Was talking with Erik Stafford the other day helping him get his podcast set up properly on his new blog about reggae music. Erik is looking to do more in a few niches and get away from the internet marketing arena. Now I started Erik in podcasting a few years back when we did a podcast together.

The only IM service he is continuing is a new free site that fits right into what first brought him into view in the IM arena. It is called 7 Minute Websites.

It contains over 30 step-by-step tutorials.

Once you get inside, Erik will show you EXACTLY how to crush every single technical roadblock you’ve been facing…

Need to build a blog? A small business website?

Want to dabble with some affiliate marketing?

No problem.

If you are struggling with the “technical” aspects of trying to get a website (or work at home business) up and running, you need to check out 7 Minute Websites

To be perfectly clear here – Erik does have an optional upgrade to a monthly course that’s really affordable and you should definitely consider it and yes I get paid on it but here is plenty of quality free information too. The choice is yours.

Check out 7 Minute Websites

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses PLR to enter various niches profitably.

Technorati Tags: blog, business website, internet marketing, niches, podcast, roadblock, step tutorials, technical aspects, technical help, work at home business

Now that you have a few articles under your belt and have a handle on basic techniques for promoting them, it’s time to take a step up and tackle some advanced skills. These activities will take your article marketing efforts to a whole new level:

1. Approach editors directly.

Once you’ve proven your ability to put out high-quality articles on a consistent basis, it’s time to see if you can bypass the middleman (the article directories) and provide regular content to a newsletter, blog, or website. Locate editors of publications or blogs in your niche. Pull together a short list (with links) to some of your favorite pieces that would be appropriate for their audience, and email them a short note introducing yourself, presenting the links to your material, and asking if they’d be interested in receiving regular, exclusive content from you for publication.

The benefit for them is that they know they can count on quality content that isn’t appearing elsewhere on the Internet; the benefit to you is that you can reach a target market on a regular basis, thereby compounding the “expert” effect.

My favorite resource that teaches this method can be found at:
Blog World Tour Guide

2. Include appropriate keywords.

Keywords are words or phrases that a potential reader would use in an online search engine to look for information on a specific topic. By using keywords, you have a greater chance of someone being linked to your article from an online search engine, thereby potentially increasing the traffic to your site.

The key to keywords (pun intended) is to think like your reader would think. For instance, if you want to draw people to your handmade greeting card site, you might want to include keywords and key phrases in your article and title such as:

• greeting cards
• greeting card use
• sending greeting cards
• occasions to send greeting cards
• selecting greeting cards
• handmade birthday cards
• anniversary cards

While keywords are no guarantee that your article will become the number-one ranked link on Google, it will certainly help people find you in the vast wasteland of the Internet.

3. Re-use your articles in other media formats.

Once you have a group of targeted articles, re-use them by recording them as audio or video and releasing them online. Some people simply respond better to other forms of communication, so by providing a variety of media types, you expand your reach. It’s just another way you can connect with your target market in the way they prefer.

Article marketing is a rich and complex strategy for drawing your audience to your site. There are so many different ways to continue to market your articles that you could spend all your time finding new ways to leverage the work you’ve already created. The best part is, there’s something for everyone!

For step by step instructions on how to convert your articles to podcasts and videos quickly check out the Sunday Night Cash Plan.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses PLR to enter various niches profitably.

Technorati Tags: article marketing, audience, editors, podcast, quality articles, target market, video

Once you have your affiliate marketing system set up you need to generate traffic to your squeeze page. There are quite a few different ways to generate traffic.

Paid traffic resources

PPC – Google adwords is the biggest but there are plenty of others. Personally I don’t use pay per click a lot so I won’t begin to tell you how to use it.

Ezine Ads – This can be an excellent way to generate traffic to your system. You can find very specific ezines in your niche and make sure that you are getting your offer in front of the audience you are looking for.

It is important to track all your advertising but especially with ezines. Track through to confirmation because it only matters how many actually end up in your funnel.

Banner ads – Finding forums or blogs that you can add a banner ad to can be a great way to generate traffic to your system.

Free traffic resources – most effective when tied together

Blogs – Using a blog on your topic and offering your gift there can be an excellent way to generate more people into your system. Always be linking back to your top of the funnel.

Podcasts – Creating an audio and submitting your podcasts to the big directories can be another great way to generate traffic.

Videos – Submitting videos on your topic can be another excellent way to get people back to your system. Always link this to the top of your system.

Articles – Submitting your articles to directories with a link back to your system is probably one of the best ways to generate traffic.

Now tie them together and you can create a traffic monster. It only takes reusing the content.

Create a blog post and post it. Do an audio version and submit to the podcast directories. Create a power point of the article and make a video of your article with the power point.

Finally submit your article to the article directories.

One piece of content used 4 different ways to generate traffic back to you. Next time we will discuss tools and resources that can help automate some of the work (yes that dang 4 letter word) that it takes to generate traffic.

As always your questions and comments are welcomed.

Mike Paetzold

Technorati Tags: article marketing, banner ads, blogs, ezine ads, podcast, PPC, video marketing

Been extremely busy this week. Just redid the 7 Tips Report to bring it current to WordPress 2.5.1. Also, had to do a couple podcasts this week as next week my partner and I will be at JV Alert in Philly.

We did release the first on over at Amplification Marketing News on networking amplified. It has some good content for you.

You may have noticed a change here on the blog. Some will like it and some won’t because I have started talking about a bad word -WORK – and how to actually build a business and not play around.

There are a couple of posts about using traffic exchanges in a unique and different way. It is based on building a business rather than a free mentality. It talks about attitude adjustments that are necessary to be successful and apply to all parts of your business. Would love to get your input into how helpful these are for you.

The other thing that has caught my attention this week was a new video upload program. If you are using video this is extremely helpful to get your video on multiple sites easily. Unlike other services this is a one off fee and you run it from your computer.

Upload Video Pro

Look for more business building content continuing.

Have a great weekend and leave your input.

Mike Paetzold

Technorati Tags: blog, blog seo, networking, podcast