Article marketing is one of the very best ways to market your business and your services by sharing your expertise.  By writing and submitting articles on a regular basis you are sharing your knowledge with your target audience and giving them a chance to get to know you and your work.  Articles are short (about 500 words) but informative pieces that give specific information to your readers.

Writing different types of articles can be beneficial to your target audience.  For example, the “how to” article can show them how to do something very specific.  It outlines a task, how to complete the task and a call to action.  Even if the “how to” article is actually one of the services you provide, it’s OK to give this information away because then your target audience will see how knowledgeable you are, they will start to build trust, and sometimes when they try to do it themselves, they realize they can’t and call you for your expertise.

Individuals searching for information online on the topics you write about will find your articles and appreciate the tips and strategies you share to help them solve pressing challenges.  In each article, you’ll include a “resource box” which includes a brief bio about you, a link to your website and ideally an offer for some free information.  By making the resource box really appealing, you’ll consistently drive traffic your work website and attract pre-qualified leads to your business.   The best part is since articles stay online “forever”, they continue to work for you 24/7 without any additional effort on your part.  Talk about Smart Simple Marketing, right?!

Article marketing is just like any other marketing – it takes consistent effort to yield results.  Posting articles regularly establishes you as the expert and builds your credibility.  If you don’t do it consistently or often enough, people forget about you and won’t take you seriously when you try to position yourself as the “expert” down the road.

Getting into a rhythm of getting your article done takes some planning.  But most importantly, it’s about developing a system to create the articles and publish them.  You’ll be happy to know that once you get the system in place, writing the articles doesn’t take much time and the process can flow smoothly.  This helps you to get the articles done in an efficient manner. Thus you will be consistently sharing valuable information with your target audience, while attracting ideal clients to your business and creating more revenue.

But actually sitting down to create the system can be a daunting task if you aren’t sure how to do it.

That’s why my colleague, Joshua Zerkel and I are offering a FREE call to both of our communities on Wednesday, September 8th, at 5PM (PST)/8 PM (EST).  We’re going to break down exactly how to create systems in your business so that you can apply the process to any marketing activity you choose! We both feel strongly that marketing should be simple and easy to implement and are looking forward to sharing the proven strategies we’ve developed with you.

If you are struggling with consistently doing your article marketing or implementing any other part of your marketing plan, you MUST to be on this call.

Register now at :

==> http://smartsimplemarketing.com/market-your-business/

Josh and I will be finalizing the content for the  call this week.  If you are struggling with any other part of your marketing plan, please post your comments or questions here.  We’ll cover as much as we can on this information-packed FREE call!

The cornerstone of successful (i.e. profitable) email marketing strategy is having a responsive list.  Many Internet marketing “gurus” talk about having a large number of subscribers and liken that as the link to their success. But when you’re building a community within your target audience, it’s really less about the quantity of email subscribers and more about the quality of subscribers on your list.  Building a strong, trusting relationship with ideal prospects in your target market is important because when you do make an offer, they’ll be more likely to respond.

The only way to get your email subscribers to respond to you is if you earn their trust.  And one way you can do this is to keep in touch with them consistently.  Sending an email only when you have something to promote will not yield the results you expect.

Why?

Because they know all you’re trying to do is sell them something – no one likes to be sold.  If you have tried this in the past, you probably saw a large number of people unsubscribe from your list shortly after the offer was mailed, right?

The key to building a responsive email list is to keep in regular contact with them.  Emailing your list at least once a week with a tip, or links to your weekly blog posts or even a newsletter, is a good start to building a relationship with them. Once they see you’re working hard to interact with them, build a rapport with them and share helpful information/resources, they will be more receptive to your offers.

Consistency is critical.  And the only way to achieve consistency is to create a system for staying in touch with your email subscribers.  My favorite way to create a system is to use technology to work for you so that you can maintain the level of communication from week to week and month to month.

This is a really simple strategy, but I often see folks getting stuck on the “how to” details and therefore, it just doesn’t get done.

I want to help you get over this obstacle.

Join me and my colleague,  Joshua Zerkel  on Wednesday, September 8th at 5 PM (PDT) for a FREE call on how to create systems for your marketing your business.  We’ll teach you the actual skill of creating simple systems  so you can APPLY it to any strategy you choose to grow your business.  This is a lifelong skill you will be able to use over and over again.   But most importantly, it will show you the steps to create an effective and consistent email marketing campaign to produce long-term results.

Register at http://smartsimplemarketing.com/market-your-business/.

If you have any questions about email marketing in general, please post them below!  We’ll try to address any common questions we get during the call.

Maintaining a business blog is one of my favorite strategies for driving pre-qualified traffic to your website. But a lot of entrepreneurs I know shy away from starting a blog (or let it “die”) because they can’t imagine writing content every week. I hear your struggle! So today’s episodes shares a few of my secrets for how to overcome this dilemma and take advantage of this powerful marketing tool.

 

 SSMS Episode #7 - How to Easily and Consistently Create Hot Content for Your Blog! [10:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (95)

Your website is one of the most important pieces of marketing collateral you have. It serves as a hub for your services, portfolio, expertise and blog. More clients will find your website before they find you via social media, a referral or other marketing source.

One of the best things to leverage your website is to speak to your potential client through examples or samples of your work. This allows the reader to see a sample of your work before they ever pick up the phone to call you.

That said, be sure to showcase your most successful client stories. For example, if you are a service provider that offers interior design or organizing services, you want to make sure and take high quality “before and after” pictures.  This will highlight your work and show prospective clients what solutions you can create for them. But make sure these pictures tell the right story – in the right way.  This means NOT taking pictures yourself (unless you’re a skilled photographer).  Spend a few extra dollars to have high quality photos taken of your work. You can then use the photos on your website, and in your other marketing materials, both online and offline. MORE

Perhaps you’ve heard of the concept of article marketing, but have never really understood what that means or how it can be a critical factor in the online visibility of your business. Article marketing is a strategy that leverages the power of the Internet and combines it with consumer’s insatiable need for information. Distributing articles around the Internet allows solopreneurs to share their expertise, knowledge and experience by writing about relevant subjects and making the content freely available for others to read and use.

Your first question is probably “how does it work and why should I do it”? MORE

Most of us have heard that people buy from folks they “know, like and trust.” So a logical question for a solo service professional looking to consistently attract more clients to their business is, “how do I get prospects to know, like and trust me quickly?”     MORE