Feature Article #1

What Is Link Popularity, Why Does It Matter, And How Can You Improve It?

When I first got started online, I tried some of the more conventional methods of advertising (and the things beginners fall for!). I tried buying traffic and I tried expensive PPC and I tried submitting to all the search engines.  And it worked–sort of.  I received traffic, I made a few sales, and I got […]

R. Scott Hall | September 5th, 2008 | Continued

Feature Article #2

How Article Marketing Can Increase Your Link Popularity

Link popularity has been a raging topic over the last few years as search engines have used the number of inbound links to proxy for the popularity of a website–hence the term link popularity.  Webmasters unfortunately took high advantage of the search engines, creating massive link farms, where hundreds or thousands of websites would band […]

R. Scott Hall | September 1st, 2008 | Continued

Feature Article #3

Introduction to Search Engine Marketing: Basic Techniques

What is search engine marketing?
Search engine marketing involves strategically optimizing the elements of your web site and your web campaign in such a way that your site becomes popular in the major search engines.
There are two primary types of search engine marketing, the paid method, or pay-per-click, and the unpaid method, natural search engine results.
The […]

R. Scott Hall | August 28th, 2008 | Continued

Feature Article #4

How Articles Add Octane to Your Link Building Strategy

There are a number of link building strategies online today, some that are more effective than others.
I personally have found that writing articles and submitting them to the online article directories is one of the most effective ways to build high-quality back links to my site.
How does it work?
Basically when you write an article and […]

R. Scott Hall | August 27th, 2008 | Continued

Feature Article #5

Tips and Tricks to Make Article Marketing Work for You

A lot has been written lately on article writing and article marketing for link popularity and search engine optimization.  The question always remains, does it really work?  And it is sure hard to tie article marketing to specific search engine rankings.  So much of our ‘results’ are based on gut feelings and hunches.
So here’s what […]

R. Scott Hall | August 25th, 2008 | Continued

About this Site

Hello, I am a Senior Director for Social Media and Content at the second largest internet and web video infrastructure provider in the United States, based in New York, NY.  Some of our global clients include YouTube, Libsyn, Microsoft and Facebook, just to name a few.  The purpose of this blog is to pummel you with valuable […]

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Other Recent Articles

Article Marketing Your Way to Google’s Top Ten

August 22nd, 2008 • R. Scott Hall • 0 comments • Related • Filed Under

Perhaps you have seen ads and promotional material online hyping article writing and submission.  Perhaps you have wondered–does that really work?  Maybe you have even written a few articles, your web site rose a few notches in the search engines and you wonder if the articles have something to do with it.

Well, I have tried it.  Massive-like.  I wrote 15 articles and submitted them to as many as 80 different article directories.  Within a short period of time, the two web sites I was promoting had pages ranked in the top ten out of literally millions.  One web site made it to number one in Yahoo search engine and is still there six months later.  Accident?  I don’t think so.  I believe in article marketing.

So how do you do it?

First, write articles about anything related to your web site topic.  Make them easy to read, conversational in tone, and limit them to about 500-700 words.  For each article, state a problem and answer it, or give a list of helpful hints, or teach someone how to do something.

Next, write a bio about yourself, similar to the one I have at the end of this article.  Include a link to your web site.  This is the critical part of article marketing.  When the search engines pick up your link in the web directory to which you submitted the article, you get credit for having an inbound link.  Search engines generally assume that if you have more inbound links than another website, you must have more popularity.  Thus, they like to rank you higher in their search engine results.

Next, submit your articles to the various online article directories.  Use a search engine to find article directories—there are probably over a thousand of them out there.  Submit to as many different directories as possible, to create more links on different web sites.

Of course, you still have to do the normal search engine optimization and all.  Make sure your keywords are targeted, your meta-tags are correct, and you have good keyword density and content on your site for the keyword you would like to rank highly for.  Keep in mind, too, that it is better to be ranked number 1 for only one site than to have 10 ranked at number 40.

How to Use Article Marketing to Get Great Search Engine Rankings

August 20th, 2008 • R. Scott Hall • 0 comments • Related • Filed Under

We’ve all heard it before.  You’ve probably done it.  Submit articles and you will get search engine rankings.  Does it work?

Sometimes it is hard to know if something works, if you are doing many things that can impact your results.   For example, on my first web site, I did everything.  I submitted my site to search engines, I posted to forums, I submitted articles, I ran pay-per-click ads (which, incidentally, I believe boosts your linking power), and just about anything else to get traffic.  And that site very shortly made it to number one for a very targeted keyword and in the top ten for others.

My next site was a joint venture, and the ONLY search engine work I have done is a few search engine submissions and a lot of articles.  And that site is in the top ten for several phrases, on both the top search engines.

Search Engine Rankings: How to Make it to Number One–And Stay There!

August 18th, 2008 • R. Scott Hall • 0 comments • Related • Filed Under

Search Engine Rankings. Everyone wants to be number one, and there are millions of web sites out there. So how do you become number one and stay there consistently? Consistently is the key word here. Sure, you may apply the newest, best trick in the book today, but when someone else comes out with a better one tomorrow, you will be scrambling to get to the top again.

I think one of the keys is to be well-rounded. There are many books and philosophies about web rankings that are floating around. Some people say article marketing is the way to go, others link building, others say you have to maximize your web pages for the search engines. You have to get all your keywords right and your titles and description. But what happens when another web site does you one better in that area? Now you drop in rank. Therefore, I think it is more important that you do a good job in all the areas than to be the very best in one area. And I think it is OK to be number 8 or number 3 in rank, also. If you are in the very top spot and you are clicked simply because the top spot gets more clicks, are you really going to get more sales just because you are number one? Your product and site have to be relevant to the consumer, not just the search engine.

How I Went From Web Traffic Newbie to Traffic Pro–And How You Can, Too

August 12th, 2008 • R. Scott Hall • 1 comment • Related • Filed Under

I have to tell you this, when I first got started online I did what a lot of newbies do, I bought guaranteed traffic, and free and low cost advertising, and did lots of web directory submissions for my web site.  I have bought Google Adwords advertising.  I have participated in JV giveaways.  I have used safelists and traffic exchanges.  In short, I have done just about everything.

What I have found is that not only do I get more subscribers from my articles, relative to the time I spend writing and posting, than any other source of traffic, but I also have a higher response rate from subscribers who join my list via articles than I do from any other source.

So what do you have to do to use articles to drive traffic to your site?

Here is what I do:

I write a lot of articles - as many as 10-20 in one sitting.  That might seem like a lot.  But if this is the most profitable work I do online, why not write as much as my mind can hold out?  Does that scare you?  That many articles?  It probably does.  You see, it is said that the average article writer writes less than 7 articles before they quit.  I write that many articles a day before I quit, some days.

I try to write articles that are direct and to the point.  I write about exactly what I set out to write, and just enough to get my point across.

I write with a friendly tone.  You see, I don’t think that you need to be stiff and have perfect grammar to be read, in fact, I think that just about the opposite is true.  Keep in mind, you are not writing for a scientific journal, you are writing to a fellow person online, someone who thinks and acts a lot like you do, even if they live on the far side of the globe from you.

I post my articles online.  I have a few select article directories that I use, that give me as much as ten times the response of all the other article directories I have ever used, (around 100, all told). Click my link at the bottom of this article, join one of my lists, and when you receive the first email, hit ‘reply’ and send me a not asking what those article directories are, the ones that are most effective for me, and I will send you the list as soon as I get your email.

Cheers!

Internet marketing and traffic building go hand in hand, right?

August 12th, 2008 • R. Scott Hall • 0 comments • Related • Filed Under

This is interesting.

You see, if you are just getting started, you are probably thinking, no duh, traffic building is the most important thing out there.

That is because you have a lousy web site and you are getting 4 visitors a day and making no sales, so you think that all you need is traffic.  What you don’t know is that your lousy web site wouldn’t convert if you had 1000 visitors a day.

Now, if on the other hand you have 1000 visitors a day, you are thinking, nah, traffic is not that important.  I mean, sure, it helps, but now you know that you have to convert that traffic.  You are spending more time on conversion techniques and list building and email open rates than you are generating traffic.

Now what are the real masters doing?

They are concentrating on both traffic building and their conversion rate and their backend and everything else.  They realize that traffic building is just one piece of the puzzle–but internet marketing is a huge puzzle and all the pieces must fit together to maximize income.

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