What are your best Marketing Methods?

[Dana]

Hi Everyone,

I thought I'd start a question with the basics, lol. What are your best marketing methods? I think we all realize how important traffic is, and for that matter, quality traffic.

What is the one marketing method you find that works the best for you?

Thanks.

[Amy Bass]

My all time favorite is article marketing. It is the best passive way to get traffic, hands down. :)

[Dana]

I've had luck with article marketing too. I've written a few articles on Associated Content and on other sites and have gotten a lot of hits. And I got paid for my writing to boot, too. It's like 2 benefits fro the price of one, lol.

I've seen several of your articles Amy and you do a really nice job.

[Dana]

Amy and Debt Free Mom--What article sites are you using? I have used sites like Associated Content and Helium (and had better luck with Associated Content).

But I noticed somewhere else on the board that Amy posted it had been some time since she had been to that site.

I'd really appreciate your expertise.

And Debt Free Mom--is Stumble Upon really worth it? I have thought about giving it a try, but I believe there is a tool bar that you have to download? Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks again and hope you are both having a great day.

[Anita]

Hi Dana,

You don't have to download the Stumbleupon toolbar. All you have to do is just post your website on Stumbleupon one time. Then, when people are stumbling their favorite topics, they'll find your website eventually.

I use EzineArticles and sometimes I use Go Articles. I know, I know, everyone says to use dozens of sites, but EzineArticle is so effective and I like keeping things simple.

Associated Content is OK, as long as you make sure you get non-exclusive rights. Don't give them exclusive rights! If you read the Terms of Service you'll see why you don't want them to have exclusive rights. Associated Content rejects most of my stuff for up-front payment if they are articles I've already published elsewhere. I only submit to them if it's an article I just want to get some up front money for, rather than using it for marketing purposes. I use it to test and see if a certain topic gets a good response.

--Anita

[Dana]

Thank you so much. I think I am going to try EzineArticles tonight, or at the very least, register. Thanks for sharing.

[Anita]

I like article marketing too.

One of my sites has been pummeled by hits from Stumbleupon. I had almost forgotten about that site. :-)

Social networking sites are good sources of traffic too, except for MySpace.

[Dana]

Debt Free Mom,

I thought my reply would be placed after yours. Please see above. I am really interested in the article sites you us and your opinions about Stubble Upon.

Thanks a bunch.

[Anita]

You're welcome. The other thing I like about EzineArticles is the reports they give you so you can see how many people are reading your articles and clicking on the links.

Good luck!

--Anita

[Linda]

Do all of you have previous writing skills? I see so many internet marketers that right articles and always wonder about that, I don't really feel like I'm a writer, but I would like to learn this article writing skill. Also, do everybody have a website? I don't have one or know how to build one:( I think I'm the only one online that don't have one, I'm an intelligent person so why the heck don't I have a website yet!

[Anita]

I'm a copywriter and do all of my own writing plus I write for clients. A lot of internet marketers hire writers to write their articles for them. So writing skills aren't necessary but it certainly helps a lot.

[Dana]

Linda,

I agree with Anita. Writing skills do help. I have been doing technical writing on and off for quite a while now. But as Anita says, it is not absolutely necessary.

Just do the best you can. And do you have Microsoft Word? They have a pretty good Grammar and Spell Checker. In fact, I write my articles in Word and then copy/paste them to the site I am working on. By writing the article in Word, it can help me correct any grammar or spelling mistakes I make.

I also like writing the article in Word because I can save a copy off line, to my hard drive. And should one site decide not to publish my article, I can always copy/paste from Word and try publishing somewhere else.

[Frugal Dad]

Absolutely, since my site is really just a collection of articles written by yours truly it is seeing some good growth in visits from search engine finds.

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