Archive for the ‘articles’ Category

Inspiration for writing website content as part of web design, and especially the pressure for new blog post content, can be relieved somewhat if you recognize opportunity. Earlier today I had that type of experience involving web copywriting, and decided the topic was worthy of sharing here as the anatomy of a published article.

Ever help someone with a problem as part of your job by providing free advice? The good will generated is worth donating that solution with no strings attached, yet take it another step and document the story as a blog post so others know just what you did to make a difference in a person’s life.

If you’re away from the computer when inspiration strikes, jot down a short note as a reminder of the new blog post topic for later. Do that often during the day and you’ll never run out of ideas for blog posts. Here’s what happened today, and the timeline.

8:43 a.m. – Replied to an email with advice for writing effective blog post content
9:00 a.m. – Used notes from the tips I sent earlier to begin a formal advice article
1:15 p.m. – Article finished and began submitting it to my top 20 article directories
2:27 p.m. – Email confirmation received from EzineArticles.com acknowledging receipt
4:03 p.m. – Email message confirms EzineArticles.com approved and published my article*

Acts of kindness in business may be repaid by others who become new customers by observing or learning about how you treat people. I think of that whenever I’m doing custom cms web design and offering free advice.

What began as a helpful email reply to an acquaintance early this morning evolved into a full article submitted, approved, and published by the end of the day. That article will generate backlinks and site traffic because I recognized the opportunity to share expertise relating to web design.

Curious? Read the article entitled My Golden Rule Writing for the Web with advanced tips about writing website content.

*Footnote: For authors wondering about an article being submitted and then approved and published in just 96 minutes, those are true times down to the minute. EzineArticles.com gives expedited reviews to Platinum level authors like me. Read about another benefit of being a platinum author here.

Having purchased SubmitEaze directory submission software several years ago for seo or search engine optimization reasons, recent updates and enhanced functions make this a good time for another look at SubmitEaze. Part of website optimization strategy for search engine optimization involves backlinks which are links to your website from other sites. These are like votes when found by Google, so by acquiring more votes your site is more likely to increase its rank.

Two methods of acquiring those backlinks are “Website Directories” and “Article Directories” featured in my series of do-it-yourself seo reports released in 2007. Follow that link to download your free copies of the PDF reports (no email or registration required).

In a hurry to learn how? Visit their site to watch the SubmitEaze demo videos.

In summary, you acquire backlinks by getting listed on other websites. The Website Directory lists businesses by category with links to those sites, and the Article Directory sites accept advice articles for syndication that includes links in the resource (About the Author) box. Get listed, or write helpful articles about your business niche and submit to 100′s of directories.

Prior to SubmitEaze, the submission process was VERY time consuming. Each site you visit meant doing copy and paste of content over and over, so submitting to 100 sites could take 2-3 days. SubmitEaze is a very fast and semi-automated software program with a system to submit your site or articles to directories in minutes, not days.

First released for web directories only, SubmitEaze now handles article submissions, too. My advice is to review the SubmitEaze software and watch their demo videos before you buy. I started out doing manual submission of my website, and then bought other software before discovering SubmitEaze and making it my standard.

Great resources for do-it-yourself small business website owners using a Joomla content management system may be found at the recently launched Joomla articles website.This brilliant one-stop-shop for everything Joomla is the creation of Ric Raftis, a fellow custom web design expert in Australia.

For now the site is in beta pending the formal release, yet the site is already loaded with valuable information for Joomla based site owners. The official Joomla forum contains nearly 1.3 million topics. By comparison, www.JoomlaArticles.com features only the best and current resources for making the most of your small business Joomla 1.5 installation.

My advice for small business website owners is bookmarking JoomlaArticles.com to stay on top of the latest developments from a neutral expert with an eye for collecting only the best online resources. Best of luck to Ric Raftis with the growth of this site.

The latest website advice article for small business owners was published earlier today, and you may read the full review Internet Explorer IE8 Doom or Joy for details.

Last year Microsoft announced an updated browser scheduled for release by the summer of 2008 with Internet Explorer 8, IE8, and the news was met by most web developers with apprehension. After following the news releases from Microsoft and an announcement earlier this week on March 3rd, it was time for an article and preliminary review of IE8.

Backward compatibility and cross browser compatibility are important to site designers and owners. One of the resources mentioned in the review and article is a website for testing page display in current and older browsers from BrowserShots.org. Visit their site to see what your website looks like in more than 50 browsers including Mac and older revisions of major and lesser known brands.

To the joy of web developers worldwide, Microsoft reversed a previous decision from December 2007 and announced that IE8 will incorporate the most standards compliant interoperability possible. This should be good news for small business website owners, as well.

One of the free methods I teach my custom website design clients about seo, or search engine optimization, is writing articles to get backlinks as syndicated articles are published, plus you can establish your reputation as an expert.

The incentive for article directory owners to promote article writing by offering free syndication is a challenging business model. Monetizing a free resource depends on visitors following affiliate links on the site and then making a purchase, or from click revenue derived from Google Adsense advertising if that’s used on the site. Otherwise, the enterprise becomes a hobby without a financial revenue stream unless that website becomes very well established and is sold years later.

The series of email messages shown below were received from an article directory owner, and all within 30 minutes. The names have been obscured to protect the identifiable parties involved. The urgency and calamity faced when things go wrong are apparent.

Message 1: I have found it necessary to add user and password login to (directory site name) because of so many spam articles. Hopefully this change will not be too much trouble for you.

Message 2: Please be patient. The security measures that I turned on in this article directory are not functioning correctly. I am in contact with (software company name) for their assistance.

Message 3: (Directory site name) article submissions is back up. Requirement for security has been disabled so you can submit freely. I must come up with a plan B for spam.

The security measures being attempted by this article directory owner are already in place with the majority of article syndicate websites, and points out one of the time consuming issues these owners face. The best directories have editors who proof read every article submitted before approving or rejecting each. If they receive 200 to 500 articles a day ranging from 500-1000 words, that’s a lot of work, and reading.

Article writing is a great way for do-it-yourself website promotion to establish a reputation as an authority, and get bonus backlinks to your small business website as articles are republished. Authors should benefit from the seo, or search engine optimization, value of article syndication. Hats off to the article directory owners who make this possible.

Following my Top 50 List of Article Directory sites a few months ago, the list was revised to the Top 20 and released today. Selection to this list is based on overall design and performance including approval time, reputation as a trusted authority site for article publication, and personal positive results using their services. The list is in alphabetical order:

www.advisor.com
www.amazines.com
www.articlealley.com
www.articlecity.com
www.articleclick.com
www.articlecube.com
www.articledashboard.com
www.articlegarden.com
www.articleonramp.com
www.articlerich.com
www.articlesbeyondbetter.com
www.buildyourownbusiness.biz
www.ebusiness-articles.com
www.ezinearticles.com
www.goarticles.com
www.iwantcontent.com
www.niche-content-articles.com
www.positivearticles.com
www.searcharticles.net
www.theleadingarticles.com

Follow this link to the complete Top 20 Article Directory List and reasons for the shorter version. Time can be an enemy for small business owners, so if you avoid writing articles perhaps the short list of top syndicates will help you. The seo, or search engine optimization, value of published articles is an important aspect of small business website promotion.

Article writing is featured in one of the free SEO pdf reports in my series for do-it-yourself small business website promotion, and I thought I would share some statistics. The evidence favors article writing as a way to promote your website as shown by the following results at just one article syndication directory.

Article titles are blog related and linked to the originals as listed in my library of small business advice full length articles.

Small Business Blog Integration Advice
Author: Jim Degerstrom
Posted on: Apr 28 2007
Status: Approved
Downloads: 1843
Word Count: 866

Small Business Blog Writing Tips
Author: Jim Degerstrom
Posted on: May 18 2007
Status: Approved
Downloads: 623
Word Count: 978

The first article was written in April 2007 and was downloaded from the article syndicate 1,843 times. The second was published in May 2007 and has been downloaded 623 times.

The benefits of becoming known for writing free expert advice will draw fans when you write quality articles from a neutral point of view. Visit the directory of small business advice articles for a list and links to these and other website design related topics.

Learn more about the value of writing articles. Download the search engine optimization reports in pdf to learn more about free methods for small business website promotion. The first is entitled “Google Page One in Just 9 Months”.

I released another published article about small business turnkey websites, and not just the scams. Brand name cookie cutter websites can have a downside, so you may want to read about the topic of brand name turnkey sites here. Here’s an excerpt.

The ideal scenario for any small business is having an original site with fresh content added often instead of a cookie cutter clone. Integrate a blog and forum as appropriate and you create a search engine magnet, but that traffic is meaningless if your content is stale and only optimized for search engines. It is more important to design content for visitors who are more likely to stay longer and eventually buy when you provide quality information and value for money.

In a previous article, readers were warned about scam turnkey sites, including some featured in late night tv advertising. You may want to read how one woman lost more than $10,000 over 2 years without one cent in profit as documented in another article I wrote, Tips Before Buying a Turnkey Online Business.

Use due diligence before spending your hard earned money. Contact me for an opinion before you buy, or consider joining online marketing forums to get neutral feedback before you pay for an online turnkey site. You may find seo, search engine optimization, very difficult with a cookie cutter website.

The next free pdf download in my series of search engine optimization reports is available. Unlike some free reports, you do not have to register or provide an email address to download any of these free SEO advice reports.

Enjoy the “Article Writing Top Resources” PDF report and learn the process for submitting articles to article directories to gain backlinks to your website. This is #3 in the series of 6 Do-It-Yourself Website Promotion reports for small business owners.

Content includes bonus information with an overview of the SEO value of writing articles, a tutorial for overcoming writer’s block, plus a list of my Top 50 Article Directories.

I’ve written another published article with advice for small business owners and it contains pointers for ensuring control of your www domain name. View the full article entitled Out of Control WWW Domains to learn how two unwary website owners incorrectly thought they owned their domains.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

In both cases the client paid for their domain. In the first instance the registrar simply registered the new domain in their company name, not the client’s. In the more recent situation, my client bought a business and the previous owner did not take action to transfer the registrant information. Each relationship deteriorated to the point where the clients felt compelled to register another domain, and fortunately the productivity of each business site was insignificant, so the downside of letting it go was minimal.

Unhappier endings to hostile relationships have occurred. The article includes comments on a case that was out of control resulting in the website going offline, and the true owner could not regain control for more than a year. If you have any doubts about who controls your domain, you may want to read my article about WhoIs here.