| If you have spent time and
money down the drain waiting for "word of mouth" to kick in, or multiple hours
on networking meetings, or high-cost direct mail campaigns, you may want to investigate
this number one way to publicize your service.
Beginners welcome. And, once you learn the skills, you can
delegate it all to your office assistant.
Here's the Top Ten Reasons to Write Articles to Publicize
your Business:
1. It's totally free.
Once you subscribe to 5-10 opt-in ezines such as
aabusiness-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, aainet-subscribe@egroups.com, or
free-content-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, you can start submitting your professionally
edited articles that relate to your service or products. For a list of many more
ePublishers in all categories, check out the "How to Market your Business
Online" eBook.
You will get many emails from other authors too, so make
your articles' email a separate one from your business account. This number one free
publicity will bring many targeted visitors to your site where you present a link to
information about your coaching or other services.
2. You can reach from 10,000 to 500,000 of your targeted
audience each day that you submit an article.
These people subscribe to the opt-in ezines and surf the
top sites in their fields to get free information. When your articles get published, you
will be at the top of well-known online small business people who provide a great service.
Remember Bill Gates prediction: After 2000, you either take
your business Online, or you won't have one.
3. You will spend far less time promoting Online than more
traditional ways.
When you spend your time each week writing a short article
from 300-800 words (about an hour for each), you can then delegate the submissions to your
low-cost office computer assistant. Total time promoting? Less than six hours a week.
This is the best money I spend because after the initial
submissions, my assistant's time to submit to ezines is less than 10 minutes per time. And
that's to 60 plus opt-in ezines. Submitting to Web sites takes more time, maybe 10-15
minutes for each site. We started submitting to 10 Web sites. Four years later we submit
to fifty-seven plus. To save time, we submit two articles at once. Many sites carry over
100 of my articles. The more, the merrier, because these not only put you in the top ten
sites through the search engines, but bring you many new potential clients.
4. Submitting articles is 7 times as effective as any
other promotion because when you submit many articles, you become known as an expert.
You may start with just two or three, but each week after
creating a new one with a different angle or audience, this outstanding viral marketing
technique will bring many new opportunities because many of the people who read them will
contact you to publish on their site. See how the good word spreads?
Submitting articles is part of the "Big Three
Marketing Machine." A special report that illustrates how you can succeed far more
than you dreamed of by coordinating your sales-driven Web site, your articles, and your
service and products.
5. You can raise your own ezine subscribers from 10-25
every time you submit an article to multiple opt-in ezines.
If you submit four or five articles a month to 15 ezines,
each with about 1000 subscribers, you will reach 60,000 readers.
The beauty of this benefit is that your ezine and articles
work as a team, both catapulting your eventual sales successes. When you put your free
offer for your ezine in your signature file that accompanies each article you send out,
online lookers become online buyers eventually.
After reading six or seven of your ezines, your targeted
audience who came to you through these articles, trusts you more, believes in you, and
finally becomes a client or customer.
6. You reach your targeted audience for your service.
Let's say you are a career coach. You write articles that
relate to that topic. You send them to the best 15 opt-in ezines each week (i.e.
business). People subscribe to these because they want and need your information. That's
far better than buying emails because this is your, targeted audience--wanting what you
have to offer. They will be far more likely to make more contact with you.
7. You become a household name and add valuable content to
your web site.
Once thousands of people have read your articles, they will
share your information with their friends and associates--all with Web sites that need new
information every week. It's a sad Web site that doesn't keep adding new content each week
or so. People won't come back and visit without this incentive.
Once you start hearing from people all over the world who
want to know more about your service, you can become an international name.
It's not who you know. It's who knows you. The Internet
changes your promotion game in ways you'll appreciate, because you will not have to spend
much time or money promoting.
8. You can promote straight from your home or office.
Right now, I'm looking out my office window to trees, birds
and sunny skies. Yes, it's San Diego. You too can enjoy promotion more because you don't
have to go out to sell or tell.
With just a little training on how to write online articles
fast and powerful, you'll be creating them like you would a new recipe. Your creativity
will expand, and you'll feel good you promote the easy, fun way.
Adapt my 2004 motto "If it isn't easy and fun, I just
won't do it." Why should promotion be such a struggle? It's natural to share about
our service, but it's easier when we are relaxed in our own setting. Sure, phone
conversations and networking are fun, but not nearly as productive for the time and money
spent as writing and submitting articles are.
9. This number one promotion technique is viral marketing
at its best.
In the beginning weeks almost four years ago, all ten of my
articles got published. Friendly people from all over emailed me asking for permission to
use my articles on their sites or in their ezines. Thrilled, I kept track of their email
address after asking permission to send my new articles straight to their email door. They
opted into my ePublishing email group, which grew from the initial 10 to over 150 names.
Now, all of these people receive my newest, fresh articles each week, and they in turn,
send them to others who like my subject area of writing books, sales letters, and
articles.
Still # one on Google, and I am a one-person business among
the publishing greats. That proves you don't have to spend a lot of time, money, or be a
big company to promote exponentially and reap the benefits. Being listed on 4180 other
sites grew from being on 900 three years ago.
The amazing thing is I'm a non-techie, who started in fear
of the net, yet with the help of a few mentors, books and teleclasses, figured out how to
play and succeed. You can too.
10. Just the key words you use in your article titles and
copy can put you in the top 10 Web sites in your field.
When my Web master wanted me to use Overture or Google to
buy key words to optimize my Web site's position, I wondered why? It all happened
naturally after others published my articles, and I listed them with autoresponders on my
Web site. So, remember, this natural promotion method works, even for non-writers because
the articles don't have to be complex or grammatically perfect.
This list could go on, because as one person sees your
articles, they make offers you can't refuse. You will get published in other author's
books such as in the shameless promoter, Debbie Allen's new Online Promotion book, you'll
get offers for email and radio interviews, offers from print magazines, get new teleclass
guest appearances, and even get asked to contribute a column on related sites.
Writing and submitting articles is the friendliest way I
know of promoting Online. When you are ready, give it a chance.
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