October 14, 2009

Using Video Marketing For Promoting Your Business on the Internet

By Amber Lynn

With unemployment rates at a twenty-year high and the economy in the midst of an economic recession, millions of Americans are finding it difficult to locate traditional work. This has compelled many people to go into business for themselves, and the cheapest and easiest way to establish a new business is online.

However, when new business owners get started on the Internet they quickly realize that online competition is fiercer than it has ever been. Companies can no longer just put up a web site and expect people to visit it. These days Internet business owners must be proactive, they must take steps to drive traffic (potential customers) to their web sites. But that, of course, is much easier said than done.

In recent years, many online business owners have taken to writing articles or having others write articles for them about their business, product or industry. These articles are then submitted to article directories like EZINE, which offer authors free links to their web sites. So when someone searches for a product or service in your field, there is a chance that your article will appear and a chance that the consumer might visit your web site.

Article writing is a cheap and easy way to drive traffic to you web site. However, it does have its limitations. To begin with, article directories do not allow writers to submit duplicate content, which means that your work can only appear on one directory at a time. That is one reason why many online owners have learned how to turn articles into videos.

Presently, there is no prohibition on duplicate content at any of the top video sites, which means that you can post your videos on YouTube, Meta Café or even on your own web site. In fact, you can post it where ever you want.

It is also true that video sharing sites are some of the fastest growing and most popular sites on the Internet. For instance, did you know that YouTube is now the second largest search engine on the Internet? That's right! Other than Google, there is no search engine that even comes close.

Another fact, no matter how regrettable, is that the younger generation prefers watching videos over reading articles. If, for instance, your video appears on YouTube, there is a good chance that several thousand people will view it. By comparison, there is absolutely no chance thousands of people will read your article, even if you're Stephen King.

But learning how to turn articles into videos is something many business owners are still reluctant to do. There are several reasons for this. To begin with, many of them believe that creating videos will cost them an arm and a leg. They might also assume that you have to be tech savvy to create high-quality videos or that they may not appeal to younger audiences.

All of these are, of course, misconceptions. Turning your articles into videos is not only cheap, it's easy. You can either do it all yourself, which might take a bit of trail and error, or you can contact a service.

A simple Google search will yield hundreds of companies that specialize in this procedure. All you have to do then is copy and paste your favorite article into the site and they will convert it into a video form for a small fee. After that you are free to submit them to as many video sharing sites as you please.

Article Video Robot can convert article to video in just a couple of clicks. With Article Video Robot you get animations, graphics, voice over and the chance to edit your video. You don't have to have any technical or computer skills.

Source: EzineArticles

How to Get on the Front Page of Social Bookmarking Sites

By Jason Nyback

Social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Netscape, Newsvine, and Reddit are frequently used by search engine marketers to attract traffic to a website. The premise is simple: when a large number of people from a social bookmarking community "like" a story, article, or blog entry listed on the site, the story gets greater prominence on the front page. Stories on the front page attract far greater numbers of reads and clickthroughs than those buried deep within the site, and are much more likely to "go viral" and spread across the Web like wildfire.

Clearly, any search marketer could benefit from having a story posted on the front-page of a popular social bookmarking site; however, most marketers struggle to gain traction and generate the number of reads required for this prominent placement. Choosing the right topic is a bit like playing the lottery. With so many articles submitted on any given day, standing out from the crowd can be a challenge.

Here's an easy way to get on the front-page of your favorite social bookmarking site: write about how to appear on the front page of results. While this may seem silly, stories about how to get listed on the main page are almost always on the front page of social-bookmarking sites. Audiences love these topics and frequently "like" these how-to articles, which pushes the content higher in the rankings. Try writing a story about how to get on the front page of your favorite social-bookmarking site, and then submit it to that site. You'll be surprised at how quickly the article climbs the ranks!

Source: EzineArticles

October 07, 2009

Six SEO Techniques For Top Rankings

By Andrew Olson

While there are dozens of SEO techniques and strategies, some the most effective are the simplest. Instead of spreading your resources too thin with a myriad to strategies to rank highly in the search engines. I recommend focusing on just six that have proven to be effective. They are each explained below:

Blog Reviews
These include a direct link and short review from only experienced and established bloggers. Typically they can be purchased for $5-$10 from sites like PayPerPost. Because these are direct links from trusted sources, they are extremely effective at getting you to the top of the search results.

Article Marketing
One of my favorite seo techniques is article marketing. Although it takes hard work, writing quality articles on your topic and submitting them to article directories will give you relevant backlinks from quality websites.

Directory Submissions
Website directories give your site a quick description and a link back to your site. This is a proven way to build a many backlinks in a short period of time. They won't preform miracles, but directories can help a great deal when combined with other seo techniques.

Social Bookmarks
This includes submitting the pages of your site to social bookmarking portals, such as Digg, Redditt, Del.icio.us, and dozens of others. This is a great way to build backlinks from some of the biggest websites online. As an added bonus in addition to the seo benefits, these sites can even provide some direct traffic.

Squidoo Lenses
Squidoo is a website that allows users to make a "lens" (or, a page) about any topic they desire. This site also allows direct links back to your site, and using this service can be one of the most beneficial link building strategies. Be sure to include at least one Squidoo lens in your set of SEO Techniques.

Press Releases
Finally, creating a press release with your links in the text and then submitting this release across many press release portals is a fantastic way to build backlinks. And, if your story is quality, it may get picked up and distributed even further; providing links from major news portals.

These techniques are down to earth and proven to deliver results time and time again. Start implementing one or two each week until you've incorporated them all!

Source: Ezine Articles

How to Properly Use Keywords on Your Webpages

By Lisa A Mason

If you're new to SEO and building your own website, you've probably heard a lot about SEO and keywords and you probably have a lot of questions still. It's important to use keywords on your webpages but this technique is only helpful when you use them properly.

If you use keywords too much, it can actually hurt you more than it will help you. If you don't use them enough, they may not be effective and your efforts are wasted. If you don't know how to choose the right keywords, they may also not be effective.

With so much to learn about keywords, it can seem daunting to figure it all out. If you want to use keywords properly on your web pages, you need to first be sure that you have the right keywords that you're trying to use. Then focus on these additional basic tips:

  • Don't try to cram too many different keywords on one page- stick with a main keyword and a couple of secondary keywords
  • Don't overuse the keyword- a good baseline is once every 100 words
  • Learn to use the keyword in your Meta tags and Meta description
  • Use the keywords to name your photos and images, if you have any

These are just basic tips. SEO is a complex thing and you couldn't possibly learn it all from one article but these basic tips on how to properly use keywords on your webpages will help get you started.

Now that you know more about how to properly use keywords on your webpages you can use these tips to help you in creating your websites. If you're very serious about the best SEO and keyword usage, you might consider hiring a professional to help you create and implement a plan.

Source: Ezine Articles