Posts from — November 2005

How To Be Rejected By The Article Directories
By Nicole Dean

Article writing is one of the best ways to increase your
traffic and get more sales. You’ve heard it a million times so
you decide to finally just do it. You write an article and
submit it to the article directories, eagerly anticipating the
flow of traffic. Instead you receive the dreaded rejection
letter.

What did you do wrong?  

1. Did you proof-read your article before you submitted it?  

Popular article directory sites receive hundreds of submissions
each day. It’s much easier for the owner to click “decline” than
to edit your typo-filled or unformatted article. Before
submitting, proof the article and proof it again. If grammar
and spelling make you sweat, then hire a Copywriter or ask a
friend to help you before you click that submit button.  

2. Is it an Advertisement or an Article?  

Article directory sites are looking for informative, useful
content, not press releases or ads. If your submission reads
like an ad, it will not be accepted. And, think about it –
even if was approved on a fluke, do you think that website
owners will be clamoring to publish your 500 word
advertisement? Not a chance.  

If your goal is to write and submit a press release, then check
out places like prweb.com.  

3. Did you read the Submission Guidelines?  

Each article directory has a different culture. Glance through
the Submission Guidelines before setting up an account to make
sure your article will be welcome before you submit it. If an
article directory is based around a niche like gardening, then
please resist the urge to submit your Mesothelioma articles.
There are plenty of article directories that want your
articles. It’s not an effective use of your time to submit
unwanted articles to a niche site.  

4. Is your article PG-rated?  

Don’t submit sex-related articles, profanity, or general
nastiness. Article directories are businesses and, therefore,
exist to make money. This means they generally receive income
through affiliate sales or advertising. So, if your article
includes sex or contains words stronger than “darn”, don’t be
surprised if your article is rejected. Of course, if your
article contains nastiness or anything illegal — don’t even
bother.  

5. Is your Article original and written by you?  

Submit only original articles. Please do not copy someone
else’s article, edit it, and submit it. That’s stealing and you
will be caught. And, do not submit articles from shared content
sites. Article directories want original, unique content.
Public domain is ‘public’ but think how ineffective article
directories would become if there were 500 versions of the same
public domain piece. Instead of wasting your time figuring out
how to reinvent other people’s content, just write your own.  

Now that you know what not to do, start writing the kind of
articles that article directories dream of — and watch your
business grow.

About the Author: Nicole Dean, owner of http://www.LadyPens.com
– an article directory for women, invites you to visit
http://www.EasyArticleMarketing.com to learn how writing simple
articles can be the most effective way to bring traffic and
sales to your website.

Source: http://www.isnare.com

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I read an article on ItWorld.com today about ways that IBM is using podcasting. The link to the article is http://www.itworld.com/Tech/5042/051123podcastibm/
One thing that I found interesting was that one of the podcasts replaced a weekly conference call. Anything that can replace a conference call is definitely a win in my book.

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How To Create An Ad Tracker by Steven Currie
How to create an “ad” tracker By Steven Currie of YouSendTheCards.com
Why You Want to Create An Ad Tracker
This is how you create an advertisement tracker. You want to do this so you know in general how much traffic an advertisement or article or any other web traffic idea created. You will be able to capture how many hits/clicks each ad generated. This will give you a per click cost. The lower the per click cost, the more effective the ad.
For example if you placed one ad on ABC web site for $20.00 and you got 100 hits, that would be a per click cost of .20 cents per click. If you placed a $20.00 ad on XYZ web site and you got 50 clicks, would be a per click cost of .40 cents per click, a higher per click cost. That might tell you that you might want to spend more money on ads in ABC web site. You may decide not to advertise on XYZ web site again.

Another thing you should do is EVERY time you place a new ad on ABC web site set up a tracker for it so you can see if the number of clicks is decreasing or increasing. You could also base that on an increasing or decreasing cost per click.

You should be able to set up a fairly simple Excel spreadsheet to track all of your ads.I would suggest at minimum the following columns:Date of Ad, Where placed, # of hits/clicks, $Spent, Cost/hit
You should set up ad trackers for every ad, including off-line print or magazine ads. If you post in forums, you should set up one for all the forums.Since Magnetic Sponsoring is the first thing I will be heavily advertising, I will be setting up trackers for that.
Make sure if you do forum posts to set up one for that, because, remember that may generate web traffic.

Overview of the Process of Creating An Ad Tracker
To break the ad tracking down when someone actually clicks on your link in an ad or forum post or wherever, it looks like this. I am going to use my web site name for this example.
I created a special page tailored to real estate agents where I wanted to drive traffic. The link for that page is:http://www.yousendthecards.com/yousendthecards/id21.html

I use a software package called EasyTracker to track my hits. In EasyTracker, I created a “tracker” link. This is the one I publish for ads. You can use a “redirector” like tinyurl or make up a shorter link that will redirect to this on. That link looks like:http://mywaytofreedom.com/cgi-bin/mpacks/ad.cgi?RealEstateEZ1(I have my tracking software on another web site, but you can keep it all on one web site.)
So when they click on that link it will take them to the EasyTracker link. The counter counts each hit. It then redirects them from the instructions we have set up for tracking this ad back to the real estate web page:http://www.yousendthecards.com/yousendthecards/id21.html
Now, this is just an overview of the process. I can recommend a good free ebook on this topic by Harvey Segal at one of his websites:http://www.ad-tracking.com/adbook.html
This will tell you a great deal more than this short article.

If you haven’t signed up for the FREE E~Biz Newsletter, which contains articles like this and has free time saving and productivity software, you should check it out.
Send an email to freebiz@yousendthecards.com and it will give you more information.
Steven Currie Local San Diego 858-712-6272 Toll Free 866-211-8012 (Daytime Pacific Time) Local San Diego 858-560-4752 Toll Free 866-574-6262 (Evening/Weekend)

Steven@YouSendTheCards.com http://www.yousendthecards.com/With SendOutCards.com system you can create sophisticated mailing campaigns that will run rings around your competition. Talk to Steven Currie
About the Author Owner of YouSendTheCards.com, a distributor for an internet based greeting card company, SendOutCards. Mr. Currie has over 25 years experience in software design, database development and assisting small and medium sized businesses in growing their companies.

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Top 7 Work At Home Small Business Ideas
By Stephen Pope

Here are seven great businesses that you can operate from your
home.

1. Affiliate Marketing

An affiliate or associate program is a method of selling
products on the internet through commission sales. When someone
you refer to a website buys, the company you are an affiliate of
pays you a commission. In many cases, it is also possible to
make money from the efforts of people that you introduce to the
affiliate program. You can expand your product line by joining
and promoting more than one affiliate program. Finally, you can
operate your own affiliate program to promote the sale of your
own products and services.

2. Internet Auctions  

Many thousands now make their living or fortune from selling
products and services on eBay and similar auction sites. So can
you!

3. Drop Shipping  

Drop shipping is a method of selling products without stocking
inventory yourself. When you make a sale you contact the
manufacturer or authorized distributor who ships it to the
customer with your invoice and shipping label. Advantages
include no warehousing, shipping, or inventory costs.

4. Finder’s Fees

Finder’s fees are paid for finding money (loans, equipment
leasing, et cetera), equipment (mining, construction, et
cetera), personnel, companies for sale, locations (fast food
franchises, vending machines, et cetera) and just about
anything else that people are willing to pay for.Simply match
sellers with buyers and you can earn finder’s fees.

5. Self-Publishing  

A self-publisher creates, produces, and sells information
products. Information products may be in the form of books,
booklets, videos, audio cassettes, compact disks (CDs),
electronic books, files, databases, private websites, and other
media. The information products that you create are unique. You
have exclusive control and ownership of your own information
products.

6. International Trade

You can import products for resale from foreign manufacturers,
distributors, and other suppliers. You can also extend your
reach worldwide to customers by means of exporting, mail order
and Internet marketing. As an Export Management Agent, you
could earn commissions arranging for other domestic companies to
sell their products to foreign corporations.

7. Consulting  

Consultants charge large fees for their knowledge, expertise,
skills, connections, experience, and other assets. This
business can be operated from home with little more than
standard office equipment and supplies.

About the Author: J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting
Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits
for over twenty-five years. For profitable Work at Home Small
Business Ideas, visit http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/

Source: http://www.isnare.com

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