There are two important benefits for Internet marketers. First, it generates valuble IBL’s, or Inbound Links. Secondly, it provides greater exposure for the marketer and their website.

As with most bum marketing techniques, article marketing is a numbers game. In order to be effective, it requires ongoing and consistent effort. One article submission may not do much for you, but one article submitted every day for two weeks provides an overall benefit greater than the sum of its parts.

To get the most out of your article submission strategy, it’s important to focus on one individual keyword or phrase for each individual article. It’s also very important to optimize each article, in much the same way you would optimize a website. Once an article is submitted, it becomes a one-page mini site.

SEO each article the same way you would SEO a web page. Begin the article headline, summary, and first paragraph with it, include it in the last paragraph, and be sure to use it for the anchor text in your link and/or resource box.

By following a few simple steps, you will gain maximum return for your effort. As part of a multipronged approach, article marketing becomes an extremely effective and inexpensive technique in your arsenal.

As the whole internet marketing field continues to mature, the various means for boosting traffic evolves along side. That said, backlinks continue to be the backbone of search engine rankings. The more inbound links to your website, the stronger your rankings will be. This type of backlinking, particularly on a scale of effort to outcome, is still one of the surest and best out there, and should be a part of every marketers arsenal.

Article marketing, for the “uninitiated”, is the practice or writing – or outsourcing – articles about your niche or product, and submitting them to ‘article directories’ such as Ezinearticles in order to attract readers and add new links to your website.

I wondered if this could be true. Having a background in both multi-level marketing AND internet marketing I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to find out the truth.

What I found out shocked me!

After talking to MLMer’s, and home based or small business owners of all different kinds I found out the truth.

Article marketing is only dead if you’re not using it! haha I know that doesn’t make much sense but go with me…

The people I spoke with who were USING article marketing loved it! It might not be the only thing they are doing online (in most cases not) but they wouldn’t stop doing it for anything.

Article directories are also doing very well and how could that be if article marketing doesn’t work?

The people I spoke to who weren’t using article marketing of course told me it was an old tired method and to forget about it and start doing other things to market my business…

Now this is just me… but if you want to find out if something works or not wouldn’t you talk to the people who are actually doing it? Just makes good sense to me.

So what’s the final verdict?

NO article marketing is NOT DEAD it’s still alive, very well and working like crazy for the people who are actually using it.

I will add one more thing… article marketing really works at it’s very best when it’s coupled with well written informative articles. If you’re putting out junk with no real value you’re not going to get the full benefit of article marketing. When you do it the right way though, there is nothing like it for generating prospects every single month without fail!

Blog is short for web log it’s sort of like an online diary. Blogs can give you instant credibility and allow readers to get a lot of information about your product or opportunity by reading your blog posts. The more popular and established your blog gets the better. You can get free blogs all over but the most popular by far are Wordpress and Blogger blogs.

2. Article Marketing

Does article marketing really work? Well you’re reading this one aren’t you. Free online article directories allow you to post your articles easily and this type of marketing makes you an instant expert. You can write your own articles like many do or buy cheap private label rights articles at places like HomeBasedBusinessPLRarticles.com
3. Video Marketing

Video marketing is one of the most popular ways to market online and for good reason, it’s extremely effective. There are countless free video uploading sites online the most popular being Youtube but there are many, many, many others that are defiantly worth your time and energy.
4. Forum Marketing

Want to talk to other people who are interested in making money from home? If so forum marketing is for you. Along with talking to potential prospects you can also get a wealth of information and learn from other successful online marketers. The best part of forum marketing is it’s free and there are a ton of them out there so you won’t be limited.
5. Twitter

Twitter allows you to keep up with your fans and followers by posting different status updates whenever you want and just like everything else on this list… it’s free! http://www.twitter.com
6. Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking allows you to “bookmark” your favorite pages for others to see and take notice of. By bookmarking your websites, articles, blog, videos and more you’ll get a lot more attention for your business and can get indexed in search engines much faster.
7. Facebook

Facebook is one of the most popular websites online so it only makes sense that you as a business owner should be a part of it. There are many groups on Facebook devoted to making money online join some and start chatting! http://www.facebook.com
8. Myspace

The king of social networking sites, every home based business owner should have a Myspace. There are few sites that allow you the freedom to market and meet new people like Myspace. http://www.myspace.com

9. Squidoo

By creating a squidoo lens you can instantly get the word out about your website to the Squidoo community and the rest of the web. Want to make the most of your lens? Make your website as small a niche as possible it will get noticed more and indexed in google faster! http://www.squidoo.com
10. Yahoo Answers

You can’t abuse it but Yahoo answers can be a great place to find people who are frustrated with their job and ready to start working from home. There is a limit to how many times you can post per day and if you come off as a spammer you’ll get blocked but when used in moderation it’s awesome!
11. Free Ad Sites

Craigslist is the most popular but Backpage is great too. Free classified sites are awesome places to advertise your business or product. You have to post in the right areas though otherwise your ads will get deleted especially on Craigslist. That means posting in the small business section and not under “jobs”

Tip Number One – Keywords!

Keywords are so important to the life of your online business. They are what will allow you to do something once and have people find it online for months and months and years and years. For example, you make a Youtube video talking about your business.

If you don’t use any keywords maybe a few people will stumble upon it and check it out. However, if you use the right keywords THOUSANDS of people might see that video. People can even be looking at your blog, video, website or articles while you’re sitting on a beach somewhere on vacation. Now that’s what I call working smarter!

Tip Number Two – Skip The Ads

While free online classifieds like Backpage and Craigslist are free of charge they don’t give you the most for your time because you have to do them over and over again in order for them to be effective. When working online you want to find things that you can do once and never have to do again.

Tip Number Three – Blog

It amazes me just how many people own a home based business but never take the time to make a blog or update it. A blog post should literally only take about 15 minutes, quick and simple. Even if you’re not a good writer you should be able to knock out a couple of blog posts a week and if you do it will pay off especially if you use keywords.

Tip Number Four – Articles

Once of the most tried and true methods of generating prospects online is article marketing. It’s free and if you’re not a good writer you can always buy home based business PLR articles that you can re-write a bit and us as your own. Article marketing might take a bit more time to submit to directories but they work so well because the articles stay up for years and years and will continue to grow your business for you even if you’re not working.

Tip Number Five – Take Small Breaks

You’ll be more effective, creative and work harder if you allow yourself small breaks while you’re working try giving yourself a 15 minute break ever hour and a half. Any longer and you might stop working all together, any shorter and it won’t really feel like a break at all.