Article Banks and Google Alerts Harness Your Publishing Power
Content is the currency fueling the Internet. Yet, article
banks, repositories for authors to promote their content, are
still the Internet's best-kept secret.
I learned about article banks through a casual chat at a
networking event. A few days later, I posted my first article,
Five Secrets to Winning Book Proposals. What happened next made
me a true believer in the marketing prowess of free content.
My website stats skyrocketed. In one day, I had 933 new
visitors, 40 new newsletter subscribers and six client leads.
The days and weeks that followed provided more encouraging
results.
Previously, my cat Harvey was my only loyal visitor. His
motivation for coming to the website was the heat generated from
atop the computer's monitor that displayed my
homepage--cute--but not a business-building strategy. Articles
provide a new level of expertise, consistency and ubiquitous
Internet coverage for any business.
>From my experience, I found that placing an article in an
article bank is like dropping a pebble in a pond. The energy
expands the rings of influence. Five Secrets, now published in
over 20 e-zines, still produces client leads and the occasional
fan letter.
If I can do it, you can, too. Here are several tips for getting
started with article banks.
With any marketing activity, you want to measure it
effectiveness. Web statistics are important. Contact your host
provider about receiving regular traffic reports. I suggest
reviewing them on a monthly basis.
I also think it is important to track where articles appear. I
suggest that your first step is to benchmark where you are today
on the Internet by setting a Google Alert for your name or the
name of your business. Every time your article is posted to a
website by a third-party, Google will send you the link via
email. This is a great way to track where you content appears on
the web.
Step 1: Go to Google. On the search page, select MORE, this is
located directly above the search box in the right-hand corner.
Step 2: Under Google services, the first service listed is
ALERTS. It is marked by an alarm bell. Click ALERTS.
Step 3: You are now on the WELCOME TO GOOGLE ALERTS page. You
can create an alert using the form given on this page.
Alternatively, you can click the link MANAGE YOUR ACCOUNT that
will allow you to create a free account in order to set multiple
alerts.
Step 4: Set-up a Google Alert for your name. Be sure to put your
name in quotation marks. ("Melissa Rosati"). Quotation marks
instruct Google to only pull references where these two words
appear together. Without the quotation marks, I would receive
every generic MELISSA listed on the Internet.
Step 5: Select NEWS AND WEB. This command specifies that Google
will search the eight billion pages on the web and will retrieve
for you all of the pages where your name appears. You may choose
to have Google report to you every day or once each week.
Depending on your current web presence, Google will send you
your first alert within one to two weeks. As your articles
expand on the web, the alerts will come more frequently.
Step 6: Do a search for "article banks." You'll find banks that
are free as well as sites that may offer promotion for a fee.
Personally, I stick with the free sites and find them to be
effective. Once you've selected an article bank, you may be able
to specify that your article appears in more than one section.
For example, Alumbo.com will allow you to choose up to 10
sections.
Every site will have its own submission guidelines. By accepting
the submission terms, you agree that e-zines, newsletters or
other content sites may reprint your article. Most article banks
always state that a third-party must produce the article in its
entirety and that your name and copyright notice must appear.
Each article bank expects that your submission will contain five
key elements.
Headline: Help the reader solve a problem. People go to article
banks to find a quick solution to a problem. Construct your
headline as a question or in tip form--Five Secrets to Winning
Book Proposals, for example.
Description: Make the article description one compelling
sentence that addresses the problem.
Article Body: This is your core message. Remember, net readers
need short paragraphs and short sentences. Reading is tough on
the screen. Think--short and white space.
Subtitles: Include key words related to your topic. This gives
your article more pizzazz with search engines.
Resource Box: By all means, highlight your expertise. Always say
something like "To learn more, visit....." This is how you drive
traffic to your website.
Don't let your cat be your only returning website visitor. When
used consistently, article banks give you terrific exposure in
short period on time and will keep working for you for months to
come.
C 2005 Melissa A Rosati. All Rights Reserved