I’ve talked about how to write an effective ebook before, but what about something smaller? If writing a full fledged ebook sounds like a daunting task, consider starting with something like an article or a report. You can still sell a short form article or report, you’re just not going to be able to ask as much for it. You can also use it to generate traffic to your other products or services, but the first step is writing something people want to read, and hopefully I can help with that.

The first step is to think about what you want to include in the article. Consider the niche you’re trying to reach, and your expertise. Think about what questions your niche might have, and how you can answer them. Once you have picked a general topic, make a list of points you want to cover in the article. If you can’t come up with more than five points you want to cover, consider choosing a broader topic for the article. You want to make sure you’re providing some value for the customer even though articles and reports are generally a lot shorter than ebooks.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to write to your audience. If, for example, you’re writing an article targeted at business executives, you can keep things concise and too the point. That particular audience tends to be happy to get straight to the point, and doesn’t necessarily need or want to be entertained. If, on the other hand, you’re writing to soccer mom’s, make sure to take a warm and friendly tone with your writing. You want to entertain and educate them at the same time. If your audience is going to enjoy your article, and maybe be enticed to buy other products from you, you have to connect with them. They need to feel like you wrote the article for them. You’re not going to be able to connect with every reader, but if you put some thought into your article, you’ll reach most of them.

It’s also important to keep it simple. If you’re writing a how-to guide, break it down into short, consumable steps. If you’re writing something along the lines of “7 Ways To Get Rich Quick” be sure those seven ways are clearly defined, and easy to understand for the reader. This, along with the other steps I’ve covered in this article, will help you create a profitable article.

If you’re reading my site, there’s a good chance you have some idea of what Google Page Rank is, but do you know what it really means, and how it’s calculated? Hopefully I can help clear up some of the confusion.

Google assigns each page it indexes a rank from 1 to 10. That rank helps Google, as well as other advertisers, determine, among other things,  exactly what ad space on that page is worth. A lot of factors go into determining page rank, but the big three to worry about are the page’s monthly traffic, it’s age, and the quality and quantity of incoming links to that page. No one factor determines the page’s rank. A brand new page that has a lot of high quality incoming links, and gets a fair amount of traffic will do just as well as an older page that gets a lot of traffic but doesn’t have as many incoming links.

You can boost the amount of quality incoming links you get by submitting your page to various directory sites. Keep in mind, though, that links coming from those sites aren’t going to be weighed as heavily in your favor as links from other, larger sites in your own niche. Sites in your niche have content that’s directly related to your content, and Google knows it. Directories cover a broad range of topics, and as such, their content isn’t directly related to yours in the same way. Google sees that too, and it factors into how they weigh that incoming link. The real solution to getting quality incoming links is to have quality content. If large sites in your niche link to you, your page rank goes up. If your content is high quality, other sites will link to you.

As a page ages, often it’s traffic will decrease, due to the content losing relevance. If you want your site to contain a lot of pages that earn high page ranks, try to create content that will remain relevant If your site focuses on current events, try and work in a few articles that will stand the test of time, like top 10 lists, or tutorials.

There are a lot of little tricks you can learn to boost your page rank, but at the end of the day, the real secret is quality content. Good content gets traffic, and quality incoming links without you having to do a lot of additional work. If you keep that in mind, you’ll see your site’s page rank grow steadily over time.

Wordpress 3.0 was released recently, and let me tell you, it’s full of great new features and tweaks. The development team listened to their users, and put a lot of features in the new version that the community has been asking for for some time now.

The first (and one of the biggest) changes you’ll notice after installing the latest version of Wordpress is that the old default theme has been replaced with a new, feature rich theme called Twenty Ten. The new theme makes it easy to switch the background color, change the header image, or even set a different header image for each different page on your site. It even comes with a good selection of header images for you to use if you don’t have one of your own. The new theme also includes the ability to add different post types, such as products or real estate listings. There’s even a built in link shortener!

The latest version of Wordpress also has some long awaited upgrades revolving around plug ins and themes. Users can now do a bulk update of plug ins instead of having to upgrade each one individually. You can even upgrade your theme as part of the bulk upgrade. You’re probably thinking the same thing I was when I first heard about the bulk updates, “but what if there’s an issue with one (or more) of the updates?” Wordpress 3.0 puts your site into maintenance mode during the upgrades to allow for thorough testing of the new updates before they go live on your site. That way, you don’t have to worry about two updated plug ins disagreeing with each other – if there’s a problem, you can fix it before the changes go live.

The old help system is gone too. In it’s place is a contextual, per page help system that allows for easy access to the information you need to solve your problem. If you hit a snag, you won’t be digging through the extensive help section, skimming by topics that have nothing to do with the issue you’re trying to solve.

With all of this new functionality, Wordpress 3.0 is really growing into a powerful content management system. Over 25 million blogs currently use Wordpress, and I’m guessing a lot of them will be using this new version in no time.

Online marketing is an extremely competitive field. It’s important to set yourself apart from the crowd in any way you can. That’s why I’m going to tell you how to build your personal brand effectively.

Your personal brand is the sum of your skills, knowledge, and personality that sets you apart from your peers. The very first step you should take when building your personal brand is to think about what your strengths are. What can you offer that no one else in your niche can? What do you do better than most other people in your niche? Once you have the answer to those questions, it’s time to start offering your knowledge and skills to your audience.

When you’re building your brand, and putting yourself out there, it’s really important to establish trust. If you offer a service, or a product, be sure to deliver it on time. If you claim knowledge on a topic, be prepared to back that claim up. You never want to over-promise, and under-deliver. When I write an article, I set out to teach you, the reader something new. By the end of each article, I’ve (hopefully)  managed to give you at least a rough understanding of the concept I set out to teach. Each time I deliver on that promise, my personal brand grows just a little stronger. Keep that in mind as you work on building your personal brand.

So, now you know your strengths, and you’re delivering on your promises on time and establishing trust, and that’s a great start, but don’t forget that personal branding also includes personality. You want to associate some imagery, or a tag line with you and your personal brand whenever possible. For example, look up at the top of the page. That logo, as well as that cartoon version of me are part of my personal branding. I try to use them when I sign up for various sites and services as much as possible. That way, anyone who knows my work will know they’re dealing with me, even if they’re not dealing with me on the same site or service they first found me on.

So determine your strengths, start putting yourself out there, keep your promises, and define your personality. If you follow those steps, you won’t have any trouble getting people to know who you are. You will grow a strong personal brand before you know it.

So you have your e-mail list all set up, but you don’t have the first clue about how to get people to subscribe to it. I can help. There are a few simple things you can do that will yield a large list in no time.

Be sure your list’s opt in form appears before the fold on your website. The fold is the point at which a reader has to scroll down in order to keep reading the page, and if your opt in form appears below that point, the odds odds that someone is going to see it go down dramatically.

One sure fire way to build up your list  is to set up an exchange with another list owner in your niche. You send out a few of their offers to your subscribers, and they do the same for you. It’s a simple concept, but there are a few things to be careful of. Make sure you know who you’re dealing with. If you connected with them through an ad swap service, check out their feedback and their profile to make sure they’re legit. I strongly recommend establishing a professional relationship of some sort with the other person before running their offers. Get to know them and their business, and make sure it’s a good fit with you and yours. Don’t do anything in the exchange that might violate your subscribers’ trust. Never, and I mean NEVER give out your subscribers’ email addresses to anyone you have set up an exchange with. Stick to swapping offers, and leave it at that.

You can also get your subscribers to do some of the leg work for you. Offer them a coupon or other special promotion that they can pass on to a friend, and you’ll see an increase in subscribers in no time. If you can give them some added incentive to pass the offer along, I recommend doing so. For example, give your subscribers five coupons for 10% off the first purchase a new subscriber makes. Then, offer the subscriber you gave the coupon codes to a 10% discount on their next purchase if they successfully give out all five codes to new subscribers. Now the original subscriber has incentive to make sure five of their friends sign up for your list.

If you follow these steps, I promise you’ll see your list grow more quickly than you expected. Remember, as your list grows, your profits grow with it.

Running a successful membership site is tough. You have to constantly remind your users of exactly why they want to be a member of your site, and why they should keep coming back. There are a few things you can do to improve your membership site, and make it a little easier to keep your customers engaged.

It’s important to welcome your customers properly after they sign up. A welcome video can go a long way towards making their first visit a memorable, and enjoyable one. You’re probably yelling at the screen now, saying how video production is expensive and time consuming, but that doesn’t have to be true. All you really need is a camera, a plain wall to stand (or  sit) in front of, and a decent script. Use the video to tell your new members all about the useful features your site offers, and how it can help them. Be friendly and talk to your viewers in a personal manner, and if there’s one particular part of the site you want them to visit early on, be sure to point it out. A friendly welcome helps to build a good relationship between you and your customer.

If you have a blog, or any other sort of a news feed that allows for comments, be sure to end your posts with questions whenever possible. Your visitors will answer the question in the comments, and create a discussion, and consequently, more content and information. By getting your users to speak up, you’re working toward turning your user base into a community. If your users are engaged in discussions with each other, they’re more likely to come back on a regular basis.

If your site has any sort of training material, be sure to organize it so that it’s easy to read and understand. A simple step by step tutorial page with short, numbered steps helps to avoid confusion and frustration for your users. If you present them with a wall of text, chances are they’ll get overwhelmed, and move on with their day.

By taking these steps to make your membership site more user friendly, and engaging, you will ensure that your customers will stick with your site over time. By making it easy to dive into your site, and creating a sense of community, you’re giving people strong incentives to get started using your site right away, and keep coming back for more.

Producing an ebook can be a great way to bring in some money, but it’s not a simple thing to do. Many people that set out to write a successful ebook fail in their efforts over a few simple, avoidable issues.

The hardest part of writing an ebook can be getting organized, and actually writing the book. Be sure to plan ahead, and draw up an outline of what you want to say, and how you want to say it. That way when you sit down to do the actual writing, you’ll have a game plan. This might sound redundant, especially if you’re planning on writing a short ebook, but many people get overwhelmed by the blank screen in front of them when they sit down to write. A little pre-planning can help you avoid that sort of freeze up.

We’re not going to touch on all of the steps here, but planning, and publishing an ebook can be a lengthy process depending on what sort of book you’re writing. In addition to outlining the actual process of writing the book, be sure to have an overall outline of how you want things to go. Are you working with a third party publisher or self publishing? Where are you selling the ebook? How will you advertise it? What are you charging for it? Try to answer all of these questions, and set yourself a timeline before digging in on the actual writing. In the long run, you’ll be happy you did.

It’s also important to be aware of the value of your content. If the information you’re packing into your ebook is freely available all over the internet, then you’ll have to be sure you’re presenting that information in a unique way. In other words, give your customers some incentive to buy your ebook rather than just doing a Google search for the info they’re looking for. Of course, if you’re offering new, or unique information in your ebook, this is less of a concern, but you should still try to be conscious of the way you present your work.

If you take the time to organize your information well, and plan out your process every step of the way, you’ll find yourself publishing a profitable ebook before you know it. Quality writing, and good organizational skills will take you further than you might think.

Careful selection of keywords is the most important part of SEO and internet marketing. You will not have to rank first on popular search engines to see results, but it does take a bit of work to be able to rank in the sweet zone for receiving the valuable clicks on advertising banners. The most common mistake is choosing the keywords with the most competition. These are very difficult to rank for, especially since older and better established sites already have everything going for them with indexing and advertising campaigns.

Looking up keywords is best done by using the free Google Keyword Tool available for Adwords clients. You do not have to actively running an Adwords campaign, but simply Google “Google Keyword Tool” and you should be able to find it. That is where you can start inputing potential combinations of keywords and start finding the best suitable keywords for your campaign.

The next best option is to try and rank for less common keywords and synonyms of the keywords that you will want to rank for. Remember that advertisements on the site are what will usually be bringing in revenue and that the ads served will be based on the keywords that you will be using. Choosing the correct niche is always important as well. There are several different niches that are available that have many ways of saying what you wish to say with various keywords. This means that there will be less competition for the keywords and you can pull in some moderate and steady revenue from ads.

The next big is to choose keywords that will be easy to write on. If you are not able to write very much on the subjects for the niche or have a variety to write on you will more than likely have a difficult time with them. Experiment with different keywords which could provide a wide range of options for indexing in the major search engines. Always set an amount of time to research the keywords and use tools to look at statistics on keywords you use to determine which keywords work best for your SEO marketing needs.

Use your keywords at a low density and do not be afraid to create headlines with your keywords or use h2 or bold tags within your text to highlight points and to get those keywords out there.

Choosing the correct keywords is crucial to developing an article for SEO effectiveness. The keywords are what drive the search engines to pull the information that is written in the article. Keyword selection must be done carefully and will require the writer to know what they are writing on and what specific keyword the article should try to rank for. The selection of additional supporting keyword synonyms should be used as well.

Structuring the title will be simple, but it must be unique enough for the reader to see it and wish to read it right away. Use of the keyword or phrase that will be used for SEO indexing must be included in a way that is coherent and easy to read. If the title does not make sense, readers will be less likely to be intrigued and believe that the article is well written enough to warrant them to read it. So, it is really important that you incorporate the keywords into your title without sacrificing the readability of your title for your audience.

Real eyeballs are just as important as Google bot eyeballs, so make sure you take care of both of them.

Use calculated natural writing which incorporates the keywords you wish to use. Try to make it sound as natural as possible, even if the keyword or keyword phrase is unusual. The keyword density rules for article submission websites will require that the articles have about a 3-6% keyword density. Finding the density is as simple as dividing the number of times the keyword appears by the number of keywords multiplied by 100 to receive the percentage. Some websites prohibit using the keyword or phrase more than 3 times, but allow the use of keyword synonyms as much as you like.

Anchor text is also very important and allows the article writer to provide an indexed link to the website it will be promoting. Using the keyword as the link text is always recommended. Make your final revisions to the article such as checking for spelling and grammar errors and correcting phrases which may sound strange because of the keyword use.

Using your keywords is an art and being able to incorporate SEO into your articles and remain readable takes practice and only gets better with time. At first it will seem very unnatural to write for SEO, but this entire paragraph was an example of it (do you see “incorporate SEO into your articles” and “write for SEO” written above? Perfect examples. It is easy once you get the hang of it, now go write some great content that is keyword rich.

The process of implementation is always simple to do. Creating accounts with the social media networks is always the first step and can provide a way to start gaining notoriety. Accounts using popular social media platforms can be then used to post links to media, articles and important information that people would like to see. It always helps to try and up the virility of the content as others will wish to do the same and share the content with others. The process will take a few seconds with each site and can be an effective tool to bring in unique visitors to websites, affiliate links and other locations online.

Creating and distributing content through social media should always be done in this order:

Research – Research what people want to see, hear, read and do. This will help when brainstorming ideas as it will provide material to work over. Researching often is always one of the tasks that should be done to learn more about the target audience so you can successfully target them. Make sure the research phase is very thorough, you do not want to over look something, but at the same time you do not want to spend all of your time doing research. Make sure you create a list of all of the information you are seeking and complete that list of criteria/information and move on.

Content Brainstorming – Now that you have research to work from, brainstorming ideas for content is always a great idea. Write down or note ideas that may be interesting and think about additions to those topics which can be provided for a series (if possible). Always write down ideas because even if you think it is bad, you might see it later and find out how you can make it better. Content is important for social media, people will not listen to you in a social setting if the content looks like spam or incompetent.

Content Creation – The real work of creating the content is then necessary. Prepare the content for deployment once it is complete. Remember what I wrote in the section above, and create valuable content that people can’t pass up.

Content Deployment - Now, depending on what the content is and the available social media networks it can be sent to, deliver and ensure that it is promoted in several ways for the maximum amount of exposure possible. Do not fail to deliver the content, even if you don’t think it is the best work you have done, don’t fear releasing and adjusting as you go.