Free Articles = Free Publicity (Or, How To Get Free Publicity For Your Business)

Publicity?you're business can survive without it, but it certainly won't thrive without it. Maybe you've seen your competition at it - their website was featured on a major newspaper or television show. Or perhaps you heard them mentioned on your favorite morning radio show on the way to the office. The point is, when it comes to publicity, some businesses are getting it. And here comes the real shocker - some of them are getting it for free! Yep, there really is such a thing as free publicity, and we're going to show you a very simple way that you can start getting it.

But first, let's take a moment to discuss what publicity is. According to www.dictionary.com, publicity is "Information that concerns a person, group, event, or product and that is disseminated through various media to attract public notice." Did you see what I just did? Through this article, www.dictionary.com just got free publicity (they'll need it, so you can look up "disseminated"). Articles are just one of many ways that you can spread the word about your business, but it's the one of the easiest to use.

Free Online Articles

The number one way to get free publicity (and to establish yourself as an expert in your field) is through writing and submitting free online articles that relate in some way to your business. Now before you throw your hands up in disgust, saying something like "I'm not a writer, I'm a business owner!" just wait a minute. The chances are, your business's new or existing product, service or upcoming event is something that the rest of the world cares about (otherwise, you wouldn't BE in business). As obscure as it may be, you'd be amazed at the number of people out there who are yearning to learn more about something that your business makes you an expert about.

If you don't believe me, narrow your business down to a list of ten keywords that come to mind when you describe your profession. Now, do a Google search on each of those ten keywords (see, I slipped in yet another instance of free publicity, and through your articles, you can do the same!) The top ten or twenty results are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to sites that could be featuring your articles.

You may be asking yourself "Sure, the readers get something out of these free articles, but what about me?" Well, despite the fact that no one is paying you to publish your articles, free articles come with an incredibly valuable thing?it's known as the resource box.

The resource box is where you get to promote yourself and your business! You can include a brief biography about yourself or business along with a link to your website or affiliate program, your address, phone number, email address,? whatever! The point is, when your readers get done with your article and they want to know more, the first place they'll go to is your resource box! The next place they go is?well, where ever you want them to!

What Do You Write About?

Well, just about anything. The first place you should go for inspiration is your Frequently Asked Questions. If you don't have a FAQ section of your website, check out your competitor's sites (really, it's okay, as long as you don't copy it down word for word?) If your FAQ's are truly that, and not just a list of questions that you hope and pray that people would ask but they never do, then you'll have plenty of possibilities.

Whatever you write about, make sure it's something that people are genuinely interested in. Because if it's something people are interested in, then it's something that the websites that cater to those people will be interested in. And don't worry, there's no need to write a novel, nearly all web content articles are within a 300-1000 word range.

Also, make sure to follow the basic rules of grammar and spelling. Even if your article is worthy of a Pulitzer, it'll never earn one if it's full of careless mistakes and spelling errors.

Once you've checked your spelling and grammar make sure to read the article aloud. This will give you a chance to make sure that the article flows smoothly and logically.

Getting Your Article Published

Once you've written and edited your article, the next step is to get the word out. And unlike articles that are written for pay, it's really not that hard to find webmasters and ezine editors willing to publish your piece. Since they don't have to pay you for the content, they're more than happy to provide you with free publicity.

If you have a lot of professional and Internet connections in your industry, don't be afraid to take advantage of them at this point. Not only will it give you more exposure, you'll be doing your friends a favor! Once you've contacted them, you're next stop will be to submit your article to free online article databases. Here are a few to help you get started:

? www.articlecity.com

? www.ezinearticles.com (requires free membership)

? www.thewhir.com/find/articlecentral/

? www.businessknowhow.com/newsletter/articleguidelines.htm

? www.expertarticles.com (requires free membership)

? Or, just go here www.bellaonline.com/articles/art12838.asp for an extensive list of places willing to publish your work on their site or publication!

Now, you're armed with all you need to know to start getting the free publicity that you've been dreaming of. Better yet, no one will be able to pinch and wake you up!

About the Author:
If your website could use some fresh, custom content but you don't have the extra money in your budget, there's no need to worry. Jennifer Gibbs (<a target="_new" href="http://www.JenniferGibbs.com">http://www.JenniferGibbs.com</a>), a 5 star freelance professional from South Georgia is more than happy to provide your site with original, tailored and EXCLUSIVE content in exchange for free products, services and/or membership access. For more information, send your request (along with your website URL) to: <a href="mailto:info@jennifergibbs.com">info@jennifergibbs.com</a>.

You Should Seriously Consider Making Money With Your Words

Sometimes when I am communicating with other webmasters and I bring up the subject of writing articles, I often get a response like "I'd rather have a root canal, I just can't write", or "my spelling is horrible and my grammar is not much better". In my view, the first excuse is just a matter of attitude. The latter excuse falls on deaf ears because the major word processing programs have good spelling and grammar checking capabilities.

We're not talking about something that would qualify for the Pulitzer prize in literature, just articles dealing with a topic that may be of interest to a group of people that also may happen to have an interest in your particular business proposition or activity.

While not as dramatic as the college professor's dilemma of "publish or perish", many Internet marketers have found that the publicity and traffic that articles can bring to their websites is second only in importance to actually making sales.

When writing articles, start out by clearly defining what you want to write about. Focus on the topic and the general message that you want to communicate. Sometimes you will start with a title and expand from there and other times the title will be the last thing you develop.

Organize your material (be it knowledge, thoughts, or opinions) into a logical sequence or order. Don't try for the finished product in the first draft. Just let your mind, and words, flow and get some stuff down on paper. This may occur in a single session or, for longer articles, it may be done in several rough draft sessions perhaps broken into logical sections of what will eventually become your finished article.

Once you've completed the rough stuff, it's time to make your corrections, smooth out the rough edges, and perhaps do a little juggling in terms of organization. Run your text through the spelling/grammar checking tool of your word processor and make the appropriate adjustments/corrections.

Now that the body of text that you have created is "technically clean" from a spelling/grammar standpoint and you have satisfied yourself with the organization, its time to do the final styling or polishing to ensure readability (that may or may not be a word, but I'll claim poetic license and go ahead and use it). Read your article aloud to yourself and get a feel for the cadence or rhythm. The readability of the entire article can be influenced by changing the order of words and/or exchanging one like-meaning word for another. The final goal is to invite readership.

Many entrepreneurs and professionals use their articles as a key component in launching successful careers earning very substantial incomes. Remember, with regard to writing articles, you're better than you think you are...it's all about attitude.

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This article is freely available for reprint provided that the resource box at the end of the article is left intact and the article is published complete and unaltered. If you are using this article on a website or e-book, please make sure that the link in the resource box is live or clickable.
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Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business.

Visit his website at <a target="_new" href="http://www.business-at-home.us">Legitimate Home Based Business</a> for more details.

Handling Rejection

Rejection is part of a writer's life. You must cope with it. Analyse it and learn from it.

The reality is that you may never know why your article has been rejected. Students have asked me why editors or editorial assistants don't give any assessment when the article is returned.

Imagine how much work would be generated if a publication received 200 or 300 articles a month! It is a freelance writer's job to get the article as right as possible.

If your work is rejected, the editor is not rejecting you, but what you have written at the time. The rejection could be for any number of reasons, for example:<ul><li>The editor has already purchased something on the same subject recently</li>

<li>The article didn't exactly fit the editor's needs, at that time</li>

<li>The whole package was not offered and the editor didn't have access to any images that fitted the article, and of course, the main reason for rejection</li>

<li>The article wasn't good enough and completely missed the publication's requirements.</li></ul> An editor may also reject articles because of the volume received. He/She sifts through the submissions and puts aside ten possible articles from which only four will be chosen. Your article may be one of the ten rejected despite it being perfectly crafted for that publication.

There is something much worse than receiving a rejection skip -- never having written anything.

<a target="_new" href="http://www.bcacommunications.com.au">Barb Clews</a> is an award winning journalist with nearly 1,000 published articles to her credit. She has been a writer and editor for 15 years and is the author of "Article Writing for Freelancers" and "20 Tips to Increase Writing Skills" Visit <a target="_new" href="http://www.bcabooks.com/">http://www.bcabooks.com/</a> to subscribe to "Words that Work", Barb's monthly ezine packed with tips for writers.

Seecrets on Writing: Free Requotable Quotes for Internet Writers

Original quotes, when used at the beginning or at the end of an article provide a touch of class. At the least, it will make your article different from the thousands of articles filed daily. It can be witty, satirical, funny or just a different opinion on current issues. Perhaps, it could be an outrageous prediction that even no expert will dare to rule out.

Famous quotes are often used as templates. By substituting certain words, voila, you have created something worth pondering.

If you are the author of an original quote which you want to share with the internet writing community, send an email to this author. Objectionable material, pertaining to adult content, hatred, religious intolerances will be rejected. The list will be constantly updated at the author's website

Stan Seecrets:

The sum total of all human knowledge is a prime number. (Spoof of Fermat's Last Theorem and commenting the pool of public domain knowledge is great)

The sum total of all human wisdom is not a prime number. (Spoof of Fermat's Last Theorem and commenting the lack of wisdom among our political leaders)

There are two types of people in the world ? those who know what they don't know and those who don't know what they don't know. (Commenting on the lack of common-sense among individual investors and the public)

The imminent war for world domination will be fought between the gods of the internet and the gods of finance. (Disagreeing with Samuel Huntington's claim in &quot;A Clash of Civilizations&quot;. All wars are economic in nature)

Crypto will be a search engine's nightmare. (Commenting of the possibility of using crypto as a safeguard against search engines increasing encroachments on individuals' privacy)

Website promotion is a journey of a million sweats. Savor each drop and it will taste like honey. (Commenting on most websites' futility in trying to use shortcuts and dubious methods to improve their site's ranking)

If reading maketh the man, conference the complete man and writing the exact man, then the internet maketh writers free. (Addendum to Francis Bacon's famous quote and commenting on the writers unprecedented freedoms)

Poets try to capture the essence of the universe with the elegance of words. Mathematicians try to do the same with their formula and numbers. Therefore, mathematicians are calculative poets. (Poking fun at mathematicians, and himself)

Those who write articles cannot write software. Those who write software cannot write articles. Those who can do neither, become publishers. (Spoof of Lao Zi's 56th verse and poking fun at publishers while jealous of their top positions of the content food chain)

The brand is the website. (Spoofing Marshall McLuhan "The Medium is the Message". McLuhan is considered by many, as the prophet of the electronic age).

Where we originate is the same ? our mothers' womb. Where we are heading is the same ? six-feet under. In between, we communicate. (Inspired by George Santayana, Spanish-born American philosopher - There is no cure for birth or death save to enjoy the interval).

If scientists can communicate, the whole world will be reading Membrane Theory right now. (M-Theory is the latest all-encompassing theory of the universe since Einstein.)

The 3 C's of effective communications ? Communicate, Communicate and Communicate. (Family members of this author will have a laugh over this one).

How does any ant bring down a giant ? by releasing its toxins into a certain part of the giant's anatomy where the sun has hardly shone on. (This is an example of an exploit as defined in the field of cryptography ? vulnerability.)

[This article may be freely reprinted provided it is published with the author's bio and activating the link to the URL below. It can be edited, summarized, expanded, and translated into any human language. In the case of print media, the same condition applies except that the URL must be printed in bold letters. If you want just to use a quote in your article, a simple credit is sufficient. Violators will be required to sing Das Lied der Deutschen, La Marseillaise & The East is Red 100 times without pause in front of 1000 neo-nationalists in your country of domicile. In cases of reprinting in realms outside this planet, you are free to do anything with it ? our copyright laws do not apply to you, nor enforceable within your realms.]

About the author
The author, Stan Seecrets, is a veteran software developer with 25+ years experience at <a target="_new" href="http://www.seecrets.biz">http://www.seecrets.biz</a> which specializes in digital asset protection and total website management. You can send your views or criticism by e-mail to Stan at seecrets.biz.

? Copyright 2005, Stan Seecrets. All rights reserved.

Leverage the Power of Article Marketing

Now that you know the secrets to writing great articles, it's time to power up the article writing ladder of success. Web articles will definitely will help build your reputation as an expert, but it takes time and patience. Following are some ways to track your progress and get the most article bang for your buck.

Work on mass article distribution by genre. In your effort toward building an expert reputation, you should be saturating your niche market with articles. By doing this, you'll get more visibility than the article dabbler who writes one or two articles and then drops out of sight. Write a list of article topics you'd like to cover, and then outline the guts of each article one at a time. This way, you can better mentally prepare for the onslaught of articles you plan on releasing to your faithful internet audience of readers.

Hire a ghostwriter to ensure that your articles are targeted and flawless. It's worth paying a little extra for a quality presentation, and by working with a professional writer you'll be able to take the strain off yourself so that you can concentrate on other, more critical aspects of your business. Tell the writer what your long-term business goals are and how you think articles can leverage your expertise and pull in sales. She'll then go about strategizing your "Guerilla Article Marketing Campaign." Yes, it's incredibly important to strategize!

Submit to multiple article distribution sites. Although my article site of choice is Ezinearticles.com, there are millions of websites out there who are hot for fresh content and who can help you work your way into the minds of the world's consumers. Sign up for membership accounts with Goarticles.com, Ideamarketers.com, and Marketing-Seek.com. Do some research into which websites in your specialized field who might also be on the lookout for great articles. The more visibility you get, the more hits to your website. The more loyal fans of your writing, the more paying customers.

Use Google and Yahoo to gauge your steady climb. One of the biggest article marketing motivators is tracking your progress on the search engines. If you're doing it right, including keywords in your article titles and content, and offering valuable information to your readers, that means folks are picking up your stuff. A single article can potentially get picked up 100 times or more. Think of how many places your website link will be seen if you submit 100 articles! To see article-marketing in action, submit four or five articles to Ezinearticles.com and then wait a month or two. Then do a Google search on the topic of the articles you wrote, and do another search on your name. Guess what comes up? All the websites where your articles are featured. Holy hell! That is some cool stuff.

Work the article marketing circuit. Make your presence known within the article realms by actively participating in author networks. My article marketing website of choice is <a target="_new" href="http://ezinearticles.com">Ezinearticles.com</a> because they capture this feeling of "Hey, we're one big article-writing family!" Their site is the home for tons of authors who are more than happy to swap information and share their valuable insights with you. Participate in the Blog, comment on other authors' articles; in short, get out there and get noticed! By building side relationships through your writing expertise, you're planting the seeds for future projects with other smart marketers on the web!

Okay then. Have you had just about enough Article Marketing for the day? I know I have! Stay tuned to Wordfeeder.com for more copywriting and marketing ideas to help grow your business.

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

Find out how crisp, targeted copywriting can make a world of difference for your business. Dina Giolitto is a Copywriting Consultant with ten years of experience. Visit <a target="_new" href="http://Wordfeeder.com">http://Wordfeeder.com</a> for free tips on branding, copywriting, article marketing, and more.

How To Write and Publish A Successful Ezine Article

The ezine article is of major importance to the world of Internet marketing. It is a great way of list owners to provide great content for free to there subscribers and an excellent my for internet marketers to get there name out there and get some exposure for there websites, free.

Tips for writing an ezine article:

1) Don&#8217;t blindly dive in and start writing, do some research and make sure all your information is correct.

2) Once you have thought of a title, write it in the certain of a blank sheet of paper. Then jot down your information in lines that radiate out from your title. This technique is called 'Mind Mapping' and it's a very effective way of organizing your ideas.

3) To get ideas for you article look at previous articles in relation to your topic, crawl through the search engines and find as much information on the topic as possible as well as using your own person experience of course.

4) At the end of your article, attach a 5- or 6-line 'Resource Box' that includes your website URL and/or your email address.

5) When you have finished your article, do NOT send it off straight away. Let it lie fallow for 2 or 3 days and then come back and read it again. You'll be amazed at the improvements you can make. Those final improvements are what make the difference between an article that gets published and one that doesn't.

Tips for submitting your ezine article:

1) Here are some great places to submit your ozone article

Here are some Article Announcement Lists:

article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com

free-content-subscribe@onelist.com

publishinyours-subscribe@onelist.com

articles_archives-subscribe@egroups.com

Just email your articles to the above addresses (Announcement List&#8217;s)

Here are some websites that will accept your submissions:

? http://216.147.104.180/articles/submit.shtml

? http://www.ideamarketers.com/

? http://www.isyndicate.com/ http://www.mediapeak.com

? http://www.MakingProfit.com/articles/

? http://www.web-source.net/articlesub.htm

Here are some free directories of ezines. In the directory look for an ezine related to your topic and find out if the author accepts article submissions, if they do then send them an email asking them would they like some free content for there ezine and/or website and if they agree send them your article. Here&#8217;s the list.

http://www.ezine-dir.com

http://www.ezinelisting.com

http://www.go-ezines.com

http://www.directoryofezines.com

http://www.ezinehub.com

If you search through the search engines you will find lots of more places to submit your articles and remember if you are the member of any lists related to your topic be sure to email the webmaster and ask them if they would like some free content.

I Hope The Information I Have Shared With You Here Today Helps You.

About the author: Mark Flavin is the webmaster of <a target="_new" href="http://www.nicetodobusiness.com">http://www.nicetodobusiness.com</a> and is an expert in the field of generating free web site traffic. This article and many others are available in the free members area of his website at <a target="_new" href="http://www.nicetodobusiness.com/ezinearticle.htm">http://www.nicetodobusiness.com/ezinearticle.htm</a> or simply click ezine article

Tips for Writing an Informative Article

How to write an informative article?

The following tips can help you in writing an informative article -

1. Write about what you really know. Before writing, do a search and find out some more details to polish your knowledge on the selected topic. You can find details about anything on the interent, using a search engine.

2. Please remember the vital point that many of your readers already know more details than you about the topic you are writing. Therefore, write about the topic you have sufficient knowledge.

3. People will be more interested to know how you sorted out a particular problem when you had faced one. A well written article about solving your own problem will be more useful to the readers. Many of them would've faced the simialr problem and your information will be of immense help to them.

4. Remember to leave enough white space in between your paragraphs. You may wonder why should it be? Reading the matter on the monitor is different from reading on the printed page. It causes eye strain and for some people neck pain also.

5. Try to write small paragraphs, which is easy to read. Most of the people will be just scanning the matter within a short time. Therefore, the smaller the paragraph the easier to read.

Lakshmi Menon is a writer and internet marketer. Visit her website at <a target="_new" href="http://www.net4homeincome.com">http://www.net4homeincome.com</a>