relationship Building with other Websites

Other websites in reality are also your competitors, especially if you provide the same products and services or if you have similar contents, but as the saying goes - “No Man is an Island”. Even in this cut-throat world of “who-gets-it-first”, relationship building is still essential.

It would surprise you that building relationships with other website owners can drive traffic to your website. But also keep in mind that you just do not build your relationship with just any other website, you should always bear in mind that there should be a level of similarity in the content that both websites provide.

At the end of each day, relationship building is all about the quality of the content that your website provides, it is more than just backlinks and page ranks, and oftentimes that is what some people tend to forget.

Technorati Tags: make money online, traffic generation, Website Traffic