Article marketing is when businesses promote their products and services to their target customers by submitting informative articles to online directories. These online directories usually have a very large user base and also a strong reputation in the online world, so articles published on them bring in a lot of traffic to a site.

How does it work?

Every article published on these online directories contains a resource box which contains the name and contact details of the business, along with a link to its website. Therefore, when someone reads the article, they will see the business information and link, and will hopefully click the link and be directed to the web site. The goal is to bring in customers to increase online sales. In this way, article marketing can achieve the objectives of an online business.

To make article marketing efforts effective, you have to write relevant and user centric articles. In other words, in order to entice the users read your article, it should cater to their area of interest and must present valuable information. If an article is able to do this, the chances of a user visiting the company’s site become much higher.

You also want to create an effective resource box. The resource box is the opportunity for a business to advertise itself effectively. Therefore, the information in it must be made interesting enough to make the readers visit the website. The resource box must be updated regularly to make it further appealing to the readers.

Lastly, it is highly important to write articles using the appropriate keywords. It is wise to undertake keyword research to find the relevant keywords and use them in the right amount.

Previously, Google would alert its users against sites that were infected with malware by showing a warning message saying, “This site may harm your computer”. This proved to be of great advantage to users, who were saved from clicking on infected sites.

After a user see the notification, he/she can click on it and will be redirected to an article in Google’s Help Center. This article provides an explanation of the threat. The article will explain the reason behind the Google’s decision to display such a warning against a site.

Hackers can cause a lot of problems. They can make changes to a site, such as addition of new pages or links. They can alter the content of some pages to lure visitors in disclosing personal information and then using it for personal profit. Hackers can also compromise a site to achieve high ranking in search engines. After getting a top ranking, they are able to spread their malicious intent and harm more and more users.

Google’s new site hacking notifications are a great way to ensure security. For some, this heightened security measure can damage the reputation of a site. However, Google states that the warning message will be removed once the problem is sorted out.

Facebook Sponsored Stories are a new way for companies to advertise using word of mouth buzz. It is different than the normal Facebook Ads where advertisers promote their company/products on the side of the browser. Companies can now sponsor ads in the sidebar to republish check-ins and other updates made by the viewer’s friends. For example, your friend uses the check-in feature to post that he is at Starbucks. Starbucks can then “republish” that same post on your newsfeed under Sponsored Stories on the sidebar so that it doesn’t get lost. Only people you are friends with would be able to see those stories. It’s a way to amplify word of mouth. Continuing with that example, you would be able to then click on the Starbucks link and be taken to the Starbucks Fan Page where you could “like” the company. They’re basically recommendations from your friends.

I like these Sponsored Stories because they’re not advertisers telling users to use their products or frequent their business. It’s a way for you to see what your friends are using and recommending.

Check out this video to learn more: Facebook Sponsored Stories

Here are the top five rules to consider when designing your blog:

1. Simplicity – Be very careful to not overload your blog with tons of plugins, widgets, etc. Going overboard with these will make your blog look cluttered & distract your readers. Choose features wisely and keep it to a minimum.

2. Choosing the Right Color Scheme – Make sure to pick a color scheme that matches your current site design and/or logo. You don’t want to have a blog that looks completely different from your website. Keep it consistent.

3. Easy Navigation – Make sure that your page links in the navigation are in a noticeable/obvious place (across the lower part of the header or in the sidebars). You do not want to have your readers searching for the links.

4. Easy to Classify – Within the first seconds of visiting your blog, the reader should be able to identify what your blog is about. This can be done by having a prominent headline/tagline and by including a small description that is visible when the reader lands on the blog.

5. Include a RSS feed – These days, more and more people are taking advantage of feeds. Make sure to include links to the RSS feed throughout the blog in locations that will grab the readers attention. Ex: tazsol.com/blog – In the right hand sidebar, you will see how we do this by allowing our readers to subscribe to our feed. Each time a new blog post is added, the reader that has subscribed is notified.

It is wise to set a realistic time frame for an SEO plan. You may have a lofty outcome in mind, which is fine, but you need to make sure you have a realistic time frame to work with. You need to allow time for any modifications in the strategies if results are not up to the mark without causing any further delay.

It’s also important to set specific and measurable goals. Set goals in quantifiable terms. For example, you want to reach 100 visitors, per day, in 6 months. This is a clear, specific, and measurable goal that will quantify your success. Make sure you are checking your progress regularly to ensure you are on track to reach your goal. If it has been 3 months down the line and you barely have any visitors, you may need to make changes to your plan if you want to reach 100 per day.

There are many issues to factor in when creating your SEO goals. A new web site may take longer time to attract visitors. How much time, effort and money are you willing to put into your SEO efforts? Are you doing it yourself or hiring a team? The keywords you are going after may be more or less competitive than others, which has an impact on your SEO plan. All of those factors should influence your SEO goals and timeframe.

Social media presence – Having your website on social media networks will help improve rankings on Google. If a website has strong presence over social media, it will command high ranking. Thus online marketers need to give high importance to Social Media Optimization.

Twitter is a must – As a means of connecting to the public, Twitter has gained high reputation. It has been observed that Twitter is capable of driving huge traffic. Therefore, marketers must include Twitter while devising SEO strategy.

Coded Facebook pages – With Facebook’s importance growing this year, coded Facebook pages will give your business an edge with an interactive touch, generating leads as well as increasing conversation rate.

Trustbait instead of linkbait – Links coming from independent online sources rather than those links that are contextually linked to a site are better for Search Engines. This refers to Trustbait and is a vital part of online marketing.

SEO to grow more comprehensive – In 2011, the term SEO will need to expand and be more all inclusive.

The demand for SEO will only continue to grow and make the task of online marketers more challenging as well as rewarding.

1. Social Networks
Utilizing social networks is still one of the best ways to increase website traffic. You can never go wrong when using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc as a tool for increasing traffic. Among all these social networks, Facebook is dominant. Facebook alone can deliver massive amounts of traffic to your website when used correctly. The sweetest part about Facebook is it’s FREE – and forever will be.

2. Social Bookmarks
Who says social bookmarking is dead? As a matter of fact it is very much alive. There are a lot of social bookmarking sites out there and more are created every day. Highly trafficked social bookmarking sites are Digg, Delicious, Reddit, and Stumbleupon. You can bookmark your blog posts to these sites and if it makes it to front page of a popular site, then that means a massive amount of traffic.

3. Articles
Sharing your expertise through articles is really fun. What you are trying to do is to build your reputation and show that you are an expert. One strategy you can utilize is to submit your articles to Ezinarticles.com and make sure each article has a link back to your site. Chances are if your article is very good a lot of users will read it, and voila, Instant traffic.

1. Surveys. You need to know the needs and wants of your audience. Conduct surveys and polls. You can even visit forums to discover people’s most common issues, problems and complaints.
2. Do your Research. You can’t just put any old information in an article and expect people to be interested. Really research your topic and get in-depth information that you can share with your readers. Go to online and offline resources. Try interviewing fellow experts in your field.
3. Authenticate. Going along with doing your research, you should also provide readers with proof that you are an expert. Offer readers solid information about why you are an authority in your subject.
4. Keep it simple. A cliche tip, but an important one. Make sure your articles are easy to read and straight forward. Many people are searching for information about something that they aren’t sure about, so make it clear for them.

This way of searching will affect how a website does SEO business and how users are targeted.

• End user searches will be found quicker.
• Searches will be refined on the fly.
• Chances are, the second page of searches will no longer be viewed any more.
• Long tail search keywords will be less valuable. It will be more about understanding the users behavior while they search.

How will this affect the user and the business man? The end user, the person conducting these searches, will adapt to this new way of searching and being to form searches in different ways. This will, of course, be a silent evolution, but it will become common place. The following is an illustration of the difference that is going to take place. It is like the difference between live support and email support. For email support (Google’s old way of doing things) you send a support ticket on a question you have and you receive a response. Now, Google’s new way of searching is the equivalent of talking to a customer service representative, who can give you choices of how you can be helped before you reach the end of your question.

For the business man with the website, this is good news and bad news! Chances are, if your website has high rankings on a certain keyword then your web site will be displayed more often while people are searching that particular keyword. Therefore, potentially increasing traffic to your web site.
This is bad news for the traditional way of searching. End users now behave differently, and don’t perform searches the way they used to as mentioned earlier. This will then cause traditional long tail ad words to be view differently and put all companies on a level playing field. For example, if I was look up a flight to New York City, I would begin my search with “New York City”. Before I even type “flights” ads would instantly pop up for NYC hotels, travel deals, NY official site, NY vacation packages, etc. Why would I need to type anything further than “New York City”? This shows how competition for the shorter terms rather than the long tail terms is going to become more intense.

Google continues to amaze us with each optimization and update. Moving into the future, one thing is certain, we will all need to adapt and also figure out HOW we adapt to this rapid change that will cause us to search and market in a whole new way in 2011.

The homepage is the landing space for everyone who seeks you out online. It should be well laid out and organized. It should let your brand breathe and not be crowded. Too much text or copy on the homepage can overwhelm your audience. Think of your homepage like a jacket cover to a book. It should have a picture, a title (or branding tagline), your name and a description of what the site is about. Make it short and condensed. Your homepage tabs (also called verticals) are where your audience can go deeper into your site and find more information about your product and services. Anywhere from 5 to 7 is a good amount, the topic verticals can also have a drop down menu, which is helpful.

2 Key Tips to Remember:
The homepage is NOT about YOU, it’s about your CLIENT. It should engage and promote enthusiasm for your product. It should be outcome focused.

Pick a tagline that is geared towards the consumer and answers the question of how they will benefit from your product or service. Steve Job’s tagline for the iPod was “A thousand songs in your pocket.” In this tagline his target market is defined along with the benefit they will get in buying an ipod. It’s simple, short and clear.

More Tips:

Site readers have a shorten attention span and are always one click away to something else.

How can you really capture your audience? Give them something for free, develop a free opt-in on your homepage.

Have a logo.

Putting too much content on the homepage loses your audience. They are overwhelmed.

Make sure to have several people look over your site before you launch it. Errors happen.

Blogs are important and you should have one.

At Taz we love using Wordpress and highly recommend it!

I hope these tips are helpful! The homepage is your one chance to reach your target audience, it’s not often they come around twice. Make sure to spend time getting it done right by giving your brand some much deserved breathing room.