How to Create and Profit from Your Own Article
Directory
As someone who writes a new article each week and submits it
to online article directories, the thought has occurred to me more than
once that I should have my own article directory, as well. Your own
article directory can serve as yet another lead-generation tool for your
primary website, serve as yet another place to showcase your expertise,
and help you create another stream of income for your business.
Here's what you need to do to create and profit from your own article
directory.
1. Choose a compelling domain name. Start matching keywords that
a searcher would use to find your type of business with the word
"articles" and see what kinds of results you get when you search for
those terms. You'll also want to check how popular the search is for
those terms with a tool like
Wordtracker.
Normally I suggest that you buy only the .com version of the domain, but
in this case, any version will do, as this site simply serves as a lead
generator. Buy the domain name that best fits your target market.
2. Install software. There's a free piece of software that you
can use to manage your article directory called
Article
Dashboard. It has to be installed on your hosting account and can
be customized with your own graphic header. It also permits others to
create accounts and submit articles to your site, helps you manage
authors and review submissions, and much more.
3. Create keyword-rich categories. Do a bit of research and
determine the type of info that your target market researches online.
Create article categories that match those search requests.
4. Complete basic SEO. Create your title, keyword, and
description metatags and embed those into your directory. If you're
unsure how to do this, use this handy online metatag creator that I use
at
Invision Graphics.
5. Upload your articles to your directory. After completing
the customization of your site, become your first author and submit all
of your articles to your site. Make sure you have a compelling resource
box appended to each article that will make visitors want to check out
your website.
6. Find other articles for your directory. There are many
thousand article banks online. Some of the more well-known ones are
ArticleAlley.com,
ArticlesFactory,com,
EzineArticles.com,
IdeaMarketers.com,
and SearchWarp.com.
You can search manually for articles that are relevant to your target
market and place those within your directory, or you can sign up as a
distributor/publisher at the article banks so that you'll receive
articles on certain topic areas when authors submit them to the article
banks. My
article distribution service permits this, as well. Or, if you want
to be the primary expert, let other authors find you and let your
article directory serve to showcase just your articles.
7. Monetize your site. One way to earn profit from an article
directory is to place
Google Adsense ads
on your site. You can place them across the top, down the right or left
side, or at the end of the page for individual articles. Place banner
ads on the site for relevant products for your target market for which
you are an affiliate and/or participate in some type of banner exchange
program if you can ensure that the only banners displayed will be
appropriate for your target market. Create an
Amazon search box on your site that displays products relevant for
your target market. While you won't earn tons of money from these
strategies, every little bit helps, right?
8. Create a call to action. If one of the purposes of your
article directory is as a lead-generation tool, you must place a call to
action on the site. You can use a hover ad to encourage someone to sign
up for your email newsletter and/or get your free ecourse, ebook, etc.
Or, you can place a graphic or an ad on your site that encourages
visitors to click through to your primary site.
9. Install your stats package. Website metrics/statistics will
tell you how your site is performing. Your hosting company may provide
some basic statistical info as a part of your hosting account, or you
can get more detailed info from free programs
Google
Analytics or
StatCounter or from the inexpensive program I use,
123Stat.
10. Generate traffic. If you've done your research, much of
your traffic may be organically driven to your site based on searches on
specific keywords popular with your target market. However, you can also
use Google's
Adwords program or other PPC (pay-per-click) engines to drive
traffic to this site.
The primary goal of Internet surfers is to find free valuable content
that gives them a solution to a problem. An article directory is the
perfect place to provide that relevant content, help you generate leads
for your primary site, and make a few bucks from site advertising in the
process.
(c) 2008 Donna Gunter
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You
can, as long as you reprint the article in its entirety
and include this blurb with it:
Online Business Resource Queen
(TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service
professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise
on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FREE gift,
TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at
http://www.OnlineBizU.com.
Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at
http://www.AskDonnaGunter.com. Read about running an online biz at her blog,
http://www.GetMoreClientsOnlineblog.com.
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