One reason I’m so excited about my launch is pretty simple:  Frankly, I’ve never seen anybody offer what I will be offering.

Sure, there are countless article marketing ebooks out there.  But I’ve yet to see anyone create a full-fledged member’s resource area with complete courses and highly targeted video trainings.

(Trust me, I’ve read virtually every ebook out there and even they can’t come close to offering as much massive value as I have been preparing for you.)

Whether you’re an affiliate marketer or a small business owner, someone just getting started or someone with tons of experience on the web, I know you’re going to get a lot out of what I have to offer.

But back to the point.

I was going through some of my member’s only resources today when I ran across a few images on a presentation that I think you should see now.  People are always asking me about the potential of article marketing and what they can expect it to do for them.

Folks, check this out…

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Today I want to share a few of my favorite free tools and tricks for SEO. These puppies are a great way to get more natural search engine traffic and work great with the strategies I’ve suggested before.

1. EzineArticles.com Free Article Directory
For article marketing, my absolute favorite directory is www.ezinearticles.com because they almost always deliver the most results. You can setup a free account at their website in minutes and submit articles absolutely free. Just be sure you follow their terms of service for the most success with your submissions.

2. Jeff Johnson’s Free Traffic Getting SEO Plugin
Jeff Johnson has put together some amazing Free SEO plugins for WordPress all-in-one. His tools do a great job of improving natural search engine traffic and building up your content marketing via blogging. Be sure to download this one right away. Get the Free SEO Plugin here!

3. WordPress.com
If you’re blogging, WordPress is the only tool you should ever consider using. Search engines love it, it’s easy, and the results are always great! You can download the WordPress open source software free at their website or simply setup a free blog on their servers to start promoting your products or services.

4. Yahoo Site Explorer
Looking for SEO-related info about your websites? Yahoo Site Explorer does a tremendous job of making it easy to see exactly where your links are coming from across the web. Good stuff for tracking your linking campaigns.

5. Wordtracker Keyword Tool
Research and refine your keyword targets online with Wordtracker’s free preview keyword tool. Type in a target phrase and see what pops up. But beware: some of the projected traffic numbers they list can be a bit deceptive. Think of this more as a general guide and a companion to the already well known Google Keyword Tool.

Use all of these free SEO tools in concert to improve your business Search Engine Marketing results quickly. Sometimes there is such a thing as a free lunch.

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But since I seem to have the recurring fortune to participate in these types of conversations time and time again, I have decided to try and translate this world in the simplest terms possible for outsiders. So let’s get started.

What is Search Engine Marketing?

Search Engine Marketing is also known as SEM for short – one of the many acronyms you’ll encounter in this industry. In a nutshell, search marketing consists of anything you do to promote, advertise, or otherwise drive traffic to a website via search engines. Of course, when we think about search engines we tend to think Google, Yahoo, and now Bing. But truth be told, there are thousands of search engines lurking out on the web. By targeting the top three engines, you’re pretty likely to hit the majority of the market.

There are two primary methods of SEM: Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click Marketing. The reason for this is simple. There are also two primary components of most search engines. Those two components are “natural search results” and “paid search results.”

Natural search results dominate the left-hand side of the SERP (aka “Search Engine Results Page”). The PPC (“Pay Per Click” or “Paid Search) results show up on the right side. There are some slight variations to how natural search and paid search results appear, but this is pretty much how it works.

If you are marketing a website, you basically have two ways of capturing traffic from a search engine: 1) get your website in the natural search column, or 2) buy your way into the paid search results.

Beginning with Pay Per Click – PPC

Most Internet Marketing experts will argue that “natural search” is always better, but I beg to differ. In many cases, it may be *too difficult* to bother. So let’s begin by talking about the easiest and fastest way to get in to search engines — Pay Per Click Advertising.

PPC is quick and easy for getting started, though there is a learning curve. Google Adwords is the system you’ll most likely learn first as its the most powerful PPC environment. I’m not going to launch into some how-to guide on PPC here, but just know that the best thing you can do to get started is just to get started. There are many resources available on the web for doing your own PPC campaigns and there are many services available to manage your PPC for you.

Graduating to Natural Search – SEO

If you run with PPC for a good period of time, you will learn a lot about how search engines work and what kinds of keywords your customers are using to find your website. This is a great launching pad for getting started in Search Engine Optimization – definitely not the easiest form of Search Marketing, but almost always the most cost effective when you’re running campaigns long-term.

Again, SEO is about obtaining natural search rankings in that left-hand column on Google, Yahoo, Bing or any other search engine. These positions are highly coveted and, well, there are only a handful of spots available on that first page. Unfortunately, new businesses are coming to market every day so competing for these positions can be a major pain in the ass if you’re not patient and strategic.

Either way, no Search Marketing Plan is complete without some form of an SEO plan. Many SEO gurus will tell you to start by aiming for the “low hanging fruit.” This means targeting 3- and 4-word keyword phrases instead of 1- or 2-word phrases, which are now incredibly challenging to nail within a short timeframe. As with PPC, strategic methods for SEO are beyond the scope of this post, though these two articles will provide a nice introduction to a simple but effective method:

Article Marketing Part One
Article Marketing Part Two

Search Marketing Works

The most important thing to note here is that Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a very powerful tool for promoting your business. As a recent NY Times article put it: “Search advertising is probably the most effective form of marketing ever invented” – period. No matter how you get started and no matter how much of it you actually do, the most important thing is to start small and plan to learn big.

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In this post, I want to offer some quick-and-easy Internet Business Strategy ideas for those interested in a do-it-yourself solution. Keep in mind that I still believe the absolute best solution for a complete beginner is to find a consultant or a small firm to advise you on the tricky parts and to offer some initial guidance. But if you are savvy and eager, doing it yourself is a great way to go!

And though this post is targeted towards “small business online marketing” – I use that term very loosely. This information could apply equally to a new local restaurant or an e-commerce shop for golfing enthusiasts. But these tips are intended mostly for beginners.

I do want to be clear about one thing before we get started: All three of these tips are closely related to the SEO services we offer at our niche marketing websites. I don’t mean to be overly self-promotional in this article, but we offer these services and they are successful for an important reason – they work!

Small Business SEO Strategy #1 – Content Writing

Let’s face it, great content is essential to any SEO strategy. You need high-quality content on your blog posts, website pages, press releases, social media campaigns, and everything else under the sun. This should come as no surprise – the same rule applies in the offline marketing world.

ACTION STEP: Depending on your budget and needs, find a professional copywriter and/or an article writing service to manage all of your writing needs. Unless you’re a strong writer *and* you have the time to do it all, this is absolutely essential. You should be able to find a quality writer for $25/hr or about $10-$20 per post/article. Our average rate at www.SeoArticleWritingPros.com and www.SeoBloggingPros.com is $10 per 400 word SEO’d post.

Small Business SEO Strategy #2 – Blogging

Now that we have the content writing element underway, it’s time to start putting some of that content to use. If you don’t already have a blog for your small business operation, it’s time to get one. This is the absolute best way to communicate with your customer/client base and to build trust behind your brand name.

ACTION STEP: Setup a blog on your domain or get a blog at WordPress.com free. The first option is much smarter but will likely require hiring someone to set everything up and give you the low-down on blogging. A standard blog setup with SEO elements already in place will run you about $500-$1000 depending on your needs.

Small Business SEO Strategy #3 – Article Marketing

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Article submission is one of the best, easiest, cheapest, and most effective online marketing strategies around. Guess what? More writing is involved here too. Now you can see just how important Strategy #1 from above really is.

ACTION STEP: Get started on a free article directory like www.EzineArticles.com or hire an article marketing service to do it all for you. This is something you should be doing consistently and effectively. (To read more about this essential strategy, click here: article marketing) The cost for this step should be free unless you hire someone to do it – not a bad idea if you’re looking to outsource everything and get it on autopilot. Our service at www.ArticleMarketingSEO.com starts at $39 for a basic campaign, including article writing and Keyword Targeting/Optimization.

These three strategies are a great way to get things moving for your Small Business Search Engine Optimization Campaign. It may not seem like a lot, but by getting these three items together, you will see a major transformation in your online marketing results within months.

The reality is most of your competitors are not doing any of this. Even if they are doing some, their efforts are probably scattered and inconsistent. Start small and focus on following a simple schedule and scale-up from there. Jumping in with an overly ambitious plan can quickly become overwhelming. Long-term planning and regular effort is what really counts in Internet Business Strategy.

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Building Trust and Credibility Articles

We already recognize the power of Google and other major search engines in building trust with users. Again, this is exactly why we use the search engines we use. Your goal as an article marketer is to build trust and credibility using this simple search ranking strategy.

The process is simple:

If you learn to master the article writing and article submission process, you can leverage these directories like www.EzineArticles.com to achieve high rankings for your content. Once readers discover your content, read it, and click-through to your website you have already achieved a high level of trust and credibility. This is a process I refer to as “pre-qualifying” your traffic.

Here’s an overview of how a searcher will behave on your website – let’s pretend it’s me doing the searching.

1. I search for a specific phrase on Google, Yahoo, MSN (Bing), or any search engine.
2. I discover your article – ranking high because of its relevance.
3. I read (or even skim) the content and find it relevant and “persuasive.”
4. I click through to your website and become a potential client, buyer, etc.

At this point of arrival – step four – I am already fairly convinced of your credibility or the reputation of your company. This depends, of course, on how well your article marketing strategy is designed. If you write great content (or hire article writers) and make use of basic conversion strategies, this process should be very effective.

Why Content Marketing Works

When we’re talking about article marketing, we’re really talking about “content marketing” in general. Content marketing can include anything from articles, blogs, press releases, email newsletters, autoresponders, and even – perhaps especially – the very content on your website.

Content marketing works for one very simple reason: the primary reason anyone uses the web is to get information. Even if an individual is looking to make a transaction – book a hotel, buy a book, etc – it all returns to content at some point.

• If I am ready to book a hotel in London, I need lots of content to motivate me to make the purchase I am going to make. Hotel reviews, London travel info, etc.

• If I am ready to buy a book, I need content to persuade or reinforce my purchase. Book reviews, seller ratings, author blogs, etc.

This is exactly why article marketing is so effective. If you create strong, informative, interesting content based around the subject areas relevant to what you’re really selling or promoting, you can enhance a searcher’s interest and pull him or her into the final purchase.

At first glance, this may sound manipulative or underhanded. Truly, it’s basic selling psychology at work in a new age. Old selling strategies (“push marketing”) simply do not work online. If you have professional integrity, a quality product or service, etc etc, the content marketing effort is designed merely to establish genuine trust and credibility with your buyer. We’re not selling snake oil here, folks!

How to Get Started with Article Marketing

Although the nuts-and-bolts are out of the scope of this discussion, I don’t want to leave you without some basic tips for getting started.

1. Create a free account with a reputable directory like www.EzineArticles.com
2. Write 5-10 articles to get started (or hire an article writing service).
3. Submit your articles to the directory and wait for them to hit the search engines.

Again, these are very basic “getting started” steps intended for the novice article marketer. There is much more to the advanced process, but you must start somewhere.

For now, get started with article marketing before your competitors do. It’s the new way to beat the search engines!

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Instead, I want to talk about a very specific strategy for optimization. This is a strategy I have used over and over again with tremendous success. And it’s easy to do! This is a major bonus in the optimization world where most people are totally overwhelmed.

Website Optimization – Expensive Firms

Chances are pretty good that if you’re reading this article you’re NOT an SEO expert. You may have even considered hiring a large firm to “SEO your website.” These firms – even the small time consultants – charge ridiculously high fees for… well, I’m still trying to figure that part out.

Here’s the good news: You don’t need them!

Most of that large fee goes to pay the sales team that worked extremely hard to find you and recruit you. The remaining majority of your fee goes into the pockets of the firm owners and, finally, a very very small portion goes to the outsourced labor hired to perform all of the so-called SEO operations and tasks that will help you rank high.

Trust me, I have first-hand experience working with one of these national firms.

(CAVEAT: There are in fact many very good SEO companies out there. And by very good, I mean extremely good. Unfortunately, these folks are also extremely expensive. You get what you pay for in the SEO world.)

Quick Background

Search Engine Optimization has evolved dramatically in the past 5 years. It used to be quite easy to tweak your website, throw up some content, and maybe get a few backlinks from similar blogs and websites – and then, presto, you would pop quite high in Google, Yahoo, and MSN.

These days, the direct website strategy is not going to work for you.

Of course, you need to do at least some of these things to get your website pulling rank… eventually. But because the competition has grown exponentially and because major search engines like Google have created more sophisticated algorithms, it’s just not like it used to be.

How Article Marketing is Faster and Better Than Traditional SEO

Here’s the part where I show you the way out of this conundrum. First, let’s change your thinking.

Instead of thinking about optimizing *your* website, think about leveraging another website. Which website? I’m glad you asked.

There are many different options for leveraging other websites, so we should start with a list of some attributes these websites should have:

1. Age
2. Size
3. Reputation

I know what you’re thinking – duh! Yes, I know this is quite obvious but it’s important to see this clearly to understand exactly why I think article marketing works.

Why I Love EzineArticles.com

Consider my absolute favorite article directory www.EzineArticles.com Why do I like these guys?

1. Age
They have been around a *very* long time. According to domain research tools, the domain was created on 19 Nov 1999. Not bad eh?

2. Size
As of this moment, the directory has nearly 10 million pages indexed in Google. Size indeed.

3. Reputation
People trust this article directory. More importantly, Google trusts this article directory.

This is exactly what the Internet is all about. It’s exactly what made Google what it is today – trust.

People don’t use search engines because they like the pretty colors and the fancy features. Take a look at www.Google.com – a close look. It’s one of the simplest websites on the web.

People use search engines because they trust them. You do the same. I do the same. Your customers do the same.

So if you trust Google, then you trust the top results it delivers you every time you process a new search query. Google consistently ranks EzineArticles.com pages high because the article directory has an excellent reputation. They screen all content very carefully. They put new writers through a stage-by-stage review process. In short, they are saving Google a lot of time by clearing new content for the web.

In the next installment of this series, we’ll look at exactly how you can put the article directory to work for you.

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