Article Marketing

An excellent way of driving all kinds of traffic, including traffic you wouldn't expect, to your site is to write useful articles and post them to article directories, encouraging people to download and publish your article on their website for free.

Article directories are huge repositories online with thousands of articles on every conceivable niche market and large market, usually they'll accept articles from almost anyone who wants to donate one. Register, set up the byline you want to use and your URL, and your article goes up, free to the world to download.

Why you should give away articles for free?

Because with every article download your URL and your name and often a short bio as well, are required to be set up along with the article in something called a "resource box." This means that if a hundred webmasters download your article, you have just gotten a hundred free links back to your website, many of them from sources you'd never have thought to ask prior to this.

It can also means that your name has just received the status of "recognized expert" to every person who thereafter reads your article on the other website. You give away free content, but you get real recognition and status in return.

Visit the Article Directory category for an overview.

Increase online traffic with a press release

Press releases done correctly, can be a very effective way to generate traffic to your website. Imagine a news article about your business and yourself in the local or a national newspaper, think of the interest it will create and you dont have to pay a cent for the exposure.

Before you start there are some basics you have to prepare

1. You must have some news to write about. If not, create something newsworthy and then write a press release. Now then, what is newsworthy?

• Charity event – raise funds for charity
• Contest to highlight an aspect of your field
• New product or service that can benefit others
• problem – and you came up with a solution.

2. A press release must be written in an informative manner, avoid writing a promotional like press release. Try to write your press release without any hype. Here are a couple of examples:

Wrong: “The solution to solve all of your problems!”

Right: “After dealing with her son’s chronic asthma for years, Miller wrote a book to help other moms who feel discouraged and frustrated…”

3. Your press release must be formatted correctly if you hope to have it read by an editor. The media receives thousands of press releases each day. If yours is formatted poorly or filled with typos, it will likely be tossed aside.

Benefits of a press release?

Not only does a press release give you the opportunity to have your business (and URL) mentioned in front of a large crowd, but, when it does work, it adds legitimacy to your business as well. You aren’t viewed by the readers as someone who paid to have their ad in the paper. You are considered valuable enough to be interviewed as a resource for their readers. That adds a lot of credibility.

Press Release Resources

Here a list of online resources where you can realease your news. This is just a short list of 15 sites, try the Search Engines for more media resources.

• http://www.prweb.com/
• http:///#%20www.prnewswire.com
• http://www.betanews.com/
• http://www.free-press-release.com/
• http://www.looselycoupled.com/
• http://www.bizeurope.com/
• http://www.pressreleasespider.com/
• http://www.npr.org/
• http://www.prfree.com/
• http://www.ap.org/
• http://www.greatpossibilities.com/
• http://www.dime-co.com/
• http://www.thehostingnews.com/
• http://www.prurgent.com/
• http://www.theopenpress.com/

Start a Media page

Once you have been interviewed or highlighted in any media (online or offline), start a “Media Page” on your website to showcase your exposure. This will prove to any interested press that you are worth looking into. Include links to any online interviews, pdf copies of print interviews, and audio clips of recorded interviews.
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Bjorn is an online Marketer and author. Visit Internet SEO Marketing for SEO input and resources or Website Article Content for article marketing and reprint articles.