Getting the Most From Article Directory Backlinks

Submitting your articles to article directories is an excellent way to increase website traffic, since it will help increase the search engine ranking of your site. Any business can benefit by submitting articles to some of the many on-line link directories available. Directories are human-edited lists of links to websites in various categories. This makes them very different from search engines, which are automated. Since many directories are reviewed by experienced editors, submitting your site to them can add a more targeted, thoughtful approach to your off page SEO.

In fact, taking advantage of web directories should be part of your overall link building strategy. Successful submissions can get you what your site needs - strong backlinks, interested visitors, sales, and more revenue in the long term.

Here are a few things to consider when you decide what directories to submit to:

INDEXING and PAGERANK

You will need to do your own due diligence on the directory you're submitting to. Unfortunately, there is no "cheat sheet" that can list all of the directories and page ranks. This is because PageRank is never static. It can change overnight, and is never 100% timely.

Just make sure the directory you are considering is indexed by the major search engines, and has PageRank (PR) or other traffic indicators. Also, make sure it not been banned (grey-barred) by Google.

Is it a waste of time to try to get into a directory that's rarely used or too new to have PageRank? Absolutely not! As any Google watcher knows, PageRank can jump from 0 to a 4 or 5 in just one Google update. That means getting into a directory that's brand new (and probably very easy to get into) could pay off handsomely in a few months.

Also, as any professional SEO expert will tell you, the PageRank that's displayed in the Google toolbar is probably inaccurate. PageRank updates don't happen as frequently as shifts in the SERPs (search engine results pages). So never use PR as the sole indicator of the quality of a directory.

That said, remember that time is money - and it takes time to submit to directories. So in the beginning, focus on directories that will help you boost the quality of your backlinks. And, if you're paying to get into a directory, it really ought to show at least some PageRank.

CHECK REVIEW PERIODS

Whether you're submitting to paid or free directories, check the review periods. Free directories often have months-long wait times and even the paid directories can keep you waiting an unreasonably long time.

Again, to get the most value from your initial directory submissions, check the terms, and opt for those that promise shorter review periods.

GO FOR DIRECTORIES WITH LONGEVITY FIRST

If you want to maximize the odds that your listing will still exist months or even years later, go for older and well-established directories first. Older directories that have some traffic are more likely to still be up and operational in the future.

When choosing directories that are newcomers, remember that ANY directory, no matter how small or basic, can become popular. The problem is it can also easily vanish after a few months, just like any other new business.

So look for signs of future longevity when checking out a new directory. If it's got a good design, good search capabilities, and seems to be showing some growth - however slow - then a new directory can be a free or low-cost way to get one more good, natural backlinks. Many new directories also have proactive editors who will review your listing and activate your placement a lot faster.

Since fresh directories are being added every day, make searching for new directories a part of your regular link strategy. Directories are an especially good way to get your first backlinks if your site is brand new. And, it's a realtively simple process to perform.

Affiliate Programs... A Not THAT Easy Start To Your Own Online Business

"Where is all the help I'm supposed to get. I have been buying ezine and classified ad builders and signing up for Echecks and Virtual credit cards. In the meantime I have no business and no ads set up. When does all this happen? Let's go here. I spent all day on this. I'm running out of time."

I kid you not, this is the sum total of an actual email that hit my inbox this week. Not only did I not know this person from Adam, this was the first and only email I had ever received from her and to this day, I have no idea what she's talking about. Presumably, she signed up for one of the affiliate programs I promote from my site and was asking, in her own inimitable style, for my help. Although I am always ready and willing to help anyone I can, this is most definitely NOT the way to go about asking for it. Needless to say, I let her know what I thought of her approach in NO uncertain terms.

The attitude displayed in this person's email to me (and she is by no means an isolated example) exemplifies why so many people fail to make a success of their online businesses. Leaving aside the utter rudeness of the approach, notice the impatience, the expectation to be up and running in a day, the HURRY, the apparent belief that real world principles such as courtesy and good manners don't apply online (they do). Think this person is going to last the distance? What kinds of tactics do you think she is capable of resorting to in pursuit of the almighty dollar?

So, let's take a realistic look at affiliate programs, what they can and can't do for your business and how to maximize your chances of creating a successful, long-term business with them.

WHAT IS AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM?

An affiliate program (also known as a reseller, associate, referral or partnership program) is essentially a revenue-sharing arrangement whereby you, the affiliate, receive payment from the owner of a product or service that you promote on their behalf.

Affiliate programs are an excellent way for the new internet entrepreneur to start an online business.

TYPES OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

There are various types of affiliate programs.

The most simple involves you, the affiliate, placing a banner ad, graphic or text link at your site which is linked to the site of the business you are promoting. This link is coded with your unique affiliate ID so that the site visitor is recorded at the target site as having originated from your site, thereby allowing you to be credited with the sale.

Payment is generally a fixed percentage of the sale value (commission) or "pay per click", where the affiliate is paid a certain amount for every time a site visitor clicks on the link at the affiliate's site, whether or not a sale is made.

The more sophisticated affiliate programs are multi-tier and allow the affiliate to earn commissions not only on the traffic they directly refer to the target site but also a proportion of sales generated by their sub-affiliates.

BENEFITS OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

The greatest benefit of affiliate programs is that when you are just starting out in your own online business you don't have to worry about creating your own product or service. You just promote someone else's and get a share of the revenue pie for your efforts.

You also don't have to concern yourself with warehousing, transport or logistics headaches. All of this is handled by the business whose products/services you are promoting. All you need concentrate on is driving traffic to that business's website. This means that a high proportion of your revenue is profit.

The owner of the product/service is also responsible for collecting payment, customer service and the myriad other details that come up on a day to day basis in running the business.

DISADVANTAGES OF AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

The main and obvious disadvantage of affiliate programs is that it is the owner of the product/service who earns the lion's share of the profit on the sale.

You're working on commission. You will NEVER earn by way of affiliate program commissions as much as you can earn by way of profits from producing and selling your own product/service.

As a result, affiliate programs represent a high opportunity cost when you consider what you could earn if you instead channeled the time and energy you spend on promoting affiliate programs into creating and promoting your own product/service.

For this reason, it does not make sound business sense to rely solely on affiliate program income for the longer term growth of your business.

Instead, think of them as a way of dipping your toe in the water when you're first getting started, and a nice little sideline once you've created your own product/service. Do NOT build your business around affiliate programs with the intention this will always be the backbone of your business. You'll be stunting your own growth if you do.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT AFFILIATE PROGRAMS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

So, keeping in mind what affiliate programs can and can't do for your business, let's turn to what you should look for when choosing an affiliate program or programs to promote in your business.

=> Synergistic Products/Services

First off, and this is a cardinal rule, only promote those programs which will allow you to create synergies with your site. This means selecting programs that naturally complement the subject matter of your site and that will therefore be of interest and relevance to your site visitors. This will ensure your prospects (ie your site visitors) are pre-qualified which will result in a relatively higher conversion ratio (the ratio of visitors to purchases) than would be the case if your traffic is untargeted (which will be the case if you promote unrelated products and services from your site.)

=> Quality In All Things

Keeping the need for synergy uppermost in mind, look for quality programs first and foremost. The last thing you want to waste your time, money and reputation on is a shoddy product or service. There are just too many quality programs out there to settle for anything less.

=< Stability of Company

Look for a company that's been around for a while and that's reputable and stable (both financially and in its management). Any reputable company will have full contact details readily available so do your research.

=> References

Look for testimonials and references from other affiliates. If the company you're interested is not forthcoming when it comes to putting you in touch with other affiliates, move on.

=> Affiliate Agreement

Look for a professional, considered and detailed affiliate agreement (contract). This shows that the company is serious about its business.

Watch out for exclusivity clauses and other restraints. Some affiliate agreements will require that you not promote competing businesses' products and services. This is not to say you should avoid such agreements. As a general rule, it is your interests not to promote competing programs anyway. Just be aware of what the agreement says on the subject to avoid getting yourself into hot water.

Look also for an agreement that treats spammers harshly. This protects not only the company but other affiliates as well. The last thing you or any other reputable affiliate needs is to have your reputation and the reputation of the product/service you are promoting besmirched by these sorts of tactics.

=> High Commissions

Promoting someone else's affiliate program necessarily requires that you divert traffic away from your site and towards someone else's. Make sure you're properly compensated with a high commission structure. And be sure to set up your link so that when the visitor clicks on it, a new browser window is opened for the target site. This at least keeps your site in front of the visitor so they can go back to your site once they've finished at the site your link has taken them to.

=> Lifetime Commissions

Look for affiliate programs that will credit you with not only THIS sale but all other sales the customer may make in the future. Many programs are set up so that the customer is identified as "yours" so that when the customer returns to the target site in three months time, the sale is recorded as having been generated by you.

=> Residual Commissions

Include programs that offer residual commissions in your portfolio. Good examples are webhosting services, autoresponder services and the like where customers sign up for a continuous service that requires periodic, regular payments. You receive periodic, regular commissions as a result.

=> Tracking of Commissions

Look for programs that allow you real-time access to your stats so you can keep easy track of your commissions.

=> Reliability of Payment

When checking with affiliate references, find out what the business's record is on paying out commissions. If they're slow or there appears to be a pattern of problems, keep looking.

=> Frequency of Payment

Make a note of payment schedules too. Some programs pay weekly, some monthly, some quarterly. Some only pay once you accumulate commissions of a certain amount. None of these arrangements are necessarily good or bad in and of themselves. Just be sure you know what to expect.

=> Programs that Require Payment Up Front

Two words: MOVE ON!

=> Affiliate Support

Finally, take a look at what support the business offers its affiliates to make sales. Do they provide resources such as sample ads, banners, logos and the like? Do they provide useful advice about maximizing your sales? A good affiliate program provides affiliates with a LOT of support in these areas.

MAKING MONEY FROM AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

OK, now you know what to look for in an affiliate program. Here's how to maximize your sales of those products and services and, therefore, your commissions:

=> Get Your Own Website

No ifs, no buts. DON'T rely on the you-beaut self-replicated job the company provides all its affiliates. Link to that site from your main site.

=> Get Your Own Domain Name

This presents a much more professional image. Many people won't give the time of day to a business that thinks so little of its prospects that the owner won't shell out 70 bucks for a domain name. So mean business and look like it.

=> Get Traffic To Your Site (Duh!)

As a rough guide, you will need at least 500 targeted unique visitors a day to your site to make reasonable money from affiliate programs.

=> You Must Have A Site That Will Attract Repeat Visitors

If your website is nothing more than a splash page consisting of little else other than banners for umpteen different affiliate programs, forget it. Your site must be worthy of your visitor's time and interest before you can even begin to think about converting that visitor into a paying customer. So create a real site with real content that will keep them coming back for more.

=> Personal Testimonials

A personal testimonial will result in more sales than a mere link or advertisement. So take the time and trouble to write a personal endorsement of the product or service you are promoting. And, of course, it goes without saying that in order to write a personal endorsement, you must know that of which you speak. NEVER promote a program you haven't first purchased yourself. If you don't think enough of your program to invest in it, how do you expect to persuade others to?

=> Promote With Your Sig File

Include a link to your site in the signature of every email you send.

=> Promote In Your Own Ezine

Finally, if you're not already publishing your own ezine or newsletter to stay in touch with your site visitors, start. It's a great way to promote not only your site but also the affiliate programs you promote from your site.

MAKING SERIOUS MONEY FROM AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

The only way of making SERIOUS money from affiliate programs is by creating your own product or service and recruiting affiliates to sell for YOU.

The affiliate program phenomenon is one of the Internet's true success stories. It provides a toe-hold for the would-be internet entrepreneur to begin a real, live business of his or her very own. But the real beauty of affiliate programs lies not in what they can do for you, as an affiliate, but what they can do for you, as a recruiter of affiliates for your own program. By all means jump on the bandwagon and start promoting other people's products to get your start. But don't wait too long to start developing your own product line. There is a ready-made salesforce numbering in the millions ready and waiting to sell it for you.

The Duplicate Content Problem of Article Marketing

Submitting articles to article directories is one of the latest methods that web site owners and search engine optimisation experts use to get more and better quality traffic. Articles allow you to get hundreds of quality links with a lost less effort and better results than link exchanges and other more traditional methods.

The problem is if you submit exactly the same article to multiple sites, Google, Yahoo and some other search engines will ignore a lot of the articles due to a filter often called the duplicate content penalty. Nobody really knows how this filter works or at what level an article is rejected. Here's some techniques to overcome this penalty.

Mix and match the article elements Your typical article directory article consists of a title, a summary, a body, an author/resource box and article keywords. The theory is if you have multiple versions of each element and combine those elements differently each time you post your article, there is less chance the search engines will see the article as a duplicate and give the article it's rightful place in the main index.

Let us say you have four different versions of each of the four major elements (assuming the keywords stay pretty much the same), that means for a little extra effort you can have 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 = 256 versions of basically the same article reducing the chances of the articles being penalised.

Article Body The best tip with the article body is to structure the text into blocks that can be rearranged at will and still make sense. The filter will not be able to identify duplicate content as easily as exact copies. This approach also makes writing the article far easier than trying to create a 500 word block of text.

Another tip when dealing with the body copy is to replace words and phrases with meaningful, but different equivalents. For example, in writing this article I can substitute the term SEO practitioner, for search engine marketer, webmaster, web site owner, online marketer or even Google guru. The article still makes sense, but it is textually different to other versions. In other words the article still has the same tone and meaning but has a large proportion of different words.

Article Summary In forum posts discussing the duplicate content penalty a consistent theme is that the article summary, or snippet as it is often called, is examined very closely by the search engines for existing duplicates. As with the title, it is useful to have numerous and very different versions of that article summary.

Article Titles The article title is very important from a reader point of view as well as a duplicate penalty point of view. Many article directories use the title of the article as the basis for creating the url to that articles page. By varying the article title there is less chance of the search engines believing they have already indexed that page.

Article resource box As most SEO practitioners realise, the resource box is a very important element, if not the most important element, of the article. It is in the resource box that article authors get the opportunity to link to the most appropriate pages in their web site.

As with the other elements it can be beneficial to change the text in this section so as to avoid the duplicate content penalty. Just by rearranging the order of links and anchor text can produce excellent results.

In Closing Article marketing is a popular technique of promoting your web site, getting links and building online credibility. The trouble is if you submit exactly the same article to multiple article directories, you run the risk of Google ignoring your article and those all important links due to the duplicate content penalty. By following the steps above you will reduce the risk and generate more traffic and better rankings for less work.

The Duplicate Content Problem of Article Marketing posted by aman toor - indiSolutions

Making Money Online - It Isn't All That Difficult

The topic of how to make money online is a popular one. In fact, a Google search returns nearly two hundred million responses to that query. Obviously, there are many people who are interested in making money online or working from home. Why, then, are so few people able to actually do it?

There are several reasons why making money online is difficult to do.

The Web is competitive; it is difficult to find a niche today that isn't already being exploited by someone else.

Setting up a business on the Internet may require a cash investment that some would-be entrepreneurs simply don't have available to them.

Going into business online may require a skill set, such as writing or programming skills that some people who would like to get involved just don't have.

While these may be obstacles to certain types of moneymaking ventures, it doesn't eliminate all of them. In fact, there are hundreds of ways to make money that don't involve large investments of cash, programming skills, or the ability to push online giants such as Amazon out of the marketplace.

Here are a few examples of ways to make money online:

Create your own online store. You don't need to know how to build a Website; many Web hosts offer complete, "turnkey" shopping cart systems. You just need to fill in the blanks to add merchandise. Some wholesalers will even drop ship merchandise for you, so you don't have to stock or ship the merchandise yourself.

Sell things on eBay. If you aren't the sort of person who likes finding bargains at garage sales, you can even make money promoting eBay. The auction site will pay you a small commission for every new customer you send to them who signs up and bids on something. Some eBay partners earn more than a million dollars per year this way.

Create a blog. If you do have the ability to write a bit, you can create a blog about any subject that happens to fascinate you. Google or any one of a number of other companies can place advertisements on your blog that pay you if anyone clicks on them. Each click won't pay much, but it can add up over time.

Sell products through affiliate marketing. There are no limits to how many different things you can promote online as an affiliate. Amazon has an affiliate program that pays you a commission if you send someone to the site that buys something.

The possibilities for making money online are endless, if you only put your mind to it. If you can't come up with ideas on your own, just do a Web search. After all, there are some two hundred million answers out there.

Making Money Online - It Isn't All That Difficult

Making Money Online With Article Marketing

This article is not to make you an expert on making money online but it is just to cater to your need of being aware of the topic.

If you are interested in making money online, this article is what you must have been searching for. You just have a look at it to confirm my claim.

Reaching the half way mark can provide you with ample signs of what is in store for the next half. So, if you are satisfied with what you have read about making money online here, you would not be disappointed further also.

One way of promoting your website and product can be achieved for free. As an additional bonus, this "free" method can boost your sites and sales, doubling and even tripling your income.

I won't blame you if you were hesitating in reading this article. Each one of us cares for our time. But now when you have been reading this article about making money online, do you still think that you are wasting your time?

Articles. One of the easiest ways to promote your website in order to generate traffic and increase your earnings.

Reading this article must have proved a reality check for you to really gauge your level of understanding of making money online. So, do you still think that you know everything that is to be known about making money online?

How does this work?

Fresh information and fresh insight are something which are very rarely found on the net and that is what we have tried to offer to our readers. Now when you are reading this article, you can verify the truth of my claims.

Write articles relating to your website and submit them to "free content" submission sites. Easy to do, takes little time and can increase your website traffic, sales and of course, your income.

Reading article has become a monotonous job for many because of the repetitiveness of the content in most of the articles. But when you are reading this article on making money online, do you still think that we have also presented stale content to my readers?

How can article writing boost traffic and income?

Reading the general stuff published on the net makes one reluctant to read articles on the net. But now when you are reading this article, you must have found that I am not amongst those who publish those banal stuff.

The article on the free content site contains a link to your own website. Readers, after reading your articles, may choose to click on the link and pay you an unexpected visit. Having them on the free content sites is also making these articles available to other webmasters who may wish to publish that article on their site.

One thing must have been clear to you during your journey to this half way stage of this article on making money online. I am talking about my sincerity in providing you with quality content about making money online.

If they do, your article will include a link back to your site. And anyone who reads the article on that site can still click on the link to visit your site.

It goes without saying that you are interested in making money online and that is what prompted you to read this article. It is now for you decide if your effort has been fruitful or not.

As the list of your published articles grow larger, and more and more of them are appearing on different websites, the total number of links to your site increases also. Major search engines are placing a lot of significance on incoming links to websites so they can determine the importance of a certain site.

So, do you still think that you know everything that was to be known about making money online? Don't you feel that there were so many things that were to be known about making money online?

The more incoming links the website has, the more importance search engines attaches to it. This will then increase your website's placement in the search results.

If you site is into promoting a product or service, the links that your articles have achieved will mean more potential customers for you. Even if visitors only browse through, you never know if they might be in need of what you are offering in the future. There are also those who already have specific things they need on their mind but cannot decide yet between the many choices online. Chances are, they may stumble upon one of your articles, gets interested by the contents you wrote, go to your site and became enticed by your promotions. See how easy that is?

Search engines do not just index the websites, they also index published articles. They also index any article that is written about your own website's topic. So once someone searches for that same topic, the list of results will have your site or may even show the articles that you have written.

And to think, no effort on your part was used to bring them to your site. Just your published articles and the search engines.

It is no wonder why many webmasters are suddenly reviving their old writing styles and taking time to write more articles about their site than doing other means of promotion.

Getting their site known is easier if they have articles increasing their links and traffic and making it accessible for visitors searching the internet. Since many people are now taking their buying needs online, having your site on the search engines through your articles is one way of letting them know about you and your business.

The good thing with articles is that you can write about things that people would want to know about. This can be achieved in the lightest mood but professional manner, with a little not-so-obvious sales pitch added.

If you think about it, only a few minutes of your time is spent on writing one article and submitting to free content site. In the shortest span of time also, those are distributed to more sites than you can think of. Even before you know what is happening, you are getting more visitors than you previously had.

If you think you are wasting your time writing these articles, fast forward to the time when you will see them printed and wide-spread on the internet. Not to mention the sudden attention and interest that people are giving your website and your products or services.

Try writing some articles and you will be assured of the sudden surge in site traffic, link popularity and interest. Before you know it, you will be doubling and even tripling your earnings.

Nothing like getting benefits for something you got for free.

That was all about making money online and now do you still have the confusions that you had about making money online? You can learn more about how to profits from articles at Making Money Online with Article Profits

Making Money Online With Article Marketing -- indiSolutions

Adsense Secrets & More Revealed!

Professionals have their own adsense secrets to success. Some of them have the same while others have unique strategies.

If you will make a research on the web about Adsense secrets, you will only be guided by the different websites with their ads and they will most likely sell the answers to you. Since you are hoping to get answers to all your questions, you will do anything just to know their secret.

You may think of buying any solution that you are presented but understand that almost all the people who want to share their adsense secret are the same.

Now before you make any move, it will be helpful if you do some research on the different search engines. There may be a hundreds of forums that will be displayed on your search. It can be a good way to get valuable information that you can use on your site.

Reading articles written by professional internet marketers are also a good source. Some of the marketers share their own experiences and adsense secrets to help the beginners who wish to succeed in the field of marketing. You can read through hundreds of articles and you can surely get something out of reading them.

Although most of the answers that you can get will ask you to do a little bit of work, it will be worth the try if you really want to succeed. Everyone in the marketing field increased their profits without trying the different strategies.

The web service is a good source for adsense secrets. You can use good keywords to find advices and tips. You can use keywords in the search engines such as: adsense tips, increase adsense income, adsense experiments and adsense adsense tricks. You will be shown with a lot of good information that you can choose from.

If there are different strategies shown, you can choose one which you think will best work for you. But if you can use two or more at the same time, chances are you will be getting good results in a few days. However, these strategies need dedication and perseverance. You also need to have your own sense of style to be applied on the adsense secrets.

The internet will be the best resource and its all in just one click and you are in for success. You just have to be patient in making your search.

If you want to increase the traffic of your site, you will obviously increase your income. The real adsense secret is to be on top of the search engines or have more and more visitors on your site.

In order to increase traffic to your site, you can have a fresh content into your site. It is necessary to post different articles every other time so that the visitors and readers will visit your site more often. Just make sure that the articles are relevant to the theme of your site.

You can find a lot of good authors who will offer services at a low cost provided that their names will be displayed in the author resource box.

The real adsense secret is to have a good site that your readers can benefit a lot while doing the same for you. it is important that you know your customers and you know what they exactly need.