Tuesday, May 09, 2006
[Internet Marketing Strategy] “Splash Your Name All Over the Internet"
If you type my name into a search engine, you’ll get pages and pages of listings with links to articles, websites and more. (And yes, there are a few other people named Cathy Goodwin, but most of those listings are mine.) Magic? Search engine shuffling? No. I’ve just followed a simple, no-cost formula. Write articles. Send articles to directories. Go walk the dog. Come back and find your name splashed over the Internet. But the formula works only if your articles get “picked up” by article databases, ezines and blogs. Here are 3 tips that worked for me. 1. Begin with a killer headline. Web marketing gurus emphasize, “A mediocre article with a great headline will get picked up faster than a magnificent article with a so-so headline.” A few weeks ago, you probably read my article: “New website? Start with the Copywriter.” As a faithful, loyal reader, you ignored the title and moved directly to the feature. But when I modified the article for distribution, I changed the headline to “7 Most Serious Web Marketing Mistakes You Can Make.” That article has become one of the most popular I’ve ever written. I just gave permission for a Spanish translation. Nice! And it all started with Red Hot Copy Boot Camp . (2) Write short articles for your ezine and longer articles for distribution. Ezines are getting shorter, according to just about all the gurus I know. Filters tend to screen longer messages. And readers just don’t have time to ponder our wonderful insights. But I’ve found that 600-800-word articles seem most effective. So I share short articles (400 words or less) with my ezine readers, then expand them to suit the distributors. (3) Apply the Dear Abby principle. Readers like articles that begin with “How to” and “10 Tips to” solve a very specific, narrow problem. Even if they’re not experiencing the specific challenge you describe, they like following your logic. I believe it’s the same psychology that causes drivers to stop and gawk at an accident on the side of the road, even if they end up causing more wrecks. So an article on “seasons of a career” might be fun to write and add to my blog. But my article on “Five ways to resign from your job without killing your career” was reprinted all over the place. |
# posted by Cathy Goodwin @ 12:32 PM 
