Just how successful your articles are depends on a number of factors. The articles have to be interesting, well written and contain enough helpful information to have real value to readers, but they also have to be marketed properly. All of the articles in the world won’t help you if you post them in places where they won’t be found by the right audience. A fascinating, informative article about proper surfboard maintenance isn’t going to help you if it’s lost in a general article directory or posted on a website where most readers are avid mid-west gardeners.

1) Find the right editorial calendars. Look for the editorial calendars of online publications. Most online publications provide an editorial calendar that outlines what the main topics will be several months in advance. Reviewing these can not only give you an idea of when to submit articles you already have, but give you some great ideas for future articles. For instance, www.eweekmedia.com, an IT publication, is focusing on Mobile and Wireless in early May of 2008. In April 2008, there’s a feature titled “Security Focus: Email Security Challenge.” 

Whatever your business’s niche, check the magazines and review editorial calendars and make sure you match your articles to their focus – and be sure to pay attention to their submission deadlines! Editors love to run articles that dovetail with a particular focus.

2) Find niche publications. After you’ve checked out the editorial calendars of the magazines you’re already familiar with, look for publications you aren’t familiar with. For example, if you have an ecommerce website, search for “ecommerce magazines” and you might just find this: www.world-newspapers.com/e-commerce.html.

When you search for Surfing magazines, you can find magazines that include online magazines focusing on female surfers, North Carolina surfers, New England surfing, Australian surfing, competitive surfing, long board surfing…well, you get the idea! Even a niche like surfing can be narrowed even further, so be sure you look for any potential niche magazines that you can really tailor your articles toward that will love you for sending them some high quality content.

3) Find niche article directories. There are good niche article directories out there that either supply niche businesses with quality content or can point you in the direction of respected online publications that are looking for content. Lets say your site is about human resources, here is an example of article dedicated to HR http://www.businessknowhow.com/bkhmanage.htm.

You can do basic searches for “human resource article directory” or whatever your business niche is, and you’ll turn up various directories where you can get your articles published.  Do some homework, however, to make sure that you utilize the best directories for your own articles. A few things to look for in an online article directory are:

• Read several articles in their supply of articles to check the quality. The articles should be well-written, with plenty of information and excellent grammar. If the quality isn’t consistent, then the directory doesn’t set high standards.
• Does the site indicate how many articles are actually downloaded each month? You want to compare figures from directory to directory to see how much of the traffic to the site is actually downloading articles.
• How recently has the site been updated? If there hasn’t been new content added in more than a month, then the directory may not get regular visits from publications. It also means there aren’t very many authors. The more authors, the more frequently articles are added. Publications are looking for fresh content – and fresh content means content that’s new and different every time that a visitor logs onto a directory. Look for sites that are changing every day.
• And of course you might check their pagerank, backlinks, traffic stats, etc. to judge the quality of the link juice or traffic they might send your way.

If you use these three methods of getting your articles out there, you’ll quickly see a difference in your website traffic and inbound links. Any other suggestions from our article experts out there?

[tags] article marketing, article directories, niche markets, website traffic, inbound links [/tags]

Vertical Measures

One of the easiest ways to improve search engine placement is to use press releases. It sounds old-fashioned, but press releases remain a tried and true way to publicize your website. The fact that press releases have been around long before the emergence of the Internet doesn’t mean they aren’t amazingly effective. Why? Because they’ve morphed and changed right along with the Internet.

Think about it – just like news agencies, the lowly press release has evolved to fit the marketplace. Where news was once garnered by the public primarily from newspapers and magazines, then radio and television, today people can choose from a wide variety of sources for their news, including a vast array of sources on the web, including news outlets like CNN, Reuters and MSNBC, tailored news feeds via RSS services, local websites, personalized blogs and dozens of other sources. In the same way, you can tailor your press releases to improve your search engine placement and guarantee that they will be picked up by a wide variety of news and media outlets.

Optimizing Press Releases for Maximum Impact

There are several ways to spread your press releases all over the Internet. The key is to make sure you hit a variety of markets and distribute them across a wide range of sources and interests. You should also be sure to distribute them in a variety of ways. For instance:

• Don’t neglect traditional press release venues. Fax and mail your press releases to newspapers and magazines. After all, people still read the daily paper and enjoy relaxing with a magazine with a cup of coffee. You never know when they’ll see your company or website featured and the next time they log in, they’ll check you out. Focus on the local angle to entice media in your area and tailor it to the universal appeal for larger outlets. A few extra minutes spent personalizing your press releases can make a huge difference. 

• Be sure to target any RSS services and newswires that are specific to – or related to – your industry. Do you have a fabulous new engineering tool? Then send press releases to any industry services that provide RSS feeds that are specific to engineering, technical services or the sciences. You’ll be amazed at how quickly your press release is picked up and appears on sites around the world. 

• Go directly to the source – the magazines and media themselves. Aim high. Don’t be afraid to submit your press releases directly to the big guys. If you get picked up by CNN or Popular Science, you can bet you’ll soon be picked up by almost everyone else. There’s a viral effect that’s amazing on stories in the news. 

• Bloggers are a great way to improve search engine placement through press releases. These guys love to break a new and interesting story that’s related to something they are passionate about. If you are familiar with the writings of some popular and influential bloggers, by all means send them your press releases. These bloggers can create real buzz about your press release and generate interest that will result in your PR being picked up by media sources. You may also be contacted by others who request additional information.

The power of a press release, rather than being diminished by the advent of the Internet, has increased. You simply have to know how to use them properly. Adjusting your thinking and understanding how to use a press release in the new marketplace means that your press releases can be powerful tools to your success and lead to improved search engine placement.

[tags] improved search engine placement, press releases, website publicity [/tags]

Vertical Measures

Google wants it.  Eric Ward promotes it.  You should do it.  Link to get traffic not search engine rankings.  In fact, the people best able to withstand major changes and shifts in the search engines that affect their rankings are the people who have a broad, multi-faceted link building campaign.

In order to weather any drops from single-sources of traffic to your site, you must have a lot of irons in the fire (links). People you have targeted as your best prospects should be able to find your site virtually everywhere they surf.

Web site owners who rely solely on search engine ranking are leaving 90% of the marketing pie on the plate! For long-term stability and steady, predictable traffic, you simply must broaden your reach and utilize a host of different publicity tactics in order to keep sales up.

A lot of people miss the boat on this one.  Most people focus on the quantity of links pointing to their site. (Solely for search engines to find)  The problem is all they have at the end of the day is a link pointing to their site.

Placing links on sites with little to no traffic results in no traffic produced for your site. The webmasters who focus totally on getting links as a tool to increase their pagerank in Google are missing the point entirely.   Getting ranked well in the search engines should be considered a by-product of a properly executed link building campaign.

[tags] link building campaign, search engine ranking, pagerank, web traffic [/tags]

Vertical Measures