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Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Four Problems With Bum Marketing

The definition of bum marketing is: Using free web page sites for promoting affiliate programs, and then using free links to get those pages ranked well enough in the search engines to actually get some traffic to them. Usually the marketer targets "long tail" keyword search phrases that don't have a lot of relevant competition in the existing search results. Bum marketing has attracted a large following of practitioners in the past year.

The idea is to spend a few hours per day (or per week) in your spare time building these web pages and then linking to them from social bookmark sites. Eventually you'll have dozens of these things, each making a sale or two every month. It can add up. If you build 100 pages each earning an average of $40 per month, you really got something there.

As good as this sounds, most bum marketers fail and eventually give it up. While not sticking with it is certainly a guaranteed way to fail, many who start out doing this actually make a good decision to give it up. There are certain problems with this marketing strategy. Let's look at the four major ones.

1. Not Getting the Pages Ranked Well. Many beginning bum marketers discover that making a web page and actually getting it placed in search engine results (where people will find it) are two entirely different things. Knowing which free web-page hosting sites to use, maintaining a link-building campaign, and patience are three things that must be employed to succeed. In addition, choosing the right long-tail keyword search phrases to target is critical.

2. Not Keeping the Page Rankings. Even if you manage to get a page ranked well in the search engines, you will find that keeping it there is another matter entirely. Most free web pages, even on the most loved sites by the major search engines, just don't have staying power in the SERPs. And building a large enough link-structure to keep it there is a lot of work for a page that you hope will make $40 per month (if that).

3. You are Not Building a Real Business. What if the free web page site you are using goes down one day and never comes back? You don't own the domain names so you got nothing. There goes months of work up in smoke by one unforeseen event which you have no control over.

4. It's Not the Best Use of Your Time. If you are going to spend 12-20 hours per week building web pages and links, you could be building one massive authority site instead. Perhaps for a major search term that you can possibly conquer the top spot for inside a year's time. A website like that (in the right niche) can bring in upwards of $10,000 per month in income from various sources. What's more, you own it and as long as you don't go anywhere your site (and business) will still be there.

It might seem like I am building a case against the whole bum marketing thing. Actually I am a successful bum marketer myself, and really have nothing against the methodology. There are some smart ways to go about it, but most people get it wrong. I just wanted you to know what you are getting into and have you think twice before you possibly waste many hours of your time.

For the best Bum Marketing system ever developed, please visit http://www.wikimanager.info

Article Submission Software Review Tips

Article submission software is one tool you cannot do without if you plan to use article marketing to promote your business or website. But if you have not given article marketing a thought, I urge you to seriously consider using this powerful technique to drive targeted traffic to your website. We will look at how to review and pick suitable article submission software that can work wonders for your business.

Article marketing as you may know is internet marketing using articles. The end in mind of writing an article is to get targeted visitors for your website. As for what you hope your visitors to do, whether it is to buy your product, join in your MLM program or simply to subscribe to your newsletter so that you can do some backend sales or continue a business relationship, the skies is your limit. After writing an article, the most important is of course to submit to a free article directory that would accept your articles.

If you have been submitting articles for a while or is a newbie author trying to figure out how to do so, here are some useful review tips about article submission software.

Article Submission Software Review Tip 1 Submit To Many Article Directories

The number of article directories you can submit to is critical to the success of your traffic building campaign. The internet world is a wild jungle, and survival belongs to the fittest. If you are only submitting to one or two directories, the amount of exposure and traffic to your website would be minimal, and in no time, you will see your website and business drowned in the midst of ferocious competition.

Article submission software does a beautiful job in submitting to multiple article directories. Find one that can submit to more than 100 article directories.

Article Submission Software Review Tip 2 Auto-Formatting Feature

Different article directories have varying submission features and article format. Some allow HTML while some only allows text in the content. Others may only allow links in the author resource box while others allow the inclusion of links within the article body. I have tried submitting to countless of article directories. The experience is horrible!

Article submission software nowadays come packed with compatible article directories that would readily accept the article format used by the software. All you need to do is fill in the article fields of the software interface once and it would use the details as a template.

Article Submission Software Review Tip 3 Auto-Population of Article Details

Each time when you submit, you have to repeat the process of copying and pasting article details like the article summary, article title, article body, author resource box, the article category and keywords into the article submission form at the article directory. Imagine how tedious it is to repeat the process for each article directory. It is not surprising that you have to face the computer the whole day just to submit to about 100 article directories.

All these can be avoided by using article submission software. These software are built in with features that would auto-populate the article fields, leaving you only to click the submit button and the article is submitted. Talk about simplicity and efficiency.

Such software are now available to webmasters and marketers like us at affordable prices ranging from $90 - $200 only. The potential income it can generate and the time and money savings it brings are worth much more than that. Learn more at my blog about effective article marketing and find out which powerful article submission software are successful internet marketers and webmasters using.

This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author's name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

Davion is a successful webmaster and author. Discover more about article marketing and read reviews of top article submission software such as Article Post Robot, Instant Article Submitter etc and find out how these tools can drive instant and continuous traffic to your website at http://Article-Submission-Software.blogspot.com

Four Key Strategies to Marketing on a Shoestring

Even if you have a ton of money to pay for advertising, there are four key strategies to marketing on a shoestring that will in the long run that will build your brand and create links that will ultimately be far more effective than any paid advertising that you may do. In fact, paid advertising is typically only effective while you are using it and after the money has run out, you are back to square one. If you use these strategies, however, the effect is long lasting and provides a solid basis for a real internet business. The four strategies are:

1:List building. You have always heard that the money is in your list and this is a time proven method of business building. You will need a good opt-in page and a good autoresponder. For an opt-in page, you have several options. You can find free ones on the net just by doing a Google search, you can easily build your own or some of the better business opportunities will have a built-in opt-in page. The other thing that you need is a good autoresponder an this is one area that spending a little money will save you a ton of heartache. You can get a top of the line autoresponder for less than $20 a month and be assured that you will have a near 100% delivery rate. With the free or cheap ones, you will get what you pay for.

2.Article Marketing. The internet has a voracious appetite for fresh content. Ezines, newsletters, websites and blogs are always looking for fresh content. In article marketing, you write a simple content rich article that people can use and you will find you name being spread all over the internet. Make sure that you adhere to the article directories policies and don't ever try to advertise in an article. If your article is interesting, the reader may click on your signature information and this is what links to your business offering. This is probably the single best method of free marketing. Not only does it build your reputation as an expert in the field but, it also produces links back to your website or blog.

3. Forum Marketing. No matter what your niche is there is a forum that is dedicated to it. It doesn't matter if it is internet marketing or dog grooming, there is a community of like minded individuals who want to hear what you have to say. Typically, unless specifically allowed, you should not try to advertise in your posts. Let your signature do your advertising. If you can help someone answer a question and your comment is information rich, they will click on your signature for more information about you. There is a land-mine to watch out for. If your comment is not valid, contains misinformation or is overtly commercial, you can destroy your reputation just as fast as you can build it.

4.Blogging. Not only do you want your own blog but, you also want to comment on other peoples blogs. Just remember to treat this just the same as you would Forum Marketing. On your own blog, you can, of course, directly advertise but people came to your blog for information and not simply to hear a sales pitch. Let your links do your advertising for you and make sure that your blog is content rich. If you can help your reader become successful, they will also help you to also become a success. Wordpress has recently prohibited blogs that are for the purpose of affiliate marketing. However, you can still use Wordpress on your own site and there are also a number of companies offering your own blog with free hosting. Just Google "free blog hosting". Make sure you read the Terms of Service (TOS) before signing on to one of these free hosts.

Although these methods will not have the sudden impact that PPC ads have, they will have long lasting results that will build a solid business base for you.

Stan Pontiere has been an online marketer since 1997. At first part-time and then full-time since 2004. For further information on Marketing on a Shoestring please visit: http://www.myezybizonline.com or my blog at: http://www.internetbizops.myccblog.com Please feel free to reprint this article as long as the article and resource information are left in tact.

Article Marketing Traffic Exploded!

Article marketing is the one of the best ways to get traffic to your website. It's easy and free to do. But how can you get tons of traffic to your website? To get tons of traffic to your website, you should be working on your articles and how to market them. There are some simple ways that you can do it, and I hope that you use them in the guide shown below!

Article marketing traffic exploded

  • By going to different blogs about your articles niche and start networking with them, you can easily get a higher page ranking with your articles and get people to look at your articles more. The key to this tactic is to not piss off the bloggers about telling them that they should use your article. Just simply telling them that they should put your articles onto their blog will not work. You have to network with them and build a relationship with them. Don't just drop a comment and leave. That just pisses off the blogger, and your not going to get very good feedback.
  • Signing up with newsletters and networking with the owners is a viable way to get a higher page ranking for your article to increase your web traffic. Newsletters get sent to their mailing lists to a mass of people. If you can network with the owner of the newsletter, and get them to look at your article, they will gladly put your article into their newsletter content. Now your article will get linked to more than hundreds of people in your niche who trust that newsletter.
  • Writing tons of articles regularly is the key to article marketing. By simply writing 10 articles a day, your web traffic will increase significantly and quickly. To put it simply, the more articles that you write, the more publicity that your website gets. Also, search engines love articles, so by simply putting the link to your website into your articles signature, your websites page ranking will slowly increase. If you write more than 300 articles, that means you have more than 300 inbound links to your website!

Article marketing is a viable way to get tons of repeating traffic to your website, and should be used to your advantage. By using these simple tactics, your articles will soon soar and your web traffic will increase by hundreds!

Looking for some new internet marketing tactics? Don't worry, I have tons. Check out my website at http://www.marketingentity.com

Why Article Marketing Works so Well For Creating Profits Online

So many people look at article marketing as just a traffic source. And it is a traffic source. But it is so much more. You see, with most traffic sources, the impact of the traffic source ends once the traffic is delivered.

But with article marketing, the traffic source continues creating credibility long after the initial traffic is delivered.

In my case, with 1000's of live articles online, someone may join my list, and later decide they want more information about something online, then they go to read some of my other articles. The advantage to this is increased credibility, and that helps me generate more sales in the long run, as my subscribers continue to look to me for advice, knowing they can get it either directly from me or by reading more of my articles online.

This creates long term credibility online, which of course is what I am looking for.

Also, with article marketing, once I publish an article, I may get several visitors from that article the first month, much as any other traffic source would provide. But I will also get traffic the second month and the 3rd month and so on. I continue to get traffic from articles I submitted over a year ago - which means I am getting much more traffic than if I had paid for traffic one time up front.

These are just two of the reasons I favor article marketing over other traffic sources.

The bottom line is that article marketing is good for so much more than just traffic, but it helps me to build long term relationships online, hence increasing long term visitor value and profits.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide'

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1565 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

The Article Submission Process Is Exhausting, But Necessary

The article submission process is a bit like an inflight movie. You can enjoy it but you might fall asleep a couple of times, get interrupted by the guy sitting next to you or the flight attendant taking your drink order, or you could just miss the best line in the movie because you were daydreaming and looking at the clouds.

It's a long and arduous process.

Sure, you could get one of those mass article submitters and send your articles out to thousands of article directories - most of which won't publish your article anyway. After all, why would a Croatian language directory publish your article on infant mittens written in English?

There are thousands of directories online but only a handful will do you any good. That's why I recommend studying the directories and picking the ones that will provide you the best benefit. There are several reasons you want to do it this way:

  • First, as already mentioned, not all directories will be of interest to you, or interested in your article;
  • Every directory has its own guidelines - some allow links in the article and some allow links only in the author resource box, but that is just one of the many differences. By studying the directories and their submission guidelines, you can tailor your article to each directory to ensure a more qualified, and better quality, article for potential ezine publishers;
  • Specialty and niche directories are easier to find with keyword searches;
  • Article submission software may not have a complete list of the latest directories. Yours may actually cost for an upgrade.
If you want to use an article submitter, I recommend a free one that allows you to create an author bio and upload your article with a push of a button (no need to spend hundreds of dollars to be turned down more often than not). Article Submitter is such a software. It allows you to pick and choose your directories then automate your submission to each of those directories and tweak the article or your author bio to personalize for a particular directory's guidelines if necessary.

Still, even with the best automation process, article submissions can be time consuming. That doesn't mean there aren't benefits.

Here are a few benefits to ponder:

1) You can be a recognized expert in your field in a very short time; 2) Publishers and editors of newsletters and ezines are begging for content - they need your articles and they constantly scour the Web looking for good material to use; 3) Every article features an author's resource box where your contact information is located along with links back to your web site; 4) Whenever an ezine publisher or web site picks up your article, the search engines count each link in your resource box as an inbound link; 5) Articles are a great way to drive traffic to your web site.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. You really do want to submit your articles to the directories. Specialty directories, niche directories, general article directories, you name it.

Not every directory will pick up your article, of course. They all have their guidelines. Some are strict and some are not. I like the strict ones because it means they are interested in well-written articles. That's what I like. The only caution I would issue is this: Stay away from those directories that will take anything. Article spam is about as annoying as any other kind of spam. It tastes baaaaaaaaaad.

If push comes to shove and you want to submit your articles but don't have the time, you can always hire someone to do it for you. But the one thing you shouldn't do is ignore it altogether.

Allen Taylor is an award-winning journalist and freelance writer. He is the operations manager for an article ghostwriting service at http://www.articlecontentprovider.com

Expert Status - Article Marketing Explosively Documents Your Status

Do you write high quality articles in a specific niche market? Are you equipped to communicate the required steps to success in your chosen field? Have you achieved a strong level of success doing what you do? If you can write with authority, high-quality articles in your niche, you will be recognized as an expert.

Be Credible.

Write what you really do know. When you give the reader significant information to digest in each article and that information is valuable enough to warrant reading it, your reader can believe what you say. The reader actually will want to read more of what you write. They'll begin to seek out your information.

Be Focused.

Focus on one specific niche. You may know tons of stuff about a lot of things, but general knowledge will not take you as far, as fast, as you want to go online. Focus on one specific niche, write that one topic well, and keep writing more about that one thing.

Be Sensible.

It's okay to talk about your dreams, but don't lead people on to believe you're a star in the show if you don't even know where it's playing. Invite your reader to walk the path with you, and even to join you in a mission to achievement. They'll come along.

Be Aware.

When you begin to arrive at your destination, be aware of your surroundings. Is there more you must do to accomplish your dream? Do it. Get involved in your success. If you're just riding the wave, you'll lose your balance at the pentacle and fall off the board. Get involved and be aware of what you're doing every step of the way.

Be a Team Player.

Don't do it alone. You don't have to. You can ask for help along the way, or join forces with someone in the know. Ask for a joint venturer, and one will come along side and support your efforts with enthusiastic appeal. You'll get what you ask for. Just ask.

Are you ready to move to the top of the Internet Marketing Food Chain?

Learn how you can get the Recognition you deserve with The Branding Iron a FREE Subscription at

http://brandyourmarket.com and grow your online business with step-by-step achievements.

Jan Verhoeff promotes business development and encourages business owners to achieve success at http://janverhoeff.com Come by and learn how you too can achieve your dreams, this year.