James Brown Marketing » Article Marketing

Google Search Engine Optimization Tools

JB — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:56:41 +0000

Any search engine professional will tell you – to succeed, you need the right tools. Tools to evaluate keywords, tools to gauge your competition, tools to get backlinks.

Without the right tools, even the best SEO professionals in the world won’t be able to get very far.

What are the most important tools you should know about? Here are some of the most important tools for Google search engine optimization.

1. Backlink Checking Tools

Backlink checking tools allow you to figure out exactly how strong your competition is for any given keyword before you begin a campaign.

It also allows you to reverse engineer strategies that are already working for other people in your industry. If you can figure out what’s already working and do it even better than your competitors, you have a very good chance of success.

Two great backlink checking tools are Open Site Explorer and Majestic SEO. Both of these tools have free versions that give you quite a bit of data, along with a paid version with even more data.

You can also use Yahoo Site Explorer and Bing Webmaster Tools to check backlinks; though both of these tools have serious drawbacks.

2. Submission Tools

If you’re doing mass backlinks using a social bookmarking website or article marketing, you’re going to want to have a few programs that do it for you.

For example, if you’re regularly submitting content to social bookmarking websites, you’ll probably want to use a tool like Bookmarking Demon or Ping.fm. These tools will submit new content to a wide array of social media websites all at the click of a button for you.

If you’re doing article submissions, you’ll either want to use a submission program like Article Submitter or use a service like iSnare.

3. Market Research Tools

There are several market research tools on the market that offer stellar keyword research and niche research capabilities.

For one, Google’s own Google Keyword Tool is still the best tool out there for raw traffic data. If you’re just trying to figure out how much traffic certain search terms get, it’s one of the fastest and easiest places to get data.

Another tool that’s been taking off rapidly is Market Samurai. In addition to search volume, Market Samurai will also evaluate the competitiveness of each keyword you type in and give you a rough gauge of how much you can expect to earn in that market if you successfully rank.

How Much of SEO Is in the Tools?

Though not having the right tools can prevent you from succeeding, having the right tools doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll succeed.

You need to use the tools in the right way to get the results you’re looking for. If you want to get ranked, tools can help you get there faster, but they can’t do the bulk of the real work for you.

Article Marketing How To

JB — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 23:21:11 +0000

Article marketing is a very effective marketing tactic. However, some business owners achieve much more success than others. Is there an art to article marketing? Let’s take a look at the secrets, the art, behind a successful article marketing campaign.

#1 Make sure your article has a purpose

Many people write articles and publish them online without considering the purpose for the article. Sure, it’s to inform and hopefully drive traffic to your website. However, a more strategic approach will help you optimize your results.

For example, if you want to drive traffic to your website then a few things need to be in place. You’ll want to test and track various headlines and article types to find out which articles are effectively driving traffic. You’ll also want to include a call to action in your author’s resource box that fits your purpose. If you’re driving traffic to your website, then you wouldn’t want to send them to a sales page or opt-in page. Your landing page may be a better destination.

#2 Make sure you include a call to action

Your article marketing content also needs to include a call to action. What do you want your readers to do when they’ve read your article? Your call to action will depend on your article’s purpose. If you’re trying to grow your lead list, then you’ll send readers to an opt-in page. If you’re selling a product or service and trying to boost sales, then you’ll send them to a product sales page. Always include a call to action in your content.

#3 Target the appropriate audience

There are many ways to publish your content for article marketing purposes. You can publish on article directories. You can publish in a newsletter. You can publish on someone else’s website. And of course you can publish on your own website. Where you publish will be determined by your article’s purpose.

It’ll also be determined by your audience. You want to make sure you’re publishing where your prospect will find you. If you’re using an article directory, that means properly tagging and categorizing your article. It also means testing and tracking. Some categories may attract your audience better than others.

Successful article marketing requires a few steps. Identify the goal or purpose for your article. Create a plan to achieve that goal by testing and tracking, identifying your audience and including a call to action. Study the results and fine-tune your article marketing campaign for the best results. Oh, and always write the best content possible! To your success!

How to Build a Stronger Personal Brand

JB — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 12:26:47 +0000

A strong personal brand can really boost business. However, strong personal brands generally don’t just happen. It takes a plan and a commitment to follow through. This New Year, consider making a resolution to build a stronger personal brand. Here’s how.

Step One: Identify your brand personality

For most small business owners their brand personality is their own personality. If you’re a goofy or silly person then your brand may be goofy and silly. If you’re a hard hitting and serious person then that’s your brand personality. This is because it’s much easier and more effective to be yourself than to try to be a character. Martha Stewart is a great example. While she’s certainly not a small business owner, her brand is her personality. You know what to expect from Martha Stewart and people love that.

It’s also important when identifying your brand personality to make sure it fits with your niche and target audience. Some personalities and niches may not blend well.

Step Two: Identify your primary marketing tactics

Your brand personality will be communicated in every single marketing message and communication you have. When they’re consistently communicated, your brand will grow stronger. Each message will reinforce the last. Some marketing tactics to consider include:

* Email marketing
* Social networking
* Advertising
* Blogging
* Article marketing

You’ll want to make sure you have a unified approach. For example, if you’re a controversial personality then you’ll want to make sure you stir up controversy in your ads, blog posts, articles, email messages and your social networking communications. People want to know what to expect. Give it to them and you’ll strengthen your brand.

Step Three: Create, and adjust, your plan

Take a look at your marketing and content plan for the upcoming year. You’re going to need to adjust some messages so they provide a consistent theme and personality. It may be as simple as creating a salutation or signature sign off that you include in each communication. Or you may want to adjust your headline approach. Sometimes small changes can make a big difference.

Remember that your personality doesn’t have to be big. It doesn’t have to be a character or an exaggeration. What it does need in order to grow stronger is a consistent approach. When each communication and marketing message supports your personality and your personal brand, it becomes stronger in the minds of your prospects and customers. They’ll begin to identify with that personality and want to do business with you. A strong personal brand can make your business a lasting success.

How To Get High Quality Back Links To Your Website

JB — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:53:05 +0000

3 Ways to Build High Quality Back Links to Your Website

“Back links” is a term used in internet marketing to mean links from other websites back to your own. Why are back links important? Because the more incoming links you have pointing to your website, the higher relevancy the search engines give to your site in relation to the keywords that people use for searches.

For example, if your site features information on make money blogging and people search online for “make money blogging,” you want your website to be listed in the first spot – or at least one of the top ten spots, if possible. One good way to accomplish that is to build plenty of incoming links using the anchor text “make money blogging”. Anchor text means turning the keyword phrase into a live link so it looks like this: “make money blogging” – as opposed to using a standard URL format like this: www.blogcurry.com.

The HTML code used to create an anchor text link would look like this:

make money blogging

If your website features high-quality information, it’s possible that people will link to your site naturally, but you’ll still want to do plenty of link building yourself too. There are plenty of ways to do this, and below are three of the most popular:

#1 – Article Marketing

There are hundreds of article directories online that are happy to allow a link back to your website in exchange for a quality article on your topic. Using the example above, you could write brief articles sharing tips on make money blogging, and in your author bio box include an anchor text link back to your website. If you write and submit plenty of articles, you’ll be building plenty of quality back links.

#2 – Social Bookmarking

Bookmarking sites like Digg.com, Stumbleupon.com, and others allow you to post links to your favorite sites, and your own can be one of them. Even better, if other people like your site they can bookmark it too. If you offer high quality information, you could even enjoy a bit of viral linking as people pass your link around.

#3 – Satellite Blogs

Beyond your main website or blog, you can also create smaller, niche-focused blogs that feature your articles and several anchor links back to your main site. Some of the better known blogging platforms like Blogger.com and WordPress.com are easy to use for this purpose.

When possible, try to create back links on websites that rank well in the search engines. A link from a site with a Google PageRank 6 will carry more weight than a link from a site with a PR 2. The more popular and older the sites you can find to link from, the better.