I decided that as a part of my trials and tribulations of working with off page SEO, I would reveal the things I learned about Outsource Article Marketing. Some tips may seem very basic but many people overlook these simple factors which make a significant impact on the exposure a website will receive. Article submitting is a major part of off page SEO, as it substantially builds the credibility of a website. When a company puts content out on the Internet by submitting articles to article submission sites, it provides the website with a number of valuable back links.  Articles can generate traffic for a particular website making article submission a powerful SEO tool. The idea of submitting an article is the strategic placement of keyword links within the content of the article to target particular pages of a website. A company should display their knowledge and experience through their articles with topics related to their website and business. Article submission is advertising your website in an indirect manner.

If you are submitting articles you must ensure the content of the article does not include self promoting information. If articles include self promoting information, readers lose interest and regard the article as spam. The websites that are used for Outsource Article Marketing do not approve your content to go live if your article is self promoting and spam filled. The idea is to advertise your website through your knowledge and expertise. Once readers see that you are well versed in your field they will be keen on visiting your website to learn more about your business. Readers will be able to directly connect to your website by clicking on the 1 or 2 keyword hyperlinks strategically placed within the article content and the author resource box. It is essential to hyperlink the right keywords that will help build traffic for your website.

With Outsource Article Marketing, you have to keep in mind that each website has different guidelines and rules to follow. Some don’t like keyword hyperlinks within the article content and prefer the links to appear in the author resource box. Some websites allow keyword hyperlinks in both areas. It becomes complicated while submitting to a number of article submission sites, so when I write an article I create a format which makes it easy for submitting. Here’s a snapshot of how I format an article:

Below is a snapshot of an article submission form for submitting an article. Creating the above format allows us to easily copy and paste the information required to submit an article on such a form as shown below:

For the submitter, this format makes their task a whole lot easier. All they need to do then is to copy the right information where required.

The title should include the keyword and have some catch to it. “Internet Marketing” would be too simple of a title and would not attract readers as much as “Popular Internet Marketing Strategies & Helpful Hints.”  I keep a word count record for each article because most article submission sites require a minimum of 500 words. If your article is less than 500 words and a website doesn’t accept it, then you end up adding sentences which don’t match up to the same article submitted elsewhere. Because the article differs certain websites flag the article assuming it is plagiarism and remove the submissions. So it is better to keep each article at 500 words or more so you can submit it easily on all the sites and the content remains the same everywhere.

Author names are a tricky issue with article submitting. Article submission sites are okay with articles appearing on a number of sites as long as the author and article content is the same. To make sure the submitter is using the same author name it is better to list it in the article format and avoid confusion. The author resource box should include the URL and a keyword hyperlink wherever possible. If the article submission site does not allow hyperlinks, the URL directs readers to your website. Sometimes websites will not specify whether they allow hyperlinked keywords or not. In that case, try submitting the author resource box with the HTML code first and if the site does not accept it then fill in the author resource box without the HTML code. Checking the article preview will tell you if the site is accepting your HTML code.

When submitting a particular article, the most important part to highlight is the keywords. A list of keywords ready to submit makes it convenient. It gives the article site an idea of which keywords you want to focus upon. Articles require a small summary displayed to introduce readers as to what the content is about. It is recommended to include the keyword in the article summary even though you will not be allowed to hyperlink it.  Most search engine crawlers look at the first and last paragraph of the article so you should include the imperative keywords in those areas as well.

Check for keyword stuffing. If your article has the same keyword an excessive number of times it is called keyword stuffing. This would also be considered spam content. The keyword should be used sparingly. For an article about 500 to 800 words it should appear within the content from 5 to 15 times.  If the article site allows you to use keyword hyperlinks within the article body they should appear no more than two times. In my article submission format I display the article with and without HTML code so it can be copied and pasted accordingly for each submission site requirement. Having to just copy and paste leaves no room to make any mistakes with the HTML codes.

Hyperlinked keywords should not appear within the first paragraph. The best place for hyperlinked keywords to appear are within the 2^nd and last paragraphs. If you are hyperlinking keywords, use the correct HTML code so the links work. If the keywords are not hyperlinked correctly there is no point to the article submissions because readers won’t be able to access your website. Almost all of the article submission sites allow you to preview the article before it is submitted for review. Viewing the preview also allows you to check if the keyword hyperlinks are working. I personally like keeping keywords in title case so they pop out and are distinctly visible to the reader. I noticed that websites that don’t allow HTML code within the article body or author resource box will sometimes display hyperlinked keywords using the hyperlink tool in word. “Like This” So my non HTML boxes all show hyperlinked keywords using the hyperlink tool so that hopefully the websites that don’t allow html code are still able to display the hyperlinked keywords.

Sometimes even though you submit your article with proper spacing between paragraphs, the website will submit your content as one big mass. If you experience this problem, putting two spaces between paragraphs helps. You can test the article a couple of times with the preview option to see how the content looks before you submit your article.

Once you submit articles to a number of quality article submission sites, it takes approximately 5-7 business days for the articles to go live. Once your article appears live you can further optimize your article by posting the link on social network websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Squidoo. Take a look at the diagram below to review what Outsource Article Marketing websites and social networks you can utilize for off page SEO:

I hope these tips will help make article submission an easier task for you. If you found anything missing or would like to make any suggestions about Outsource Article Marketing, please feel free to leave me a comment below.

Did you know that roughly 3 out of every 4 home owners use the Internet to sell their property? With such a drastic trend I’m surprised that real estate agents and home owners still use newspapers to advertise housing and commercial properties. Paying an expensive bundle for an advertisement in the newspaper only to have it recycled the next day, just doesn’t make sense to me. Why would you want to spend so much money on a form of advertising that’s so short lived? Not to mention the space constraint and character limits on ads in the newspaper. Do you really think newspaper advertising is as effective and worth the money? Look at the sample newspaper advertisement listing below:

“+spac 1554 sf hm w/lrg lot fm rm w/fpl den entertain enjoy the views, 3BR, 2BA cent. H/A views of city #74916 Sam 223-3456 $495,000”

Does that look like a promising real estate ad? This newspaper ad resembles a garbled text message and most readers would not be able to make head or tail of what is being advertised. Why not take advantage of the boundless space of the Internet? Forget trying to look up the countless real estate abbreviations to interpret newspaper ads. Real Estate SEO offers realtors and home owners the chance to promote their listings online with the freedom to exhibit as many characters as they need. Home owners can show off their property with appealing imagery (in color, not like the ugly black and white blurry images that the newspaper has!) Many home owners who advertise with newspapers settle for a less price than their property is actually worth. Usually it is out of frustration from dealing with little or no response from the weeks and months of showing their ad in the newspaper.

Instead of dealing with the newspaper, realtors and homeowners can create a website and build traffic utilizing Real Estate SEO strategies. Optimizing a real estate website can be through pictures, blueprint layouts, videos, neighborhood information, descriptive details, and so much more. Many home owners are using social networking platforms such as Craig’s List, Yahoo! Real Estate, Facebook and Youtube to effectively sell their homes. Craig’s List is a website in which users can post and browse through classified ads for free. Focusing on geo-targeted keywords through effective Real Estate SEO campaigns can attract homebuyers within your locality to visit your website. Many people are turning away from reading the newspaper and prefer browsing the Internet to find what they need. The Internet offers users information at their own time and convenience.

Real Estate SEO gives long distance buyers the opportunity to check out properties they would be interested in investing. Trends are revealing that online advertising for the real estate sector in particular, will progress rapidly and overtake traditional advertising methods within the next 5 years. Targeting online buyers will help home owners sell their property at the best price possible. Whether you are a realtor or a home owner, Real Estate SEO will provide you the sale you need at the right price. Properly optimizing your website through quality SEO methods will result in the sale of your home and closing the deals you desire.

Google Wave is the new big topic that everyone is focused on. And it deserves the attention. I recently read an article by Ben Parr from Mashable about Twave. Twave is the Google Wave extension for Twitter. And as I was reading the comments left behind, I couldn’t help but notice the excitement it is causing.

I also noticed a lot of people saying that they will stop using applications like TweetDeck if Twave matches up with them. Does this mean what I think it means? Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me that if Google Wave matches the services provided by the countless other Twitter applications sites, then all those sites will be obsolete. Why would we need to use them when we can complete all our work on one single page? It will surely be a monopoly in a field that was very recently emerging – that of all the Twitter applications that are still being developed or already in use.

Source: http://www.treehugger.com/galleries/

Personally, I do not know head or tales of what it takes to create an application. But Google, being the giant it is, would certainly by able to integrate all the services that sites like TweetLater and Twellow provide.

I have noticed this as a growing concern among many, that Google has yet again proven that it is invincible. (I know some experts are saying that it is not necessarily invincible, but for the moment it sure looks that way!) The reason they are concerned, even though they use Google extensively in their own fields, is because of the amount of control Google has at the moment. The freedom of choice – what some crave and all need – is the issue. And right now, especially after the announcement of Google Wave, things are likely to stay in their favor; but only time will tell.

For the moment though, they seem to be adding to the ever growing vocabulary of the World Wide Web. First it was the term ‘to Google’ and now it seems like the term ‘surf the web’ will be changing to ‘surf the wave’.

(source: http://www.childreninfilm.blogspot.com)

Is Twitter on its way downhill when it comes to being ‘the best search engine’? Just a month back I read all these blog posts about how Twitter and Google are competing to be the best search engine sites with real time. But I think we spoke too soon.

A few days ago, I was checking the trending topics on my Twitter account and I noticed that Rick Astley was on the top of the list. I clicked on it to find out what it is all about and all I could see was a stream of spam tweets – the kind of tweet that just lists all the 10 different trending topics. I kept refreshing it but apart from the spam all I could see were other confused tweets about why Rick Astley is trending or just unrelated and unhelpful tweets with his name mentioned.

That is when I turned to Google. And the first result I got after typing Rick Astley in the search box was of the news report with an explanation of what was going on. Apparently the rumor that Rick Astley has also passed away was spreading like wildfire. And the spammers on Twitter were no help. They kept the confusion alive.

So is Google back on top of the list when it comes to a reliable search engine? Were we just kidding ourselves into thinking that a live stream of organic micro blogs will prove to be the ultimate real time search engine? Were we too quick to trust the random individual from whom we would get the information to begin with?

I really hope not. The ideal thing to happen now would be for Twitter to somehow find a way to stop these spammers from their constant interference with what could be a very healthy and informative community. If nothing is done to stop them then I’m afraid all this Twitter mania would be nullified. No more real time search results for us. At least not from Twitter.

So what will Google Wave do? Will they have some smart solution to this problem? I really hope so. Because if Google Wave is what it promises to be, then it would be a real shame if it were to have a fate like Twitter seems to have right now.

Or maybe I am just overreacting. Certainly it is just the trending topics that would be affected this way? Spammers head straight to the gold after all. So anything else that you try to search for will be ok since they will be pure tweets by genuine people. Okay, so that is one good thing. But still the trending topics section is way too useful to be subjected to spammers. I am sure eventually it will be ignored by us because of the constant stream of nonsense.

All I can do is talk about it and complain but I really hope someone has a real solution to this problem.
If you have any suggestions why don’t you leave a comment below?

June 26th 2009, during my usual morning routine of checking email, surfing the Internet for social media updates and news, I learned the true power of a social media “buzz”. While browsing that morning, I came across a headline, “MJ King of Pop pronounced dead.” It appeared to be a random low grade spammy headline, but I do admit it made me curious enough to click. I thought it was just the typical paparazzi crying wolf scenario, but when I started checking out the website I realized it was legitimate news! As the shocking news of Michael Jackson’s death spread like wildfire it caused many people to panic and created a need to find out more. Within an hour after the news of his death broke out, CNN had 20 million visitors on their website. There wasn’t much for CNN to report since nothing was being confirmed by anyone. So people were left to deal with just one fact: The King of Pop was dead.

Google was struggling to provide access to the millions of people logging on to find out what had exactly happened to Michael Jackson. Google had so many users searching for Michael Jackson in one hour that it was under the impression they were being targeted by an automated attack mechanism. It was an unbelievable story which triggered people to search for information about how this actually happened. The fact that Michael Jackson lived an extremely mysterious and private life didn’t help either. Below is a graph depicting the volume of traffic Google received after news of his death compared to the past couple of years.

Twitter had a milestone “fail whale” occur due to the number of twitterers logging on and expressing their views on Michael Jackson’s death. A “fail whale” is the image that Twitter displays on their website when they are experiencing server overload. Many were upset by the fact that Michael Jackson’s death took priority on tweets over the current political upsurge in Iran. A fail whale looks something like this:

source: http://www.whatisfailwhale.info/

I think Raoul Orozco’s rendition of the fail whale would have been a more appropriate image for Twitter to display!

source: http://www.whatisfailwhale.info/

A mere 24 hours after his death, 500 edits were made to Michael Jackson’s Wikipedia page by various users across the globe. Yahoo! News had 4 million visitors in a matter of an hour. AOL Instant Messenger also experienced technical difficulties due to an overload of Internet traffic. People craving the need to share and keep tabs on the death of this Pop icon through the Internet, paved the way for a new social media milestone. Users shared updates, opinions, reactions, tribute videos, and so much more within a matter of hours.

This social media frenzy took a turn for the worse only when rumors and web hoaxes started popping up. Some took advantage of the shocked and vulnerable state of Michael Jackson fans by feeding them false rumors. One user claimed Michael was strangled by his older brother with a microphone cord. Other users targeted celebrities such as Harrison Ford, George Clooney, and Jeff Goldblum claiming that they had all died in freak accidents. Apparently these web hoaxes were fueled by websites that allowed you to insert names and spin fake automatic stories ready to be published. (What a cynical twist to article spinning huh?) The numerous celebrity death stories floating on the Internet further triggered the social media frenzy to find out what was true and what wasn’t. In short, Facebook, Twitter, Google and all the other social media sites had a field day.