It’s hard to believe, but the Christmas rush has already started. If you are shopping for childrens toys, some of the winners this year have already sold out. Top toys for kids this year are educational toys, followed closely by baby toys, but look into any toy store or toys online and you will find that some of the winners, the hot toys, are in short supply already. I’ve compiled a top childrens toy list on my hub pages blog, so visit my Christmas 2008 Childrens toys winners by following this link.

The whole purpose will be to increase sales of the item which is being promoted, and the article can be made more effective by writing a short bio at the end of the article and some contact references.

Before the internet, this form of marketing was used widely in printed form mainly in newspapers, but the Internet has made this affordable to everyone.

You may question why any site owner will set up an article directory site and accept all articles for free, but these sites can become very popular, and the more traffic that the site generates, so too is the potential to gain revenue from the site from paid adverts from the likes of Google, so it’s a win-win situation for both the site owner and the writer of the article.

Online articles are so popular now against printed articles because of the speed in which any subject can be searched for on line with the use of keywords.

This is just one way to promote your business, and the best part is that it’s free, so everyone who has something to promote should be including article marketing in their promotion campaign.

Those keywords should be carefully chosen, as that is how everyone will find your site and your article, by typing in the keyword which they are searching for, and if your article is about that keyword and you have optimised your article with that same keyword, your article should be easier to find.

Shortly I will be making a short course available for free about article marketing, but this will be restricted to my subscriber list, so if you would like to receive this course which will be spaced over several days, please sign up in the opt-in box above.

First, you must come up with a catchy title. Try “Curiosity killed the cat” or something just as intriguing to promote your business. Could you just imagine the reaction if people would like to know more about the article just by reading the title? It would also be helpful if you use keywords so people who type it will see your article. At the same time, you can mention the benefits of what reading your articles can do for them.

Second, make sure that your article is well organized. Instead of just writing your article paragraph by paragraph, maximize the use of bullets or numbers to stress important points. This will make their reading experience a memorable one because they are able to remember it.

Third, your articles have to be informative and not just to impress the reader. You can do so by using simple words instead of using big ones by putting this in a way that the average person can understand. You may have had an experience at the hospital where the doctor told you of your condition using some medical term that sounds serious, but in English simply means you have a stomach ache.

Once you finish writing the article, read it over and see if you understand it. Better yet, give this to someone and see what they say. If there are some concerns, edit it because although you may be an expert in this matter, your readers may not and the reason why they want to read it is to learn more about what you have to offer.

I recently came across a fitness eBook that I am recommending to you today. Its name is Fit, Healthy Self and was written by an engineer and a certified personal trainer.

One of the really nice features about this eBook are the videos these gals put together for you.

They have ten videos that show you how to exercise all the major areas of your body.

Each exercise can be performed at different levels according to your present strength or fitness level, so there is something for every one. It’s working for me. You can check it out here

Can you believe it’s Friday again already?  How time flies when you’re enjoying yourself

There I was, ready to wind down early for the weekend, and into my inbox came an invitation I couldn’t ignore.

It was an offer to download yet another free E-book, but something attracted me to read more, and the result is that I’ve just spent the last 4 hours reading all 134 pages of a book detailing everything there is to know about blogging, and monitorising that blog.

The amazing thing here though is that the book is a free download, with no catches at all, and it was so riveting I made notes to refer back to later when I need to put everything into practice for myself.

That book is called Building a Business, not a Blog.

Just by reading the index you instantly recognise this as an important work of authority, and the book goes into extreme detail about what is necessary to become a successful blogger.

If you do nothing else over the week-end, I recommend you download this book and digest every word.  You can find it at http://www.johncow.com

Hope you agree the value of having such a title in your cyberspace library.

Have a good one,

Art

To get found on the internet, all sites must rely on good keyword research, and your site built around the keywords which best describes the content of your site.

There are some very good keyword research tools available, but Google kindly offers a free tool, which they have just recently upgraded to show a monthly estimate of searches made for each keyword.

This is invaluable, especially to Newbies, making it so easy to find and identify all of the keywords which need to be included in your page script, titles and descriptions.

I found it very user friendly.

Here’s the link: Google’s Keyword Tool

Have a nice day,

Art

]]> http://art-speck.com/google-keyword-tool/feed/ http://art-speck.com/internet-marketing-recap/ http://art-speck.com/internet-marketing-recap/#comments Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:48:14 +0000 art http://art-speck.com/internet-marketing-recap/

To date we’ve established that to begin as an Internet Marketer, we need a website, a name for the site, a host, an auto responder, accounts with ClickBank and PayPal, and products to sell.

These can be the products of others to begin with, as an affiliate, but as soon as possible you need to have your own products. So what can you do to get your own products?

The quickest route to take here is Ebooks. PLR Ebooks to be exact.

These are books written by others which you can alter in any way you wish, put your name on the book, and sell it as your own.

This is all perfectly legal as long as you obtain un-restricted rights to do this.

Once you’ve re-written a few paragraphs, you will be more ready to write your own book, all you need is a subject to write about.

The best subject will be something that you have a passion for, a hobby you are good at, a sport or your job if it’s specialised.

Along the way, while selling books or affiliate products, hopefully you will have built a mailing list you can market to.

Your own blog helps to move all of this along while holding everything together, and it’s always best to use your own name here to build up credibility.

I hope this check list helps to get your head around what is just the starting point.

There will be many obstacles along the way, but it’s a steely determination to succeed which brings rewards.

Later,

Art

Continuing on from my last post showing you what’s worked best for me, I mentioned http://www.cbmall.com/ as a great start for affiliates.

What I should have included in this information is that to use Cbmall, you will need to sign up for a

Clickbank account before enrolling.

Building your own network of affiliates is a powerful way to create a substantial residual income stream that can continue to put money in your pocket, year after year. I have found http://www.quickinfo247.com/10244686/FREE to be a good contact for my growth.

You will also need an auto-responder account with www.Aweber.com to manage your mailing list.

To receive on-line payments and commissions and to purchase software, open an account with www.paypal.com.

With all of these in place, you are ready to start in business.

More later,

Art

Hi again,

Hope you had a great week-end. But now it’s back to work, and I thought some of you might need an insight into what’s worked for me in the past.

Putting your first web pages together is a struggle for most beginners, me included. My first site was for one of our daughters who ran a dress agency, and although I was successful in creating the templates for each page, I had no skills in displaying the merchandise.

That takes me to my first recommendation:

If you need the help of a web designer without breaking the bank, check out www.chelleyjonesdesigns.co.uk/ Their packages start at only £150, and I cannot speak of them too highly. A great foundation to your empire. Michelle and Henry are the contacts.

Next I recommend http://www.d9hosting.co.uk/

This is their UK site, but they also have a USA presence, so both sides of the Atlantic are provided for. I’ve used a few hosting sites, but there is none quite like this.

If you need guidance on any aspect of your site, this host will have a video to explain things to you in an over the shoulder style presentation. Unbelievably, you can call support, and the phone is more than likely to be answered by the owner Dan Thompson. How cool is that? Right now there’s a 10% discount promotion offer. Just peel back the header at the top right of the home page for the discount code.

A fast track for newbies like ourselves which I use is Cbmall, http://www.cbmall.com/

This gives you 15 ways to earn money through Clickbank, well worth checking out. Affiliate programs such as this gets you started quickly by recommending products from other marketers. Sell one of their products and receive a generous commission. It works for me.

Maybe that’s enough to take in for now. I’ll give you time to scout around in these sites to see what’s on offer for yourself. Next time I’ll mention a few other sites which have pointed me in the right direction.

Till then,

Art

Happy Friday to you all,

I hope you have something nice planned with the family.

I’m still hard at work building my small web site empire, and this week I have added 3 new sites,

http://www.hubpages.com/hub/WOOD-TOOLS

This is a site showing some tools of the trade of carpentry which I found fascinating.

http://www.hubpages.com/hub/Designer-Fashion

Until recently, one of our daughters ran a designer fashion agency which stated my interest in this trade. She has moved on since then, but my interest remains, so I’ve listed here some auction sales for Designer perfumes, sunglasses, handbags, fashion rings and watches.

http://www.hubpages.com/hub/Designer-Weddings

In a previous life I used to be a social videographer, recording on video many weddings, hence my interest in all things bridal. Bridal dresses, hats, dresses for the bridesmaid, shoes and wedding gifts are all on display here. Buy today and receive it tomorrow.

If you are starting out like myself, I hope you can pick up some tips and hints from my examples as one of the options you can work at to make some return on your investment in the Internet business.

Have a memorable week-end,

Art

Hi Bloggers,

I promised in my previous blog that I would write a little about my first and as yet only product.

Around the turn of the year it was brought to my attention that to be an Internet Marketer you must have your own products to sell. It’s OK to sell other peoples products as an affiliate of course, but your own product is so much different, if only for the satisfaction of seeing others recognise the value in what you have created and parting with hard earned cash to acquire it.

So, after much brainstorming, the only thing I could come up with what I could write sufficiently about with authority was about the time we lived in Florida in a town called Leesburg, about 30 miles North-West of Orlando. We lived an idyllic life there on the Harris Chain of Lakes, with our 18 foot pontoon boat at the door, and access directly into the river which joined up the lakes.

We almost lived on that boat, observing all the wildlife at close quarters, visited all of the many State parks in the area or the Ocala national forest, or all of the monthly festivals in nearby towns.

When it’s written down like that, it seems a no-brainer doesn’t it?

So, Orlando for Grown-ups was born. It was never easy, and the technical issues that cropped up seemed un-surmountable at the time, but here we are 9 months later (same pregnancy time for a human being and you can take a peek at my baby through the link in my product folder.

At the moment, you can download a free version, but almost everyone advises me to reduce this to allowing just one page to be read. I think they are right, so get your copy quick.

The spirit of the Internet is to help others for no expectation of a reward. I for one have benefited from this immensely, so if you feel from these writings that I may be able to offer advice, please just ask. I will be offering a lot of advice on a regular basis to those of you who have kindly subscribed to my mailing list.

Update:

More of my websites:

http://www.yourownhorse.com/ Basic Horse Care Manual. A great guide for the beginner.

www.hotgolftips.com This golf book is red hot! Grab your copy now.

www.saltwater-marine-aquarium.com Packed with info for the Aquarist

Please check them out, there’s something for everyone here.

Subscribers to my Internet Business Blog will be sent a regular supply of these free gifts, as well as information on discount deals.

Subscribe now in the box to the right.