By Donna Gunter

Even though I use an amazing article distribution service, not all publications or blogs serving my industry or my target market are on the distribution list for this service or for the well-known, high traffic article directories. So, to ramp up the syndication of my articles yet another notch, I also submit them to specialty or niche publications that I have discovered over the years.

It’s not always easy to find these publications and sites. Here are my 7 best out-of-the-box ideas to find publications and sites that are frequented by your target market and might publish your articles:

1. Blogs. Research blogs written for your target market at Blogcatalog.com, Technorati.com, and Google Blog Search. Many of the blog owners will willing publish posts of guest authors. And, if you subscribe to Cathy Stucker’s BloggerLinkUp.com, you’ll receive weekly notices of bloggers looking for content for their blogs.

2. Associations and print publications. Research the trade and professional associations for your target market. You can create a query in your search engine for combinations like “target market” + “association” or “target market” + “magazine” to get you started.

When you locate the associations, examine their trade publications, newsletters, and industry-related magazines for information about online blogs, ezines, forums, or the online edition of their publication. Many publications well-known for their print versions now have online versions where the publication lead time is much shorter and the stipulations for publications aren’t as restrictive. And, don’t forget to look at the online versions of your local newspaper, magazines, and media outlets. They are often seeking experts with content to beef up their online offerings.

3. Your competition. Google the name of your competitors and examine the results. Note where their content is being published. Chances are that you can be published on the same sites, as well.

4. Trainers of your target market. In your search engine look up “training” + “target market.” Whatever associations, portals, training companies, consultants, etc. that are providing education and information for your target market probably also need content for their sites and blogs.

4. Gender specific or business specific groups. If your target market is women, there are countless numbers of women’s business and networking associations and portals online. Simply search for “women” + “networking” or “women” + “association” or “business networking” + “association.” Many of these sites need content for their blogs, ezines, or web sites.

5. Niche article directories. You might find article banks or expert sites geared for particular niches, so look up “target market” + “article directory.” Some of the better known niche article directories are SelfGrowth.com, for self-improvement and holistic healing experts. Many of these sites will let you create a profile and publish your articles free of charge but require a fee to move your articles to a prominent place on their site.

6. Large portal sites. Look for portal sites like About.com and iVillage.com where the sites have guides, editors, or experts in specific areas. Many times these experts must publish a regular ezine or blog and are constantly seeking content. One of their editors at About.com used to publish a lot of my articles on her section on Online Business. Check out information portals like Squidoo.com and Hubpages.com as well for ideas on where to submit your articles. You might also find large portals geared specifically for your industry or your target market.

7. Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a large online encyclopedia to which the public contributes. Some areas are very well documented on Wikipedia. Additionally, Wikipedia’s References section, See Also section, and External Links area are often good online sources as well.

The content that you create is a primary business asset. Don’t let it languish on your computer’s hard drive. Make it work for you over and over again by seeking out new sites seeking useful content like yours.

By Christian Arno

Brazil, Russia, India and China are collectively known by the acronym ‘BRIC’ and are grouped together in such a way as they are considered to be among the fastest growing developing economies in the world.

However, an emerging market isn’t restricted to the above definition. An emerging market can be any country, or demographic within a country, that is increasingly requiring a specific product or service.

Indeed, this product/service could be anything. The important thing for businesses to realise is that an emerging market has to be emerging for whatever it is they are selling. The BRIC countries may be fantastic target markets for trading certain products, but you need to research exactly what countries need your wares.

The best way, and certainly the cheapest way, to identify your key international target markets is by searching online. In a nutshell, if there are existing companies within your industry sector operating within a specific country, that’s a good sign, as it demonstrates a demand.

Next, try and find out as much information about these companies as possible – how long they’ve been in operation, what their turnover is and where they export to. Moreover, check exactly what services they offer – if there are clear gaps, you can then turn up and exploit this. This is all key information to help you establish how likely it is that you will succeed in these countries.

Of course, be wary of too many companies operating in any one country, market saturation can mean there is no room for you. So research and choose your target markets carefully.

Armed with a list of countries to target, the next stage for any business seeking to globalise should be establishing an online presence in each of their target markets. And this requires a two-step process: localisation and optimisation.

The argument for localising your existing company website is fairly straight forward. Only a quarter of the world’s population speak English, and 94% of them do so only as a second language. So the vast majority of the world’s population speak a language other than English as a native language.

You also have to speak the exact dialect of your target market. If you’re targeting, say, French-speaking Belgium or Switzerland, you’ll need to use professional translators from those countries. The reason? Well, there are enough differences between the dialects of France, Belgium, Switzerland and other French regions of the world to merit it. For example, déjeuner means ‘lunch’ in France, but ‘breakfast’ in Belgium/Switzerland. There are countless examples between the numerous French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and English dialects of the world.

So after localisation, comes optimisation. There’s little point translating your website if nobody can find you on the internet.

You have to research the keywords used locally to search for your product/service offering in each country. You shouldn’t simply translate you keywords from English: a direct, correct dictionary translation may not be what people use to search locally. They might use synonyms or abbreviations. So in the same way as you would research your keywords for your English-language website, e.g. through Google’s Keyword Finder, you would use Google’s keyword finder on each of its in-country search engine domains (Google.de, Google.fr, Google.nl etc).

These locally searched keywords should then be incorporated into the professionally translated website to maximise online visibility in each of your target markets.

About the author
Christian Arno is founder of UK translation and localisation company Lingo24. With offices on four continents and clients in over sixty countries, Lingo24 achieved a turnover of £3.65m in 2009.

By D Adams

Internet Marketing has many different aspects, and the techniques you use could influence your product sales greatly. Here are 10 Tactical Online Marketing Techniques that will definitely help you increase your web site traffic and sales.

Tactical Online Marketing Technique #1:

Tell your prospects that an event is coming up that rarely happens that often and they need to take advantage of it while it’s here because it may be awhile before it happens again. For example:

• You could be re-releasing a limited number of products that you only released once before for a limited number of days or hours;
• You could be launching a one on one mentoring program to a limited number of students and last year it sold out in so many hours or minutes.

Tactical Online Marketing Technique #2:

Tell your prospects all the great parts about the product you are promoting by writing a product review for it. For example:

• Compare how your life was ‘before and after’ you owned the product like the benefits you received that you couldn’t get before or goals you finally accomplished.
• You could tell them what you like most about the product and one minor negative thing so your review sounds more honest.

Tactical Online Marketing Technique #3:

Tell your prospects about a news related story that would persuade people to purchase your product. For example:

• It could be about how bad the economy is and why they should be finding new income streams for themselves and their family.
• It could be about how storms destroyed an entire neighborhood and why they should have some kind of house or life insurances in case it happens to them.

Tactical Online Marketing Technique #4:

Tell your prospects about people who criticize different strategies you use to market or promote your business and follow up with a persuasive reason for them to buy. For example:

• I got an e-mail the other day that stated I’m trying to con you into opting in to my e-zine with a ton of no cost, high valued gifts.
• I received a comment on my blog that I use urgency scared tactics to persuade people to buy and it’s true – only 30 copies out of 100 are left. I’m being totally honest and have proof.

Tactical Online Marketing Technique #5:

Tell your prospects that they are only so much time or so many obstacles away from benefiting from your product. For example:

• It will only take you 3 minutes or less to order and then you can begin to finally reach your goals.
• You are only a click away from pulling out your credit and ending your weight problem forever.

Tactical Online Marketing Technique #6:

Tell your prospects that you are going to give them something free that your competition charges for. For example:

• My competition charges for this report but I’m going to give it to you for no cost because I’m hoping my generosity will persuade you to buy the OTO.
• I don’t feel it’s right to charge my customers to submit their classified ad to my web site like others do, because repeat traffic is what builds a business.

Tactical Online Marketing Technique #7:

Tell your prospects what your business or product has in common with another popular, branded businesses. For example:

• Just like ABCXYZ Company we have 24hour, 7 days a week customer service and tech support so you will never be without help.
• The quality of our product is just like ABCXYZ’s furniture, it’s very stable, uses oak wood and has a lasting finish.

Tactical Online Marketing Technique #8:

Tell your prospects that you are creatively picking a certain number of people to buy and use your product before it gets promoted to the general public. For example:

• I’m going to be selecting just 30 apprentices who are willing to learn how to use my product to lose weight fast.
• My partners and I have decided to pick 20 beta testers to test and experiment with our product so we can get case studies before the big launch.

Tactical Online Marketing Technique #9:

Tell your prospects tips, strategies or secrets inside your ad copy that will persuade them to buy your product so they can actually use the tip. For example:

• Tip #1: When you are cutting your hedges with our new trimmer turn the setting to 5 so it will give your plants a clean cut look.
• Strategy # 4: While you are at the seminar, at the bar and at dinner is one of the best places to meet and find new joint venture partners.
• Secret #2: When designing your banner ad you can click on ‘animate’ to make any object move in your banner.
• Technique # 3: While you are chatting with new potential dating partners, ask them plenty of questions to show you are interested in them.

Tactical Online Marketing Technique #10:

Tell your prospects something that they may be doing wrong or that’s delaying them from gaining their desired benefit that they might not even realize. For example:

• Most people don’t realize they are gaining weight from these so called low calorie, low fat foods.
• Many people don’t know that they could be making their shyness worse by staying away from certain social scenes.

Happy marketing!

By Donna Gunter

Even though I use an amazing article distribution service, not all publications or blogs serving my industry or my target market are on the distribution list for this service or for the well-known, high traffic article directories. So, to ramp up the syndication of my articles yet another notch, I also submit them to specialty or niche publications that I have discovered over the years.

It’s not always easy to find these publications and sites. Here are my 7 best out-of-the-box ideas to find publications and sites that are frequented by your target market and might publish your articles:

1. Blogs. Research blogs written for your target market at Blogcatalog.com, Technorati.com, and Google Blog Search. Many of the blog owners will willing publish posts of guest authors. And, if you subscribe to Cathy Stucker’s BloggerLinkUp.com, you’ll receive weekly notices of bloggers looking for content for their blogs.

2. Associations and print publications. Research the trade and professional associations for your target market. You can create a query in your search engine for combinations like “target market” + “association” or “target market” + “magazine” to get you started.

When you locate the associations, examine their trade publications, newsletters, and industry-related magazines for information about online blogs, ezines, forums, or the online edition of their publication. Many publications well-known for their print versions now have online versions where the publication lead time is much shorter and the stipulations for publications aren’t as restrictive. And, don’t forget to look at the online versions of your local newspaper, magazines, and media outlets. They are often seeking experts with content to beef up their online offerings.

3. Your competition. Google the name of your competitors and examine the results. Note where their content is being published. Chances are that you can be published on the same sites, as well.

4. Trainers of your target market. In your search engine look up “training” + “target market.” Whatever associations, portals, training companies, consultants, etc. that are providing education and information for your target market probably also need content for their sites and blogs.

4. Gender specific or business specific groups. If your target market is women, there are countless numbers of women’s business and networking associations and portals online. Simply search for “women” + “networking” or “women” + “association” or “business networking” + “association.” Many of these sites need content for their blogs, ezines, or web sites.

5. Niche article directories. You might find article banks or expert sites geared for particular niches, so look up “target market” + “article directory.” Some of the better known niche article directories are SelfGrowth.com, for self-improvement and holistic healing experts. Many of these sites will let you create a profile and publish your articles free of charge but require a fee to move your articles to a prominent place on their site.

6. Large portal sites. Look for portal sites like About.com and iVillage.com where the sites have guides, editors, or experts in specific areas. Many times these experts must publish a regular ezine or blog and are constantly seeking content. One of their editors at About.com used to publish a lot of my articles on her section on Online Business. Check out information portals like Squidoo.com and Hubpages.com as well for ideas on where to submit your articles. You might also find large portals geared specifically for your industry or your target market.

7. Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a large online encyclopedia to which the public contributes. Some areas are very well documented on Wikipedia. Additionally, Wikipedia’s References section, See Also section, and External Links area are often good online sources as well.

The content that you create is a primary business asset. Don’t let it languish on your computer’s hard drive. Make it work for you over and over again by seeking out new sites seeking useful content like yours.

By Paul Marshall

Websites with more content rank better with the search engines. Any online marketing consultant will emphasize, however, that “more” isn’t enough. For successful SEO, your site needs a steady stream of fresh, relevant content.

Above all, know your audience. Understand what your readers want and give it to them. More content:

1. Feeds the search engines.
2. Encourages return readers.
3. Serves as a keyword platform.
4. Helps distribute PageRank (through relevant internal linking.)

Online marketing consulting emphasizes the need to build site authority. Information rich, relevant text is the most affordable SEO tool at your disposal to achieve that goal.

People Read Differently Online

Monitor resolution, color quality, available light, and the fixed distance and angle of the screen all cause eye fatigue. More importantly, links encourage distraction. Readers routinely jump ship in the middle of the paragraph with no guarantee they’ll ever come back.

Use Inverted Pyramid Structure

To compensate, put the most important information in the first paragraph. Journalists have been doing it for years, well aware that almost no one will read their entire story. Arrange the rest of the material in descending order of importance.

Write To Your Links

If you include a link in a paragraph, continue to control the narrative at the link’s destination. Regardless of where a reader goes in your site, make sure you are presenting a coherent message.

Repeat Without Copying

Don’t be afraid to repeat information, but don’t just copy the same chunk of text. Rewrite repetitive material to vary your keyword phrasing and anchor text. Every page on the site should appear fresh and dynamic.

Forget The Five-Sentence Paragraph

Online readers need more white space to make skimming the text easier. Forget the five-sentence paragraph structure you learned in English class. Keep online paragraphs to three sentences or less whenever possible.

When possible, use a mix of bold, italics and underlining to make skimming easier for the reader.

Keep An Active, Direct Voice

Action verbs create strong web copy. Don’t write that you “have been taught.” Tell the reader what you “learned.” Speak authoritatively, not passively.

Keep Your Text Concise

Work for a length of 500 to 1000 words per page. When an article runs long, pay special attention to paragraph length. Use subtitles to highlight main ideas and to create more white space.

Consider that the average reader reads at about 200 words per minute. Keeping them on a page for more than 5 minutes (1000 words) often isn’t possible.

Choose Common Vocabulary

Write your text on a 9th to 12th grade reading level. There are numerous tools online to measure the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of your text. Most require nothing more complicated than copying and pasting the material to be measured.

Proofread Your Copy

Misspelled words and poor grammar scream “amateur.” Ask someone you trust to proofread your copy. Writers get too close to their words and easily miss mistakes.

Avoid Common Grammatical Errors

Don’t be guilty of the most common grammatical mistakes. Making glaring errors will harm the reputation of your site and tell readers you don’t know what you’re doing. In particular avoid:

• Loose for lose. You lose your car keys. Your Hawaiian shirt has a loose fit.
• Lay for lie. When you have a headache you lie down. You lay your papers on the desk.
• You’re for your. “You’re in for trouble if you don’t mind your grammar.”
• Of for have. “I would have set you straight about this error if I could have.”
• They’re for their. “They’re suffering from the consequences of their bad manners.”
• Effect for affect. “A computer problem affects your ability to work. The effects of the situation may delay the project.”

Know When To Break The Rules

There are always situations that require that the rules be broken. This relates directly to the need to know your audience. Some topics call for a more in-depth treatment and more complex language.

Introduce deeper, more complicated material with a brief synopsis. Make it clear that following the link will take the reader to an extended treatment of the topic.

Formatting is even more important for in-depth material. Try to treat one idea per page with a clear indication of how many pages will follow. This lets readers find logical stopping points and encourages them to bookmark their place and return to finish reading later.

Always Remember The Basics

In composing text for your site, never forget the different mechanics of reading online. Focus on the wants and needs of your audience. Believe the online marketing consultant wisdom that content is king.

Keep the most important information in the first paragraph. Use sub-headings to improve visual scanning. Choose active verbs and clearly understood words.

Control the narrative throughout your site. Repeat without copying. Proofread and correct your work and update frequently to feed the search engines and encourage repeat visits from your readers.