Once a month, small-business marketing expert Sharron Senter writes a how-to article that helps small businesses tackle a problem.
She submits it to up to 30 different portals. A portal is a launching pad of sorts that helps consumers find destination and commerce sites. Search engine websites you are familiar with such as Google, Yahoo!, Lycos and AltaVista are all considered portal websites.
Then she waits. Usually, within a few hours, email messages start pouring into her mailbox from readers asking her for more information. Or inquiring about something at her website. Or buying a product.
“Depending on the topic of the article and the headline, I’ll get as few as 30 leads from one article, and as many as 75,” Sharron said.
Sometimes her articles even show up in offline publications she never knew existed such as the 25,000-circulation Southern Florida Business Exchange, a business tabloid. The editor checks the portals to see what online articles are a good fit for the publication. Sharron found out that her article titled “6 Affordable Strategies to Build a Cash Cow” ended up on the front page, but only after a reader emailed and told her about it.
Writing articles for online publications offers so many other benefits. It helps you build a big list for your ezine, sell more products and services, book speaking engagements and establishes you as an expert. It also alerts the media to your presence because 8 out of 10 journalists use the Internet to research their articles.
If you’re a smart Publicity Hound, you should be submitting articles online too. Sharron explained her best tips during a teleseminar called “How to Submit Expert Articles Online That Pull Traffic to Your Website.”
If you market on the Internet, you can learn tips like these and many more by becoming a member of the Internet Association of Information Marketers.