Archive for the ‘Content Creation’ Category

When You Just Start Blogging ..

By Mikkel Juhl On April 30, 2010 3 Comments

You shouldn’t blog about blogging.

Did you know that Darren Rowse’s main blog isn’t ProBlogger it is his Digital Photography School that is. The thing is I think it is harder to sell a product to a person who is a marketer or at least knows a bit about marketing.

So if Darren Rowse isn’t making the majority of his money on ProBlogger do you think that you would that? Do you think that you will make more money writing about blogging, or just writing about a passion of your’s? There is so many bloggers writing about blogging, and when they start they literally doesn’t know a sh*t about blogging. They make their experience there.

If you know the stuff about blogging and have earned some(a lot of) money on it, you know how to start off a new blog and how to make money from blogging, but if you haven’t you should keep away from the niche.

So when you just start blogging you should write about something new, or something that is not already being overused. You also need to educate on what you know, not educate on what you learn. You need to know your stuff, to be able to learn other people the stuff.

It is easier to sell stuff to people who doesn’t know why you have a long sales page and stuff like that. So if your niche still is in technical developing, like people aren’t using Twitter, they aren’t using Facebook, you will have to find your readers somewhere else, and while still keep building content.

So when the people comes on all the social networks you are one of the leading experts in your field. Of course what I would do is maybe find a niche that is not overdominated but they also need to know a bit about the Internet, cause that’s a good way to build readers and of course your blog is on the Internet.

You would also like to have a niche where you can sell stuff. If people aren’t used to buy stuff, in your niche, they will probably not buy from you because they are used to get everything in the niche for free.

Of course you can change that, but it takes time to make people wanting to buy your products, you really need a lot of trust.

Though everything takes time. You just need to think hard about what niche you are going into.

Consider niche vs. time vs. passion.

Content is King, Long Live The King!

By mikelking On April 8, 2010 5 Comments

Alright I admit that that it a rather silly title but for those of you who know me I often include a humorous undertone to my scribblings. However all humor aside if you take a moment and examine the statement “Content is king” you will realize that the statement is unequivocally true. Consider it an axiom of the modern internet driven age, for without content what are these sites you frequently visit? Ask yourself this simple question without good or even decent content would you bother ever visiting a site more than once?

Greetings, my name is Mikel King and I was asked by Mikkel to fill in this week as a guest blogger. I am here not to tell you how to write great or even passable content. There are already numerous posts available on this site to help guide you in that effort. I am going to take slightly different tact and show you two tools that will hopefully help you capture your thoughts and free your mind to produce the best content you are capable of. My feeling is that having the right tools to capture your ideas on paper so to speak, the easier it is to organize them into a content worth publishing.

The first tool I would like to briefly about the iPhone App from WordPress which is great for the blogger on the go. Fortunately this application works equally well on the both the iPhone, iPodTouch and if you are so blessed there is an update already available for the iPad as well. What makes the app useful is that it allows you to quickly capture your ideas and save them to your site for future development. Tru you can actually write and publish an article with this app. However, I personally only use the iPhone app for jotting down notes that I wish to expand on later. I’ve never written a complete post soup
to nuts with the app, because unfortunately for me I only connect with the app from my ipt. The iPodtTouch is somewhat limited in comparison to the iPhone because it lacks the some essentials that the mobile blogger can not live without. These being chiefly a camera and cell service.

Limitations aside the WordPress iPhone app is invaluable for maintaining a direct connection to your blog which allows you to effectively moderate your comment stream. This means that you have the ability to approve, reject and respond to comments left on your blog in a timely fashion from almost anywhere. Being a responsive to your reader base is extremely important to growing your reader base a contributing factor of why so many bloggers are on twitter.

This of course leads me to the second application that I personally find absolutely indispensable and that is the Firefox add-on ScribeFire. As I mentioned it is an add-on to the Firefox web browser that enables you to enter a split screen view of a particular site at the same time as the blog editor. The value of this tool becomes immediately apparent when you have to insert a URL into your blog. With SF you can view the site you are referencing in the top half of the browser ensuring that you have the correct URL. This is extremely handy if you are culling a list of URLs that you wish to comment about. Gone are the days of flipping back and forth between different browser windows or tabs and then returning to your blog page to paste in bits that you need.

In addition ScribeFire makes it trivial to link in rich content from other sources like YouTube, Flickr, Zemanta or other image source repositories like Twitpic. You can even upload images from your hard disk directly into the system if your account has the appropriate permission.

The ScribeFire editor includes all of the standard buttons you are accustom to in the WordPress web gui based editor. For instance if you wished to change the color of the font to emphasize a particular phrase you would just click the font color button.

Suppose you you would like to change the the formatting from left justified to right or centered. Obviously there is is another simple button to access these options. The following figure give you and idea of the options.

While ScribeFire has a multitude of easily accessed features they are not the focus of this article. I really just wanted to impress upon you how easy it is to perform common blogging tasks with these tools. They will help you concentrate on producing higher quality content by enabling you to craft your blog more efficiently. By giving your blog the unfettered creativity it deserves, your content will be king. And don’t you want your kingdom to reign long and true?

How to Write a Great Call to Action

By Mikkel Juhl On March 31, 2010 9 Comments

When you write posts and you forget to make a call to action, you leave your readers in a passive mode. Some of them will not respond to anything, they will not take action, because you doesn’t make it clear enough.

I bet if you include some of these “techniques” your blog readers will be less passive, and start interacting with you.

If you don’t call your readers to action, they are less likely to take action.

• If you want your readers to subscribe, ask them to do it – show how to do it too
• If you want them to buy something, give them a way to do it
• If you want a rate/vote on YouTube ask them to vote for you.

What Exactly is Call-to-Action?
Some people are confused with the term ‘call to action’ it is what you want people to do. Like clicking a link in the end of a blog post, reply your email, or whatsoever you want the person to do, after they’ve read your call to action.

You can call it a request to ‘do something’ – it will often be the step that the consumer could take towards the purchase of a product.

Why Call to Actions are Important

I have experimented with some call to action methods. I know some great techniques, that works on my blog, and I have compiled a short list consisting of two things why call to actions are important

• Action Cause Action – when people see, that someone else is taking action (comment, etc.) they will also be more likely to take action. They see that it’s normal to write a comment, it’s normal to retweet, it’s normal to dugg.

• Some People Need to Get a Shot in The Arm – some people only respond to comments if they are told so. If they see the author is encouraging them to take a comment, and express their opinions, they might do so.

Tips for a Better Call to Action

The following call to action “techniques” are from my experience and that means that it may not work on your blog, with your audience, though it works on this blog and,you should, from these techniques I give you, be able to customize them to make them fit your blog.

1. Use a Mix of Call to Actions

You need to keep experimenting, though you can’t use the same call to action, because that would not have the same effect every time, and the effect will probably be all gone if you use the same call to action every time. If you keep making different call to actions you will also notice that you will know why one will work, and why another one wouldn’t work.

You will get more experience on the topic, which definitely is important. You need to experiment, that’s the key when working with copy-writing. You need to keep tweaking.

2. Build up The Call to Action

A call to action doesn’t have to be at the end. You can build it up in the post. So you keep building up the call to action. Then the last line you give the last call to action – this have been very effective to me.

When you build a call to action, you will keep talking about stuff that leads to a call to action at the last point. You should talk about the call to action in every sentence though,

3. Make the Call to Action Obvious

We make our headlines big and we want people to see our headlines. The headline good headline makes people read the content, but what is a good headline without a good call to action? With a bad call to action, the good headline would have definitely no effect. Make it obvious what you want them to do and where the call to action is. Make it big and clear.

4. Make the Call to Action Simple and Obtainable

A good example is when you want to host contest. if the prizes are good, great audience, though the following rules: write a blog post linking to them, comment on their blog 10 times, retweet 3  of their articles.

Why do you think no one entered the contest? It wasn’t simple nor was it achievable. If you have a simple and achievable call to action the action will be much more likelier to be completed, thus a better result.

What Was Your Most Effective Call to Action?

I just shared my experience of call to actions, but I am still learning the aspects of copy writing, especially on this topic. I would love to hear what you have learned on this topic? I would love for you to give an example in the comments below, then we can all improve.

(Photo credit: Hiddedevries)

How to Craft Remarkable Headlines

By Mikkel Juhl On February 24, 2010 4 Comments

The other day I was talking about how to craft great opening lines. We are today going to talk about something similar, headlines. The most important factor when it comes to get your article read, and I’m telling the truth it is deadly important.

TASK: I want you to every single time there is an example, for you to make another example. In that way you will get lots of practice out of this post, it is so important to practice.

Headlines for Starters

You can’t just read a series of articles and books and expect you are a good copywriter. It takes lots of practise to write good headlines. When you are starting out you should look what other people did. Though, you have to study headlines that works, that is a good way to start writing great headlines.

You can look books, browse Amazon, popular articles – in that way you can get lots of inspiration on how you can write a good headline.

When you are writing headlines you should try to implement keywords. Go for the small ones, instead of the big ones. If you are writing a post ‘How to Make Money Online’ – then you should go for smaller keywords than ‘Make Money Online.’ Keep it small but still recognizable, so they know what the article is about. You will with that method be much more likely to get traffic from Google.

You shouldn’t reveal too much in your headlines. You should go for a headline like this ‘How to Get On Top of Google, Quickly’ instead of a headline like this ‘Do SEO and Get on Top of Google’ – the first one is not revealing how, but only what. Which is important.

How to Craft a Good Headline

When it comes to crafting headlines it is also important that you get to the point. No jokes, no wordplay. The direct headlines works better.

• Example: ‘FREE subscription to Blog Master Club’

When you are writing headlines you should sure to mention the benefits. People want to learn something from posts (or whatsoever)

• Example: ‘Read This Book and You Will Instantly Make $1000 Each Month’

You see, this headline ^ is not revealing anything about how to, it tell you exactly what to do and it mentions a benefit.

People love news, it doesn’t have to be a fresh new, the reader just don’t have to know it.

• Example: ‘Now Introducing, the newest Twitter app, tweet simply by speaking!’

This type of headline ↓ allows you to be direct, provide a benefit and take a commanding posture. It isn’t conversational(the opening line should be conversational), it is dictatorial, but it in a good way. Again this is very clear, the reader know what it is about.

• Another Example: ‘Become a Famous Blogger in 60 Days’

Start the Headline With a Question

When you are creating a question-headline, people shouldn’t be able to just say “no.”

• Example: ‘Are Your Readers Ignoring You?’

The answer for most people would be no, because they haven’t been told so. That’s why the headline should go like this instead:

• Example: “Are Your Readers Secretly Ignoring You?’

Why?

Instead of asking a simple question you should ask ‘Why?’ – That is another way to focus on the benefit when reading your article. You can replace “Why” with the following:

• Here’s Why
• What
• When
• How

• Example: “Why Some People Almost Always Gets 1000 Retweets”

In this particular example we are using the words ‘some’ and ‘almost’ which modifies ‘always’ to make it more plausible.

Why Provocative Questions Works

Provocative questions is questions that involves a reader directly. The question has to relate directly and state the benefit clearly. It should make the reader say “Yes” or at least “I want to know more”

• Example: “Do You Make These Mistakes When You Are Writing Essays?”

Here’s Why ‘How to’ Headlines Should Be Crafted

A ‘How-to’ article is an article that should make things better and/or easier. You should state a need, again by using benefits.

A how-to headline immediately shows the benefit because it begins with ‘how to’ or simply ‘how.’

• Example: “How to Quit Cigarettes In 30 Days”
• 2nd Example: “How to Safe Time and Make More Money”

These headlines is so great, mostly because they gives us a huge benefit. Benefits is probably the most important stuff when it comes to crafting headlines.

How to [Task] That [Benefit]

When you are creating these headlines it is so important that you state a benefit, state the biggest benefit in the post. When you should find the biggest benefit, it is probably all about being to specific as possible.

• Example: “How to Get a Dog and Be More Energic”

You can also try to leave the to, it doesn’t play that big role.

How to Craft Great List Post Headlines

The content in the list posts is crucial and the most important thing when it comes to get shared on social medias, but the headlines definitely helps. Any headline that lists a number of reasons, secrets, types or ways will work because it makes a specific promise.

These types of headlines is also very good for showing your expertise in a particular field.

• Example: “10 Secrets to Making $1000”
• Example: “How to Be Direct – These 3 Delicious Ways”
• Example: “Are You Using Social Media for Your Business? Here’s 3 Reasons Why You Should”

This was a lot, take notes. You will not be able to craft perfect headlines after reading this post, you need to practise and just start writing headlines. As the time goes you will see what works and what doesn’t work that well.

Why Blogging With a Passion is Key to Successful Blogging

By Mikkel Juhl On February 15, 2010 13 Comments

Passion is needed when you are blogging, definitely.

If you are blogging with no passion I don’t think you will be able to write anything good, because if you blog with passion you will be so much more likely to produce good content because you like what you write about and you know something about it.

And if you are passionate about your topic, you would have no problem researching about your topic, because you are probably already doing that.

If you are passionate then you will also be more willing to blog for longer time with no money. You like what you write about thus will you love to write about it, share you knowledge with others.

Lots of people starts blogs and are hoping to earn lots of money in no time and they really doesn’t care whether they like what they write about. I think that is a totally irrational way to start a blog. If you are passionate about this topic you will have much better odds to succeed.

You should not start a blog because you want to make money, it could be one of your main  goals, but not the main purpose of why you blog. If you have chosen to start a blog you should be passionate about the topic.

What is Passion?

Almost everyone knows what passion is, but I think that you need to think what really describes passion. If you can describe passion you will also be able to find your passion, if you have a passion.

The World’s Coolest Red Hair‘s definition on passion: “a burning desire to succeed in what you love”

This definitely a good definition, in which I totally agree with. If that is your definition of passion, then you will know what your passion is, if you have one. I discussed this with some friends the other day.

And all those who are just blogging and don’t blog on a topic, but actually wanted to blog on a topic, don’t know their true passion. So they start blogging about blogging. They develop this passion to blogging.

It makes sense you can’t just start a blog and then blog about nothing. Then start to blog about blogging because they know how to set up a blog and that’s it. I really don’t think that is the way to find your true passion.

What You Can Use Passion For?

Passion is great for delivering blog posts every single day. Like every blogger should aim for. I think that you would be much more able to succeed with one blog where you really are focused instead of having ten different posts.

Do you see the difficulties on having 10 different blog posts in one single day? It wouldn’t be realistic. You could have 2-3 different blogs, but you should have at most 1 main blog, which you would focus 100% on whenever you need it.

If you really are passionate about your topic then you will be able to keep up with your writing and then your blog will last much longer than if you are not passionate about what you write about. It could make you money but not as much as if you were passionate.

If you don’t blog with passion, then you will not be able to keep up with the writing.

How to Keep Your Blog Posts Alive For Longer Than A Day

By Mikkel Juhl On February 13, 2010 17 Comments

I think lots of people want to make their blog posts be more popular over a longer time frame. They keep getting this feeling that they have to write every day, which they aren’t supposed to. Of course every day is good, if you can keep up with it, but if you can’t, then it isn’t cool. I think it is an extremely important thing to do. If you can make your posts more popular over a longer time frame, then you would be able to:

• Get more comments
• Get more page views
• Get a lower bounce rate

So this is definitely benefits that would help your blog grow, bigger community and so on. Can you see the benefit from having a post which is popular for a bigger time span. These aren’t the only benefits, not at all, though you can imagine what the benefits are.

Keep The Posts in Circulation

Some people doesn’t like this method, but I think it is great for three reasons.

It helps when you have a writer’s block, you will get some content and then be able to relax.
It will increase your Google Page Rank for that specific page (gets linked to, more etc.) Will gain more comments, overtime.

What Exactly Is Circulation?

It’s quite simple, it is when you have published a blog post, let’s say 5 months from now. It was a good post, which could get rewritten and get some new points.

I think that you should rewrite the whole post, instead of just editing it, if you do so this post would be much more unique and people who have followed your blog for over 5 months, would be able to recognize the post if it is the same post.

So you need to rewrite it, this wouldn’t help if you have the writer’s block, where you mind keep stopping you from writing, but if it is the kind of writer’s block where you can’t find a topic, this would be an ideal way to break the ice – or at least try to do so.

Edit the Posts

Edit your headlines, will work. Headlines is the key to a blog post, if the headlines is good, you shouldn’t fail, to get people to click on the link, from the front page to the posts page. I think this is important, if you make sure that you have a powerful headline. It matters!

Edit your opening lines, is the second thing that the reader gets to see, this really is where you need to impress the reader and make him/her read the whole post. It is like in a newspaper, I don’t know what you would call it, it is like a sub-header, it is what gets the person interested in your article.

Edit Your Formatting, is good. If you restructure a post just before publishing it. Make it scannable, readable. Just make it simpler in the formatting.

Writing New Fresh Content Which Gets Popular

Didn’t like the “circulation method?” On that occasion I have some other ways to write some posts that will be alive for more than one day.

Keep it simple, when you write something that is going to be popular for more than one single day, thereupon you have to make it simple. If it is simple then every single body and brain will understand it in this world. If they understands what you say, then of course.

Try to tell a story, this will only be a success if you are good at finding the relevancy of a story (if you are not, you should use this “method.”) But this will simply add some relation to the article and make it more personal, it just have to have a certain level of relevance.

Link to older posts, might help your older posts to get a bit more views. You should do that with a good anchor text and maintain the relevancy the link. You can easily do this and if you do it the right way people will click on it.

Short about how you can improve your blog post’s live, did this have an impact on your blog? I would love to know.

Everybody Isn’t Perfect and That Affects Your Blog

By Mikkel Juhl On February 6, 2010 6 Comments

We are all not perfect as well, nothing is perfect…

Definition of perfect: Perfect is a non-existing thing that people try to find or live up to. No one can be perfect because everyone has faults of some sort. If anything ever was perfect that should be (for the believers) the person who maybe died on a cross 2000 years ago.

This in other words means that you are allowed not to be perfect. No one expects you to be perfect.

I know that I suck at stuff. Other people are really bad at some other stuff, we all have our strengths and our weaknesses. I should be the first to admit that my English grammar isn’t the best, especially my punctuation. I am aware of that, I know there is something I can work with.

Do you have that as well? Now that we know everyone isn’t perfect, then what aren’t you perfect at? There probably

is something blogging related. Share with us, if you share it with us – then you’ve already done the first thing.

Which is to be aware of your imperfectness. Though sometimes you can’t do a single thing about your imperfectness, but when you can, just try to improve. Of course you do not need to try to be perfect, because that is unreachable. You can always try to improve your imperfectness, but you can never be perfect.

Not Good at Writing?

This reminds me of an email I got a couple days ago. It was a sales email, I read it anyway. It said something like this “I’m not much of a writer, so I’m now using this automated blogging system.” I was just thinking, do you really wanna give that sh*t to your readers?

If you can’t write good, then just write your best. Do never do anything automated. It really is a stupid thing to do. The content have probably been published before you published it and it probably isn’t better than your own content.

If you are having trouble writing good content, then sit down and edit and add something here and there, make it more appealing and add more meat. You just need to practice then, take your time. Edit it a few times, till you have a stunning article.

Therefore be more satisfied and if you keep editing on every single post, then you will also be better to write the articles, without having to edit them. So that’s just practice.

What to Do About it?

You need to analyze what the problem is. What you can improve on, and we are talking about the imperfection of your blog writing, especially. You can also use this to see what you can improve on in other topics. But I have written this post so you will be able to improve your blog.

You should be able to see your own imperfection, if not then ask another person. But please, tell me that you know, there’s something you can work on? Something you can improve on. When you have analyzed the problem, then you can easily see how you can improve.

Practice, practice and practice.

You just need to admit that you can improve. If it is a big thing then you should try to improve as soon as possible, but if it isn’t a big problem then why not screw it? Is it worth it to use 5 hours to improve something that really isn’t so urgent?

What can you improve on?

12 Types of Blog Posts

By Mikkel Juhl On January 30, 2010 13 Comments

I hope I can give you some new insights in blogging, new ways to write is good, it challenge you as a writer, but your readers will also like the variation. So just try to write some new blog posts, than the same old blog posts all the time.

1. Instructional posts

In this kind of post you are telling the reader how to do something. These kind of articles are often quite big on Digg, they are also called “How-to”-articles.

2. Informational posts

This kind of post is a post which is telling the reader a method or a general thing, almost always a problem which they are making clear of, but not giving a concrete solution.

3. Reviews posts

You probably know this kind of post. All those affiliate products which are being sold by reviews. It is a post where you’re reviewing a product. Normally the article includes an affiliate link.

4. Lists posts

These posts are really popular, list posts are my all time favorite posts type. The article is often shared by many people and they are relatively easy to write.

5. Interviews posts

Something I should do more often. I love writing the questions and afterwards ask people the questions, they are also shared by many people, because people like the interaction between two people. Interviews also gives your readers another opinion than your opinion all the time.

If you write a blog about politics and you are totally liberalist, then interview a socialist – you would also be able to start a heavy debate, doing that.

6. Case studies posts

I just started doing case studies on DaneBlogger, the first case study will be published soon.

A case study is an example. You can walk your readers through a problem on another site (the type of case study I’m doing) or if you just watched a person who treated a dog very bad, then tell how you should react if the dog was misbehaving in this way.

So you tell about a problem and then come up with solutions, or just how you can improve a particular thing.

7. Profiles posts

Instead of focusing on a dog, you could focus on a person, a brand instead. So the same as case studies just about a person.

8. Links posts

This is an easy way to write a blog post. If you read a blog post and you feel inspired then you should write a blog post and tell your point of view, but only if you feel inspired. Don’t just fire off some bad stuff. Only share good blog posts.

Share the posts you could be writing on your own blog.

9. Comparison posts

This is a very funny way, to do write a blog post. You can make a list. Pro vs. cons.

The blog post here, could compare two or more products – and then make pro vs. cons on every product. Then write a conclusion on which product you would choose.

10. Rants posts

Rant posts are funny to write, even more funny to read. It is just where say what’s on your mind, and just like it is. You shouldn’t hide anything.

11. Research posts

Research posts can take time and you need to consider the sources you take from. Try to include some statistics in the blog posts. They are fun to read.

12. Prediction posts

I think almost everybody who reads DaneBlogger have done a post like this. The title could be “What Will Happen in 2010?” or “What Would Happened in 2009?” something like that.

I hope this inspired you to write some new stuff on your blog. It really is important that you vary your post types, your readers would like it too. Unless they are totally conservative.

Does Article Marketing Work? I Just Increased My Income by 66.69% With Three Articles

By Britt Malka On January 29, 2010 7 Comments

Guest post by Britt Malka

Often, it’s not easy to measure how much impact article marketing really has.

You’ve probably seen an increase in your traffic, but did it affect the bottom line of your bank account at the end of the month?

Last year, I decided to participate in the Hundred Articles in Hundred Days event that started January 1st, and I’m only a little behind schedule. Out of the articles I’ve written so far, three of them pointed to a specific page in the resource box.

Allow me to go more into details here, so you really will be able to see, just how powerful article marketing is.

A while ago, I purchased the Mini-Site Formula, and I decided to test it. So I followed the instructions, and build a page which I chose to put only eBay ads on.

What really intrigued me about this product was that there were no hype about it. If you could make about $3 per day, you’ve reached your goal. Then you could make a new site that made $3 per day, and after a while, you would make real good money.

A few videos points to the site, but I haven’t really been advertising for it in any way. Even so, this site made me money each month. Not a lot, but some, and for being a site, I almost never write on, I’m pretty satisfied. Last month I received 28 euro ($39), and it’s been around those numbers every month.

The site is made up as a blog, where I have written 19 short posts.

When I submitted three of my articles to Ezine Articles, I pointed to one specific blog post in three of them, and not only did I see a spike in the traffic. I could also measure an increase in the gains, I’ve made so far (the month’s not finished yet).

I went from 28,01 euro last month to 46,69 this month, and since eBay not shows you gain for the last two days, I can make much more than that, before the end of January.

That’s a huge increase of 66.69%.

Or more than $9 per article, if you like.

Would you think it’s worth your time to write articles, if you knew that each of them would bring in at least $9 already the first month?

One of the advantages with articles is that they stay online. The $9 I gained more per article was just this month’s result. I expect that to be much higher next month.

So, I’m pretty happy that I decided to join the Hundred Articles in Hundred Days challenge, because that was the motivation I needed to get started writing a serious amount of articles. After all – one article a day? How hard can that be?

You’ll see, it’s fun, especially when the money starts pouring in.

Britt Malka is from Denmark, she knows how to write, in a very good and attractive way. She is big in Denmark, really a writing-expert. So take notes, folks.

How Article Marketing Can Benefit Your Blog

By Mikkel Juhl On January 26, 2010 5 Comments

Article marketing has been around for awhile, still not many people are using it properly. Article marketing is a type of advertising for businesses (in this case blogs), the articles are made available for publication, typically on a article directory.

Every single article contains a “bio text” which includes a references and blog address. Your articles has to be well written, because if they aren’t then they will not be distributed on another page. A well written article will also have the potential of increasing your credibility level.

History of Article Marketing

Some people think that article marketing, is a quite new phenomenon, it isn’t. It was used long before Internet marketing was a big thing. It is actually used offline as well. A local business could provide useful content to a newspaper free of charge and in return the newspaper have to put the business owner’s contact detail on it.

Online Article Marketing

Now Internet marketing, is quite hip (think it’s first time I am using that word ) article marketing has moved the way to be an online resource as well as offline resource.

Online it is more powerful, (when we’re talking about blog promotion) a local newspaper commercial wouldn’t do so much for you? Would it?

Online article marketing has taken over the world. Maybe not, but it’s close.

The website where a author (blogger) can publish their article, is called an article directory. An example of a article directory could be Ezine Articles, it is big but a good page rank. The reason why an article directory can keep it up, is because they get new content every day (which Google love) and that means traffic.

Which means that people are more likely to place their ad on the article directory’s site. It is quite a win-win situation. Nowadays articles whom are submitted to article directories are keyword optimized to target a particular niche, which means there’s lots of bullshit out there.

Many marketers love this way of building backlinks, somebody really benefit from it, they have submitted over 1000 articles, which is a lot, that is also a quite big bunch of backlinks.

Web 2.0

Article marketing has been much more popular as we get new sites all the time, this also means that the quality of these articles are really low, which actually gives us no reason for using them on our own site.

So this “sudden” popularity of article marketing, really has been bad for it.

When we are talking about web 2.0 I would like to mention the pages called “HubPages” and “Squidoo” they rank really good on Google, if you write some good content and point back to your blog then you really can get some good traffic and establish a readership in that way.

To use Squidoo is really a good way of distributing your articles, as this service really rank good.

Conclusion

It is hard to stand out from the crowd when we are talking about article marketing, because of the big popularity. But when you are publishing them, please make them absolutely stunning!

You need to make them really good, to give you more than a backlink.