The hos search website

If you want to really make your article “SELL” then you’ve got to craft the perfect RESOURCE BOX. This is the “author bio” that is below your article body and it’s also known as your “SIG” (short for SIGnature).

Here are the essential items that should be in your RESOURCE BOX:

• Your Name: You’d be amazed at how many folks forget to include their name in the RESOURCE BOX. Your name and optional title should be the first thing in your resource box.
• Your Website Address: in valid URL form. Example: http://Your-Company-Name.com/
• Your Elevator Pitch: This is 1 to 3 sentences that encapsulates the essence of what makes you and your offering unique. Also known as your USP (Unique Selling Proposition).
• Your Call To Action: You’ve got them warmed up and now it’s time to lead them to BUY from you or visit your website. This is where you “Ask For The Sale.” Best to only give (1) specific call to action.

Here are some optional items you could include in your RESOURCE BOX:

• Your Ezine Subscription Address: While getting your interested visitor to surf your website is nice, capturing their email address can help you begin the confidence/trust process. If you’re going to do this strategy, include a URL for your ezine subscription address and do not use an email address for the “join” address.
• Your Contact Information: Such as your business phone number or how to reach you for interviews or your press/media kit. Keep in mind that article marketing is a timeless strategy and you may not have an easy ability to retract what you put in your article once it hits major distribution.
• A Free Report: This could also be part of your call to action or your free bonus report that further enhances your credibility as the expert on the topic of your article.
• Your email autoresponder: I’m not a big fan of this strategy due to the fact that spammers will text-extract your autoresponder address and add it to their spam list. Perhaps this strategy was best for the 1990’s and has now run its course.
• An anchor URL that is related to one keyword or keyword phrase that you want to build SEO strength for. Example: if I wanted to build search engine relevance/strength for the term “Article Marketing,” I’d link up that term in my resource box to my website. This is an intermediate to advanced level strategy and should not be abused by over-doing it. Keep it simple.

What NOT to include in your RESOURCE BOX:

• A listing of every website you own. There is no faster way to dilute your credibility than by posting a half dozen irrelevant URLs that have nothing to do with each other. Best to only post ONE URL that is related to the topic of your article.
• A listing of every accomplishment you’ve achieved to date. No one cares. Keep your resource box brief and to the point. Yes, your resource box should be benefit oriented so that the reader finds value in reading it rather than your ego being justified.
• Advertisements or pitches for products that are not relevant to the topic of your article.
• Keep the size of your resource box so that it’s no larger than 20% of your total article size. Too often I see resource boxes that are 50% of the size of the total article and this is abusive.

Your Perfect Resource Box Conclusion:

The BODY of your article is where you “GIVE” and the RESOURCE BOX is where you get to “TAKE” for your article marketing gift of information. The resource box is the “currency of payment” you receive for giving away your article. Be sure to include your name, website address, your unique selling proposition as briefly as possible and a simple call to action.

White papers are the sleeping giants of marketing tools. This is great news for businesses who haven’t discovered them yet, because “[r]esearch indicates that IT executives examine an average of 30 white papers each year, that nearly 90% of executives find [them] helpful or extremely helpful and more than half claim white papers influence their buying decisions.” That’s according to Bitpipe online, February 2004.

What is a white paper?
A white paper is essentially a hybrid of a magazine article and a brochure. Its job is to educate first, then sell; it convinces readers they have a problem or need, then offers the company’s product or service as the solution. They are effective in getting attention because their salesmanship is subtle. White papers position the company in a place of authority, trustworthiness, and expertise; they’re a “soft sell,” powerful for generating leads.

What do you do with a white paper?
White papers are always given away free, and are usually distributed electronically. Post them on your website; distribute them by e-mail; syndicate them online. Bitpipe is perhaps the best-known white paper source, although there are others. People searching for information on your topic find them on these sites, read them, print them out, keep them, share them, and refer to them repeatedly.

How will white papers benefit your business?
As compared to a brochure or other marketing piece, a white paper enjoys a long shelf life. People keep them for their useful information and often come back to make a purchase up to a year later. They also can be reworked into trade publication articles and other pieces. For a company wanting to establish itself as a standout in its field, white papers are an excellent investment.

The bottom line on white papers…
If you’re a business executive looking for a copywriter to write white papers, congratulations on a smart move. Your support will contribute to a stronger finished product. With the right amount of input and feedback from you, he or she can create an effective marketing piece with a wide reach, a long shelf life, and the power to make huge profits for you.

E-mail signatures are a great place to add your marketing message. Here are two great ways, explained in detail, to add items to your e-mail signature.

Insert a Graphic or Animation in Your Outlook Email Signature

To add an image to an email signature in Outlook:

(1) Create a new message in Outlook using rich HTML formatting. If you want to edit an existing signature, see below.

(2) Design your desired signature in the body of the message. It is best to keep your signature to 5 or 6 lines of text, but not much more. Use the standard signature delimiter.

(3) Position the cursor where you want to insert a picture.

(4) Use Insert | Picture… to add the image or animation.

(5) Press Ctrl-A to highlight the entire body of the message.

(6) Press Ctrl-C.

(7) Now select Tools | Options… from the main Outlook window’s menu.

(8) Go to the Mail Format tab.

(9) Click Signatures… under Signatures.

(10) Click New….

(11) Give the new signature a name.

(12) Click Next >.

(13) Press Ctrl-V to paste your signature in the Signature text entry field.

(14) Click Finish.

(15) Now click OK.

(16) If you have just created your first signature, Outlook has automatically made it the default - automatically inserted - for new messages. To use it for replies as well, which I recommend, select it under Signature for replies and forwards.

(17) Click OK again.

Edit an Existing Signature to Add an Image

To edit an existing signature using the method described above:

(1) Select Tools - Options… from the menu in Outlook.

(2) Go to the Mail Format tab.

(3) Click Signatures… under Signatures.

(4) Highlight the signature you want to edit.

(5) Press Ctrl-A.

(6) Hit Ctrl-C.

(7) Use the Esc key three times.

(8) Create a new message in Outlook using rich HTML formatting.

(9) Click in the body of the new message.

(10) Press Ctrl-A.

(11) Now hit Ctrl-V.

(12) Proceed as above. Instead of creating a new signature again edit the existing.

What your new online business needs is to be promoted using several effective online marketing techniques. These methods will not require you to break the bank to get good online exposure for your company. You do not need to go overboard with your marketing expenses in order to have your online business get recognized.

There are some easy and affordable methods to boost your online presence that don’t require you to spend more than you can afford. These methods are not immediate though, they will require some patience and work to get your results.

First thing is first, you will need a website to showcase your services or products. You can either design one yourself or hire a web developer for the work. From there it is all in the promotion.

Get Links - You need to achieve a good ranking in search engines for terms related to your website. This can be achieved with good link building. Strategies include reciprocal linking, building quality content and quality directory listings.

Publish Articles - by writing and publishing quality content both on your site and by submitting to article directories you will gain good back links to your site and give spiders more content when they search your site. That will increase your search engine rankings.

Use Affiliate Marketing - Form a network with other websites to boost the targeted traffic to yours. This should mean links to your site via ads on others in the same niche. That will provide a certain amount of targeted traffic to your site, but will cost you the commissions of affiliate sales.

Distribute Newsletters - By sending newsletters with content relevant to your website to clients that are interested in your niche you can boost traffic and repeat sales. This will help you establish ongoing relationships with clients. Newsletters should be short and to the point to get a good readership.

Forums - By participating and posting good content on forums that deal with topics related to your websites products and services you can form relationships with those in the same field with the same interests. This can result in sales and ongoing affiliate relationships. Plus you get the added bonus of being able to place links in your signature area of the posts you make.

Email Marketing - This is a touchy subject as if you do it in a spamming or intrusive manner it can drive potential clients away. When done properly it can generate sales and traffic to your site. What you want to make sure you do is provide content in the email that is valuable to the receiver. Not doing so can generate complaints, blocked email addresses and angry customers. Best approach I have seen with this is by using voluntary opt in email lists.

By using these strategies to get your marketing program in place and consistently applying them into the future, you can gain the results you are looking to achieve. Just remember that good marketing may have a starting point, but it does not have an ending point. It is a continual cycle that builds upon itself over time.