How Do You Know What Topics Strike A Nerve With Your Target Market?

arrow found the target
Originally uploaded by melilab

A key aspect of article marketing is providing valuable educational content for your target market, but how do you know what sorts of information your target customers are looking for? 

Of course we always write on the topic of our websites, but beyond that, where can we get specific ideas for articles? 

The crazy thing is that we (the experts) oftentimes are so waist deep in our field that we overlook the most obvious questions and topics.

As business owners who are marketing focused, sometimes our brains are not completely customer-centric when we're deciding what to write about.

That is just human nature–in order to get a read on questions that are circling through our customers' brains, we need to venture beyond ourselves and our expertise and journey into the turf of our customers. 

But where do you find that turf, and how can we get into the minds of our customers?  

Please check out these 5 main areas where you can get a read on your target customers so that you can then produce content that will satisfy their needs: 

Read more… | Article Submission Service (SubmitYOURArticle.com)

5 Creative Ways To Get Multiple Marketing Uses Out Of Your Articles

my swiss army knife
Originally uploaded by Alesist

You're doing article marketing, and on top of that you have a blog, a newsletter, and also participate in various social media activities.

You start to wonder–

"How in the world can I write enough to keep all of these marketing activities going? I feel like I'm writing all the time–articles, blog posts, newsletter articles, e-books, Squidoo lenses. Something's gotta give!" 

I hear you–I've been there before, and there was a time when I was writing, writing, writing and felt like I would never catch up with all the worthy projects I wanted to do. 

I can't explain what happened, but gradually over time things just started to fall into place.

I was creating lots of quality content, and then I started to see how the various types of online content could play off of each other. I started to get multiple uses out of one burst of effort, reaching different people in my target market, and all the while getting customers and potential customers saying, "Thank you for all the free information you offer! It's a big help–keep it comin'!"

I discovered that the real trick is seeing how one bit of writing for one online tool can be used as a marketing multi-tasker. 

I'm happy to share how I get double (and sometimes triple and quadruple) duty out of one piece of content, such as articles:

Read more… | Article Submission Service (SubmitYOURArticle.com)

How To Write an Article Quickly with an Outline

Moleskine map of 婺源 by Gaoyuan
Originally uploaded by ♥ China ♥ guccio

How do you start writing an article? 

Do you:

A. Just sit down and start writing

B. Make a few notes, then write

C. Create a full-blown outline to work from

D. Use a previously written piece of content as an "outline" for a re-worked article

I have experimented with all of these methods, but I find that I can write a quality article the speediest when I take the time on the front end to create an outline (options C & D).

Now, I'm not talking about one of those cumbersome and intimidating outlines we did in school when we were kids–you know, the ones where you had Roman numeral I, II, III, IV, etc, and then points A, B, C, and then sub-points a, b, c.

No, no, no, no, no–that is not where we're going with this (thankfully! )

This is a very simple and useful outline created simply for your benefit (with no formality involved) that will allow you to shave time off of your overall writing time.

Here's how you do it: Read more… | Article Submission Service (SubmitYOURArticle.com)

The Joys of Yahoo Site Explorer: Getting the Low-Down on your Website’s Progress

My Terminal Binoculars
Originally uploaded by Jim Frazier

Chances are the reason why you started article marketing go something like this:

* You want to drive traffic to your website

* You want to leap-frog up the search engine rankings 

* You want to establish yourself as an expert in your niche

Those are a few of the most popular reasons, but at the heart of pretty much every reason why folks do article marketing is the need to build links. 

I always recommend that folks keep some sort of "stats tracking journal" so that they can get a clear view of their progress.

Now keep in mind–when you're doing article marketing you will likely not see a huge difference in your stats for about 4 months, but it's nice to get that stats tracking process in place from the get go (for more info on how to set up a stats tracking system so you can see how your article marketing is impacting your website's progress, see this post: 5 Things To Do Before You Start Article Marketing)

I've told you before about how you can use Google to see how many sites are linking to your website, but I've found that the Yahoo Site Explorer actually provides more information.

Let me walk you through how to use Yahoo Site Explorer…

Read more… | Article Submission Service (SubmitYOURArticle.com)

Do You Give Your Articles A Cool Off Period?

Cooling off… Detroit RiverWalk
Originally uploaded by NoneOther… {Captured In Lights}…

In the online world where publication can take place immediately, it's easy to overlook one of the most important parts of the writing process–the cool off period. 

What's the cool off period?

Well, after you write your article it's a great idea to set it aside for at least a day or so before you submit it.

What should be happening during that cool off time?

When we're in the heat of the writing process we can get so used to looking at our article that obvious mistakes escape our eyes. We also get used to reading and re-reading our article to the point where awkward sentences and phrasing may start to sound normal to us. 

Taking a step back from your article gives your mind a chance to rest.

Really, you may leave your article thinking, "This one is perfect–I'm absolutely certain that I've proofread it backwards and forwards and there are no mistakes here!"

Then, after being away from the article for a day or so you look at it again, and it's like you're seeing it for the first time.

You say, "Where did all these errors come from? I forgot to put a conclusion to my article! Can you believe that embarrassing typo in the title that I almost sent out to publishers?! Thank goodness I caught these before submitting!"

Read more… | Article Submission Service (SubmitYOURArticle.com)

Reader Survey! What Do You Want To Learn About Article Marketing?

Image AX055394

I think of Creative Article Marketing sort of like a school where folks who are interested in article marketing come to learn how to get the best results for their time and effort. 

In my mind, I have ideas of what I think are valuable things to know, such as:

• Beginner stuff–the basics of how to write and submit a first (or second, or third) article
• Ways to take things up a notch–this is intermediate and advanced article marketing techniques
• Productivity–How to organize your writing time so you get more done in less time
• Understanding basic SEO stuff having to do with article marketing (such as keywords and the SEO benefits of article marketing)
• Writing and editing tips–including resource boxes, titles, article content, and figuring out what to write about

 These are topics we've been covering since the get-go, but what I really want to know is:

What do you want to learn about article marketing?

This blog is here to serve you guys, so please chime in if you have any sorts of posts you'd like to see or anything you'd like to see explained in more detail.

Also, if you have any point of confusion or an area where you think you could definitely improve if you had the right educational info, please share those ideas!!!!!

I can't wait to hear your thoughts

ArticleTrickle now launched at SubmitYOURArticle.com

After many months of development and testing, we have now launched our brand new technology, ArticleTrickle, further enhancing the functionality offered by SubmitYOURArticle.com's article distribution service.

This technology allows articles to be 'trickled' out to our distribution network in a far more natural fashion than the all-at-once approach - the effect would be very similar to if you were distributing an article manually, and only able to distribute it to new potential publishers for say an hour or so a day.

Members can choose the length of time over which they want their article to be distributed - for example, articles can be trickled out over 7 days, 30 days, etc. This helps ensure links generated from article submissions are built up more gradually, which may be more search engine friendly.

In addition, members can now also schedule when they would like articles to be distributed in advance. So members can for example log into their account at the start of the month, set up all their articles to be distributed over the course of that month, set it and forget it - and we'll take care of the rest.

So how do you use it?

Members just need to click the Submit button to submit an article for distribution in the usual way - you'll then see different distribution options allowing you to take advantage of ArticleTrickle and the scheduling capabilities.

Not yet a member? Click here now for more information.

How To Customize Your Resource Box In 3 Steps

Roberto Clemente Bridge
Originally uploaded by michaelrighi

Lately we've been going backwards and forwards over how to craft a really strong resource box.

We've established that first off, you need to have a really great basic text resource box.

Once you have a strong text resource box, you can create an HTML resource box that is just as effective pretty easily. 

But what about customizing your resource box? 

If your article is what lures reader's in, why not capitalize on the momentum you create in your article and tailor your resource box to perfectly suit the subject matter you've just been sharing with the reader?

Customizing your resource box is the final stage of Resource Box Evolution.

The trick is to create a bridge between your article (which is educational) and your resource box (which has some info about yourself, your website, and a call to action to visit your website).

Let's take a look how it's done…

Read more… | Article Submission Service (SubmitYOURArticle.com)

5 Essential Ways To Build Credibility On The Web Through Your Articles

Believe, Love, Fly, Watch
Originally uploaded by *BlueMoon

When you start an article marketing campaign you'll often hear advice on ways to improve the technical SEO oriented side of article marketing, but there is one very powerful aspect of article marketing that folks commonly overlook:

Building credibility with readers

What is credibility? 

According to Dictionary.com, credibility means:

1. capable of being believed

2. worthy of belief or confidence; trustworthy

Remember, as respectable business owners we're not just trying to "drive traffic to a website"–we also want to form relationships with our readers where trust and confidence will grow over time and where the reader/potential customer would eventually say,

"I believe him/her. I think I can trust him/her. I have confidence in his/her abilities to provide me with what I need." 

But how do you build credibility, trust, and reader confidence through your articles?

I think there are 5 crucial make-or-break areas where an author has the chance to start building a healthy relationship with a reader:

Read more… | Article Submission Service (SubmitYOURArticle.com)

How To Write A Killer HTML Resource Box…The Easy Way

Easy Button
Originally uploaded by Bravo213

 I see this more times than I'd like to admit:

An author has an absolutely gorgeous text resource box, but their HTML resource box is just a skeleton of what it should be with just their keywords hyperlinked. 

I think that the thing that trips most folks up is they know that the perk of the HTML resource box is getting to hyperlink their keywords, and it seems like they think that if their keywords are hyperlinked that that's all they need to do.

Wrong!

Your HTML resource box should be every bit as descriptive and informative as your text resource box. Your resource box is a piece of marketing content for your website, so you need to take special care when putting it together. 

Doing the HTML resource box can seem a little tricky because you may think you can't say "for more info, go to => www.mysite.com" You may think that you need to totally rephrase things so that the HTML resource box makes sense with the link appearing as hyperlinked keywords rather than as an action statement ("go to my site here =>").

I'd like to share with your a little trick I have for making a stellar HTML resource box the EASY way:

Read more… | Article Submission Service (SubmitYOURArticle.com)