This weekend I decided to do some window shopping. I’ve been wanting a new couch for awhile now, so I drove down to The Brick and checked out some furniture. I found the perfect couch and decided that I HAD to have it.
I’m easily excited and amused by simple things, so the idea of getting this couch has been consuming me since I saw it. I’ve got a copy of The Brick flyer sitting on my desk right beside my monitor just in case I forget about it for more than 2 seconds.
Every time I see that flyer or think about that couch, I get my ass on the computer and work work work. I’ve made sales that I’m sure never would have came about if it wasn’t for that piece of furniture. I’ve written more articles this week than I ever have and these extra sales mean I’m very close to buying that couch.
Sounds kinda dumb, but if it’s motivation you need, then who cares about how you get that motivation. If it means you need to take a trip down to The Brick, then so be it. For the love of sales, get your unmotivated butt in your car and go do some window shopping!
October 22nd, 2007
For many internet marketers, article marketing is a huge part of their traffic generation and search engine optimization. Submitting articles to ezines and article directories are great for three major reasons:
1) Traffic - You’re sending the readers of your articles to your website.
2) SEO - You’re generating links to your website when other publishers pick up your articles for their own website.
3) Expert Status - You’re establishing yourself as an expert by writing quality articles and providing people with the information they’re seeking. This gains you trust and credibility.
Of course, you’ll only get these three things if you’re writing great articles rather than putting a few sloppy paragraphs together.
My favorite directory to submit to is EzineArticles.com. A huge percentage of my traffic comes from them, and although some of their policies seem a bit strict, in the end it helps ensure that their site remains a quality directory.
However, as I was skimming through the Ezine Article Expert Authors the other day, I noticed that the majority of these people had only submitted one article.
If you want to get anywhere with article marketing, you’re gonna have to do better than that!
Article marketing, if done properly, is a guaranteed way to generate traffic to your site. It only makes sense that the more articles you submit, the more traffic you’ll receive.
One of the problems I first had with article marketing was trying to decide which content to submit to directories, and which content to include on my own site. Since then, I’ve realized that there are other ways to use your article directory content without the fear of duplicate content. One of my favorite ways is compiling a bunch of related articles and creating a PDF to give away or sell to readers. Another option is to use submitted articles as autoresponder content for newsletters.
Another problem I had with article marketing was trying to find inspiration for topics to write about. Now, the first thing I do when looking for an idea is skim through my website stats and see what people are searching for. Another good way to get inspired is to read related forums or see what other authors are writing about in the article directories.
The ultimate problem though was the fact that I was generating next to nothing in website traffic. I’ve since learned that this was because I was only submitting one article at a time, and my submissions were few and far between. The best way to start the traffic flowing and keep it flowing is to submit many articles at once, and regularly.
That may seem like a lot of writing, but the more you do it, the faster you’ll be at it. Also, articles don’t have to be three pages long. EzineArticles.com requires articles to be at the minimum of 250 words. That really isn’t a lot. With some practice, you should be able to whip up a few good quality paragraphs in less than 10 minutes.
There’s an inspiring thread about article marketing over at the Digital Point forums. If article marketing is something you’ve been using or something you’d like to start doing, I encourage you to read it. It’s long, but it’s a good read.
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=457865
October 18th, 2007
