Professionals are very often NOT very good at what they do. They are professional not because they are good at something, but simply because it's what they do for a living.......their profession.
Try not the make the mistake of confusing the word 'professional' with 'competent'. I've know MANY people in all walks of life who pretty much just get-by at their job/profession, but have never really learned to do it well.
Like them, most online "professionals" are like this.
Don't get me wrong, there are SOME very good internet marketers, but these are few and far between. Those that do a good job use Article Marketing and THEN email marketing to find and then market their products and services to their prospective customers.
Most 'professionals' who make their money online don't even realize that article marketing is one of the best ways to get traffic to their sites, so you are in a good position knowing this. You also need to know HOW to submit your articles properly for them to have maximum and long-term effect.
Getting one-way links back to your website (or sites) is the name of the game,but ALSO, you will become known as an authority in your field and THAT will get you visitors also, because people will hear of you and try to find you in the search engines. If you don't believe me, type Luke Hawthorne into Google.
I come up number 1, and my articles are also on the first page. Now see what happens if you type in YOUR name. Okay, so you can see that I know what I'm saying is true.
Now, back to getting links to your sites by submitting articles properly.
People use search-engines like the mythical 'Oracle' (in fact I'm surprised that their isn't a search-engine called 'Oracle' yet). They want to ask the search-engines a question and get an answer, so it's the answer that they want, but the search-engines can currently only find TEXT. They're working on speech-recognition, so that will be the next phase of search-engine growth.
First, you need to realize that you need to get LOTS of articles 'out there'. Try and submit one article every week, at least to the top 5 directories
(these are easily found by using Google or the like).
Don't EVER worry about giving away too much information. The more secrets you reveal and the better the quality of your articles, the more visitors you will get to your websites.
Also remember, if you DO have several sites that you want to promote that are on similar topics (or identical subjects), you can submit the same article but with different links. You can also submit the same articles or very slightly modified versions to the SAME article directories a few months later,after the earlier articles have already been taken and used on other peoples sites. This way, you're leveraging the one article into links for several sites.
Make sure that you preview each article before clicking the 'submit' button, so that you're sure that the article looks good; paragraphs of about even length and not too long, punctuation right etc.
Be sure the make your articles easy to read. The sad fact is that the AVERAGE reading level in the U.S.A. (currently the leading power in the world)is age 12. I'm SERIOUS! NO difficult words, keep your wording simple. Don't say "exacerbate", say "worsen" or "make worse".
Check to make sure that the subject you are writing
on IS in demand. As I write this, the 'hot-topic' is Social Marketing. This fad won't last, so you CAN write about this, but it's better to write on subjects of LASTING significance, rather than something that's currently trendy. Your PRODUCTS, however, should be aimed at the trendy/fashionable market.
In each article, have your keywords and resource-box information typed so that you can quickly cut-and-paste into the article directories fields. This will make the whole process a lot quicker.
Write consistently to show your personality in all of your articles. If you don't, you'll lose credibility. Think of your favorite author. Does he/she have a certain style that you like? Be like them and have your OWN style.
Some article directories will let you have a link to your site within the body of the text, but most do not now, so, to keep it simple, limit your link to your resource (or bio) box.
Use the 'teaser' box wisely. Skim-readers will read this first and ONLY read the rest of your article if the teaser box wording interests them. What should you write in this box? Well, you could pose a problem, ask a question,quote somebody successful or famous or perhaps list one of several things you should or shouldn't do; write anything to make them want to read more.
Use keywords in your title. The title alone could make people want to read your article (especially if the 'teaser' copy is tempting). Titles that ask a question or say something like "5 mistakes....." or "10 things to make......" you get the general idea. You can also create titles that are funny or odd.
I wrote one recently called 'Napoleon Rules'. What does THAT mean? You reader might want to learn more, especially if it's in the 'Internet Marketing' category. 'How To' is also always good to have in a title.
Choose the category that your article will be in carefully. There's no point putting an article about internet marketing in the 'Arts and Crafts' section, because you'll never be found.
The category should be chosen using the keywords for your article, and also the benefits that your article will bring to the reader. For example, if your article is about keyword-research, don't choose the category of 'Business Online', but rather choose 'Internet Marketing', or even better 'Keyword Research'. Each directory will have different category options, so think about your target audience when making your decision.
Finally, use the full hypertext transfer protocol in your link back to your site such as http://www.lukehawthorne.com ,if you don't do this, your links will not be real links, it'll be just text sitting in the box.
One you've written and submitted your article it's OUT THERE FOREVER! And it will bring traffic to your site for years to come. So that you can be proud of your articles, research them well and write them well. There's no taking them back. Once they're out on other people's sites, you can NEVER get them back, so make them great and take pride that you wrote them.
