Building a second income stream

By using Google Adsense and affiliate programs, it is possible to build a second income stream.

Friday, January 19, 2007

The State of Search Engine Advertising: Reality and Alternatives

Copyright © 2007 Mel Strocen, All Rights Reserved


The herd mentality never fails to amaze me. When the pay-per-click concept was first pioneered in 1997-98 by GoTo.com (now Yahoo! Search Marketing), it was years before the model was widely accepted. GoTo virtually created the market for pay-for-performance search single-handedly and redefined how businesses market online while other search engines sat on their collective hands. Then, when it was obvious that there was "Gold in Them Thar (PPC) Hills" hundreds of search engines entered the PPC arena and hordes of advertisers followed suit.

As a search engine advertising model, pay-per-click was, and is, brilliant in its simplicity. In theory, it is a perfect way to bill advertisers based on consumer interest in their advertisements. Unfortunately, in real life money can bring out the worst in human, and business, nature. In today's search engine reality, pay-per-click should be on its last legs. But, as anyone with a knowledge of the search engine industry knows that simply isn't the case.

Let's first examine the main reasons why advertisers should be abandoning PPC in droves:

1. Cost

According to the Fathom Online Keyword Price Index (http://www.fathomonline.com/120506.html), the average keyword price paid by online advertisers reversed a downward trend and increased 16.5% percent to $1.48 in the third quarter of 2006, up from a $1.43 per click at the end of 2005.

That's one report. Another compiled by Click Forensics (http://www.eadp.org/index.php?q=node/14525) concluded that the average pay-per-click search-term cost was $4.51 across retail, financial services, health and fitness, technology and entertainment advertising. Whatever the average cost, it's too high for most small to medium-sized businesses.

More stats and information on PPC trends (conflicting or otherwise) can be found at the links below:

SEM Services: Trends and Predictions (http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-17-2006-105774.asp)

DoubleClick Performics 50 Search Trend Report Q1 2006 (http://www.doubleclick.com/us/knowledge_central/documents/trend_reports/dc_search_q106.pdf)

Advertisers Cutting Google AdWords Spending With Surge of Keyword Prices (http://searchengineland.com/070108-154101.php)

2. Click Fraud

You gotta love stats. In researching this article, click fraud was cited as running anywhere from a low of 2.0% to a high of 35% - a range guaranteed to put a smile on the faces of government flunkies that like to boggle the public with reams of out-of-context figures. Since stats can be massaged to support just about any argument, I won't bore you with a list of supporting links.

If you're interested, just do a search on "Click Fraud percentages" or "35% Click Fraud" and review at your leisure.

3. No Accountability

PPC engines bill without providing any backup as to the origin of the clicks received. It's the "trust us" philosophy of business. Hey, if you're not savvy enough to look for, or find, fraud, then obviously there wasn't any. Why would you think otherwise?

Not all advertisers, however, are content to accept the "trust us" approach to customer relations. Expect more suits like last year's class action suit against Google.

Google Agrees To $90 Million Settlement In Class Action Lawsuit Over Click Fraud (http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060308-152034)

Click Fraud Concerns Hound Google (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1934655)

Of the three reasons noted above, the first and third are known to any PPC advertiser and the second is widely ignored. Why? Because many advertisers would prefer to believe that the big PPC players are doing their best to monitor and control the click fraud problem. And, of course, they believe this because companies that make billions of dollars from PPC ads have no vested interest in padding their bottom line and making their investors happy. Also, there's the fact that the Internet is immune to scams and rip-offs. Plus, as we all know, history has shown that industries and companies that police themselves are above reproach.

Is this the world we live in? Remember Enron and WorldCom? In the real world, the equation reads as follows:

Money + No Accountability = YouRippedOff

But to be fair, not all advertisers turn a blind eye to the threat of click-fraud. The sad fact is that most are either unaware there is a problem or are ignorant of the extent of the problem. These advertisers simply do not have the technical know how to investigate click fraud as it applies to them or to determine how it affects them - by which I mean how much money they are losing.

Generally, this group is impressed with numbers. If they receive hundreds of clicks per day on a PPC ad, they are in click heaven. The same group is especially enamoured with all things Google. All other advertising models are measured against Google's AdWords and AdSense programs and found wanting. The problem is that only God and Google really know where their clicks and impressions come from, but why worry since both subscribe to "Do No Evil".

So, how bad is click fraud? Worse than you think and worse than has been reported and, if you've missed what has been reported, the links below provide an overview:

1/ The Sausage Manifesto By Jeffry K. Rohrs, December 18, 2006 http://www.sausagemanifesto.com/the-sausage-manifesto/

2/ New Click Fraud Allegations, With a Twist By Kevin Newcomb | December 8, 2006, http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624150

3/ The Silent Epidemic of Botnets By Jim Hedger, December 6, 2006 http://www.sitepronews.com/archives/2006/dec/6.html

4/ The Vanishing Click-Fraud Case By Ben Elgin, December 4, 2006/ http://businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2006/ tc20061204_923336.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_more+of+today%27s+top+stories

5/ A True 2nd Tier PPC Click Fraud Story By Carsten Cumbrowski, November 15, 2006 http://www.searchenginejournal.com/?p=3996

6/ Click Fraud The Dark Side of Online Advertising Business Week Magazine October 2, 2006 http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_40/b4003001.htm

7/ Google, Yahoo Click Fraud Audits: When Will Advertisers Demand Them? By Donna Bogatin, August 25th, 2006 ZDNet http://blogs.zdnet.com/micro-markets/?p=381

8/ Yahoo Used in SpyWare Click Fraud Scheme By Jim Hedger, Tuesday, April 04, 2006 http://news.stepforth.com/blog/2006/04/yahoo-used-in-spyware-click-fraud.php

Still not convinced? then, listen to the following interview with the CEO of AIT Inc. Clarence Briggs who was one of the lead plaintiffs in last year's Google class action suit:

http://www.webmasterradio.fm/breakingstory.php

These stories should serve as a wake up call to any thinking person that a large number of clicks don't necessarily equate to sales or money well spent. And, if you think click fraud is just part of the cost of doing business, then there are thousands of scam artists out there who are ready to be your best friend.

Can the PCC industry be saved? Not without accountability from the major players. In any other industry if you paid for something - say 100 widgets - you would expect to get 100 widgets. If you received 60 widgets, you would want to know what happened to the other 40. And, if the supplier said, "trust me, I sent a 100", you would demand proof.

Even when there are external and independent monitoring agencies working on behalf of consumers and investors, fraud occurs, as in the case of WorldCom and Enron. When an industry polices itself - well, you figure it out.

So, if pay-per-click is a poor choice for your advertising dollars because of rising costs, fraud and lack of industry accountability, what are the alternatives?

1. Organic SEO (Search Engine Optimization): The blanket term used to describe the unpaid, algorithm-driven search results of a search engine, and the methodologies used to achieve such website rankings. (Source: http://www.mediumblue.com/newsletters/organic-seo.html)

Entails a learning curve to become knowlegeable in accepted SEO techniques but worth the time and effort given that it's generally accepted that around 80%-90% of all traffic to websites originates from search engines. If time is money to you, hire a reputable SEO consultant. Use the savings from the money you would have spent on a PPC campaign.

2. Paid Inclusion: Refers to the payment of a one-time fee for placement of a website listing within a search engine's paid or organic search results. Not as popular an advertising model as it once was (read not as much money in it for search engines) but could be poised to make a comeback.

This model used to be the main revenue generator for a number of search engines with Inktomi being the best known proponent. Advertisers would pay an annual fee to appear in Inktomi's search results as well as the results of other engines powered by Inktomi. The hook was frequent crawling (every 48 hours) which allowed webmasters to see the results of their SEO efforts quickly.

Paid inclusion hasn't died, but it has morphed with variations still being offered by Yahoo! and other engines. Probably, the most interesting variation was launched about 18 months ago by ExactSeek.com and the ISEDN (Independent Search Engine & Directory Network). In a nutshell, the ISEDN offers a hybrid advertising model which offers rotating top 10 site listing exposure across a growing network of smaller search engines as well as web, blog and article directories (currently, there are 260 ISEDN members) for flat fee rates. Pricing is based on time rather than keyword bidding. Buying a single ad listing for 3 months costs $12 and $36 for 12 months. The model is simple and affordable, offering all of the advantages of the PPC model without any of the drawbacks. More details at:

http://www.exactseek.com/featured_listings.html

3. Cost Per Action: From an advertiser's perspective, this could be the ideal advertising model since the advertiser would only pay for an ad when a specific action had occurred such as a sale or a registration. Back in June of 2006, there were several reports that Google was testing a version of its AdWords product using the CPA model. (http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3615476). Not much has been heard since. The CPA model is widely used in the affiliate and lead generation industries, but don't hold your breath waiting for wholesale adoption by the search engines.

4. Pay-Per-Percentage: Put forward by Microsoft as a solution to both click and impression fraud. Below is a quote from a Microsoft research paper:

"In this system, an advertiser picks a keyword, e.g. "cameras" and purchases, perhaps through bidding, a certain percentage of all impressions for that keyword. For instance, an advertiser might pay $1.00 to MSN Search. In return, the advertiser might receive 10% of all impressions for "camera" for 1 week. What does this mean? It means that for 1 week, one out of ten times that someone searches for the word "camera", they will see the ad."

You can read the full abstract for an in-depth explanation. (http://research.microsoft.com/~joshuago/percentageworkshop-final.pdf)

The Microsoft PPP advertising model was proposed, perhaps not coincidentally, around the same time Google was testing the CPA model. Again, not much has been heard since then.

Will any of the above alternatives dethrone PPC? Time will tell. Which brings us back full circle to the herd mentality. If and when the advertiser herd twigs to the fact that PPC is a hype driven industry with very little substance and begins to move to a new advertising model, expect PPC engines to shift advertising gears faster than you can say "Who wants to stay a billionaire".

About The Author:
Mel Strocen is CEO of the Jayde Online Network of websites and founder of the Independent Search Engine & Directory Network. The Jayde network is comprised of more than 20 websites, including ExactSeek.com, SiteProNews.com, SEO-News.com, and GoArticles.com.


Article Source: thePhantomWriters Article Submission Service

Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Setting Boundaries. What?...Boundaries That Empower the Work at Home Entrepreneur

Copyright © 2006-2007 Ruby River


With the ever increasing stressors and decreases of today's work environment, more people are deciding to move out of employment and move into a home based business. This decision is being made for a variety of reasons, and while the end line is usually the bottom line, flexibility, more often than not, is the key objective. Our world is quickly turning into one where there is more work at home entrepreneurs than ever before, and that number is continuing to rise. These are just some of the benefits. Add as you will:

1. No commuting. 2. More family time. 3. Setting your own schedule. 4. Receiving the total benefits for your hard work (nothing like being the CEO of your own creation) 5. Everyday is casual day!

Sounds appealing, doesn't it? It is, however, for those that have created a home based business need to learn how to formulate, implement, and consistently adhere to a few boundaries. Boundaries are important for productivity, consistency and creating a Flow. Most of your family and friends would not consider calling you at your employment to gossip, ask you to run an errand, or ask anything of you that would take up your time or take you away from your employment during work hours. Unfortunately, often for the work at home entrepreneur, family, friends and neighbors do not really understand the distinctions that while you may be "at home," you are definitely "at work," and that your "real business" takes "real dedication." It is up to you to set the boundaries you want followed, and it is up to you to be sure that it happens. Setting boundaries begins with you. You need to set boundaries for yourself, and be the example of your own expectations.

Obviously, before you begin setting out to set-up your business boundaries, think about your individual business and its requirements. For example, if most of your work is in an Internet home based business capacity, with very few, if any, real life meetings or telephone calls, you have a bit more flexibility in your schedule. If, on the other hand, your work at home business consists of meetings and telephone calls during normal business hours, you will want to take that into consideration.

With all this in mind, here are three steps that could be taken in order to create and implement those needed boundaries:

Normal business hours. Not that you can not change things up here and there, because you can - this is why you have a work at home business, but setting your normal, daily business hours will help in a multitude of ways. For one, family and friends can be told that you work on such and such days from such and such time and that unless it is an emergency, you are not available.

Flexibility with structure. Be aware of family events, errands, or other issues that may break up your day ahead of schedule. No, you can not always plan for these things, but when you can, remember to work first and play later. This way, you can start your work day earlier, or plan on working later to encompass those preplanned events. It is far too easy to promise ourselves that we will "get back to something later," when without a plan, we often do not. This will give you a less stressed work day so when those unexpected things do pop up, you will feel more able to deal with them.

You have committed to a home based business and with this decision comes with it the bottom line--flexibility and yes, personal fulfillment. If you want to take your children to school, pick them up from school; take an art class; go to the gym during your work day--these activities could be included everyday in your business boundaries. It is your business and you are your own boss.

Put physical boundaries in place. Take steps to decrease your interruptions. This could include setting up a work only email address (and then do not check your personal email during working hours!) having a dedicated phone line or cell phone for your home based business (this way you can let your home number go to voicemail while you are working). Also, you can create a "Do Not Disturb" sign for your office door - when you hang it up and close your door, this will signify to your family that you are in serious work mode.

For the most part, boundaries are about the realization of the commitment you made to yourself when you decided to work at home. Decide on your boundaries, communicate them, and then commit yourself to following through. The end result will be a fulfilling home based business that gives you everything you desire!

About The Author:
Ruby River is the proud owner of an established, home based business with a system that cuts through the hype and presents a genuine opportunity to exceed your income goals working from home. Motivated, entrepreneur minded individuals, visit http://www.livegreatlife.com


Article Source: thePhantomWriters Article Submission Service

Labels: , ,

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Free photos - Free images - Free stock photos. FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As you know, adding an image to your article or post will increase its appeal to your readers. In the past I have used flickr, but I have found another service I like, FreeDigitalPhotos.net. I have found some great pictures that I have used. Also, unlike flickr, the usage terms for the photos is clean and easy to find. This is very important when posting an image. Check it out! Free photos - Free images - Free stock photos. FreeDigitalPhotos.net: "Free photos Thousands of royalty free stock photos for websites, PowerPoint presentations, newsletters, forums, blogs, schools and homework. Our images may be used for commercial and non commercial work - please see our terms for more information. The pictures may also be used as reference photos for artists."

How to Build a Really Great Business? (Super Success Secrets from a Legendary Business Master)

Copyright © 2007 Chet Holmes


Times are tough. The economy is in a constant state of upheaval. Is your company doing better than most? Are you placing greater emphasis on pure performance?

If you haven't maybe it's time for a serious round of intense corporate soul searching. But do you know how?

Business consultant Chet Holmes says that beyond pure financial performance, most companies can really benefit from finding out what it really means to be a great company.

And the answer lies within.

Holmes is a man who is heavily engaged in corporate introspection with Fortune 500 companies.

He is widely credited with bringing a consultant's passion for rigorous self assessment and performance measurement with him.

Now, however, Holmes is obsessed with more than just the numbers. He's saying that companies must examine the company's culture and inner workings to find ways to be more than just profitable.

He's discovered that the breakthroughs can be achieved only if you figure out how to can tap into the incredible treasure trove of knowledge, harness the energies and then channel the efforts of your employees to help you become great.

Just think, you may have invested millions in automated systems.

Have you any real idea how they are being used?

Ask the employees.

Your people may know how to make money for you, but are the procedures and processes based on intuition, personal and professional experience, and corporate memory? Can these systems be readily duplicated or transferred in the event of accidents, sickness or major changes in personnel?

Ask the employees.

"It's possible to become the world's most efficient, relentless, and competitive machine," says Holmes. "But you have to find out what your company is really doing."

How do you do that?

Ask the employees.

Holmes is regularly brought in to lead companies through a discussion to find out what this really means. He has mastered the processes needed to identify the changes needed to make a company better. His skills are in demand.

Usually, he gets permission to hold a series of strategy sessions. He starts by asking employees to tell the boss how the company is doing.

How are we doing?

Is the top management strategy on track? What are we doing right? What hurts? What needs fixing?

Holmes helps the company identify specific items that reveal the things that standing in the way of becoming a much better company.

"Even one process improvement meeting can give you six months of things to fix in your company," Holmes says.


Case in point: Too Many Exceptions to the Rule..."

In one company session one of the items that came up was a vague notion:

"Too many exceptions to the rule."

Holmes asked people for specific instances or situations where this occurs. In an hours time he facilitated creation of a list of specific examples to document what people meant.

The list revealed 19 different situations where this company had never bothered to create procedures, policies or standards by which people operate.

Turned out that very few people really had any concrete idea how things were done across the company. The shock and pain was deep and felt company wide.

Holmes then asked the very same people how to fix it or make it better:

"What can we do to make the pain go away?"

They used a whiteboard to capture all the brainstormed ideas. Then they focused on culling the list of possible actions until they came up with two viable correction strategies for each problem. Using consensus, they went for the reasonable solutions that could reduce the most pain first.

The employees worked with management and implemented the corrective actions until all the 19 problems were fixed within two weeks.

Some of the solutions involved simple form letters. Some involved putting up a section on their website where many of these questions were answered (the customer service people would then send an email with the link).

Some solutions required setting boundaries by which the customer service people could operate, even creating a tiered approach to what they could do. (Meaning, try this, if that doesn't work, do this, if that doesn't work do this, etc...)

Virtually every area where they once had to go to a supervisor was fixed, creating some standard operating procedure for people to refer to and follow that didn't involve the supervisor to the same extent.

The results were astonishing. The entire company runs better now. In two weeks, they solved problems the company had had for a decade.

Many of the problems went all the way up to the president of the company. And when they solved all these problems, it lightened his load, and that of his direct reports, very significantly.

One major benefit was that top management was free to work on more important things.


Case In Point: Lead Generation

Holmes guides companies through process improvement on other pressing business development needs, including lead generation.

One initiative showed just how powerful a process improvement can be.

The first session initiated a discussion that resulted in ideas to drive lead generation. The employees also decided it would be beneficial to tune up communication pieces.

They decided to meet once a week for one hour to work on process improvement.

Next meeting, they looked at how prospects and customers interact with the company.

They identified all possible interfaces and zeroed in on the first point of contact.

Whenever a prospect touches the company via the web, email, phone call, personal interaction or whatever they took each area and asked the simple question,

"What would make this more potent?"

The employees worked their way through the complete sales process.

The issues that resulted focused on:

  • "How can they establish quick rapport?"
  • "How can they build even more rapport?"
  • "How much do they learn about the prospect?"
  • "How do they create desire?"

    A couple of meetings later they decided to looked at how they close the sale.

    The employees identified and worked through the issues:

  • "What could we offer to sweeten the deal?"
  • "How many different ways could we cost justify?"
  • "How could we make it so it was painful NOT to buy?"
  • "Could we offer risk-reversal at the point of sale?"

    But they weren't done there-They were so enthused they wanted to look at what happens after the sale is made. So they developed more issues:

  • "What is the follow up?"
  • "What else can we offer?"
  • "How can we get something going that creates an annuity?"

    Holmes said, "Over a five month period, every aspect of the sales process was examined and systematically improved. They totally re-invented the entire sales process."

    Before the process improvement sessions the company was getting one sale for every 100 internet leads After the sessions that changed to six sales out of 50 leads.

    One year after the process improvement effort the Internet had become their primary source of prospects and sales.


    Working On The Business

    We've all heard the saying: "work ON the business not just IN the business." Here's how you work ON it:

    You have to ask people three questions:

  • Where's the pain?
  • What needs to be fixed?
  • What can we do to fix it?

    Process improvement can be a very profound and beneficial experience for your company.

    "However, the most difficult task may for you to let your people speak freely and let them tell you what they think. You have to resist the desire to tell them what you think."

    Many companies have never asked their staff "what's broken?"

    Holmes warns however, "Top management has to be prepared to deal with difficult responses without retribution. Ask these questions and the employees will tell you.

    But you have to be willing to respond with care, sensitivity, and immunity.

    Employees will remain loyal and enthused only if the CEO and management demonstrates respect, integrity, honesty, and forthrightness through the process."

    Externally, the company profits and earnings determine the company's net worth.

    Internally, it's an achievement when employees can say "I believe in my company and they believe in me and that's why I'm proud to be an employee."

    It's pretty difficult for companies to manage process improvement without professional help. Having a trained improvement specialist will help make sure that no one can get hurt by what they say and no one will be made to feel stupid or intimidated.

    The ideas matter, not who says them. Give people time to think and write some notes before they share their ideas. Capture ideas but not who says them. That way you'll get way better quality answers.

    "If you have a good staff, the only thing the CEO needs to bring to a meeting is his good judgment and the willingness to see things through the eyes of the employees."

    "When you do process improvement, for management it's KMS Time (Keep Mouth Shut). It may be difficult but you have to stop talking and listen carefully. You have to let the data tell you what's happening.

    Your people will fill you with valuable information and ideas on how to fix problems you didn't even know existed, and lead you to unimagined profits, if only you let them."

    About The Author:
    Chet Holmes is founder of http://www.howtodoublesales.com is known for Holmes doubling sales of every company given to him as a line executive working for billionaire Charlie Munger. He has conducted training for more than 50 Fortune 500 and other prestigious companies and is author of The Mega Marketing & Sales Training Program, Business Growth Masters Series and Guerrilla Marketing Meets Karate Master.

    For more information visit http://www.howtodoublesales.com


    Article Source: thePhantomWriters Article Submission Service

    Labels: , , , , , ,

  • Monday, January 15, 2007

    Why You Should Strive to Create More Than Just Back Links

    Copyright © 2006-2007 Trey Pennewell


    I read a message on a forum the a while back where a new webmaster was asking for suggestions regarding article submissions to create back links. The person asked how long the articles should be, how many hyperlinks to include, and other questions about article submissions. I was quite surprised by some of the responses that this poster received.


    What Sort of Advice Was Given...

    It was actually recommended that articles only need to be 250 words long and that the person asking the question should include 4-5 hyperlinks. Another person suggested to write a 500-word article and to include many hyperlinks, because the only purpose of the articles were to create back links.

    There is some truth to this... A person could write a short article and get it submitted to many article directories. And, simply generating back links is one way that a webmaster can increase his or her position in the search engine rankings.

    But, writing a 250-word article will probably not result in that webmaster being considered an expert on the topic that he or she is writing about.


    Experts In Their Fields

    Taking the time to create an informative and helpful article will help a person to be considered an expert in his or her field. Imagine for a moment if some of the most famous names on the Internet were to only write brief articles to generate back links. Would Matt Cutts (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/) receive the recognition that he does if he just scribbled a few sentences here and there? Would Joel Comm (http://www.joelcomm.com/) be considered an Adsense expert without writing informative how-to articles and books for those wanting to make money from Adsense? Would you know or care who Robin Nobles (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/) was if she did not create in-depth articles about search engine optimization? Would you even be bothering to read this article?

    You can generate a bit of traffic by creating back links by hammering out low-quality articles. But, if you want to be known as an expert, you need to take a different approach and provide the quality information people are seeking. If you have information and expertise that others are unable to find on the Internet, then you will get many more visitors as a result of writing an article.

    If you are looking for more than simple back links to your site, then it is worth it to take the time to write a high-quality article. A high quality article, that is written with the reader in mind --- not the search engines --- is more likely to actually get clicks (human visitors) into your site. This is what separates the very successful webmasters from those who are simply getting by.

    To be known as an expert or an authority in your area requires articles and information that human beings will actually read. After reading this kind of article, a person will think to himself "This author has the information that I am looking for" and the reader will then visit the writer's website.


    How To Succeed With Article Marketing

    A well-written article can be submitted to literally thousands of publishers of ezines, newsletters, and free reprint article sites and can result in dozens and sometimes hundreds of back links for a website. Now, not every publisher will pick up your article, but for the ones that do, you get a back link. More important than the back links though is the number of people that will cite your article, forward it to their friends, and reference it in their own articles that they are distributing.

    These high-quality articles are how a webmaster becomes known as an "authority" on a topic. When you write for the reader and offer something of real value, you will reap the rewards with a huge influx of traffic to your website.


    How To Fail With Article Marketing

    Generalized junk articles that are filled with hyperlinks and self promotion will only result in a few back links, and people who actually read those less-than-quality articles are not very likely to ever visit your site.

    Poorly written articles are also unlikely to get published in ezines and newsletters where you can reach potentially thousands of readers in a single day.

    The worst thing about the low-quality junk articles is that if people do read them, they might always think of you as a "junk peddler", and most people don't buy from people whom they perceive as "junk peddlers".

    As a webmaster, you need to decide for yourself what goals you have in mind for your article submission campaign. If you limit yourself to only generating back links, you will not see the full potential of visitors and traffic that you could be getting to your website.


    A Final Thought...

    An article that is good enough to wind up on sites like http://www.About.com can give you a huge and consistent growth in traffic for some time to come. Articles that are picked up by large newsletters like http://www.SiteProNews.com can deliver thousands of visitors to your website in a day, add to your credentials as an "authority" website, and will create a situation where your website is one of the first places that people turn to for information in your field.

    The bottom line is that if you write for the human reader instead of the search engines, you will be rewarded with many more visitors, and you can gain an authority status among your visitors.

    The choice is yours. You can spend an extra hour or two creating a high-quality article that will be published on more websites creating more back links to your website, establish you as an authority in your field, and allow you to see thousands of visitors in a day when your article is published in one or a dozen ezines. Or you can save the extra hour or two and pray that your limited efforts will amount to anything of real value.

    About The Author:
    Trey Pennewell is a writer who creates articles that will be used to develop links for the clients of the Links And Traffic.com inbound link development services. Trey even practices what he preaches - his own articles have appeared on hundreds of great quality websites. Trey writes on several topics that are related to the target markets of Links And Traffic customers. Feel free to use this article on your website, so long as all links remain clickable. http://www.LinksAndTraffic.com


    Article Source: thePhantomWriters Article Submission Service

    Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,