Niche Marketing Matters

As many of you know, I have been a big fan of article marketing as a way to position yourself as a thought leader while creating some great publicity. I softened this position about a year ago when Google started making deductions to site rank for duplicate content.

In the old days (about two years ago), an easy way to boost your website rank was to publish articles with article directory services like www.ezinearticles.com. The directory services sell your article to ezines which create multiple locations for your article. If you distributed your articles to multiple article directory services, you multiplied the impact. Your website rank would then go through the roof. Unfortunately, Google inadvertently squashed this practice in an effort to penalize site owners who steal content from other sites.

While I use other organic SEO tools such as blogging and links, article marketing is still a very viable tool. For example, I just got a report from www.ezinearticles.com for the life time views of my articles on their site (not including the sites that they sell to). This report showed that I have received over 156,000 views of my articles, which is effectively the number of “click throughs” or people who have read my articles.

In fact, I had one article called “Product Positioning Strategies” which secured 21, 516 views! Each those views included a call to action to visit my site. Many did.

If you like to write, article marketing is free and effective. Try it out.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2009 All rights reserved.

I had a reminder this week why “article marketing” is so effective. If you read my blog with any regularity you know that I am a big believer in this exciting marketing technique.

I received a call this week from MSNBC asking me to join a panel on “Niche Marketing”. A TV producer had read one of my articles on the web and clicked through to my website (which is the call to action with every article that I publish). A quick telephone interview followed and I will be taping the show on Tuesday.

There is no way a self published author like me could afford to buy this type of national publicity. Book publicists charge tens of thousands of dollars to make this type of “event” happen on radio and TV. The really cool part about getting on MSNBC is that I made it happen all by myself and so can you.

Article marketing is easy. If you are not familiar with article marketing, it is the process of writing short (250-500 word) feature articles for the web that are posted on internet magazines, commonly called e-zines. You may recall doing a search when you entered in some key words on a subject of interest and found these informative articles written by subject matter experts. At the end of the article was a byline with the author’s name and an URL for you to click on for more information.

There are many benefits to on-line article marketing. Articles are sticky; once an article is accepted on an e-zine website, it can stay listed for months or years. When your articles are posted on numerous e-zine websites, the search engine spiders pick this up; this sends your website ranking sky high the organic way (i.e. no S.E.O. fees!). By writing the articles you are positioned as a subject matter expert, which creates sales leads coming to you instead of you chasing them.

The articles themselves tend to be “all about” or “how to” summaries about a specific topic; think niche and be specific. Article readers are looking for help with a problem or they want to learn more about a subject. Remember, the article is not an advertisement, although the author gets credit.

I don’t mean to sound boastful, but this stuff really works.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2007 All rights reserved.

P. S. See me on November 25 at 7:30 AM EST and December 1 at 6:30 AM EST on “YOUR BUSINESS” on MSNBC, a weekly Small Business television show hosted by J.J. Ramberg. The subject of the panel discussion will be “Niche Marketing”. For more information please visit http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13561213/ .

Article marketing is one of the best ways to optimize your website, create new sales leads, and to garner new publicity. The really good news is that it is free and relatively easy (OK, it does take some time and a few brain cells).

If you are not familiar with article marketing, it is the process of writing short (250-500 word) feature articles for the web that are posted on Internet magazines, commonly called e-zines. You may recall doing a search when you entered in some key words on a subject of interest and found these informative articles written by subject matter experts. At the end of the article was a byline with the author’s name and an URL for you to click on for more information.

There are many benefits to on-line article marketing. Articles are sticky; once an article is accepted on an e-zine website, it can stay listed for months or years. When your articles are posted on numerous e-zine websites, the search engine spiders pick this up; this sends your website ranking sky high the organic way (i.e. no fees!). By writing the article you are positioned as a subject matter expert, which creates sales leads coming to you instead of you chasing them.

The articles themselves tend to be “all about” or “how to” summaries about a specific topic; think niche and be specific. Article readers are looking for help with a problem or they want to learn more about a subject. Remember, the article is not an advertisement, although the author gets credit.

Articles can be submitted directly to e-zines that cover your topic, or you can submit to article submission websites that will route them for you. The submission websites have rules of engagement for the articles such word length, topic, and style, but they can be a very efficient way to distribute your article.

My own success with article marketing may be the best example that I can offer of how article marketing works. I have posted over 100 articles on the web using this method over the past 18 months and the results are astounding. Just about every day I hear from people who have read my articles—they buy my book, ask me to speak at events, ask me to consult, or just want to get to know me. I owe this all to article marketing.

Give article marketing a try. It is a great way to get your message out to your target market.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2007 All rights reserved.

When I wrote my book, First, Best, or Different, I included a chapter on the importance of blogging. Little did I know at the time that blogging would become the core of own book marketing effort. Indulge me as I tell you about my own blogging story.

Back in August of 2006 I wrote my first blog at the suggestion of my web designer Greg. He encouraged me by saying that it could help my website’s page ranking and that blogs were becoming very popular. So, I gave it try. I carefully proofread my first article and hit the “publish now” key. Off it went and nothing happened. I wrote a second blog and then a third. Same results. I told all my friends that I was now a blogger. They said, “That’s great,” and then they changed the subject. I encouraged them to read and subscribe to my blog. Almost no one did. I couldn’t get my own family to read it.

Call me stubborn, but I kept on writing and blogging. I wrote on topics that I thought my book readers would like and I made sure that I was blogging five times a week. It felt like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it out to sea. I wasn’t sure if anyone would ever read them.

In a few weeks (maybe five or six actually), I did a Google search for my website firstbestordifferent.com and I found it on the first page of the search results! Before the blog, my website was no where to be found since I had done no search engine optimization. I then did a search for John Bradley Jackson (I know this must sound vain) and I found myself! Hey, Mom, your son is an internet celebrity, or almost.

This was all the positive reinforcement that I needed. I kept on blogging. Now it is eight months later and the results are incredible. My little blog is now read by thousands of readers around the world and many are subscribers. I have created a brand for my book and for myself as a thought leader on the subjects of marketing, sales, and negotiation. My website, my name, and my articles are linked to hundreds of other websites. I have been asked to speak at numerous corporate events and my book’s first printing looks like a sell out. All this because I blogged.

Maybe you should consider a blog, too.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2006 All rights reserved.
My new book “First, Best, or Different” is now available at www.firstbestordifferent.com!
Please buy my book!

Article marketing is one of the best ways to optimize your website, create new sales leads, and to garner new publicity. The really good news is that it is free and easy (OK, it does take some time and a few brain cells).

If you are not familiar with article marketing, it is the process of writing short (250-500 word) feature articles for the web that are posted on internet magazines, commonly called e-zines. You may recall doing a search when you entered in some key words on a subject of interest and found these informative articles written by subject matter experts. At the end of the article was a byline with the author’s name and an URL for you to click on for more information.

There are many benefits to on-line article marketing. Articles are sticky; once an article is accepted on an e-zine website, it can stay listed for months or years. When your articles are posted on numerous e-zine websites, the search engine spiders pick this up; this sends your website ranking sky high the organic way (i.e. no S.E.O. fees!). By writing the article you are positioned as a subject matter expert, which creates sales leads coming to you instead of you chasing them.

The articles themselves tend to be “all about” or “how to” summaries about a specific topic; think niche and be specific. Article readers are looking for help with a problem or they want to learn more about a subject. Remember, the article is not an advertisement, although the author gets credit.

For example, my friend Brad Barrett owns a vertical file storage business called Easi File (www.easifileusa.com). Easi File manufacturers and sells file cabinets and accessories for the storage of large documents such as engineering and architectural plans, artwork, and other documents that are typically filed flat. His unique solution is a vertical filing system that reduces the cabinet footprint by 80%. This is a very cool niche business with a very unique customer. One the ways that Brad finds his customers is through article marketing. Brad has positioned himself as a web expert on the subject of the storage of large documents; by doing article marketing, Brad has customers hitting his site for more information.

Articles can be submitted directly to e-zines that cover your topic, or you can submit to article submission websites that will route them for you. The submission websites have rules of engagement for the articles such word length, topic, and style, but they can be a very efficient way to distribute your article.

Give article marketing a try. It is a great way to get your message out to you target market.

John Bradley Jackson
© Copyright 2006 All rights reserved.
Please visit my website at www.firstbestordifferent.com