Tracking Your Article Submissions a Way to Maximize Your Traffic Part I

If you have a product or service you are trying to sell, you may want to consider publishing articles as a way to drive traffic to your site. With every article you author you get to include an authors resource box with your, name, website, e-mail if you chose and a brief description about you and your website. The beauty of this is it is a completely free form of advertising yourself and your website.

The average marketing article is usually around 500 words focused on a single topic. This topic is also usually related to the service the authors website is about so it can deliver targeted traffic on their chosen niche.

Article writing is not hard once you understand the basic structure of writing a good article. The first thing in making article marketing easier is in doing your research then write a synopsis of the research in an informatively interesting way in your own words.

When you have completed writing your niche article the next thing to do is get it published. There are a couple of ways to go about this each with their pros and cons. What you will want to do is submit your article to various article directories. Now there are many different schools of thought on which is the best way to submit articles here are a few of the most common.

1. You can hand submit to just a couple of the top directories as these few account for a lions share of all the republishing and traffic you will get from article publishing. Among a couple of the top directories there is eZine Articles, Article City, and Go Articles there are literally thousands more just Google article directories and you will get a huge list of them.

2. Another popular way is with the aid of article submission software where you enter your article pick the directories you want to submit to then with a couple of clicks your article is sent out to hundreds of directories. You can pick some of these programs up for almost nothing on ebay just search for article submission software or program and you will find dozens of vendors selling them.

3. The last way is to pay an article submission service these services take and submit your article for you by hand and some by software or help scripts to make it easier. The advantage here is you do not have to spend all the time that hand submission takes and you will get better publish rates than the software

Now your aim in this is to get it out there so webmasters looking for new content will hopefully pick up your article and publish it on their website creating a backlink and hopefully a traffic stream to your website. They might also use it in their newsletter to their subscribers and this should help drive traffic to your site through the use of the links in your resource box. This way, the publisher obtains precious content and the writer gains publicity. Everybody ends up pleased in the process a true win, win situation for all!

KC Kudra is Webmaster for http://www.ewritingpad.com, a published author, and an SEO expert in the field of directories. The writing bug first hit as a teenager writing short stories and poetry. You can often find him giving design ideas and writing content for various websites. The Internet gives an outlet to so many writers to get their writing out to an audience of like-minded people and really expands your world.

KC helps his wife with technical aspects of website design and SEO for her website business and is a contributor of article, content writing and design input. KC is a modern day Renaissance man with an overwhelming desire to excel at whatever he dose and to do it with passion. His real love is cooking and recipe making for her site GrilledVegetableRecipe.com and he loves making Grilled Vegetable Pizza for their four young sons.

Building Link Popularity As Easy As 123

The most difficult area of SEO is building link popularity. You may be thinking why? Because there are no easy ways to build link popularity. In this article I will tell you how to get links and how to find them.

First thing you must do is find a web site that you would like to trade links with. How do you find them? You can join link exchanges like www.linkexchangeit.com or you can search the search engine with keywords related to your site. Remember RELATED sites only! Let's say your site is about cars, so you would search with keywords like car body repair, car, SUVS, trucks, vans, etc or let's say your site is about games, so you would search with keywords like checkers, card games, chess, online games, etc. Now that you know what to do go and search for sites RELATED to yours and ask for a link exchange.

You could send them this email below if you like.

Dear (Put there name here),

Thanks for taking the time to read my email.

My name is (Put your full name here), I came cross your site today while I was searching on AOL and really like your site. I love the (put something here you like about there site here). Your site and our site is somewhat the same, so I was wondering if you would like to exchange links with our site (put your URL here). Our site is about (put what your site is about here).

By chance is your news section at http://www.there-web-site-here.com/news.html a good place that you could put my link at?

If you have any questions or need anything feel free to contact me at put-email@here.com or call me at (put area code here) 777-7777.

Try to find out the site owner's name and if they have a phone number listed on the site call that number, you will get much better results that way because they know you are not some spamming robot that emails every site they come a cross. Download Google's Toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com) to make sure that inbound links are from decent sites, with a minimum of 1 on the toolbar. The higher the PageRank the better. Also remember that your homepage is not the only part of your site that you can get links for, so try to get links to other pages on your site. This will allow robots to spider your site better and have more ways in.

Here is more tips on how to get more links to your site.

1) Link to them first

2) Put no more than 20 links on your links page if you use one.

3) Use categories on your links page.

Matt Colyer began as a SEO Specialist in 1997. He founded Superior Webmaster in 2004 as a source of articles and tutorials for Web site owners looking to improve their Web site.

Link Baiting and Its 5 Hooks

Link baiting is simply getting more and more inbound links with a twist. Rather than hunting out links link baiting brings the links to you through unique and popular site content. Matt Cutts defines link bait as anything "interesting enough to catch people's attention, and that doesn't have to be a bad thing.". Link baiting involves production of link worthy content, video or images, which in turn generates massive amount of one-way inbound links.

Link baiting has been long time regarded as black hat technique, but if it's interesting information or fun, it doesn't have to have negative connotations. Content can be both: white-hat as well as interesting enough to generate buzz. Floating information or ideas that people talk about is a sure-shot method to generate links.

You don't have to be a big brand or have a lot of money to create link bait. Many people have created link bait on purpose and many have created link bait without even knowing it. For search marketers, the techniques, if handled properly in an ethical manner, can be quite helpful in producing good quality one way links.

How Does Link Bait Work?

Link Baiting is just like fishing. You send out bait (content) in the pond (the internet) and patiently wait for a bite (linkback). The article is the bait, and the link is the catch. A properly created page can capture huge links on its own with little to no effort from you.

The Hooks

Before any real 'fishing' can take place you need a link baiting hooks and they come in all shape and sizes:

1. News Hook
2. Resource Hooks
3. Contrary Hook
4. Attack Hook
5. Humor Hooks

1. News Hooks

For this to work you almost exclusively have to break the ice on the matter, that means to you have to be the first to break the news. Whether it's the latest gadget or the latest Britney Spears goof, you have to be the first and the news should be big enough to generate enough curiosity.

2. Resource Hooks

Resource hook is more of an informational page. Do some research and build a great, unique and remarkable article in a field on which you're an expert. It's important you know what you're talking about or else you'll get trolled.

3. Contrary Hooks

Contrary hooks are when you contradict someone else's statement. It should be about someone prominent in the industry and it should be controversial.

4. Attack Hooks

Attack hooks are next level of contrary hooks where you launch personal attacks on people taking the debunking of theories to the next level.

5. Humor Hooks

This is the easiest type of link bait, just blog about a funny video or story and you can get some major exposure. But it isn't as easy as it looks, the niche is really crowded and that means you really need to have something truly funny on your hands and a lot of luck.

Shilpi is an Internet Marketing Expert with vast experience in the field of online marketing and maintains a blog on Internet Marketing Strategies to share her experiences and discuss the latest trends in the field. She is presently associated as Internet Marketing Manager with a multi-national firm, which has its offices in India, UK and USA providing web based solutions to global clients.

Anchor Links and One Way Links - Why Should You Use Them

As part of your website development and promotion, many people use links. Considered as the best form of off page SEO, links not only help promote a site or page to visitors but also help your search engine rankings.

The types of links that developers use vary from One Way Links, Reciprocal Links, Three Way Links and Deep Links. One Way Links are considered the best to generate due to how they are considered by search engines. Therefore, a substantial part of your off page SEO campaign should be to be generating One Way Links.

When generating One Way Links, one of the best methods to use is Anchor Texts. Easy to notice on a web page, they are often in a different color and underlined on the page (an example at the bottom of this article). When hovering your mouse over the Anchor Text you will be able to see the target page at the bottom of your browser and sometimes a small window might appear on the page showing the target page as well.

When Anchor Texts as your One Way Links, you need to make sure that you generate them correctly for it to have the desired SEO effect. This is achieved by using the same keywords in the Anchor Texts as the same keywords for the target page. Efficient SEO practice suggests that the keywords in the target page which are being used as the Anchor Text should be incorporated in the title of the page, the keywords tag of the page, the description tag of the page and used in the content of the page (on page SEO). If you don't follow this method then the potential of the Anchor Text to be used as a One Way Link will virtually be non-existent.

Because One Way Links are considered the best types of links to generate pointing to your website, it should be the most dominant part of your SEO campaign For every 6 links that I generate, I aim to create 4 inbound and 2 reciprocal or three way links. Basically, that equates to two thirds of every linking campaign to be One Way Links. In the bigger picture of say 100, my total aim is for between 65-70 links being inbound, the rest to be reciprocal or three way links.

Finally, it is important to note, to target one keyword or one key phrase before moving onto the next keyword. My aim is to generate 100 links per keyword before moving onto the next. It takes time but it will ensure that I get better search engine for each keyword. For the most competitive keywords, you will need to generate more than 100 links depending upon how competitive they are.

As a keen internet marketer, Chris writes articles about possible home business scams, work from home opportunities and home working.

5 Ways to Create Backlinks to Your Website

Getting your website ranked high up in search engines like Yahoo and Google can be a very hard and long task. It can even cost a significant amount of money if you hire a professional to do it for you. However there are easier, and cheaper methods to do this yourself. One of those methods is getting backlinks to your website.

Building backlinks will play and important role in how well your site gets ranked in the search engines for the keywords you are targeting. Most people will not even take the time to get links back to their site, but those who do take the time and effort will see the bigger reward in the end.

Now below I have listed 5 quick and easy ways you can go about getting backlinks to your website. These are proven ways that work time after time. So use them for all your sites you own.

1. Create some kind of link bait. Link bait is something that draws people in to link to your site. This could be a free tool that you have on your site for people to use. People will then link to this page so they can share it with others, and use it themselves.

2. Make your own software program and submit it to all the free download sites. There are thousands of sites that allow you to download programs. These sites are highly trusted sites, and they will link to your page where people can download your program you created giving you high quality backlinks.

3. Email other websites and ask to do a simple link exchange. If your page is relevant to theirs they are more likely to do a link exchange. It is important though that you only seek out other sites that are related to yours as its key to link to relevant sites.

4. Write and submit articles to article directories. After each article you submit leave a small link back to your website. Doing this once after each article you write will quickly add up to a number of different backlinks going to your website. This method may not be good as the others, but it is still highly recommended.

5. Try doing a simple Google search for free link directories. You should get hundreds of results back of places you can submit your site to. Just make sure you submit your site to the category that best fits your site.

Follow the above steps and within a few days or week you will start to see your site climb the ranks of Yahoo and Google.

For more information on online marketing and home business check out Cash Gifting

Chris Rohrer has been working online for over 2 years earning a full-time income. He has been helping people earn extra money online for over a year. To find out how Chris can help you work from home go to Work At Home Today

How To Build A Tiki Bar In 24 Hours

So you want to know how to build a tiki bar? Well building a tiki bar actually is not that hard if you follow some simple guidelines. In this Article I give you the basics to building your tiki bar within 24 hours. Here are the basics:

You want to build a tiki bar within 24 hours?

This really is not a hard task to achieve, you can go to your local home depot to get everything you need pretty much. You need to realize its very possible to build a professional Tiki Bar in only 24 hours. Want more advice on how to build a tiki bar? Well here are some basic supplies you need to build your tiki bar:

-You need a sturdy table for the bar; you can use any table or even make your own. Use your imagination here and remember you can cover the surface with a laminate, plywood or straw.

-Lots of straw, if you do not live near the coast this could be a little harder to find locally. You can check out local plant nurseries or even stores like Wal-Mart depending on the season. Another place to look is pool stores.

-The roof of the tiki hut can be made from large leaves or palm fronds if you can find them, and you can attach them to plywood. I advise you put together your tiki bar roof on the ground then attach it to the rest of the bar.

-Bamboo of course is something you need, whats a tiki bar without bamboo? You can find bamboo at most local plant nurseries.

-Be creative with your tiki bar design, be sure to use sand and sea shells if youre going for the tropical look (almost all tiki bars have a tropical look.)

These are just some basic guidelines on how to build a tiki bar in 24 hours. I have a lot more information on my blog on building a tiki bar; you can check my bio box for the link. I hope this guide has helped you some, good luck!

Corey is a self proclaimed Decorator. You can learn How To Build A Tiki Bar and get a tiki bar building guide at http://www.buildtikibar.blogspot.com

Boosting Search Engine Visibility with Press Releases

Any individual or organization can be like the big boys and issue press releases. They are an effective publicity tool, and with the rise of the internet, an online press release can be seen by many people and enhance the visibility and traffic to your website.

There are many online venues for distributing press releases to the vast online audience. In fact, many companies even offer free distribution of press releases on the internet. Such companies like PRWeb www.prweb.com and PRLeap www.prleap.com collect press release submissions onto their websites and then market the endless stream of information to journalists and other online publications. These distribution companies also gladly offer RSS feeds in a variety of categories that any website owner can use. These companies make their money by selling advertising on their high traffic sites and by soliciting paid services from the people and organizations submitting press releases.

The paid services offer enhanced distribution to subscribing journalists along with better placement among the hundreds of press releases that can be posted on any given day. However, even opting for the free distribution has many advantages. Readers and users of the content at the distribution company will feel free to take the content of your press release and publish it elsewhere on the net because web publishers and bloggers are always looking for fresh content. This has the effect of spreading information about your company around the internet along with links back to your website as long as you included your website in the press release. Readers of your press release will often even click through to your website from the press release if your news is compelling to them.

Along with having people reading about your company and visiting your website, the distribution of your information and links on the internet increases the visibility of your content and web address to search engines.

Issuing online press releases also gets your companys messages and news items into the editorial content of other websites. Just like in the print and broadcast worlds, having your message appearing as editorial content in online media allows it to be read more often than advertising as well as being cheaper than advertising. Press releases, when used in conjunction with advertising, are also building name recognition for your organization and legitimacy, which will increase the power of your other marketing messages.

And of course a big advantage could come from an online press release when a reporter actually calls to do a story about your company. This basically cant happen unless you are using press releases as part of your publicity efforts.

Tracy Falbe is the author of both fiction and non-fiction books and ebooks on a variety of topics. Her latest ebook Creating Publicity with Free Online Press Release Distribution explains how to write press releases, how to integrate them in a marketing plan, and the ebook identifies companies that offer free and low cost distribution. http://www.falbepublishing.com