Exposing Your Expertise

Writing and leveraging articles is my most successful strategy for promoting my Website and my speaking and consulting services. Visitors to your site from targeted articles tend to be higher quality leads than those from search engines, and potential buyers like to see that you're published in many credible outlets.

Here are my recommendations to implement this strategy:

1. Write the article This may sound self-evident, but a couple of pointers:

Keep it short, and make the language simple, especially if you're targeting online outlets. People don't read word for word on the Web - rather, they'll scan the screen. Complex sentences and dense copy will lose readers fast.

Develop a template that can be easily customized for different target markets. My "Top Seven Ways to Tune Up your Website" has been parlayed into versions for over a dozen different industries. The essential points remain the same, and customizing simply involves adding specific examples.

2. Put it on your Website One of the key goals of your Website should be to showcase your expertise. Content (combined with testimonials and success stories) is the best way to achieve this.

When adding articles to your site:

Include a clear reprint policy. This should state whether you allow articles to be reprinted, and if so, under what terms (including your byline, copyright, notification of use, etc.)

If you have a large number of articles, provide an index page that divides them into appropriate subject groupings, and gives a two-line description of each.

Create a byline with an enticing hook to get people to visit your Website. Mine refers to my popular free tipsheet "Beyond the Search Engines", which lists 23 alternative ways to promote your site. This is far more powerful than a bland statement such as "Philippa Gamse is an internationally recognized..."

3. Research and offer it to appropriate venues It's critical to be very clear about your target audience, and how to reach them. Who are the economic buyers and decision makers that you'd like to be in front of, and what do they read? Do those sites or publications accept outside articles, and if so, what are their policies around doing so?

4. Follow up links and references It's extremely important to measure the success of these efforts, both in terms of the traffic to your site, and its quality.

Check the "referring URL" section in your traffic reports, and follow links to you from any site that you don't recognize. Often, site owners won't inform you when they've used your material. So you want to ensure that you have been properly attributed. But also, thank the site owner. I recently sent a note to a university professor who had added some of my articles to his course reading list. His response? "I really like your ideas, and by the way, we're looking for a speaker for our upcoming conference..."

The Proof of the Pudding... Does all this work? Absolutely. One of my articles was recently highlighted as the "Cool Site of the Week" in Tekguide.net - an online technology and computer directory. But the page that it linked to was not mine, but PowerHomeBiz.com - another site that had featured this article. So I now have sites quoting sites that quote me... and that gets major brownie points in Google - the only remaining credible free search engine.

I was also recently hired to consult for a site in the auto industry after the owner had read my article in eDealershipnews.com. He said "I liked the article, I can see how you think, and I'd like some of that thinking for me". No further selling required!

Eight Tips for Ezine Writers

Have you ever wondered why Ezine Articles have become one of the most effective marketing techniques on the Web?

The reason is quite simple.

People very rarely go online looking for something to buy. They go online looking for information - free information.

They want to be educated, entertained and informed. And the best way to do that is to write free Articles for Newsletters.

At the bottom of your Article is your 4- or 5-line Resource Box. That's what turns your Article into one of the most powerful marketing techniques on the Web.

Here are eight tips to help you write your Articles and get them published.

(1) Never allow yourself to think that you've run out of ideas. Instead, have the opposite thought: that there are more ideas than you could possibly write about. I heard someone saying recently (with regard to Ezine Articles) that everything that could possibly be written about has already been written about. Nonsense! The Internet is evolving so fast that even if you wrote a new Article every day, you still couldn't keep up.

(2) The Golden Rule of Five. Keep your Article titles short - no more than five words. Ezine Editors love short titles (they fit into the subject field of an email).

(3) Keep your paragraphs short - no more than 3 sentences. It's much harder to read a computer screen than a printed page - so make it easy for your readers.

(4) Make sure your Article flows properly. The easiest way to do this is to write down the opening and closing sentences of each of your paragraphs, then read what you have. If it makes sense and moves along nicely, you have an Article that is well organized and flows properly.

(5) Include a word count at the top of your Article. This makes it easy for an Ezine Editor to make a quick decision on whether to use your Article. It also shows you've been thorough in preparing your Article for publication.

(6) Check all the links in your Article before submitting it. Then include a note that says: 'All the links in this Article were checked and verified on (date)'. Again, this saves time for the Ezine Editor and demonstrates that you've been thorough.

(7) Offer a Free Report in your Resource Box. When someone reads your Article in an Ezine, they probably won't be connected to the Internet. So the challenge is this: to offer something so interesting and exciting that they'll fire up their modem and visit your website. The best way to do that is to offer a Free Report.

(8) Put all your Articles on autoresponders and then create another autoresponder that lists all your Articles, with an autoresponder address for each Article (e.g.: all-articles@yourdomain.com). When you submit your Article to a List or to an Article Archive, always include a note that says: "For a complete list of Articles by this author please send a blank email to: all-articles@yourdomain.com"

Remember - Ezine Articles are probably the fastest way there is of building your presence on the Web and getting your message in front of a targeted audience. Happy writing!

10 Tips For Getting More Traffic From Your Articles

Here's a depressing fact if you sell anything on the web: the #1 reason people go online is not to buy things but to find free information.

But that's great news - if you write free articles. It means you have a technique you can plug in and use whenever you need more traffic.

Writing articles is still one of the quickest and easiest ways of bringing targeted traffic to your website. Articles will bring you traffic from three sources:

=> Newsletters - very few ezine publishers write their own content. They need free articles from people like you.

=> Websites - webmasters want content-rich websites. They also need your articles.

=> Search Engines - the URL in your resource box increases your link popularity, resulting in higher search engine rankings for your website

Here are some tips for getting more traffic from your articles:

1. Start your article with a sentence that grabs your reader's attention. People are bombarded with information on the Internet - they'll decide whether to read your article in the first sentence. If it intrigues them, if it startles them, if it excites them, if it engages them, if it challenges them, they'll keep reading.

2. Submit your articles to the article announcement lists. Here are the lists I submit to: http://www.ezine-writer.com/article-lists.html

3. Submit your articles to the online article banks. Here are the top 10 article banks: http://www.ezine-writer.com/top10.html

4. Create a 'New Articles' list for people who want to receive your latest articles. Put a sign-up form on your website and invite your visitors to join. When you submit articles to the article announcement lists, include the email address for joining your 'New Articles' list.

5. Don't put a date in your article copyright - articles you wrote 2 years ago may still be relevant but if the copyright says 2001, publishers will assume the information is out-of-date.

6. Create a zip file containing all your previous articles as text files - include the download link on your website, in your sig file, in your autoresponders, and in your Ezine 'Welcome Message'.

7. Check your articles with SpamAssassin by sending your article to this address with 'TEST' in the subject field: mailto:spamcheck-flash1@sitesell.net Then include a note that says "this article was checked by SpamAssassin and is spam-safe".

8. Write your Resource Box in the third person and not in the form an ad - Ezine Publishers may like your article but object to your Resource Box.

9. When you submit your articles to the article lists, include URLs for your article and your photo: http://www.ezine-writer.com/article62.html http://www.ezine-writer.com/photo-ms.jpg

10. Likewise, include your article's autoresponder address: article62@ezine-writer.com

Well, that's it - all the information you need to get more traffic from your articles!

Eight Tips for Ezine Writers

Have you ever wondered why Ezine Articles have become one of the most effective marketing techniques on the Web?

The reason is quite simple.

People very rarely go online looking for something to buy. They go online looking for information - free information.

They want to be educated, entertained and informed. And the best way to do that is to write free Articles for Newsletters.

At the bottom of your Article is your 4- or 5-line Resource Box. That's what turns your Article into one of the most powerful marketing techniques on the Web.

Here are eight tips to help you write your Articles and get them published.

(1) Never allow yourself to think that you've run out of ideas. Instead, have the opposite thought: that there are more ideas than you could possibly write about. I heard someone saying recently (with regard to Ezine Articles) that everything that could possibly be written about has already been written about. Nonsense! The Internet is evolving so fast that even if you wrote a new Article every day, you still couldn't keep up.

(2) The Golden Rule of Five. Keep your Article titles short - no more than five words. Ezine Editors love short titles (they fit into the subject field of an email).

(3) Keep your paragraphs short - no more than 3 sentences. It's much harder to read a computer screen than a printed page - so make it easy for your readers.

(4) Make sure your Article flows properly. The easiest way to do this is to write down the opening and closing sentences of each of your paragraphs, then read what you have. If it makes sense and moves along nicely, you have an Article that is well organized and flows properly.

(5) Include a word count at the top of your Article. This makes it easy for an Ezine Editor to make a quick decision on whether to use your Article. It also shows you've been thorough in preparing your Article for publication.

(6) Check all the links in your Article before submitting it. Then include a note that says: 'All the links in this Article were checked and verified on (date)'. Again, this saves time for the Ezine Editor and demonstrates that you've been thorough.

(7) Offer a Free Report in your Resource Box. When someone reads your Article in an Ezine, they probably won't be connected to the Internet. So the challenge is this: to offer something so interesting and exciting that they'll fire up their modem and visit your website. The best way to do that is to offer a Free Report.

(8) Put all your Articles on autoresponders and then create another autoresponder that lists all your Articles, with an autoresponder address for each Article (e.g.: all-articles@yourdomain.com). When you submit your Article to a List or to an Article Archive, always include a note that says: "For a complete list of Articles by this author please send a blank email to: all-articles@yourdomain.com"

Remember - Ezine Articles are probably the fastest way there is of building your presence on the Web and getting your message in front of a targeted audience. Happy writing!

10 Tips For Getting More Traffic From Your Articles

Here's a depressing fact if you sell anything on the web: the #1 reason people go online is not to buy things but to find free information.

But that's great news - if you write free articles. It means you have a technique you can plug in and use whenever you need more traffic.

Writing articles is still one of the quickest and easiest ways of bringing targeted traffic to your website. Articles will bring you traffic from three sources:

=> Newsletters - very few ezine publishers write their own content. They need free articles from people like you.

=> Websites - webmasters want content-rich websites. They also need your articles.

=> Search Engines - the URL in your resource box increases your link popularity, resulting in higher search engine rankings for your website

Here are some tips for getting more traffic from your articles:

1. Start your article with a sentence that grabs your reader's attention. People are bombarded with information on the Internet - they'll decide whether to read your article in the first sentence. If it intrigues them, if it startles them, if it excites them, if it engages them, if it challenges them, they'll keep reading.

2. Submit your articles to the article announcement lists. Here are the lists I submit to: http://www.ezine-writer.com/article-lists.html

3. Submit your articles to the online article banks. Here are the top 10 article banks: http://www.ezine-writer.com/top10.html

4. Create a 'New Articles' list for people who want to receive your latest articles. Put a sign-up form on your website and invite your visitors to join. When you submit articles to the article announcement lists, include the email address for joining your 'New Articles' list.

5. Don't put a date in your article copyright - articles you wrote 2 years ago may still be relevant but if the copyright says 2001, publishers will assume the information is out-of-date.

6. Create a zip file containing all your previous articles as text files - include the download link on your website, in your sig file, in your autoresponders, and in your Ezine 'Welcome Message'.

7. Check your articles with SpamAssassin by sending your article to this address with 'TEST' in the subject field: mailto:spamcheck-flash1@sitesell.net Then include a note that says "this article was checked by SpamAssassin and is spam-safe".

8. Write your Resource Box in the third person and not in the form an ad - Ezine Publishers may like your article but object to your Resource Box.

9. When you submit your articles to the article lists, include URLs for your article and your photo: http://www.ezine-writer.com/article62.html http://www.ezine-writer.com/photo-ms.jpg

10. Likewise, include your article's autoresponder address: article62@ezine-writer.com

Well, that's it - all the information you need to get more traffic from your articles!

Eight Tips for Ezine Writers

Have you ever wondered why Ezine Articles have become one of the most effective marketing techniques on the Web?

The reason is quite simple.

People very rarely go online looking for something to buy. They go online looking for information - free information.

They want to be educated, entertained and informed. And the best way to do that is to write free Articles for Newsletters.

At the bottom of your Article is your 4- or 5-line Resource Box. That's what turns your Article into one of the most powerful marketing techniques on the Web.

Here are eight tips to help you write your Articles and get them published.

(1) Never allow yourself to think that you've run out of ideas. Instead, have the opposite thought: that there are more ideas than you could possibly write about. I heard someone saying recently (with regard to Ezine Articles) that everything that could possibly be written about has already been written about. Nonsense! The Internet is evolving so fast that even if you wrote a new Article every day, you still couldn't keep up.

(2) The Golden Rule of Five. Keep your Article titles short - no more than five words. Ezine Editors love short titles (they fit into the subject field of an email).

(3) Keep your paragraphs short - no more than 3 sentences. It's much harder to read a computer screen than a printed page - so make it easy for your readers.

(4) Make sure your Article flows properly. The easiest way to do this is to write down the opening and closing sentences of each of your paragraphs, then read what you have. If it makes sense and moves along nicely, you have an Article that is well organized and flows properly.

(5) Include a word count at the top of your Article. This makes it easy for an Ezine Editor to make a quick decision on whether to use your Article. It also shows you've been thorough in preparing your Article for publication.

(6) Check all the links in your Article before submitting it. Then include a note that says: 'All the links in this Article were checked and verified on (date)'. Again, this saves time for the Ezine Editor and demonstrates that you've been thorough.

(7) Offer a Free Report in your Resource Box. When someone reads your Article in an Ezine, they probably won't be connected to the Internet. So the challenge is this: to offer something so interesting and exciting that they'll fire up their modem and visit your website. The best way to do that is to offer a Free Report.

(8) Put all your Articles on autoresponders and then create another autoresponder that lists all your Articles, with an autoresponder address for each Article (e.g.: all-articles@yourdomain.com). When you submit your Article to a List or to an Article Archive, always include a note that says: "For a complete list of Articles by this author please send a blank email to: all-articles@yourdomain.com"

Remember - Ezine Articles are probably the fastest way there is of building your presence on the Web and getting your message in front of a targeted audience. Happy writing!