My Favorite Web Stuff

Getting traffic has gotten easier lately, with not one but two popular new Traffic Dashboards helping things along: the Marlon Sanders Traffic Dashboard as well as the Kim Roach Traffic Dashboard.

Both of the dashboards offer highly effective traffic-getting techniques, many of them quite advanced and sophisticated. They provide great value to anyone who is trying to get the word out.

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Article Marketing & the Traffic Dashboards

What about article marketing though? It’s been one of the mainstays of internet marketing for several years now, even though the Google Farmer’s Update has thrown a wrench into that business model.

But it still works and is highly effective. Not only that, but if done right, article marketing creates a long-term income stream. So how do the traffic dashboards handle article marketing?

While they don’t make a big do out of it, both of them rely to a good amount on article marketing, though they handle it differently.

Before I proceed, I want to make sure you know that I’m not trying to nitpick – Yes, I think article marketing is important, and you need to know how to do it (solution attached), but you CAN find that information fairly easily, while you cannot find much of the insider information included in Kim’s dashboard anywhere else. The same can be said for a good amount of information in Marlon’s dashboard.

So I feel that their focus on advanced techniques (especially in Kim’s case) will ultimately benefit any of their customers.

Here’s the scoop:
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Marlon Sanders Traffic Dashboard

Marlon Sanders’ traffic dashboard devotes quite a bit of space to article marketing, essentially the entire first week. And not only that, but his turbo-charged upgraded version offers essentially a turbo-article-writing system, which should help anyone overcome their writers’ block.

He also has great suggestions for what to put into resource boxes and where to publish those articles. Still, someone who is really new to article marketing might appreciate even more background information that it is possible to include in the dashboard, which will make the actual dashboard even more effective.
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Kim Roach Traffic Dashboard

Kim Roach’s traffic dashboard, on the other hand, does not provide the basics of article marketing at all, as Kim clearly states, and instead focuses on more advanced strategies (which I very much appreciate).

And she’s probably right in assuming that most of her customers are well beyond the basic level. And those who aren’t can quickly get up to speed with a how-to guide for article marketing.

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And that’s important becasue article marketing plays a big role in her dashboard. Several of her 20 modules, and especially her powerful 10x module are built on the basis of article marketing, so if you don’t know how to write effective articles, you won’t be able to make the most of it.

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Why You Need a Good Article Marketing Guide

What to do? Get a guide to article marketing that provides a solid background about how to write the articles, how to select the topics for the articles, how to write headlines and summaries that get the clicks, and then how to write the articles so that your readers will go all the way to the end and click on your links.

That last part has become a lot more challenging recently as important article directories such as Ezinearticles have moved to requiring articles to be a lot longer than they used to be.

This makes it a lot more challenging to hold the readers attention all the way through and requires a much higher level of article writing skill.

So in order to make the most of the dashboard, especially Kim’s but even Marlon’s, it’s a wise idea to seek out a solid guide to article marketing in order to supplement the information in the dashboards.

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Get Your Article Marketing Guide FREE

And More…

And if you’re wondering about your article marketing skill and want to get great results from your “get targeted web traffic” efforts, find out how you can get some of my traffic dashboard bonuses, which now include a comprehensive guide to article marketing as well.

Marlon Sanders has created a Push Button Article Writing Software. It’s available for a mere 20 bucks as an upgrade for his traffic dashboard.

So when I bought the dashboard, I was torn. I’m not a huge fan of article WRITING software. I can write just fine by myself, thank you very much.

But for just 20 bucks? Heck, I wanted to at least see what it was all about, and that alone was almost worth the price I thought.

Also, the fact that he said that it would be online and therefore work with both a Mac and a PC. I really liked that part.

So I finally tried it out.

How does Marlon Sanders’ Push Button Article Software work?

Once I took a look, I was VERY pleasantly surprised.

You may or may not be. Here’s the bad news first (which I thought was good news, personally):

It’s not quite as push button as you would expect.

But here’s how it works:

There are a bunch of templates on the best performing article types (and Marlon sure knows his stuff!).

Then, he gives you detailed how-to instructions and fields to type into.

Next, he gives you a model for everything, so you can take that model and adapt it to whatever you’re writing about.

Does it work? Heck yeah!

I love it. I’m going to go back and crank out a bunch of articles – I’m way behind on Ezinearticles’ HAHD challenge, and since this is the last one, I really want to complete it.

Soooooo

My verdict? It rocks.

And if you get it together with the traffic dashboard, you also get my bonuses, AND you’re in great shape to go to town bigtime, and get all the traffic you could want!

Two thumbs up!

Elisabeth

I discovered only a few days ago that there are article directories out there that attach “nofollow” tags to the links.

This means that you won’t derive any SEO benefit from publishing your articles there. You MIGHT still get visitors, but personally, I’d spend more time seeking out dofollow tag using article directories.

Here are a few posts by others about that issue:

http://www.no-bull.net/no-follow-links-in-article-directories.html

And here’s a list of the top 10 directories with the nofollow ones marked. Prepare to be surprised:

http://www.getarticlesdone.com/Top-10-Article-Directories.html

I couldnt’ believe it!

Article Alley
Articles Base
Search Warp

They all use nofollow tags! Yikes!

From now on, my research of new article directories will always include whether they have nofollow tags or not.

How? Well… there’s a tool out there called SEO Quake that makes this really easy.

Or you could simply check out the source code and then use control F or command F (for Mac users) and look for “nofollow.” If it appears next to links or even in the header info, you just found another article directory that uses nofollow links.

So it’s “buyer beware”… or rather “writer beware!”

Elisabeth

What’s the best article directory?  It’s a moving target.  Except, of course, Ezinearticles.com. But what’s next?

First of all, you need to decide on your criteria, and I’ve decided to go by the following:

a) Page Rank

b) Number of Views

c) Likelihood of my articles to appear on Google’s first (or second) page

d) Ease of use (and control over postings)

e) Customer service (do they have some, and how fast and responsive is it)

f) Quality of the other articles in the directory

g) Likelihood of being found

h) Ability to find out how many views I got

i) How well am I presented?

j) Quality of Reader Experience?

k) How well does my article stand out?

l) Is the directory dofollow or nofollow?

m) Number of buyers (I haven’t tracked that yet, but will eventually)

n) Flexible about links and anchor links and such

Well, there are more but these will do for the moment.

And, by the way, they’re not necessarily all in order. But the more of them score to my liking, the more effort I make to publish my articles in that directory.

In a series of upcoming posts, I’ll share with you my favorites within many of these parameters.   So please check back soon.

Yes, I know I had long neglected this blog, but that is about to change. After having worked with quite a few clients andhelping them with their business and marketing, especially article marketing and such, I’m eager to share what I’ve learned.

Not all of the above criteria will get equal time, but I’ll try to share at least some of my favorites.

About some of the criteria… For example, I haven’t had any recent experience (or any in some cases) with customer service.  However, a recent experience made me acutely aware that non-existent customer service could be a problem.

Until then, I hadn’t paid too much attention, but now I’m in charge of administering the article marketing cmpaigns for a number of clients, and as part of that I work with a couple of outsource workers.

And something got mixed up in the process that could have caused real problems.  It took me WEEKS to get that sorted out.

So now I really appreciate the importance of customer service.

Another one — I discovered that there are actually article directories that are nofollow!  Would you believe that?  And I was wondering why I wasn’t getting any link juice from certain directories… Or visitors. No wonder.

So there’s quite a bit of interesting stuff to discover.

Coming up first/next:  The highest PR ranki directories (with some commentary)

And feel free to leave a comment — and let me know which of the above criteria interests you most, and if you’d like to suggest one that I haven’t included, please do.

So if you’re wondering what is the best article directory, wonder no more.  Just come back and you’ll find out which ones I consider the best article directories — and why.

Elisabeth

P.S.:  If you can’t wait, here’s a recommendation for an article directory I really like:

http://www.drkrecommends.com/best4articles.php

Come back in a few days to find out why. Or check it out and you’ll figure it out for yourself really fast.

What’s the best article directory?  Best for what?  I prefer to think about them as favorites.  Mine?  Ezinearticles.com is number one of course.  And I guess in many ways it’s the best article directory to submit your articles to.  But there are others where I post some of my articles as well.

The interesting thing is that different directories have different audiences, so the various articles will get a different response rate.

I first noticed that when I started using Amazines.com in addition to Ezinearticles.com.  I had an article on Gratitude and Thanksgiving, and, let’s just say it was a profound flop with the Ezinearticles.com crowd.  After a week or two, the number of views was still in the high one digits.  It has improved greatly by now, a year and a half later, but back then, it just wasn’t popular.

But when I posted it on Amazines, it quickly shot to the top of my articles there, and it has remained my most popular article there ever since. Different audience!

They do really like inspirational and spiritual articles over there, or at least there’s a bigger continguent of readers looking for those, and an easier way for them to find them.

Whatever the reason, I make sure I publish my articles in several places because you never know where it will find its audience.  My best article directory may not be the same as yours.

There are many other directories. I have found a new favorite:

http://www.drkrecommends.com/best4articles.php

This one is designed for YOU, the author. It costs $10/month, but if you want a directory that makes you look good, this is it.

You’re featured as an expert, and you’re able to add graphics, photos, and, yes, even videos!  Right there inside your articles!

Where else can you do that?

And the best thing: No ads!  No adsense ads or any other kind, so all that leakage that happens everywhere else won’t happen here.  It’s all about YOU.

So do give that one a shot:

http://www.drkrecommends.com/best4articles..php

Or at least take a look to see what you’ve been missing.

BTW, what about its Google power?  You have to start sending people there first, and maybe point a few links there as well, at least initially, and, of course, use keywords appropriately, and if you do, Google will live it too, and your chances of popping up at the top of Google listings for your keyword, especially if it’s a bit longer in the tail, are really good.

There’s also the owner, who is a really cool guy, and if you find you’re not as successful as you’d like to be, he’ll help you personally with advice and suggestions on what you can do to get more views.

It’s that kind of service that makes this directory stand out and puts it on the top of the list of best article directories.

I’ll write about a few others soon.

Elisabeth

Want to put your article marketing on steroids? Try article videos! Put them on YouTube and Viddler and watch the Google Power you’ll suddenly get.

You must have come across article videos! They’re everywhere. The not even all that new anymore hot thing. You can do them yourself. You can do talking head videos. And– you can take your articles and turn them into multi-media affairs with graphics and music and the articles or their high points read out loud.

And this is what I’ve been getting into. I love article videos. Even the first ones I made were pretty cool. The robot voices that came with the software were a bit odd but kind of cool.

Of course, here’s someone writing this who has been fascinated with speech synthesized voices ever since someone gave me a first generation talking alarm clock.

“It is… eight-thirty a.m. … please hurry up.” It would say, actually, it spoke German as far as I remember. And then it would play a little Metallic piece of Mozart (or Bach?) and end so suddenly it would always jar me awake!

I loved that alarm clock that allowed me to know what time it was without having to bother opening my eyes in the middle of the night. I was heartbroken when it eventually stopped working.

I’m now on my 5th or so talking alarm clock (and have two — one as a back-up).  No music.  This one crows like a rooster!  Pretty cool too.

But why am I telling you that?

Because those article videos I am cranking out have speech synthesized voices as well.  It’s fascinating to me as a linguist how they work.  They all have British accents as well.

Anyway, I’m only beginning to have fun with those, and I’m also starting to create article videos for others who don’t want to subscribe to the service and do the work themselves

If you want your own robot, go here:

http://www.drkrecommends.com/articlevideos.php

And if you want to check out one of my videos, well, they are all over YouTube actually.  Just look under ElisabethKuhn or Elisabeth Kuhn (can’t remember which works better).

Just be aware that some of them got cut off in transit.  I’ll eventually get it all sorted out. The company had some trouble with that, but I believe it’s fixed now.

Meanwhile, I started uploading my videos by hand!

They’re also on a few other sites. Eventually, I’ll have them all over.

And you can too!

Check out my offer to create them for you at

http://www.linguisticleverage.com/article-videos/

It’s a VERY new part of my business, so you can be among the first to get their videos made.

Oh, and here’s an example (but that’s being improved right now, so by the time you actually get yours, I’ll have learned a few new tricks I’m pretty sure, including, hopefully, to get rid of “Hi, my name is Pat” at the beginning of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j52xwcpIO2w

So go get your own article videos!

Don’t actually write articles? Not a problem. As you’ll see on that page over at Linguistic Leverage, I’ll gladly write those for you too.

Check out

http://www.ArticlesByElisabeth.com 

for lots of my articles…

Anyway, my soon to be expanded info page on my article video offerings is here:

http://www.linguisticleverage.com/article-videos/

Please stop by for a visit, and also read the main blog. It has great info on marketing for small businesses and entrepreneur, and I keep adding more info!

Elisabeth

P.S.: And of course, if you prefer to make your own videos, just sign up here:

http://www.drkrecommends.com/articlevideos.php

If you’re serious about article marketing, you probably wonder where best to submit your articles to give them the most advantageous distribution.  Which one is my favorite ezine articles directory?  You get three guesses.

Yes, I know you knew that one:  http://www.ezinearticles.com

But which one do you think is my next favorite one?  For efficiency in submission and having my article widely distributed, iSnare is really hard to beat.

In terms of numbers/views, it is very close to ezinearticles.com, plus it sends out articles to hundreds of other places.  Where’s the catch?  It costs money.  But not much.  Prices start at $2/article and go down from there when you order multiple articles.  Unless you write articles in bulk, this is not a prohibitive price.

I know that some article marketers, including my favorite article guru recommend submitting LOTS of articles, and in that case, I suppose it can really add up.  But you don’t have to submit ALL your articles to iSnare either.  Be selective…

For example, consider picking one or two more from one of the other top-ten lists if you like and experiment.  Be sure to read everybody’s guidelines and follow them to the letter.

And then there are niche sites…  And what I’d suggest is this:  Go find out which niche article sites there are in your niche, read their guidelines, and start submitting some articles there as well.

Good luck!

You read that right. Article Marketing has come a long way since the days when BUM Marketing was first invented. So what is different?

Check out Jeff Herring! He’s very cool and he taught me everything I know about article marketing that actually works.

Meanwhile, I’m tired as heck right now, so I’m going to tell you where to go and continue this article tomorrow:

http://www.turboarticles.net

Please check it out and you’ll see why I like it so much.

Oh, and yes, the teleseminar has already started, but never fear: you’ll get all the info that you missed right away (downloadable and as PDF files), plus tons of bonuses, and you’ll also get to re-attend any future versions of Article Writing and Marketing Secrets for free.

Meanwhile, you’ll be getting a head start. Just listen to the first couple of weeks and join in as it continues. And you’ll be making tons of $$ with your articles in no time flat.

Yes, money. Jeff teaches you how to turn those articles into cash. Check it out right here:

http://www.turboarticles.net

One last thing: the turbo bit: He also teaches you how to write great articles really quickly. That alone is priceless: He has quadrupled my writing speed at LEAST. And not just for articles either. EVERYTHING I write goes faster now!

So join us (yes, I’m taking the course too (of course!) at

http://www.turboarticles.net