Marketing Your Home Business in Just 30 Minutes a Week

It's all the rage. It's what everyone is talking about. It is unquestionably the most effective form of marketing available to home based business owners. It costs almost nothing, it takes about 30 minutes a week, and it makes your business stand out above the competition.

What is this thing that everyone is talking about? The buzz is about "article marketing" ? the practice of providing royalty free content to websites, e-zines and newsletters.

It works like this: You write a simple article that is interesting to a particular group of people. It doesn't have to be The Great American Novel, just about 500 words on the topic of your choice. Then you submit your article all over the web to ezine publishers, newsletter editors and content-laden websites.

When they publish your article (and they almost always do) your target market reads your words, sees you as an expert (after all, you're a published author!) and they click on a link to your website that you conveniently provided at the end of the article. Viola! Instant, qualified traffic.

And it's not fleeting traffic. Your article remains out there for people to find for weeks, months, even years. As new people happen across your article, they click the link and visit your site. You have a perpetual traffic machine, driving tons of pre-qualified, open-to-an-offer, interested traffic to your site. This is better than advertising, and far less expensive.

The problem is the effort of submitting your articles to enough sites that you really make a splash. Most authors will submit their articles to 20-30 places before getting totally burned out on the submission process. It's tedious, dull, drudge work.

There are three online services that automatically submit articles for authors. Each of these services explain the intrinsic value of publishing your articles, and of course they each describe their services as best-in-class. They range from single submissions to unlimited submissions and from completely free to $119.85. Check them out and draw your own conclusions.

- - - - - http://www.SubmitYourArticle.com - - - - -

Sends out articles in three categories: * Internet marketing/online business * Self-improvement/motivation * Health and fitness. (They promise "Business-General" and "Finance/Investment" categories soon.)

Submits articles to an undefined number of ezine publishers and 15 or more article announcement lists with over 10,000 subscribers.

Special Feature: Offers an article management suite to retrieve, edit, or resubmit your article.

Cost: * Bronze membership, $37.00/month, you may submit one (1) article per month * Silver membership, $57.00/month, you may submit two (2) articles per month * Gold membership, $75.00/month, you may submit three (3) articles per month * Platinum membership, $90.00/month, you may submit four (4) articles per month

- - - - - http://www.ThePhantomWriters.com - - - - -

Accepts articles in nine categories: * Business and Marketing * Coaching and Personal Development * Health * Internet * Money Saving Tips * Home and Family * Pets * Writing Related * Christian.

Submits articles to about 20,000 publishers and webmasters. Depending on how you categorize your article, it will be submitted to appropriate publishers.

Special Feature: No limit to the number of articles that can be submitted. (Is this really a "special feature"? They seem to think so. I guess it's better than SubmitYourArticle.com's one article/month limitation)

Cost: * One article: $49.95 * Three articles: $119.85 + $39.95 per article thereafter.

- - - - - http://www.ArticleMarketer.com - - - - -

Accepts articles in 27 categories, with tons of subcategories which (for the sake of space) I won't list here. These are the main categories: * Art * Books * Business (with 41 sub categories) * Consumer (6 sub categories) * Current Affairs * Education (1 sub category) * Entrepreneurship (19 sub categories) * Family (2 sub categories) * Finance/Accounting (12 sub categories) * Government * Health & Beauty (4 sub categories) * Hobbies (4 sub categories) * Home & Garden (2 sub categories) * Internet (22 sub topics) * Internet Marketing (9 sub categories) * Law & Legal (6 sub categories) * Politics * Psychology/Sociology * Recreation & Leisure (2 sub categories) * Religion (2 sub categories) * Self Improvement (3 sub categories) * Social Issues * Sports * Technology & Science (3 sub categories) * Travel & Tourism * Women's Issues * Writing & Speaking (6 sub categories)

Submits articles to over 50,000 people. Depending on how you categorize your article, it will be submitted to appropriate publishers.

Special Feature: An "auto pilot" feature where an author can submit several articles at once and have them distributed on to a custom defined schedule. (That's one of my favorite features. I just set it up for the month and don't have to think about it again. The articles are consistently distributed.)

Cost: * Free Article Distribution: goes to over 2,000 people * Best Exposure: goes out to over 50,000 people: $8.95 for one article * 3 months of Best Exposure: $39.95 for as many articles as you want to send out

- - - - - - - - - -

All three of these services seem to do a fine job submitting articles. They appear to have automated the process and articles are distributed within a few days of submission. Of course, each offers the disclaimer that your article will only get published if it's interesting.

Of the three, I prefer Article Marketer (for obvious reasons) and I have absolute proof that it works: you are currently reading this article.

Now that's what I call effective marketing!

Chris Ellington gives effective and easy to implement marketing strategies to small business owners and home business entrepreneurs. His Simplified Selling System has been a favorite of salespeople around the world. Get your free marketing strategies at http://www.simplifiedselling.com.

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


15 Questions To Instantly Help You Write A Tips Booklet

1. What is the single most compelling subject from your... Read More

Will This Be Your First How-to Report?

You've got to start somewhere, but once you've created your... Read More

Direct Sales Reps CAN Write Articles - Heres How!

We all know that article writing is a great way... Read More

Writing Articles For Permanent Traffic

Writing articles is possibly the best way to generated free... Read More

How to Effectively Hire a Ghost Writer

In today's busy world, whether your business is large or... Read More

Writing for the Internet - How to Market Yourself on the Web

Writing articles for online newsletters and websites can be a... Read More

How To Edit Your Articles As You Write

Increase your ezine subscribers by submitting articles once or twice... Read More

Article Writing Strategies To Get Into Zen Flow ? 7 Tips

The more you write, the larger your impact. If that's... Read More

Four Article Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Internet Home Business Profits

Many internet home business owners today have learnt that one... Read More

How Article Marketing Will Make You a Fortune

Article marketing-the simple act of writing one 400 word article... Read More

How I Became An EzineArticles.com Platnium Member in One-Hour Flat & How You Can Too

[Disclosure: I went into EzineArticles.com very innocently. I... Read More

Incredibly Bad Articles Will Kill Your Credibility

I've noticed a disturbing trend recently of articles suggesting that... Read More

10 Ways To Generate Highly Read Article Ideas

1. Participate in chat rooms related to your targeted audience.... Read More

Advertisements and the Freelance Writer

Advertisements are one of the biggest indicators of a magazine's... Read More

Articles: How To Turbo Charge Traffic When Your Promotion Budget Is Tiny

Writing articles for your site and for the use of... Read More

SEO Article Writing 101

SEO writing is very different from content writing, article writing,... Read More

Advertising that Wont Cost You a Dime is to Write Articles

Search Engines are constantly on the "look out" for freshly... Read More

Marketing Articles: Promoting Your Site Twice!

I recently became aware that promoting your web site in... Read More

Niche Marketing: The Power Of Articles

If you haven't considered the power of articles as part... Read More

One Space or Two?

One of my subscribers writes 'I can't hold my tongue... Read More

Creating Your Perfect Article Summary ? 7 Tips

What should be in your article summary? It's otherwise known... Read More

Reaping The Amazing Benefits of Writing E-zine Articles

Marketing on a budget is tough. This is a universal... Read More

Writing For Dollars -- A Freelancers Guide

If you have writing skills and want to use your... Read More

20 Ways Posting Unique Articles Online will Bring You Fame and Fortune

You're Invited... Visualize your article going out like a party... Read More

Articles That Sizzle - Top Ten Topics

There's one key rule that every writer should understand before... Read More

1 Powerful Strategy To Craft Your Article For Maximum Readership

Do you know one of the most powerful marketing techniques... Read More

Microsoft Word Smart Quotes and Article Marketers Dont Mix

By default, Microsoft Word automatically changes straight quotation marks (... Read More

How to Get Started on Writing Killer Articles

I once wrote an article in which I offered the... Read More

Article Writing: How to Sound Like the Expert You Are

You, too, can become a recognized expert in your specialized... Read More

How to Write a Short Article Under 500 Words

Online publishers, ezine subscribers, and Web visitors want short, useful... Read More

10 Ways Writing Articles Can Improve Your Business

Writing articles has proven time and time again to be... Read More

Tracking Your Articles Properly

Writing articles related to your business is a great way... Read More

5 Simple Ways To Get Ideas For Awesome Articles!

1. Participate in chat rooms related to your targeted audience.... Read More