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Once your site is in place you are faced with several challenges that are going to affect not only how long your business lasts, but also how effectively you will be able to promote and market your product or service to a broad, narrow or specific audience.

The web today is a lot like popular competitions. The owners love their widgets, they dress them up, enhance their skill for the talent competition and travel all over to make sure that their widget is in the running for a really big prize. The key in this phase, probably the phase you are now in, is that it begins with tremendous passion for your product or service. You know what you are selling intimately. You either have been doing it for someone else for years, been working on the idea of starting something that will allow you to make your own hours, or want to share something great. But, what happens when your passion is actually out there and you haven't got a resource bank to put power it.

Think of a sail boat. They are so beautiful. You always see pictures of these beautiful boats and smiling people with a happy guy at the helm. If you love the sun, water, adventure, this is a wonderful picture and makes you really want to be there. But, what happens when there's no wind? Unless sitting in the middle of the ocean sharing the last can of beans is your plan (which we know isn't), you're going to need some gas in your engine to cruise into a port until the wind comes up. So let's talk about the first two steps in making sure you always have some gas.

Product and Service Growth List

You already know that your website is more than loving your product or service and knowing that it will be beneficial to others, or posting some articles about your product on your website, using the marketing features once and then waiting for the multitudes to arrive. The web is a constantly evolving medium so marketing and maintenance must be a continual evolving effort for you to stay alive in this market. If your goal is to have a constant flow of traffic that includes both new and return customers then posting information or updates at unscheduled intervals or not maintaining your site is not going to result in a thriving business. Without a lot of time, effort and some excellent resources to bounce ideas around with, enhance your marketing strategy and provide you with honest feed back, you're going to be in a leaky boat really fast. So first, take a moment to make a growth list.

Your growth list is what you currently have in place-Website, basic marketing package, sort of a contact list and anything else that you know is going to need to be updated on a regular basis, the things that will never go away. Next, list the resources you currently have. This would include any packages or pieces of packages that you have only tried once or not used at all.

The next column of your growth list will be "need but don't have." These are those things (skills, products, software) that you don't have but need. Do you know every detail about your product or service but can't write or present it in a way that excites others? If you have a product, is it one that can be easily shared with others? Does your full-time job keep you from having the time to write articles, create ezines or newsletters, or cultivate and grow your market? In the web culture marketing is one of the biggest factors in growing your business effectively.

Once completed, keep your list in a safe place. Review your list often and add to it whenever you have an idea or see something that you might like to explore later. Don't delete anything. Your growth list is a keystone in creating and growing your marketing strategy.

Marketing Resource List

You want to create a list of the resources that you currently have on hand. This list includes people you know who will provide totally honest and unbiased opinions, mentors and tools that you have (even if you have never used them). Be sure to include contact or purchase information for your resources. As your business grows you will continue adding to this list. I have resource books that I morphed from address books purchased from my local market. This list will grow at an astonishing rate if you stick to your action plan.

Resources come in many forms. When I find an excellent book, article or piece of software or happen upon a great website I always put the title, author and other information in my resource book as well as the reason that I'm putting it there. This is especially important for the long term since you will forget in a year or two why you stuck a particular name, book or site on your list and if you haven't made a little note about it's purpose you may have to re-invent the wheel to get information that you already have.

Don't be afraid to contact authors or website owners when you want more information or have a question. Most of us love to write, chat and share information. The few out there who are just trying to solicit customers are pretty easy to spot and if you happen to wind up on an email list you really don't want to be on, you can always block it. For the most part though, when I contact someone with a question they are more than happy to answer the question. Usually I also get some great information that I didn't know I needed and in some cases I make a really good e-friend. Again, be sure to put these in your resource book as well as why you contacted them and what you learned. (You've probably figured out that I have several resource books).

There are many steps to take in growing your new business but the two items discussed above are by far the most important to ensure that you have a successful and growing internet business.

To find out more about building and maintaining a successful website or marketing strategy send me an email or read my other articles.

Copyright Ellen Jackson and Website Maintenance and Marketing

You have permission to use this article freely in any publication as long as you do not alter or change the content and the byline is included as-is. For more information please email me at info@website-Maintenance-and-Marketing.com

As you probably already know, list building is the most important thing you need to do for your business, whether it's an online business or an offline business. Of course, when I write about list building, it's usually the online kind because that's the kind of business I'm very good at and know very well.

With that being said, what are some of the ways you enhance your list building efforts?

• Articles
• Blogging
• Ezine Advertising
• Direct Mail
• Press Releases
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Pay per Click

Now, these are only 7 of the 17 ways that I've identified that will drive traffic to your site, but they all have something in common--input. You have to type something into your computer in order to complete information. Right? So, what I'd like to do today is give you some tools that you can find online to help you.

First, with all of these methods, you'll need a way to write your articles, blog entries, etc. But let me warn you. Don't write your entries with Microsoft Word. Word puts in all kinds of symbols and stuff that don't work well in cyberworld, at least. If you're writing for print, as with direct mail, it really doesn't matter. Word does a great job, but if you're writing something to be published online, you need a program that writes plain text with no frills.

You're probably thinking WordPad or Notepad, both of which come with all PCs. Well, you can use those, too, but I have a product that I like a lot and would like to pass that information along. The program is called "TextPad," and it works much like MSWord, but it doesn't include the strange character translations. It's free to try and about $35 to buy, but it's well worth the price.

Another great tool, which you can get for free, is Roboform. You probably already know that Roboform will save passwords for you, right? Well, did you ever think of Roboform as a list building assistant?

Well it is. You see, Roboform also includes a feature called "Safenotes." It's great for saving your resource boxes. You can just click on Safenotes and choose whichever bio you want, copy it, and paste it into your article submission form. Works great! This feature of Roboform also works well when you're submitting to directories for SEO purposes. You can just put the description of your website into Safenotes and copy and paste wherever needed.

For determining keyword density for articles, you can find many free resources, if your page is already online, but what about if you haven't uploaded it yet, and it's still plain text? You can go to EasySEO's Live Keyword Analysis and paste in your article. Add up to three keywords and find the density of each on the spot. Articles are a great way to drive traffic to your list building page, and Live Keyword Analysis will assure the right density so that search engines will find them.

Those are only a few of the tools that come in handy when driving traffic to your list building page. They're easy to use and very helpful. Save time with mechanics and increase your list building efforts in other areas. One thing you can never recover is time, and these tools will help you to be more thrifty with it.

Tellman Knudson is CEO of OvercomeEverything, Inc. and a master of list building. Learn the 9 Laws of List Building at MyFirstList.com

Webmasters know that a quality web directory is a valuable way for website owners to gain trusted links and targeted traffic to their websites. Typically a quality web directory will require a fee for reviewing the website that is submitted and there are also other web directories that will allow for free submissions. The thing to know is that links carry a different value and it is far more important to gain links from trusted, authority web directories.

When you choose to submit for review and possible inclusion to a quality web directory you gain more than just another link if you are accepted. Links from trusted sites such as web directories of quality are given more weight by search engines and one such link can be the equivalent of hundreds and in some cases thousands of lesser quality links. When you choose an established and trusted web directory to submit your website to it can do wonders for your website.

When it comes to trusted web directories you should know that there are very few free ones. DMOZ is an example of one, but after submitting there it may take months or even years for your site to be reviewed and you will never hear back if it is declined. Free directories rely on volunteers for editing and have no funds for promotion so there is not much in the way of service.

Quality web directories that charge review fees will typically offer more trusted, authority links. Anyone can submit sites to a free directory, but that is not the case for paid directories which is one of the reasons there is more trust associated with a link from these sites. Visitors to a paid directory searching for sites know that those listed there are serious about their services because they are willing to pay a fee to have their site reviewed for a listing.

Trusted links also originate from web directories that are popular so you should also consider submitting there. With a popular site you know that there is trust derived from the traffic and search engines and the sites listed there will benefit.

Earning links that are trusted from quality web directories is a good way to increase your sites internet exposure and gain traffic. The more quality that the directory displays, the more trusted the link they offer which will result in better search engine standings for your website.

When you submit your website you should take a minute to write a good description of your website that is about 250 characters in length. Then take a moment to determine which title to use for your link. Don't spam either of these with excessive keyword usage our it could cause delays in getting it processed.

If you follow these suggestions your directory submission campaign should be a smashing success that allows you to gain increases in your website traffic and conversions. Think for the long term as link building is an ongoing process throughout the life of your website and is never truly complete.

The Authority Web Directory is a vital resource in every online-marketing campaign. Begin your link building effort here by visiting our Submit URL page.

What is the reason youre writing the article? The point is to get visitors and traffic to your website. The only place you can provide a pathway to your website is within your articles resource box. So you need to write one that will get a click.

One way to do that is to give the reader a reason to click. Maybe you just wrote a Pulitzer prize winning article on stock car racing, but you need more than a URL in the resource box to get them to continue to your website. Readers need a reason so give them one. Tease them with additional articles or tools, such as For 10 Things You Must Know About

You can offer visitors free gifts. That word free is still an attention grabber so offer a free link, free report, newsletter or list of something.

It does not matter to the reader how great and wonderful you are so dont brag about your accomplishments. Just keep your comments about yourself to a minimum with a hook. Something like Jim Doe won 2006 Realtor of the Year. Learn how he did it at.

Use the resource box to link to a useful piece of information or resource on your site. It does not have to go to the front page. If you land the reader in a place where can find what they are looking for and search around from there they tend to stay longer. Link to what is most relevant to the topic the reader expects to find.

Linking to pages within your website also allows you to optimize the pages with the links. The anchor text should relate to the contents of the landing page. This will help in ranking your website for various terms within your niche.

For example if you have a website dealing with sports fishing and a page devoted to bass. By linking with a bass fishing anchor text to an interior page of your site that deals with bass fishing, it will help the search engines to recognize the various topics your website covers. Plus improve search engine results for those broadened terms. Directory submissions also assist in targeting keyword traffic.

Understand that articles will only bring you traffic if you provoke an interest in the reader to click. The links will help improve search engine results to get you noticed for those keywords and topics. So keep both of these factors in mind when writing your own resource box.

There are several additional on topic articles published at the Authority Web Directory. Visit today and while you are there you can submit your websites listing at Authority Directory Submissions.

Once your articles are listed in the directories, web site and blog publishers will choose them up from the directories and publish them. There is no extra endeavor required from your side. There is no more requirement of pleading others to swap links with you and there is no need of waiting for web sites to link to you. Article marketing is the best way that will generate traffic to your web site. When you submit an article to a directory you are usually giving other site owners consent to re publish the article on their website, as long as the link to your web site remains in place.

Article marketing can serve as a source of online traffic only when the submission of articles to the directories s made judiciously. Probably the most admired technique among marketers on a budget is to submit your articles manually to the best 5 article directories that have good traffic. Also the articles that you write should be rich in keywords and targeted to the present and prospective consumers of your product. Understand what the people search and what keywords they use to reach a product such that of yours. Article marketing proves helpful only when the prospective consumers are able to find your articles relevant to their searches.

Article marketing is regarded as an important means to drive traffic to web sites. All that is required to write intellectually and submit your articles judiciously. It can work wonders to your business.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Do you want to learn how to build a massive list fast? Click here: Email List Building