By now you’ve probably heard about article marketing. If not, then read my article, “Stop Working For Google And Start Making Google Work For You.” There you will find a succinct introduction to the topic.

Article marketing is, by far, the best way to get free traffic to your website. But there are tricks to making it work even better. Here are the top 5 secrets to making yourself an Article Marketing Superstar:

1. Grab Your Readers Attention with Catchy Headlines
As good advertisers and journalists know, the best way to get your article read is to create a catchy headline. An easy way to do this is to put yourself in the reader’s shoes. If the headline motivates you to read on, then it is probably worthy.

2. Repeat Your… Repeat Your… Repeat Your Keywords
Ignore what your English teacher told you. Good article marketing repeats important keywords frequently. The more you repeat your keywords, the more search engines will target your site for those specific keywords. (Just look at how many times I used the word “keywords” in this paragraph – 5 times in 5 sentences.)

3. Content Quantity is King
Write multiple articles and post them frequently. Some say writing multiple articles per day is helpful. Other say to space it out and post a few articles per week. Regardless, the more articles you post, the more links you get. The more links you get, the higher your page gets ranked and the more traffic you get.

4. Article Submission Site Quality is Key
Post your articles to article submission sites that are ranked high in Google. Google ranks sites using something called PageRank (PR for short). PR ranges from 1 to 10 with 1 being less important than 10. Try to post your articles to high PR sites. By doing this, your page’s PR will be higher because of the high quality links to your site. You can install the “Google toolbar” in your browser to check PRs.

5. Make Sure Your Links Don’t Stink
Make sure that the links in your article’s resource box are active. Each article submission site has its own protocol for making your links active and some sites don’t even make your links active. Most sites require that you include the full URL to your site including the “http://” part. I would recommend always including the http:// in your URLs, but read the site’s instructions carefully and check your article after it has been posted.

It goes without saying that regardless of the techniques that you use, one of the best secrets of article marketing is to write informative articles. You may not be a very good writer, but that doesn’t matter. The most important thing is that you give readers information. The more information the better. Pack your articles full of interesting tidbits and data. If you just post fluff, your articles may not even get approved.

So I hope these techniques help, and I’ll see you at the top when you become an ARTICLE MARKETING SUPERSTAR.

Scott Fromherz owns and operates multiple websites. Submit articles for free at his article submission site, Article Advocate ( http://www.ArticleAdvocate.com ).

Source: High Quality Article Database – 365Articles.com

Four common sense ways to start a home based business

Since my wife and I started our home catering business, I’ve been encouraging (my friends call it nagging) everyone I know to start a home based business to escape the volatile cycle of full-time employment.

Even as many of them faced the threat losing their jobs, they seemed reluctant to take that critical first step. The main problem isn’t really about how to start a home based business. It’s about making that conscious decision to actually take that first step! It can be difficult especially if you’re holding on to your job for dear life! Breaking free of your comfort zone is critical, but once you get over that mental hurdle and you’ve decided to go ahead and start a home based business, there are basically four ways to do it.

Freelancing
Freelancing is the easiest way to start a home based business, when having a steady income is crucial and leaving your job is not an option. It can be difficult though, if you have to juggle work, family and freelancing so you’ve got to stay focused on what your goal is. It helps if the whole family can get in on the act and work as a team.

Freelancing is great because you get to play around with your time and your goals, adjusting them to suit your needs. When your job is secure, you might want to freelance as a way to supplement your income. However, if there are signs that you might lose your job, you can always pick up the pace and move from freelancing to running your business part-time or full-time. Freelancing greatly reduces the stress and anxiety a family goes through in the event of job or income loss. However, it’s also very easy to lose your momentum and passion when you freelance since you would probably have a loose working schedule. This is where self-discipline and perseverance comes in.

Part-time
Running part-time is ideal if you’re able to opt for a flexi working schedule to concentrate more on your home based business. There are obvious benefits to this because most home based businesses require you to operate during office hours. Remember that this sort or working arrangement may mean you will earn less  for a while as you build your home business.

When we first started our home catering business, my wife worked mornings as a kindergarten teacher while I was employed full-time. In the evenings, we would both work on our home catering business. In fact, we’re still doing it this way. My wife still teaches while I now work at home as a Netpreneur in the mornings. We’re adapting our working arrangements to suit our needs.

Full-time
Many people try to start a full-time business after they’ve been laid off or they’ve had it up to their eyeballs with their job. In their desperation, they’re easy prey for online and home based business scams. If you ever find yourself in such a situation, DON’T throw your money into a home based or online business hoping for immediate returns – chances are you WILL regret it. The exception to this rule would be if you’ve been freelancing or working part-time on that  business for some time and you’re ready to take it to the next level.

When you do go into your business full-time, make sure you’ve got at least a year (two is better) of backup funds ready. You should have a cut-off date when you MUST decide that you will need to go back to full-time employment in the event your home business doesn’t go the way you plan – that’s reality.

Online
Starting and online business deserves to be in a category of its own simple because you can freelance, do it part-time, three-quarter time, full-time, anywhere, anyway you choose. However, running an online business is not as easy as many ads on the internet would like you to believe. It can take considerable time and effort before you see any substantial income coming from your online business. Here’s a short list of the types of online businesses you could set up :

•Sell your own physical product. This is probably the most difficult to get off the ground. Unless you already have an established customer base and your online presence is there to add value to your business, it could take years to build such an online business, but having an online store brings you business from all over the world, something a small physical store can’t possibly do.

•Sell your own electronic products. Being an Infopreneur (Information Entrepreneur) is really easy these days. There are millions of people promoting their e-books, software and training programs online. You don’t have to be an Internet genius to sell your stuff online. All you need is to be knowledgeable in a specific niche and build your products around that niche. There is BIG money to be made in this!

•Sell an online service. People will pay a subscription fee to be allowed into the subscribers section of your website to use these services. The types of services you could offer are limited only by your imagination and technical know-how.

•Sell other people’s products. This is called affiliate marketing. It’s the most popular because you don’t incur development costs. There are literally millions of products to choose from, and the beauty of this online business is that you can sell to anyone, anywhere in the world – there are NO borders!

•Selling advertisement space on your website. This has always been a good money maker. The catch is that you need to build your website to such a level where it brings in substantial traffic. This in turn brings in advertisers who are willing to pay you to display their ads on your website.

Better earlier than later
My personal opinion is that there’s no better time to start a home based business than when your job is secure and you’re financially stable. Think of it as an insurance policy. You’re investing in a backup plan that you may need sooner than you think. The statistics are alarming. One report suggests eighty five percent of the global workforce will experience the loss of their job at least once in their career. What better way to escape this than to build your own home based business where YOU are the boss and you will never get fired! Here’s to your financial and family well-being. Cheers!

Many people are “accidental” home-based business owners. When crisis rears it’s ugly and frightful head, they are forced to rely on the one thing that they are naturally good at.

When crises happen, you basically have two choices – give up and accept defeat or rise to the challenge. This is a story of one woman who stared back at the crisis she was facing, and triumphed. In the process, she became a home based business owner and saved her family.

Lakshmi was a simple, unassuming Indian woman. She was a stay-at-home mother with four small children. While her husband worked as a construction supervisor, she would take care of the home and her four children. Her life was routinely ordinary and she had simple dreams for her children – to make sure her children were educated and got good jobs. Life though had other plans for Lakshmi and her children.

Tragedy struck one day when Lakshmi’s husband was hit by a lorry on a busy street and died instantly. Lakshmi was in a state of shock even as she took care of the funeral arrangements. The day after her husband was cremated, she sat her children down and told them, “Papa is gone, but I am here. Things will be difficult for a while, but Mama will take care of everything, I will always be here for you”. She said those words to comfort her children, but in her heart, Lakshmi was in a state of panic. The money her husband left her would only last a few months. She had to find a source of income soon.

A relative suggested that while she looked for some sort of work, Lakshmi could try and sell her pickled vegetables to earn some extra money. Lakshmi’s delicious pickled veggie was as popular with her friends and neighbours as it was with her family. Lakshmi was doubtful, but with little choice left, she agreed. She asked her neighbours if they would be interested in buying some of her pickled veggie. They readily agreed, so the next day, Lakshmi cooked up a batch of her pickled veggie and sold it to four families. Two of the families asked if she would cook a batch of pickled veggie for them every week. Lakshmi agreed even though she wondered if they were doing it out of pity for her.

As Lakshmi looked for full-time work, she continued to supply families with her pickled veggie. Word of her delicious pickled veggie reached the local grocery store and they called her to ask if she would consider supplying them with her pickled veggie. This was more than Lakshmi had hoped for. More and more shops began asking her to supply them with her pickled veggie and soon, finding a job was no longer on Lakshmi’s list of priorities. She had other problems to deal with – how to increase production of her now famous pickled veggie and how to meet supply deadlines!

Five years after Lakshmi was thrown into the sea of crisis, she had triumphed over adversity and was a genuine successful home-based business owner. When asked why she chose to remain home-based and not to expand her business, she answered simply, “I made a promise to my children that I would always be there for them”. Her home-based business enabled her to fund her children’s university education and to provide them with a comfortable living.

Like Lakshmi, many people are “accidental” home-based business owners. When crisis rears it’s ugly and frightful head, they are forced to rely on the one thing that they are naturally good at. For Lakshmi, it was her pickled veggie, for you it may be something equally simple and seemingly insignificant. For the rest of us, there is a lesson to be learnt from Lakshmi – that success doesn’t have to depend on being highly qualified and skilled. Sometimes, all you need is to do the one thing that you know, with all your heart, as if your life depended on it! Here’s to finding that one thing that will make you a success. Cheers!

It’s the information age, and people are using the internet more than ever to do business.  So if you are looking to start an internet based home business, you need to build a website that will intrigue and keep your customers coming back.  Understanding what works in a website will help you build a lucrative internet based home business.

When you are considering the design of your website for your internet based home business, you should think about the fact that you have approximately 10 seconds to grab your customer’s attention and make them want to stay on your site.  When thinking about an internet based home business, you need to understand that you are not just selling a product, but you are charging people time.  People are giving you their time when they view the website for your internet based home business.  Make sure your website makes them want to give you their time.

Once you have a website that draws the customer into considering your internet home based business, you need to structure your site so that you get the last click.  Whether the last click is the “order” button or the “subscribe now” button, you want to lead your customer to your ultimate goal or action.  Create the website for your internet based home business from the perspective of the consumer, not from your seller’s point of view.

When you create the website for your internet based home business, you will also create an environment that shows the customer what benefits they can get from your internet based home business.  Customers want to save money, avoid risk, look better, and more.  They need to know that your internet based home business is looking out for them.  Use your website to show your customer base what is in it for them when they come to your internet based home business.

The key to building your internet based home business and an effective website is to know who your consumer is, or will be.  Do some research to find out what types of people will use your internet based home business, where they live, what they like, etc.  The more you know about your consumer base, and the more you design your website for that base, the more successful your internet based home business will be.

Read the rest of the article here: Internet Based Home Business.

Internet traffic is the life of any website or e-commerce business, and if you are an internet marketer, you already know that good traffic is not always easy to achieve. There are however, some simple and effective strategies for getting quality traffic to your site, and most of them are FREE or low cost.

1. Good old fashioned search engine optimization. This is perhaps, the most cost effective way to get many customers to your site, because it does not cost a thing. A web site with top ranking on even a mildly popular term, can get thousands of visitors per month. Visit any SEO forum or article database and you can find hundreds of effective search engine optimization tips and tweaks to apply to your website for free.

2. Pay-Per-Click Campaigns (PPC). Almost all of the major search engines offer some sort of Pay-Per-Click marketing. This is a great way to get targeted traffic to your site, and with some bids as low as $.01 per click, it can also be very economical. Although Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) are the main players in the PPC market, there are really good deals to be found with some of the smaller search engines, such as ExactSeek.com and GoClick.com.

3. Traffic Exchanges. Traffic exchanges offer a website owner an instant, free way to get traffic to his/her site. Traffic Exchanges come in all kinds of themes and forms, but the underlying principle remains the same: I view your site, you view my site. The ratio of sites you view to your site views can be diverse, depending on the individual exchange, however it is recommended you find one with a 2:1 ratio or better. Traffic exchanges also offer a multi tier referral program that gives you a percentage of traffic earned by affiliates you bring into the program. Traffic Swarm, NoMoreHits.com, and StudioTraffic.com all offer a website owner great ways to increase traffic, or you can simply search the term “traffic exchange” in any search engine to find an exchange that fits you.

4. Link Exchanges. Link Exchanges are a fantastic way to increase web traffic, and the benefits are two-fold. Not only do you get traffic from the linking website, you also get the added benefit of better search engine placement with every link that is pointing to your site. Reciprocal linking has always been a major component of effective search engine optimization, with more and more weight being placed daily on the quality and quantity of links pointing to your site. Be sure your anchor text is the keyword(s) you are targeting, but at the same time, periodically phrase your anchor text differently so that all of the links pointing to your site do not say the same thing. This makes your links appear more “natural”. Linkalizer.com and Linkmarket.net are some good, free services to help you with your link exchange campaigns, or you can also visit any SEO forum or article/ezine database for more tips.

5. Banner Exchanges. Banner Exchanges work on the same principle as Link Exchanges, and depending on the banner you decide to promote, can be very effective at drawing targeted web traffic to your site. As with link exchanges, look for ratios of 2:1 or better, with some banner exchanges providing a 1:1 ratio. The banner you decide to use is very important, as many internet users ignore most banners they see. Your banner needs to be catchy and needs to compel the user to take action and click it right away, but at the same time you do not want it to be too flashy as to turn off potential customers. Most banner exchange programs also have an option to purchase banner impressions at very low prices, usually a few dollars for thousands of impressions. This is a great way to put your business in front of many customers, and helps to increase your “brand awareness”. Click4click.com and ThebannerExchange.net are some free banner exchanges that can provide your site immediate advertising and traffic.

6. Write Articles. Writing articles is a great, free way to promote your online business, and can bring in a substantial number of targeted customers to your site, usually within a few days. The key is to submit your article to as many databases and directories as possible. Hundreds of thousands of webmasters and other internet users worldwide search these article databases and directories daily, usually looking for quality content for their own websites. Every webmaster who reprints your article has to include your resource box, which should include a link pointing to your site. Not only will this give your business tremendous exposure, it also improves your search engine ranking with a free one-way link that your article provides. EzineArticles.com and GoArticles.com are very popular article databases with free submission and fast approvals.

7. Paid-To-Read Campaigns (PTR). Paid-to-Read campaigns are an extremely low cost method of getting real, guaranteed visitors to your site quickly. With PTR campaigns, people are paid to view your site for a certain amount of time. Because most PTR campaigns are not targeted, this is not the most effective way to advertise. It is however, a great way to build an opt-in list or ezine subscriber base inexpensively. Usually for only a few dollars, you can send an ad out to all of the members of a program. It is always a good idea to find PTR programs that are well established, with many members in its database. Most programs have the number of subscribers and other stats prominently displayed on the main page of their web site. Donkeymails.com and Maxprofit.org are well established, have thousands of members, and low advertising prices.

8. Email Campaigns and Safelists. Email campaigns and Safelists provide yet another great option to increase web traffic. These campaigns can run the entire pricing spectrum; from free, to hundreds of dollars per email blast. Although spam concerns seem to have some advertisers reluctant to use email, if you use a proper third party or safelist, you can have targeted traffic to your site in hours. BusinessWorldList.com and Herculist.com are some safelists with huge number of opt-in subscribers.

9. Create your own Opt-In List. This is a terrific way to get your own group of ready-to-buy prospects to your site. Getting the content for your list is as easy as searching any ezine or article database, and an easy way to get people to join is to simply give something away. Another way to build a list is through viral marketing. Sites such as ListFire.com can help you build a large list quickly with proper advertising.

10. Purchase Web Traffic. There is not a more "hands-free" way to get traffic to your site, than to just buy it. Pricing for quality, targeted web traffic can vary greatly from site to site. It is recommended to look for web traffic campaigns that offer targeting to your specific audience, and real time stats. This way you can better manage and track your advertising dollars.

As you can see, With a little effort, and not much money, you can bring quality web site traffic to your site right away. Although not every technique is appropriate for every site, choose a few that fit you and watch your traffic surge.

Noah Ulrich is webmaster of http://www.informativeresources.com His site provides top quality resale rights to ebooks and software, real quality guaranteed signups for your program, and real guaranteed web traffic and visitors to businesses worldwide.

Source: High Quality Article Database – 365Articles.com