Internet Marketing For Solopreneurs

If you have been reading this blog, you know that I am a huge fan of article marketing. I have been using article marketing for many years to build my list, get clients and get web site traffic. Many of my newsletter subscribers and clients have found me by reading my articles in article directories, blogs and on other people’s web sites.

I often receive questions about article marketing that have to do with duplicate content. When you submit the same article to 10, 20 or 30 article directories, you have exactly the same article appear on multiple sites. This constitutes duplicate content.

Many business owners have seen that duplicate content does not rank as high as original content in search engines. Because of this many business owners have been asking me if it is still worth it to submit articles to article directories, if they will not rank that high.

The answer is that even with duplicate content you should definitely submit articles to article directories. Your articles will still show up in search engines - they just won’t rank as high as more original content.
However, when you submit your articles to good, popular article directories, you will receive traffic boosts in two different ways:

- First, when your articles are published in these article directories, they will have links pointing back to your web site(s). When people click on these links, you will get very useful web site traffic that you would not have received otherwise.

- Blog and web site owners use article directories to find articles that they can re-print on their web sites, in their blogs and in their newsletters. When you submit your articles to article directories, they get re-printed, thus, providing you with more exposure and more traffic.

And, when you have many articles appear in many directories, your potential clients see immediately that you are the expert at what you do.

Therefore, even if your articles that you submit to article directories don’t rank that high in search engines, you will still benefit from using article marketing.

Want to know the best places to submit your articles to get more web site traffic? In my FREE Report, “How To Get Clients Online” I have listed my 10 favorite article submission directories.
You can get the report at http://www.AvocadoConsulting.com

Biana Babinsky

Every once in a while I receive a question from a coach who has heard that newsletters are old news and web 2.0 is the way to go. Here is a question I received recently:

Question: Biana, I have been a life coach for about 4 years now. I have been publishing my newsletter for about 2.5 years. About 6 months ago I started reading articles and hearing from everyone that newsletters are outdated and that I should start using web 2.0 exclusively.

Did I make a mistake? Should I have been publishing my newsletter instead of starting the blog and doing social networking?

My answer: First of all, I LOVE web 2.0. Blogging and social networking has been bringing leads and clients to me for a very long time. However, your newsletter is a foundation of your marketing strategy. Before you blog, before you use social networking sites, you MUST have a newsletter.

Let me explain. Your newsletter helps you build long term relationships with people in your target market. It is your most important piece in your marketing strategy. When you meet people in your target market - in person, through speaking or networking, or online, though social networking, article marketing, etc - you need to invite them to get on your newsletter list.

Once they get on your list, they will be able to receive your newsletter, get to know you and become aware of products and services that you offer.

The best way to use web 2.0 is to use it to get more people to subscribe to your newsletter. When people are reading your blog, make sure that you invite them to subscribe to your newsletter. You can do that by using an invite in the blog header, including a newsletter subscription box in your menu, etc.

And when you are using social networking, make sure that your personal pages on different social networking sites promote your newsletter. That way you can use your newsletter to continue building relationships with people you meet at social networking sites.

So I recommend that you continue using your blog and social networking sites, but you should also find a way to continue building relationships with people you meet through those means.

I talk a lot about using your newsletter to get clients in the Grow Your List Home Study Course that you can see at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/znews

Biana Babinsky

After I published FREE Web Site Traffic Series Part 1: Article Marketing, I have gotten emails from some of you asking for more information on driving traffic. Today I am discussing how to use your blog to get more free web site traffic:

- Use Search Engine Optimization To Drive Traffic To Your Blog. Search engines bring a lot of very targeted traffic to my blog posts, so I always recommend using search engines to drive more free traffic to a blog.

Search engine optimization for your blog consists of three important parts: doing keyword research, using the keywords in your blog post and getting links to your blog.

First, you need to find keywords that your target market uses when searching for materials on the same topic as your upcoming blog post. You do not need too many keywords for one blog post.

Next, you need to use a few of the best keywords that you find in your blog post.

And to get better search engine rankings you need to have links leading to your blog. You can do that by exchanging links with other bloggers, listing your blog in blog directories, etc.

- Make Each Blog Post’s File Name Descriptive. Different blogging software behaves differently, but some will call your blog posts 2.html, 3.html, 4.html, etc. As you can see, that is not very descriptive and not particularly helpful to either people or search engines. When you create a post called How Coaching Helps Business Owners, calling it how-coaching-helps-business-owners.html is a much better title than 5.html.

Make sure that your blogging software creates descriptive file names for your blog posts; it is better both for human readers and search engine spiders and doing this will help you get more traffic to your blog.

- Get Links To Your Blog. More quality links means more more traffic, it’s that simple. Work on getting quality links pointing to your blog.

- Get Your Blog Listed In Blog Directories. Blog directories are a great source of getting links to your blog. Sometimes blog directories will give you a unidirectional (they link to you, but you don’t link back to them) link, other times they would exchange links with you.

- Use Article Marketing To Get Traffic To Your Blog. As I mentioned in the FREE Web Site Traffic Series Part 1: Article Marketing post, article marketing is a great way to drive more free traffic. And you can use article marketing to drive traffic to your blog by using your article’s Resource Box to link back to your blog.

I share my system for using my blog to get free traffic and clients in my How To Make Thousands Of Dollars With Your Blog Home Study Guide that you can see at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/zbt

More articles on getting free traffic:

- FREE Web Site Traffic Series Part 1: Article Marketing

Biana Babinsky

When I did an informal survey last year on why many business professionals are still not blogging, many business owners told me that they don’t feel they can find the time to commit to blogging.

One of the responses I heard was: “I don’t think I have another 40 hours/week to dedicate to blogging.”

Truth is, you don’t need to spend 40 hours/week on your blog. You don’t even need 15 hours/week.
If you organize your blogging and if you know what you want to talk about on your blog, blogging should not take that long. Here is how you should organize your blogging:

- Decide on how often you will blog. I blog 2-3 times a week and sometimes even less. You do not have to blog 3-5 times a day for your blog to be successful and bring in clients.

- Create a list of blog topics that you can use. It takes a while to come up with a good blog topic, so if you do not have any topics lined up, your blogging can take time. Instead of searching for
topics when you actually need them, create a running list of topics. Every time you read or hear something that may make a good blog topic, add it to the list.

When you need to actually write a blog post, go through the list and pick a topic you feel like writing about. Having a topic list will save you hours every time you need to write a new post.

- Re-print other people’s articles. If you like an article that someone else wrote, contact them and ask permission to post it on your blog. Posting someone else’s article won’t take very much time at all.

Don’t overdo this, as your blog readers would like to hear from you. But reprinting other people’s articles once in a while will help you build relationships, offer a different perspective to your readership and save time on blogging.

During the Make Thousands Of Dollars With Your Blog Teleseminar Series you will discover many
more ideas that will help you spend less time on blogging, and still be able to use it to get clients and promote your business. You can register for the Teleseminar Series at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/zbt

Biana Babinsky

I have had many life coaches, career coaches and other coaches and service professionals ask me about which blogging software is right for them.

Is your blog software working for you? Are you getting a stream of clients and newsletter subscribers from your blog, every single day? Do your blog readers come back to read your new blog posts all the time? Does your blog bring in people who want to buy your e-books and register for your teleseminars?

Continue Reading Is Your Blogging Software Right For You?

Many coaches have told me that they want to be authentic when marketing their coaching business online. One of the best ways to do that is by creating a blog and using it to promote your business. Learn more about how to make your authentic self shine through and get clients in this article:
Read Get Clients With Your Blog By Being Authentic Article

Biana Babinsky

Hi,

I just posted many new online marketing and online business articles for you to read.

I have also separated the articles into sections, so that it is easier for you to find articles on the specific topics you are looking for.

Here is the list of article topics. Click on the topic you are interested in to read the articles on that topic:
- Article Marketing, how to promote your expertise by writing and publishing articles.

- Blog Marketing Articles, how to start a blog and use it to promote your business.

- How To Get Clients Articles, tips and advice on how to get clients online.

- Earn Multiple Income Streams Online Articles, how to create multiple streams of income for your business.

- How To Do A Teleclass Articles, how to run teleclasses and make money with them.

- E-book Publishing Articles, how to publish and sell your ebooks for profits.

- Newsletter Marketing Articles, how to start a newsletter and build a huge newsletter list.

- Online Copywriting Articles, how to write effective web copy.

- Successful Online Business Articles, how to create a successful online business.

- How To Increase Web Site Traffic, how to get more online traffic to your business.

- Search Engine Optimization Articles, how to use search engine optimization.

- Target Market Articles, how to find a target market for your business.

- Social Networking Articles, how to use social networking websites to get clients.

- Business And Marketing Articles, how to set goals, not be afraid of marketing and lots more business articles.

- Affiliate Marketing Articles, how to make money by selling other people’s products.

- Web Site Design Articles, how to make sure your web site is designed effectively.

Biana Babinsky

After I posted the Blogging For Life Coaches post here on the blog, I have heard from other coaches asking me to post more blogging tips to use.

A blog is a great way to connect with your target market, get more newsletter subscribers and sell more of your products and services. It is also a wonderful tool to get more traffic from search engines.

Here are some of my articles to help you get started with blogging:

- Blogging for Business: Blogging 101, if you are just starting out this is a great article to get acquainted with blogging and what blogging involves.

- How To Use Your Blog to Market Your Business. Many coaches start a blog, but are not sure how to use it to market themselves. They spend a lot of time on blogging, but don’t get any results from their blog. Read this article to discover how to use your blog to promote your business and your expertise.

- How To Optimize Your Blog For Search Engines. Did you know that over 70% of Internet users use search engines to find products and services to buy? Read this article to discover exactly how to bring more search engine traffic to your blog.

Biana Babinsky

P.S. For more in-depth information on using blogging to get coaching clients, take a look at the Make Thousands Of Dollars With Your Blog Home Study Guide

Many life coaches have asked me how to start a blog to promote their life coaching business online and get clients. Here is how:
- First, you will need a blog. I recommend using blogging software that is available at wordpress.org. The software is available at no charge and it is very easy to use and is very customizable.

- Once you have a blog, decide where in your life coaching marketing funnel it is going to fit. I recommend using your blog to attract search engine and other traffic and turn that traffic into newsletter subscribers. Make sure you know exactly where the blog fits into your marketing and what kind of results you are expecting from it.
If you don’t know why you are using a marketing technique and how you will benefit from using it, there is no reason to have it in your marketing plan.

- Once you know where the blog fits into your life coaching marketing funnel, decide on the topics you want to post on. Since you are blogging to attract your target market to your blog and to your business, the best topics will be those that are of interest to your target market.

Now go ahead and start blogging! Take a look at my Business Blogging Articles at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/articles/ (scroll to Business Blogging) for more blogging tips for life coaches.

Biana Babinsky

Are you thinking about starting a blog to promote your business? There are many places to host it, and here are my recommendations to help you choose the best blogging platform for your business.

If you want to have a blog hosted by someone else, and not by your own web host, try WordPress.com. It is very easy to use and you can set up a blog and start blogging in just a few minutes. However, since the blog will not be hosted on your web site, you will not own all the search engine rankings and other things that will come when you promote your blog.

If you are serious about blogging, and want to use it as a long term strategy to promote yourself and your business, you should get your own blogging software. I recommend getting blogging software from WordPress.org and installing it on your own server. The
software is available FREE and it is easy to install and use.

There are dozens of advantages of having a blog on your own web site:

- You can control everything on your blog, from the marketing aspects to technical aspects

- You can use any template you want and you can create a template that fits your web site, your brand and your image. There are lots of free templates available online as well.

- You own the hosting, so no one can kick you out and shut down your blog one day

- It looks much more professional - when people ask about your blog you can direct them to your own web site address, not some blogging site.

and there are lots more.

For more information on marketing your business with your blog, take a look at my Make Money With Blogging Home Study Guide at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/zbt
In the Home Study Guide I discuss how to market your blog and how to use it to get clients for your business.

Biana Babinsky