Sunday, January 31, 2010

Article marketing: how much should I pay for an article?


Whenever I read a thread in marketing forums I always need to remind myself that most of the posts are made by newbies. Nothing wrong with that. The Warrior Forum is a great place for newbies to learn how to make money on the Internet.

A topic often brought up is about how much marketers should pay writers to create articles for their websites. These people know that you can go to eLance or GetAFreelancer.com to get articles written for very low cost. How low? Maybe $2 per article.

But what you end up with is a $2 article.

Buying cheap articles and adding them to your website without reworking them never satisfy your blog or website visitor who is likely to exit immediately on seeing the crappy article. This will only increase your "bounce rate" (how many people stay on your website for less than a minute.

If you are in business to make a living then you better be prepared to write articles for yourself, if you can, or pay a good ghostwriter to do that. Even sites that are mainly pictures (porn sites come to mind) need good text copy around those pictures to get you to buy something.

I know a ghostwriter who charges 10 times what many other web writers do for a single article. But then, he spends as much time just researching the article than those other writers spend writing four or five articles.

Tip for writers: You can make some money writing cheap articles. If you are happy with a substandard living, go for it.

Tip for buyers: find the best ghostwriter that you can afford to write your articles. If you can't afford that, write your own articles or sales copy. The alternative is to find a different way to make a living.

Your call.

Greg Cryns
Work At Home Profiles (wahm membership site)
Wahm Search Engine (low cost advertising)

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Customers remain loyal to Toyota after recall

Toyota recalled some autos recently:

Which cars are involved?

2009-2010 RAV4, Corolla and Matrix models;
the 2005-2010 Avalon;
2010 Highlander;
2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia;
and some 2007-2010 Camrys (only those with gas pedal assemblies made by a specific Toyota supplier; your dealer can check).

No Lexus or Scion models are involved.

I read an article
Many Toyota owners in SLO County remain loyal to Toyota brand

Take-away: build a very strong brand. Be good to your customers and they will stay loyal to you.

What do you think?

Greg Cryns

Work At Home Profiles
Wordpress website design and website SEO
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Grammar and copywriting affect your SEO

Copywriting and grammar are both important components for successful SEO. There are plenty of crappy articles out there. Why? Because people want to try to spam the search engines. They don't care if the articles are read by their visitors. Such is life in the big city. You won't find that kind of article on this blog, though. Check out this guest post.

Beyond Grammar: Easily Avoided Copywriting Mistakes
Copyright (c) 2010 Enzo F. Cesario

No system is perfect. There are always flaws and breakdowns that
will occur, for any number of reasons. This holds true in the
world of online marketing and especially in the realm of the most
common web practice, copywriting.


Now we are not talking about the obvious mistakes here. Errors of
grammar, syntax, spelling or revision are fairly obvious and can
be averted with a simple double-check by running your article
past a colleague for critique. This article addresses broader
errors of philosophy or doctrine that can cripple an otherwise
technically strong piece of copywriting.


Five Copywriting Mistakes You CAN Avoid

Mistake #1 - Missing your target audience

One of the most important points of any piece of writing is to
address your intended audience. This is true for absolutely every
type of writing out there, without exception. Consider for
example that you're a writer specializing in culinary writing.
You could submit the most well-written, elegant article on
coconut cream pies ever composed. You still would not get very
far with this article if you tried to sell it to someone with a
coconut allergy.


As is often the case, understanding your audience happens before
and after you do the actual writing, making it a 'meta'
principle (outside the actual task itself, but still related).
Avoiding this mistake takes effort. Get in the habit of asking
specific questions of your clients, and researching related
material on their sites if available. Information will help you
avoid targeting a piece to the wrong audience.


Mistake #2 - Going on and on and on and on...

The web is a fast-paced environment. Technology has increased the
speed at which machines can present information, and as a result
people expect to be able to process that information faster. With
so much out there available so quickly, why would anyone linger
on an article that takes too long to get to the point?


Write concisely, focusing on your topic and keeping the content
to a targeted word count. Ensure that each section is no longer
than necessary, to prevent boredom and disinterest.


Again, research is your greatest ally in this case. Knowing your
audience helps, as does being very familiar with your subject.
Examine your sentences and see where you can cut down words
without destroying meaning.


Mistake #3 - Missing the call to action

A great deal of copywriting is done to promote products and
services of every stripe. Similarly, a great deal of copywriting
doesn't do much beyond presenting the basic information. Good
copywriting should include a tangible call to action. Don't just
offer the user more information, invite them to 'Learn more
about it here.'


Wishy-washy language is the weakness in this case. Most people
confuse simple statements such as 'You can learn more' with
powerful calls like 'Learn more.' The first is just
informative. All right, we can learn more, why should we? 'Learn
more and take control' is an imperative that gets people
responding.


Mistake #4 - Getting fancified and highfalutin

Contrary to what some people may think, there IS a place for
jargon and technical terminology. That place exists within a
common frame of understanding. When two engineers trade talk
about ohms, resistance, current and capacity, these terms are
intended to speed up understanding and improve their overall
efficiency.


For example you could refer to 'the practice of using keywords,
precise writing, and meta tags to improve search engine results
for websites.' This is cumbersome, so among those who understand
your reference, instead you can use the term Search Engine
Optimization, or the acronym SEO.


The problem with jargon is that it is not universal. Mention
Newtons to the average person, and you're talking about a snack
cake. Mention them to a physicist, and you're discussing
concepts of universal gravitation. The term is valuable to the
latter, irrelevant to the former. The danger in copywriting is
the use of jargon in inappropriate contexts. In a generalized
piece, jargon does not make you look clever, but rather arrogant
or showy.


Restrict your use of jargon to appropriate times. If you have a
reasonable basis to believe others can understand it, go for it.
If you find yourself thinking 'everyone SHOULD know what I
mean,' stop and ask for advice.


Mistake #5 - Skipping the Headline

Attention spans are reducing even as our ability to process
information increases. People want quick, catchy information and
they want it now. Too late, they've moved on. A headline is a
key point in catching someone's attention, and all too often is
neglected or slapped on without consideration.


A good headline should convey just enough information to let them
know what the article is about, yet be vague enough to generate
their interest in reading further. Humorous headlines can be very
effective, as can dramatic or ironic statements. Practice with
headlines, and make them an essential part of your writing,
rather than an accessory.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of Brandsplat.
Brandcasting uses informative content and state-of-the-art
internet distribution and optimization to build links and
drive the right kind of traffic to your website. Go to
http://www.Brandsplat.com/ or visit our blog at:
http://www.brandsplatblog.com/
_____________________________________________

Greg Cryns
Work At Home Profiles (affordable membership)
Wahm Search Engine (inexpensive advertising)
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Monday, January 25, 2010

PPC: Your Landing Page Is Your Most Valuable Tool






When doing pay-per-click advertising (PPC), the most important aspect is your landing page. That's the place where you will either capture and keep your visitor's attention, or you will lose that potential customer forever.

Note that I did not say that making a sale is the most important aspect. That is true only when you are selling a single product (usually software or informational) that you can easitly describe and support with testimonials and well written copy (text).

Capturing the email address is the first and most important step in developing a relationship with your visitor, otherwise known as your "prospect." I think we should change the term to "targeted prospect" rather use that old, worn out "targeted visitor."

In the brick and mortar world, I teach my clients to treasure the phone call more than anything else done with the business website. For the Internet Marketer, I am beginning to lean toward a phone call instead of an email address. However, it is infinitely more difficult to get them to call you.

If you don't get the email address, they are gone forever. You won't have a chance to tell about your great products or ask them really important questions like what they thought about your website, why they didn't buy, what they need, what you can do for them.

It's like spending a lot of time and effort for absolutely nothing.

Keep in mind that the old "sign up for my newsletter" is not working very well. It just is not what they want in this world of thousands of email newsletters.

That is why you need an "opt-in" landing page. You have an opportunity to present an irresistable offer. How about a red hot report like "5 Sure Ways To Get the IRS To Audit Your Tax Form" during the tax season or in August "3 Reasons Why Your Child Can Fail Pre-School".

A good landing page can teach you a lot about what people are looking for. Using PPC (Pay Per Click -Google Adwords) you can do the testing you need to succeed.

The price to obtain your exciting free product is their email address. Capturing the email address is like finding a gold nugget in the cold stream.

Here are some examples of good landing pages. http://landingpageexamples.net/

Here is a nice long and very informative video to help you learn about landing pages.





Greg Cryns

Visit Work At Home Profiles, an inexpensive membership website

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Law firm gets modern advertising

Recently I read that the fastest growing age group on Facebook is over 55 women. That's why I found it strange that a stuffy a law firm would put up an ad like this one.

On second thought, the firm is a very savvy advertiser. It understands that future clients are people who played a lot of electronic games. What do you think?




Greg Cryns

Work At Home Profiles
The Mighty Mo Website Design and Development

Friday, January 22, 2010

Adwords now targeting Mobile

Google Adwords announced they can target your ads to the mobile crowd.

You can specify which device type you want to target including iPhone and iPod Touch, Android and Palm WebOS.

In addition "the ad will display a 'Download' link instead of a URL" according to Google.

Other sources that speak to this:

New targeting options for mobile ads (Katrina Kurnit/Inside AdWords)

Beware of Google Adwords broad match

It is important for your financial health, if you use Adwords, to understand the choices you have for keyword matches.

Google now has the ability to relate words such as "shoes" and "footware". But you, the advertiser, may not want to show up for "footware". With Broad Match Google can match just one word of your keyword phrase. For example, "mens shoes" could be matched with "mens dating services". Ich.

This video does a good job of explaining the problem of choosing "Broad Match".







Greg Cryns
The Mighty Mo website design and promotion

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Good coupon websites

Everyone loves a discount. Especially me.

Whenever I buy a new domain name at one of my favorite domain servers I need to find the site that has a discount coupon. So, it's only a buck or so, but, hey, like I said I like discounts.

Here are a few of the most popular coupon websites, in case you also like a discount.

DealCatcher.com

FatWallet.com

CouponCabin.com

RetailMeNot.com

Coupons.com

Have fun!

Greg Cryns
Work At Home Profiles ($3.77 per month membership site with full page ad for YOU)
Wahm Search Engine (great value ad prices)

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Forum marketing blackhat tactics

You can be sucked into a forum conversation that is staged to get you to buy a product.

Here is how it works:

Two guys get together with the intention of generating a lot of comments about a forum subject.

Let's say the topic is "Offline marketing". This is a hot topic these days.

Conspirator #1 starts it off with a question:
What services are you offering for monthly fees? (note: check his signature file that sells a report)

Conspirator #2 pipes in soon afterward: Here is my experience on how I earn $50K per money with offline marketing. He proceeds to tell us how he makes his money.

The posts pile up. Others are drawn into the conversation. Eventually you have a very long and windy "conversation" going on. The real purpose is to get you interested in the origianal conspirators to the point where you will check out what they are offering. Usually it is a report or a course about the topic.

Advice: watch out for this tactic. Look for exaggerated earnings. Remember that they welcome a flame retort from you because this enhances the conversation.

Here is another twist: sometimes the conspirators are just one person who is making posts for both.

Have you spotted this technique? What do you think of it?


Greg Cryns


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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Religion and marketing


Is a Catholic Church Pastor a businessman? Maybe not in the dictionary sense, but when it comes to keeping his Parish alive and well, he is the go-to guy, the CEO, the chief cook and bottle washer.

I am not particularly religious but I like to think I am spiritual. Do you understand how these two concepts diverge? That is a long intro to tell you that I don't attend church (any church) with awesome regularity. Don't get me wrong. I am not against going to church. I always get inspired when I attend a Sunday Mass (I was raised Catholic. Once a Catholic, always a Catholic as the saying goes).

I went to church this morning. At the end of Mass, the Pastor faced his crowd and said, "I get peeved by people who tell me that church lasts too long." He gave a short speech about how we spend tons of time in front of the TV watching sports and other stuff. Why complain when he asks us to spend at least one hour a week with God? That was his message and it hit me hard.

This fellow is a good salesman. He knows only a few people will take offense at a speech like this. He also knows that speaking to us and not at us is good for business, the church business, as it were. I may now go back to Mass sooner than later.

It never hurts to speak to your prospects and customers than speak at them.

"Salesman" is not a bad word. Over the years the word became tarnished. Keep in mind that we all need to be salespeople for our businesses in order for them to thrive.

Am I way out of line about this? Tell me what you think.

Greg Cryns
Work At Home Profiles
Inexpensive advertising at Wahm Search Engine

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Saturday, January 16, 2010

Effective advertising or NOT?


Do you think this is an effective ad?

If you are going to try to sell something to me, at least make it believable.

One of the tips must be to STOP EATING?

Does the word "Photoshop" come to mind?

What do you think? Would you click it?

Greg Cryns
Work At Home Profiles
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Thursday, January 14, 2010

SEO: nothing good happens fast

When you visit places like The Warrior Forum you read posts about how to quickly you can get listed in the search engines. They are missing the point.

Whenever I see those posts I can't help but think they are written by rookies. Why? If you have been around for a while you understand that it is more important to have good stuff on your website and that the search engines will eventually put up your website. Usually you can expect your website to appear within a week or two.

This leads me to think of how people continue to attempt to influence their search engine rank by using schemes. A "scheme" is a consistent effort to achieve a result but it is also, by definition, an action that does not quite fit the rules.

A good example is posting comments on blogs with the sole intention of getting backlinks to your website. Something tells me that this is wasted effort for the most part. I think you can obtain some initial benefit with this method, but my experience shows that it is time spent unwisely over the long haul.

I think you would be better off posting at Yahoo Answers.

The urge to get something done quickly is strong in human beings. Think about the last time you tried to rush though a needed job at home. Was the result satisfactory?

Google wants what is good for its users. That is as it should be, in my opinion. To try to scam the search engines is not a good scheme.

Greg Cryns
Top Notch PLR content for your blog and website
Work At Home Profiles

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Google Webmaster Tools

Guest Post
If you have not used Google's webmaster tools, be sure to check them out

"Improve Your Website with Google's Webmaster Central Tools"

By Merle http://MerlesWorld.com

As a website owner, one of your top priorities is going
to be getting your site indexed and ranked by Google.
People perform over 235 million searches a day with Google,
so the potential to receive significant traffic from this
search engine should be enough for you to invest the time
to make sure it's done right.

Google wants to fill its index with quality, error free
websites that are beneficial and targeted to their
searchers. Enter Google's Webmaster Central Tools .....
http://google.com/webmasters . If you've never heard of
it, it's Google's way of helping you with your website's
indexing. Not too long ago, it went through a redesign
and upgrade process which made it more useful and
easier to use than ever.

First thing you'll need to sign in with is a Google
account. Google requires an account to be able to
use all of their free services, including Blogger and
Analytics, so if you don't have one, now's the time to
register.

If you have multiple websites to list, that's no problem.
Up to 500 sites can be added all under one roof. You
will need to perform what Google calls "site verification"
for each site submitted. This proves to Google that you
are the owner of the site before they release detailed
information to you. At one time it was a lengthy process
of cutting and pasting code into the head section of
your index page or uploading a separate HTML file. Now
they've streamlined the process and it's all done with
one click of an email.

If you use Blogger.com, "Webmaster Tools" can be enabled
from within the Blogger dashboard under tools/resources.
Once your sites have been submitted, you'll have access
to a whole suite of useful tools. The website is broken
up into three main sections.

1) Site Configuration (Information about your site)
2) Your Site on the Web (Google data re: your site)
3) Diagnostics (Any problems Google had while indexing
your site)

If your website has never received a decent ranking with
Google, these numerous reports will help you in tracking
down the problem. It's truly an "eye opener" to see your
site through the eyes of a search engine.

On the "Crawl Errors Page", any errors Google encountered
while crawling your site are revealed. The url's not listed,
and the types of problems such as restricted by robots txt,
url's that timed out, and unreachable url's will be uncovered.
If numerous pages of your site are not indexed, Sitemaps can
also be submitted to help Google find and crawl all of the
pages of your site.

If your website is not showing up in Google's index, or you
think it's being penalized for some reason, you can contact
Google from within the "tools interface" with a "reconsideration"
request. This will ask Google to take another look at your
site. Before submitting, make sure you've cleaned up any
errors, and that you're not in violation of any of Google's
webmaster guidelines.

Here's a small sample of some other tasks that can be
performed.

- Keyword Research: The keywords page lists the most
important words Google found when indexing your site.
So you know what keyword/phrases your site is ranking for.

- Who's linking to your website.

- Page rank for individual pages can be reviewed.

- Change of address feature, which is useful when
moving domains to let Google know.

- Data can be downloaded in spreadsheet format
in order to be analyzed and tracked.

- Any RSS feeds can also be submitted as sitemaps.

- Parameter Handling- Allows you to tell Google which
url's you want them to ignore.

- Emails from Google's Webmaster Tools can be
forwarded to any email address you specify.

Contrary to popular belief, Google wants you to succeed
online which is why they give you the tools needed to
fix any problems, and make your site a search engine's
indexing dream. That's not just good business for Google,
it's good for your website too.
-------------------------------------------------

Merle's Mission Blog- "Rants, Raves and Random Acts
of Kindness" a self proclaimed "Internet Junkie" with a
passion for net marketing, affiliate marketing, social
networking. An avid Blogger and writer with several
niche sites to her credit. Find out more at
http://merlesworld.blogspot.com/ Follow me on
Twitter http://twitter.com/msmerle
__________________________________

Greg Cryns
Meet some great marketers at Work At Home Profiles

Top Notch PLR content for your website and blog
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Concise writing demands fewer words

Guest post

I love articles the teach how to be more concise in or writing. This article shows how the "that" word can be eliminated. Read on...

Eliminate This Word From Your Ads Now
by Scott Bywater


I'm about to show you a way to make your copy flow better. And
it's probably one of the easiest steps that you could ever take
to improve your copy.

It involves cutting out the word "that" from your copy whenever
it's unnecessary.

For example, the second sentence of this email reads...

"And it's probably one of the easiest steps that you could ever
take."

when it could easily read...

"And it's probably one of the easiest steps you could ever
take."

Notice how it flows better? Notice how the word "that" was
unnecessary in this situation?

Ok, let's look at a few other situations that the word "that"
is used?

Notice how I did it again - the word that could easily be cut out
of the sentence above ;-)

Here's a few other examples:

There's no other way that you could get the same results as you
will with product X.

How do I know that you can cut your accounting bills by up to
50%?

Did you know that your headline is the most important part of
your advertisement?

... can you see how the word 'that' can be cut out of each of
the examples above?

So here's what you need to do every time you write an ad or a
sales letter.

Read through it and check for any instances you can see the word
"that" where it is simply unnecessary. And then cut it out of
your copy.


---------------------------------------------------------------------
As a direct response copywriter, Scott Bywater strives to educate
business owners on how to generate more leads, get more of the
"right type" of customers, differentiate themselves from their
competition, and convert their leads into sales via his
underground and "outside of the box" strategies. You can get his
copywriting and marketing tips delivered to your inbox via his
eye opening "Copywriting Selling Secrets" newsletter available at
http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Greg Cryns
Top Notch PLR articles for your website and blog
Effective, low cost advertising

Saturday, January 2, 2010

No, Dorothy, you can't get rich quick

Get Rich Quick? Yeah, Right
Copyright (c) 2009-2010 Scott Bywater
Copywriting That SELLS
http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/

On Friday night a mate of mine came up from Melbourne.

And we were talking about a variety of different things when the
topic came up of "get rich quick" and I said to him "Do you
know anyone who has ever managed to get rich quick and without
putting the effort in?"

He answered no.

Now we both have a friend who used to wish for just that.

He is still wishing.

So here's the next thing to think about when someone tries to
sell you on the concept you can great untold riches by this time
next month.

Ask yourself...

Do you know anyone else who has managed to do this without
putting in the effort?

Now of course, I know plenty of people who have created
incredible amounts of wealth - and often far faster than what the
average person achieved.

But there's usually a few reasons for it -

1. They work incredibly long hours.

2. They have already had success in another venture and use their
knowledge and experience to plough into their new venture.

3. They never stop thinking about their venture. They are
passionate, excited, disciplined, etc.

One things is for sure, they are not working 4 hours a week and
then lying around at the beach the rest of the time.

As far as I can see, there aren't any shortcuts.

In fact, I believe the most important skill in creating wealth is
discipline.

Sending out an email a day - discipline.

Calling past customers to ask them "how are things" -
discipline.

Doing your planning every week - discipline.

Spending at least 1/2 hour a day on marketing - discipline.

Developing your systems and procedures - discipline.

In fact, I believe it's virtually impossible to succeed without
some form of discipline.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Bywater is a direct response copywriter and the author
of "Cash Flow Advertising" and "More Customers Made Easy".
Although Scott is accepting very few clients, he generously
shares his experience on copywriting at his web site at
http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Greg Cryns

Top notch Wordpress Website Design
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Viral marketing example

Purina pet foods knows when they have a good thing going.

When I opened my Yahoo main page today to see the news, the main feature was a video titled Town's vending machine surprise

Click that link. It leads to a page with a series of videos about animals. In the featured video, a couple of young raccoons were found living inside a Pepsi machine. It touches the heart. Wild animals doing their best to survive in a human world.

I sent the link to my relatives. I am sure they will pass it on. The video is that good. And each time someone opens the link the Purina name is immediately viewed as well.

That's good viral marketing.

Greg Cryns

Excellent PLR Articles
Inexpensive advertising

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