Bob's Home Business Blog

Article writing is one of the most effective and most simple techniques for attracting tons of targeted traffic to your online home business website. Unfortunately most people shy away from this Internet marketing strategy because they don’t feel comfortable writing or they believe there’s too much work involved therefore taking too long to produce the necessary results.

If you know what you’re doing the latter couldn’t be farther from the truth. Here are 3 tips for getting your editorials read by your target audience and for getting Google and company to rank your work on page 1 for related searches.

1. First of all, your article title has to be intriguing in order to entice your audience to click on it and to encourage them to read more. An attractive headline is critical for increasing your readership and for attracting the attention of the major search engines online. This should help get your piece ranked on the first page of Google for related searches so you’ll receive the targeted traffic you want for your website.

Your title must contain your keywords and be phrased in such a manner that your visitor’s interest will be peaked making them want more. For example, my niche is home business opportunities online and Internet marketing; therefore an attractive title for an editorial would be: “Top 5 Home Business Money Makers Online Today.” This should persuade people who are interested in my niche to take the time to read the entire piece.

2. Your article length is very important and as a result it should be no longer than 400-450 words. This is long enough to get it published in the various article directories online and it doesn’t turn people off by being too lengthy. People value their time these days and if your editorial is 700 words or more it would take a longer time for them to read and this will usually encourage them to move on without reading it.

Also, you need to leave them wanting more, so if you write a long piece you may end up giving them all the information they need and they will have no reason to check out your resource box and your website.

3. Article marketing is a strategy that works best when you write a lot of articles. Therefore, volume is very important when it comes to attracting the targeted traffic you want to your home business website and eventually to your product offer. By creating 400-450 word editorials you will be able to produce more in a shorter period of time and, as a result, create more back links to your web page much more quickly.

Writing keyword rich articles is an Internet marketing strategy that’s too effective to ignore and if we construct a compelling headline followed by a 400 keyword rich editorial and post as many as we can online we’ll succeed with our targeted traffic generation campaign much sooner rather than later.

Bob Withers

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Most article writers online don’t realize how important their resource box is for getting the traffic and subscribers they need for their online home business. By writing a few sentences comprised of what your readers want to hear you can help ensure a steady flow of targeted visitors, new list members and paying customers to your website for a long time to come as your editorial winds its way around the web.

An intriguing resource box should be made up of two key elements. First of all, it should leave your readers wanting more information about the subject at hand so they’ll click on the link contained at the end of your article. Secondly, it should make them an offer they can’t refuse so they’ll want to visit your website. So in other words, you should offer them a freebie related to the content of your editorial that will entice them to your home page so they can pick up their gift.

Your present could be a free report expanding, in more detail, on the information you’ve just related in your article or  perhaps an e-book you’ve written which contains affiliate links so it will add to your income as your readers purchase the products. Or you may just want to give them the next editorial in a series you’ve written on the same topic which will attract them to your link. Another technique you could use is to offer them a discount on their first purchase or their next buy if they click below.

Most Internet marketers make the mistake of making the resource box information about themselves which more often than not will have the opposite effect and your readers won’t even finish reading your information let alone click on your link. Strange as it may seem most people don’t find our story as interesting as we do, unless it’s something that makes you an authority in your field. This will certainly make them want to visit your website to find out more.

An important point to remember about your resource box link is be sure to direct your readers to a squeeze page so you can build your list. Some Internet marketers make the mistake of directing their prospects to an affiliate offer which can reduce your traffic as well as the size of your list over the long run if the offer is taken down by the merchant or if it changes.

In my opinion, it’s best to direct them to your blog so you can get their contact information. They may also bookmark your website which will help ensure return traffic to your home page which may translate into more sales for your other product offers.

So if you want more traffic, more subscribers and more sales for your online home business create an article resource box that leaves your readers wanting more information about your topic and also makes them a free offer they can’t refuse.

Bob Withers

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Article writing has been and continues to be one of the most effective and one of the most consistent traffic generating techniques in use online today. After writing your editorials you want to gain maximum exposure for your work on the web by having people click through your resource box link and visit your home business sales page or product offer.

Sometimes increasing your views and your readership requires using your imagination so you can gain an edge over your competition and get ranked on the first page by the major search engines on the Internet. Here are 5 killer tactics you can use to attract Google’s attention so everyone else online will take notice of your work:

1. Always post your new article to your blog as well as to the major article directories online. However, before you do so you must make some changes by reworking at least 30% of the content so you won’t be penalized in any way by the search engines. This is also a great way to add new content to your blog without having to generate new ideas for your editorials.

2. Twitter is also a tremendous resource you can use in conjunction with Ezine articles to advertise your new work. Ezine articles offer a feature whereby you can link them to your Twitter account and they will tweet a link to your new editorial after submission so your followers can enjoy your new commentary.

3. If you’ve compiled a number of articles over the past months you can use them to create reports to distribute online with your website link included to further increase your visibility. You can give them away in exchange for your visitor’s contact information as a way to help build your email list.

This is also a fast and easy way to create your own product which you can sell on the web as a way to establish another income stream for your home business. This is also an excellent approach for branding yourself and establishing your credibility as an Internet marketer online.

4. Forum posting is another technique you can use to increase your writing’s exposure on the web. You can create a discussion related to a topic you’ve covered on your blog and begin posting some of your most interesting content for other members to read. This may help get you recognized as an expert in a particular niche thereby further enhancing your reputation on the Internet.

5. Video is all the rage on the web these days as evidenced by the popularity of video sharing websites such as Google. To take advantage of this notoriety you should turn your article into a video for distribution to these websites.

All you need is a digital camera and one of the video editing software packages which are readily available online so you can turn it into a professional production. Once it’s finished distribute it to the top video sharing websites on the web with the link to your squeeze page included in your resource box to help build your email list and increase your sales.

So if you’ve been writing articles for the sole purpose of submitting them to the major articles directories on the web you should now create an increased exposure strategy by first turning your work into a video and then following the other promotional tactics we’ve discussed to increase traffic and sales for your online home based business.

Bob Withers

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Article writing has proven to be in the past and continues to be an excellent technique for driving targeted traffic on a regular basis to your home business website by creating back links from other websites online. As your editorials are distributed throughout the Internet on a daily basis they become available through many different sources for reading and for establishing links back to your home page for many years to come.

The problem is as you continue to produce a different work every day for an extended period of time you become the victim of new idea drought or, in other words, you’re now lacking inspiration for new topics to write about. Along with this mental roadblock comes the difficulty of having to begin the time consuming task of starting from scratch each and every day with a new article which can also become frustrating.

One solution to this dilemma is to rewrite your past efforts in different formats or styles so you don’t have the added stress and strain of coming up with a new brain wave each day and you don’t have to start from the beginning with your idea. This can turn into a tremendous time saver for you and your home business while at the same time creating original content for your website as well as for the search engines that are tracking your site and feeding you traffic.

There are several ways you can reformat the same work so it appears as a unique effort on your behalf to the article directories and search engines online. First of all, you can change the style of your original piece to that of a step-by-step how to commentary on how to solve a particular problem or how to perform a particular act. This type of article is one of the most popular online in terms of both readership and search engine response.

Next, you can take your new critique and restyle it to take on the form of a list such as, for example: “A top ten list of mistakes to avoid when Internet marketing” or “5 ways to reformat an old article.” Lists are also a very popular format for editorials on the web and are a very convenient way to restyle a previous work.

The question and answer format is another technique you can employ to change the look and feel of an original article. When using this style you simply pose a different question related to your topic for each of your paragraphs while answering the query right after you ask it. This can give your piece the appearance of a frequently asked question section of a website for example except they’re all related to the same topic.

Multimedia formatting is another excellent tactic to use to increase your website content. For example you can take your written editorial and turn it into a video with one of the many video conversion software packages available on the web today. You can also present an audio file of your work or present it as a power point presentation in a slide format.

By presenting your articles in a multimedia format you will undoubtedly increase your traffic tremendously because of the popularity of these media online today as well as because of the many other distribution channels you will open up for yourself such as the many video sharing websites available on the Internet which will post your work for you.

So as you can see you can take some or all of your past articles and re-create them in a format which will make them innovative and unique while also saving you time and creating new content and at the same time generating more traffic for your home business home page.     

Bob Withers

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Article marketing has been, and continues to be, one of the most popular and one of the most effective traffic generating techniques available online today. As we all know, the number of visitors who frequent your home page on a regular basis form the foundation of your home based business because of the new sales, repeat sales and new customers, through referrals, they generate for your enterprise. All the components that make up your articles play a vital role in generating these visitors and none more so than your editorial’s resource box.

Also known as the author’s biography box or signature file (sig file); this summarized information provides the only link for your potential customers to your home business website via your article. When your finished work is submitted to the various article directories online for publication your bio box is the final chance you have to entice your reader’s to click on your website link and visit your business to view your product offers.

So, as you can see, this resource is aptly named because it is indeed, as it’s definition suggests, a source for finding solutions to problems which is what most of your visitors need. Your sig file should therefore contain your name, a link back to your website, a brief summary of what your product can do for your potential customers or it’s unique selling proposition (USP), some information about you and your business as well as what’s described as a call to action or instructions for your visitor as to what to do next to get more information about your merchandise.

As you may have realized by now, how you present this information is vital with regard to what your reader’s do next. Do they click on your link and become paying customers because they were impressed with your product description and your credentials or do they go elsewhere looking for a solution to their needs.

An ineffective bio box fails for a number of reasons with one of the most important being a failure to include a call to action. Most people need direction in their lives and the Internet is no exception. If you don’t tell your readers what to do next nine times out of ten they won’t do what you want them to do.

They have to be told to click on your website link to access the information they’re looking for and when they get there they should be persuaded to proceed further by a free offer or some other persuasive tactic to get them to subscribe to your email list or, better yet, buy your product.

An effective biography box is your stepping stone to increased traffic to your home business website and therefore should be constructed with this important factor uppermost in your mind. Therefore, a successful resource box should include, as we discussed earlier, an implicit call to action. It should tell your readers what to do and how to do it and should provide them a reward for their efforts.

This information resource should also include relevant links to your home page. Without these connections to your website all of your hard work will have been in vein because your readers will have no idea of how to find more information about your business and your merchandise. So it’s critical to check and recheck your links before submitting your articles to the various directories on the web to ensure they lead to your sales page.

Finally, you shouldn’t make your signature file or author bio too long winded and irrelevant to what you’re trying to accomplish. This paragraph should only contain information related to your ultimate goal, which is getting people to visit your website. Therefore, try to avoid unrelated links and information which may only confuse your readers and deter them from wanting to go any further. You should try to limit your resource box content to approximately 150 words.

Your resource box, your author biography box or your signature file, whatever you wish to call it, is crucial and may be the component which determines the ultimate success or failure of your article marketing effort for your home based business online.      

Bob Withers 

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Article marketing is, and should continue to be, one of the most popular strategies for generating traffic to your website and for advertising your home based business online. There are several reasons why this Internet marketing strategy is so fashionable including the fact that it’s very inexpensive to implement.

In fact, if you write your own material and distribute your finished work to the major article directories online without using a third party distributor, this online marketing method can cost you nothing to use.

Depending on what product or service you provide or what your website theme happens to be there are four different categories of articles you can write and tailor to suit your Internet marketing needs:

1. Lists are a very popular format for editorials with the reading audience and with the major search engines online. For example, you can write about the “5 most effective ways to generate an income from home”, or perhaps “10 techniques for exploding traffic to your website”, or maybe “6 tactics for generating novel ideas for your articles”.

 These are perhaps the easiest types of commentaries to write because all you need to do is compile information on each subject and list them in a logical and informative fashion. Then you need a compelling introduction and a valid conclusion to sandwich your script between and your article is ready for distribution on the web.

2. The “How to” article is one of the most interesting editorials you can compose because you’re conveying to your reader how to do something they currently have no idea how to do. For example: “How to write a compelling article” or “How to make money online” are illustrations of the kind of topics you can approach for your commentaries.

These articles are in high demand because people read information online to educate themselves and “How to” pieces demonstrate exactly, in a step-by-step fashion, what the reader is looking for from a particular expose.

3. The summing up article is a summary or an overview of a particular situation after having researched and investigated the different sources involved for the information you need in order to make a logical conclusion. For example, after having spoken to various experts on the topic of the most effective home business money makers on the web today you compile a piece on the top 5 methods being used and summarize your findings.

Based on the data you’ve uncovered during your interviews you deduce what your top 5 choices are to make money from home and conclude by summarizing why.

4. Review articles and websites based entirely on reviews of different products and services are becoming increasingly more popular online with readers and as home based business opportunities. This type website is so trendy because people are always looking for a second opinion before investing their hard earned money into a product or service they’ve never tried. They’re depending on the experiences of others who have used the goods to help them make the right purchase decision when the time comes.

There are three explicit guidelines you should follow when writing a review: First, outline what the product or service promises to deliver in terms of results. Secondly, describe in detail how the merchandise in question fulfills its promises or how it fails to deliver in certain areas. And third, summarize whether or not the benefits to the potential customer outweigh the cost of the product and explain why they should or why they shouldn’t buy this merchandise.

Any one of these article formats can be adapted to your home business product or service or your website topic and can help increase your exposure online as well as increase your website traffic, sales and profits to help ensure you have a long and prosperous career on the web.                    

Bob Withers

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Writing articles on a daily basis and posting them at the top directories online is a tremendous way to generate traffic to your home business website. However, if you’ve been writing a new editorial every day for any length of time there will come a day when you will ask yourself: “What am I going to write about now?” And you will struggle to come up with an answer. Here are 10 strategies you can employ to get your creative juices flowing so you can come up with a new topic for your commentary:

1. Depending on what your overall theme is you can check the daily newspapers online, you can surf news sites such as CNN, Headline News or World Report for any stories related to your topic. This is a great way to generate new thoughts which you may be able to develop into several editorials for the future.

2. Create a survey page on your website and ask your regular readers what they want you to write about. Are there any topics you haven’t covered related to your theme that they would like you to expound upon? Are there certain topics they would like to see you expand upon and develop further? Would they like to see you write about a different subject entirely?

3. You can visit websites related to your subject matter to find out what they’re writing about or to discover what type of content they’re generating. Certain editorial titles you see may stir the juices and give you ideas for different approaches you can take to the topic of interest.

4. Revisit articles you’ve already written and re-read them. This may give you an idea of how you can expand on a particular topic or help you discover other thoughts related to the subject at hand.

5. Use Google as a resource to search for topics related to your overall theme. For example, you can conduct a search of your website’s key words to find related websites and articles which may help you spawn new topics.

6. Visit the comments section of your home page to find out what your visitors are thinking and saying. This is a great way to get you thinking along the same lines as your visitors and if there’s a question waiting for your reply you may be able to develop your answer into a full blown editorial.

7. Pick up the telephone or email some of your business associates online and explain that you’re experiencing writer’s block and ask them what they would suggest or what they would like to see you write about. Sometimes communicating with someone who has been in the same situation can help you overcome your problem.

8. Talk to a family member or a friend, who reads your work on a regular basis, about your situation and ask for any input or advice they may be able to offer. Sometimes the answer is as plain as the nose on your face and you may just need someone to point it out to you.

9. Visit some of the online forums or chat rooms you may be a member of to discover what the hot topic of the day is and to find out what’s the most pressing problem some people may be facing with their home businesses on the web. There may be a question there someone has that’s right up your alley that you can expound upon forever.

10. Finally, if nothing’s working and you can’t come up with an original thought then just take the day off. You don’t want to push it to the point of becoming burnt out which has been known to happen with Internet marketers and authors online. Sometimes a rest is the best medicine.

By using one or more of these tactics you should be able to overcome your idea generation problem and produce an article which will drive more potential customers to your home business home page.                  

Bob Withers

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If you’ve just created your home based business online, you enjoy writing and you want to create several different income streams for your enterprise then you should take a serious look at article marketing. Article marketing is the process of writing articles related to your home business theme, posting them on your website or blog and then submitting them to some of the top article directories on the web with back links to your home page included to help drive targeted traffic to your business site.

There are 5 ways article marketing can increase sales and profits for your home based business including:

1. You can combine your articles and create an e-book which you can sell from your website. For example, if your theme is Internet marketing you can select articles written on different topics related to your theme and add chapters for each subject thereby producing an e-book. You can then sell this product from your blog and your home business page and promote it to drive traffic to your web page.

2. Bundle your e-book with some of your other products to make your offer more attractive to your visitors. You can offer it as a bonus for purchasing your primary merchandise or include it with several other products from your sales page to help persuade your potential customers to become paying patrons.

3. Combine several of your editorials to create a report and depending on how many articles you have written you may be able to produce several information packages. You can sell these reports from your website or you can offer them as free gifts for subscribing to your blog or ezine if you have one.

These products provide a great technique for building your email list by bribing people to leave their name and email address in return for one or more of these free reports. As we have all heard “the money is in the list” with the reason being you can advertise to this email directory on a regular basis to convince people to become paying customers.

4. Create an article library or directory on your blog or home business site and invite other web masters to link to your directory which will help drive hordes of targeted traffic to your website. By having all these other websites online linked to your home business your sales and profits should increase exponentially.

5. Submit your articles to print publications online that pay for editorials or content. This is an excellent way to create extra income as a freelance writer on the web.

As you can see article writing can create many different revenue generating techniques for your home based business online while at the same time continually add quality content to your website which will get you ranked with the major search engines on the web creating another advantage for your enterprise.   

Bob Withers

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One of the most popular and most effective traffic generators being employed by Internet marketers today is article marketing. If you’re just starting out online with your home based business and you’re developing your Internet marketing strategy you should consider making article marketing a major component of your plan.

The ultimate goal of this approach is increasing traffic to your website and you accomplish this by writing editorials related to your niche and posting them on the major article directories on the web. Each of your articles will contain a back link to your home page in your biography box and when someone enjoys your writing and want more information they can click on your link and visit your home business or blog.

Here are five strategies you can apply to your article writing campaign to help drive traffic to your website.

1. Be sure to tailor your writing to your home page theme. For example, if you’re home business topic is Internet marketing write your articles about some aspect of the topic such as “traffic generation.” When devising your title try to focus your editorial on solving some problem related to driving traffic to your website or concentrate on making the process a little easier for the Internet marketer or home business owner. If you help make people’s lives a little easier in some way or solve a problem for them they will continue to visit your website looking for more information.

2. Your headline or title should grab the reader’s attention. You have a very limited amount of time to attract your visitors to your editorial and entice them to read the entire script. For this reason your title is very important and should peak the reader’s attention and demonstrate how you’re going to help them or solve an Internet marketing problem for them. For example, an article entitled: “5 Proven Methods To Drive Hordes Of Targeted Visitors To Your Website” may be more effective than: “5 Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Website.”

3. Contrary to what you may have heard size is very important especially when it’s related to paragraph length. Each paragraph should be no longer than 3 or 4 sentences. When people visit your site and see a 1000 word article made up of only 3 paragraphs the odds are they will be clicking through to another website. Time is at a premium for your guests and they want to see an editorial they feel they can read quickly to absorb the information they need.

4. Be professional when it comes to your writing and your overall approach to your website. One of the main objectives of article marketing is to gain a reputation online as an expert in your field so it’s very important to portray the image of a proficient business person who is running a reputable enterprise.

One other main goal of article writing is to establish relationships online. If people view your work as that of an expert and feel they can trust you they are more likely to become paying customers. People are more likely to do business with someone they respect and trust rather than a perfect stranger.

5. People love to hear how something is going to benefit them. In your editorial outline the benefits involved for your readers and give examples of how both you and others have benefited from the solution you are providing to a particular problem you’re addressing in your article. This is a great way to attract and hold your reader’s attention and to entice them to spend more time on your home business website.

By employing these five strategies when writing all of your articles you will soon establish yourself as a professional business person respected for being an expert in your particular niche and as being the owner and operator of a reputable home based business online.           

Bob Withers

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Many Internet marketers hate writing articles for various reasons. They feel it’s too much work or they feel they don’t have the talent or the expertise necessary to entice people to read their work. They also think it would be a huge waste of time if no one reads their editorials. On the other hand some online marketers hate reading articles especially if the piece is boring and uninspired.

The whole point of article marketing is to have your commentaries read and distributed online in order to promote your business and your product or service. This expose will demonstrate various tips and techniques to insure success with your article marketing campaign.

First of all you must change your attitude towards writing. In order to be successful in this field you don’t have to be an expert in a particular area or be a professional writer. Writing a good article doesn’t have to be arduous and nerve-racking especially if you apply the basics of good writing. Once you change your mind-set and get the approach down then writing editorials can be fun as well as profitable. 

The next step toward writing a good editorial is to pick a subject you enjoy and know something about. This topic should relate to the over all theme of your website. For example if your home page is centered around home business ideas then your articles should relate to some aspect of that subject. Once you have your subject in mind then it’s only a matter of making your article attractive, attention getting and interesting.

Your work must be attractive and pleasing to the eye. You want to draw the reader to your piece and you can accomplish this objective in several ways. First, use short paragraphs. Long paragraphs are unappealing to the eye and give the impression that the work is longer than it actually is.

If your potential reader feels the article is too long chances are they will decide they don’t have the time to read it. You only have a very short time to make a good impression and the initial appearance of the editorial can make or break your piece in terms of readership.

Another way to get their attention is by using eye-catching titles. Your heading should peak the person’s curiosity and make them want more information. Begin your titles with words like: “Tips on” or “How to”. People also enjoy lists so your title could say “Top 5 Methods” or “10 Most Popular”.

If you can accomplish this then you’ve increased the odds greatly, in your favor, that this visitor will read your critique. Try to keep them interested from start to finish by telling a story and by utilizing real life situations that people can relate to.

When the opportunity presents itself quote facts and figures and include the source of your information so as to prove the validity of your statements which gives your article a professional touch while helping to establish you as an expert in this particular area. Also be sure to include content containing keywords that the reader may be looking for; but don’t over do it because you may be accused of keyword stuffing and the search engines will ignore your work.

Where appropriate employ sub-headings to further sub-divide your paragraphs. This helps make it easier for the reader to move from one idea to another and also helps with the flow of the piece. This also adds to the eye appeal of your editorial and also helps keep the reader’s attention.
 
By following these guidelines each time you put finger to keyboard you will soon experience the benefits of increased traffic and more sales for your business website.

Bob Withers