By Bonnie Jo Davis

Individual article submission sites are websites, blogs, forums and e-zines that accept article submissions.  Each site seeks articles on a particular topic or a narrow range of topics.  Accepting articles directly saves the publisher from having to search newsgroups or directories for fresh content.  Each site has its own set of guidelines that authors must read and understand before they can submit their article.

Some of the primary benefits of submitting articles to individual submission sites include:

• Direct Delivery – Articles go directly to the publisher who is interested in their particular topic, saving publishers hours searching for the perfect article.
• Improved Response – Because authors screen submission sites before submitting their articles, they have a better idea of what a publisher wants.
• Editorial Suggestions – Some publishers offer valuable feedback on articles to help you improve submissions.
• Expedited Publishing – Direct submissions, if on topic and compliant with guidelines, often are published much faster through individual submission sites than through other channels.
• Strategic Relationships – Authors can and should create a relationship with each individual site’s publisher, letting him or her know that they can provide original articles or a customized version.
• Return Link – A reputable website that publishes an article will provide its author with a one-way active link to his website.  If this is not provided the author has the option to have the article removed from the site.
• Direct Control – If an article isn’t published according to its author’s wishes, he’ll know how to contact the publisher directly for corrections.
• Submission Tracking – Article marketers rarely know who has reprinted their article.  Submitting articles directly to an individual site enables them to track their submissions easily.
• Negotiate Terms – Because authors create a strategic relationship with their publisher, they can negotiate the terms of future submissions.

As with article directories, editorial guidelines often are provided for authors, which requires them to submit only their own original work or work that they paid a writer to create; offer only articles that include proper grammar, spelling and punctuation; allow their articles to be published anywhere on the submission site, and possibly on partner sites; and agree that an article can be edited.  They also might be told that the link in their byline is the only payment they will receive.

You should submit articles to individual article submission sites only when they can comply with the rules, and not waste their or the publisher’s time by ignoring those rules.

There are so many specific article submission sites that it’s overwhelming to consider them all.  To build a list and find topic-appropriate sites, go to Google.com and search “topic + articles” or “topic + article submission.”  Either of these terms, combined with a particular topic, should net plenty potential submission sites.

Article contributed by:
Bonnie Jo Davis is an article marketing expert and prolific writer who created Article Submission Sites to teach others how to profit from the Internet marketing strategy.  Visit http://www.articlesubmissionsites.com for a free copy of “Writing for Publicity” and her Article Submission Summary Sheet.

Have you ever hovered over a banner ad or link only to shy away from clicking on it because the link looked like code written by some pimply faced hacker?

Chances are the link was a tracking link used to record where you were when you clicked. This is how affiliate programs are tracked so the right people get credit for sending traffic and paid.

Here are two examples of typical affiliate links:

https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?ii=68188&c=ib&aff=18667&ev=af7a1c01e8

or like this if they’re trying their best to not scare you out of clicking :

http://tinyurl.com/yqe3jz

They’ll work if and when people click on them, but there is a cleaner, more effective, approach.

Here’s how you can setup affiliate links that should help your overall results:

- Log into your Web host manager (cpanel in my case) and create a new FOLDER and name it ‘more’ (or whatever you prefer). Note: You can set this folder up in your root directory (public_html) or in any subfolder.

- Next open the new “more” FOLDER and create an HTML FILE named “info1001″ or anything you like. You should keep it generic and keep in mind that you may want to create many more links in the future.

This has created a single blank page in the ‘more’ folder. This will result in a link that looks like this when someone scrolls over it:

http://www.yoursite.com/more/info1001.html

Now you have the good looking link ready… but if you want the link to work you will have to insert a little code onto the HTML page you created, which is inside of the new folder.

Here’s the code:
(REPLACE the generic info in all caps with YOUR information.)
—————————————————————

<html>
<head>
<title>YOUR PAGE TITLE</title>

<meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”0;url=http://YOUR AFFILIATE URL”>
</head>
<body>
<p>
Redirecting, please wait. If you’re not redirected within a couple of seconds,
click here:<br />
<a href=”http://YOUR AFFILIATE URL”>PRODUCT NAME</a>

——————————————————–

Change “YOUR PAGE TITLE” (whatever you want it to be)
Change “YOUR AFFILIATE URL” to the affiliate url given to you from vendor for the item or page (must be precise and complete)
Change “PRODUCT NAME” to your affiliate product name (can be anything)
——————————————
Yes, it takes about 10-15 minutes, but once it’s setup you can reuse it everywhere you want to market that program, product, or service using the easy-to-remember URL you created from scratch.

If this doesn’t work for you try this site:

http://www.forfreedom.ws/affiliate-marketing-for-dummies/how-to-hide-affiliate-links-25/

(NO… that is NOT an affiliate link! Really!)

]]> http://wahmbreakcafe.com/how-to-setup-an-affiliate-link-that-looks-normal/feed 3 http://wahmbreakcafe.com/earn-49-cents-a-day http://wahmbreakcafe.com/earn-49-cents-a-day#comments Fri, 15 Feb 2008 03:21:20 +0000 Kathy http://www.wahmbreakcafe.com/earn-49-cents-a-day.htm If that title got you this far I hope it’s curiosity at work and not excitement over earning 49 cents a day!

But, in the event you are looking for ways to earn a little extra like so many of us with websites here’s a little information about an advertising network that I really like:

They call themselves Project Wonderful and their system really is pretty wonderful. It’s the easiest ad network provider that I’ve ever used as a publisher (website owner) and it’s also the easiest from the advertisers perspective. It only takes a few minutes to get setup (adding their ad code to your site) and within minutes prospective advertisers will begin submitting their READY-TO-RUN banner ads to you for approval. If you’re ok with the ad you click a link and the ad will begin running almost immediately.

What’s really cool is the advertisers bid for placement on your site so as more advertisers line up the more they’ll bid. This competition is what I like the most about their business model. Of course it isn’t a get rich quick scheme, especially for those of us who have small websites, but as the sites grow in traffic and the ad network grows in popularity and numbers of registered advertisers, the bids will increase without the need to create a media kit, change pricing, or do anything other than tend to the site and approve ads.

It’s been a few days since I got started and the ads are generating 49 cents a day right now and rising all the time. It’s not much, but I really do believe in this and I’m already bringing in more then the Google ads were fetching for me.

You can find ad spots here on WAHM Blog and on these sites:

moms dot com and moms dot com directory

dads dot com and dads dot com directory

moms TV and dads TV

Check it out for yourself!

These “thumbnails” help filter out foreign sites, offensive sites, and generally offer us a better surfing experience.

We use Thumbshots, a free tool to pull the thumbnail images from their database and present them when needed. All they ask for in return for this highly useful service is a link back to their site on your website.

To show you how easy it is I’ll explain what I did to add the thumbnails to this post:

1. Register at Thumbshots
2. Once registered they share the small piece of code needed to add the thumbs to any post or web page you want.
3. Using WordPress you just place your cursor where you want to insert the thumbnail and press the picture icon just as you would to insert any photograph.
4. This time you’ll enter the code from Thumbshots and after the “=” equal sign simply type in the URL of the website and like magic their tool pulls the thumb of the website and places it where you wanted it.
5. To move the thumbnail over to the left and have the text wrap around it using WordPress you click on the image, click on the LEFT justify icon or button and the picture is moved to left and text wraps around automatically.

Give it a try on your website. Post any questions in the comments area and we’ll try to help.

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Awhile back Google announced the launch of their Google Checkout and WAHM shop owners should be taking advantage of this additional payment method that more and more online buyers are utilizing.

What is Search Engine Marketing?

• Search engine marketing is the methodology we use to get our Websites more visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs).
• There are variety of methods that can be used to achieve better visibility in search engines, which include search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), paid-inclusion and link building techniques.
• The ultimate goal of your search engine marketing campaigns should be to increase traffic from search engines listings. I’ve read that the value of first page results on Google searches can be valued into the multiple thousands of dollars. The more traffic you can drive to your site through search engines the less you’ll have to rely on paid advertising.
• In order to succeed at this, search engine marketing campaigns are usually focused on a users search query as a starting point. For example, if a potential customer enters “newborn baby clothes”, and you sell baby clothing from an online shop, you’ll want that prospect to find your site, or a subpage within your site, ahead of other online shops selling baby clothes. “newborn baby clothes” is an example of a keyword term.
• Keyword terms make search marketing a powerful advertising vehicle. It’s the most targeted form of marketing available bar none. What better time to be in front of a potential buyer then when they’re online searching for an online shop that sells “newborn baby clothes”?
• Once this mom arrives in your shop you have to try and turn her into a customer, if not now, in the future and hopefully for years to come. That’s another lesson….
• Determining which keyword terms your target audience are using for their searches is a key concept in search marketing.

I’ve added some links below to help you determine which search terms might generate enough volume to warrant your efforts in building a search engine marketing campaign:

I use Overture’s Keyword Tool to help spot keywords and search terms that generate loads of traffic. Overture is owned by Yahoo! so while it’s not Google it’ll give you a good idea of where to go looking for gold.