OK so maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but the fact is it did work to increase both traffic, and rankings through gaining a lot of back links. That was then howeverm, and in the post-panda online world things are very different. Google’s panda update was intended to clean out low quality sites from their algorithm, and that included article directories. Now, even the “big boys” like ezinearticles are only a shadow of their former selves, and the value of any links from them are hugely diminished.

Since panda I don’t really do article marketing since the backlinks are now virtually worthless, though it’s still a valid method of getting a little traffic so may be somthing to consider as a (small) part of your overall marketing strategy.

The old method was usually to find a list of the top article directories, and work your way down the list submitting content. A few things to note about those lists though:

1. PR of the site has very little meaning, since the page your article will be on will be PR0 no matter what the PR of the home page is! A popular article which has been online for a while and has some backlinks of it’s own may gain PR but that will not have a major correlation with the PR of the site.

2. ALL the well known article directories were affected by Google’s panda update and so tend not to rank anywhere near as well as they used to – that means a lot less traffic and link juice than before.

3. IMO submitting the same content (even if it’s been “spun”) to a bunch of low quality article directories is of very little benefit. Therefore, assuming you’ll be submitting each article to only one or two sites it makes sens to only focus on the few top ones, since the traffic and link juice you’ll get from sites lower down the list will be insignificant.

Bearing that in mind, IMHO there are only a handlful of places still worth considering:

ezinearticles.com – no where near as useful as it once was, but if you’re going to submit to an article directory this is the one.

hubpages.com – ditto the above. It’s not an article directory, and I believe you need to meet a quality score for it to be dofollow, but still gets some traffic.

articlesbase.com – I’m not convinced on this one, but lots of warriors seem to approve.

goarticles – Not used them in a while but they used to be excellent.

Yet there is 1 place above all others where you do want to place your best content, and where you’ll get the very best valeu from it – your own site! SPending the time to publish high quality, unique content to your site/blog is what Google really want to see. Done properly you’ll attract natural links from your visitors, you’ll get some social activity gonig (people commenting, linking, sharing) and you’ll get a lot more love from Google than by submitting that content anywhere else.

PS here’s a vid from Matt Cutts which verifies this

So, with article marketing not dead in the water but seriously floundering, what marketing/backlinking methods are you favouring in the post-pada climate?

Yeah I know, that’s quite a statement and it sounds like a sales pitch but take my word for it, it really is 100% free (no upsell, 7 day trial followed by a monthly fee – zip!) and yes it really is the best resource out there… and this year it gets even better!

The whole training program is created and run by Ed Dale and Dan Raine of Stompernet fame.  They have been running ot for 6 years now, so it has a proven track record and a significant number of people have gone through the program to build really substantial businesses.  Each year they improve and expand on the content, and each year it gets better and better, staying up to date with new technology and techniques.  In fact, I’ve learned something new from the previus 2 years, and I’m sure I’ll pick up something new this year.

Now – if you are a 30DC veteran then you may already know that there is a BIG change this year, in fact it’s no longer a 30 day challenge at all.  This year it’s simply The Challenge, and the reason was that in previous years many people struggled to get through all the lessons.  They fell behind a day, then 2 days, and by the end they were struggling to keep up and gave up.

This year the lessons are split into modules, each one is 7 days in length and each module is then followed by 7 days off giving people a chance to catch up, while also giving more time for SEO and allowing Google and other search engines to rank new sites.

Well, there’s no point in me telling you any more.  Suffice to say that if you’re new to online business, or if you just want to learn some awesome new ways of increasing your own traffic, conversions and growing your business then you would be a fool to miss out on this opportunity.

Check out The Challenge at www.challenge.co

After driving traffic, finding/writing solid content was the next biggest hurdle, with design issues coming in at number 3.  The founder of Intellimon, Paul Smithson commented:

“Two-thirds of people setting up online businesses are saying they can’t get the traffic they need to make their sites successful. Another 40 percent find writing content for their sites to be a major hurdle, and nearly 30 percent say they can’t find good content. Our results are proving content really is king.”

The results of the survey clearly show that most marketers feel traffic, content and design to be their largest stumbling blocks:

1. Getting traffic (67 percent)
2. Writing content (40 percent)
3. Design issues (32 percent)
4. Finding good content (30 percent)
5. Building a website (21 percent)

(note that the survey allowed more than one answer, hence the totals do not add up to 100)

When asked about the results, Smithson stated that traffic and content were closely related, in essence saying that high quality content would attract traffic, but also that good design was also a major factor:

“Good design and solid functionality are imperative.  A poorly designed site is not likely to inspire visitors to stay and buy.”

So what do you think? Do you struggle to get enough traffic, do you find creating content to be a challenge, or are there other issues not mentioned which you feel are holding you back? Let us know in the comments!

Users can download and install a desktop browser add-on that will stop data from being sent from their computer when visiting a Web site that uses Google Analytics Javascript to track traffic.

It currently works on Internet Explorer (versions 7 and 8), Google Chrome (4.x and higher), and FireFox  (3.5 and higher).

His methodology is based on outsourcing everything. The course is extensive and covers all the major Internet Marketing business models. It’s a great system but may be difficult to master for some. In order to outsource anything you need to be able to direct and manage it.

If if you can do that successfully you still need a great idea with the potential to cover the overhead and generate a profit. It’s not any different than how any large company does it. If you think about it every large company in essence outsources everything to their employees or subcontractors. The CEO and the managers supervise and direct everything.

Success depends on the potential of the business model, it’s systems, efficiency and sales.

Something you probably don’t know though. John Reese learned outsourcing from John Jonas who is an affiliate for Outsource Force. About a year ago John Jonas launched a membership site called Replace Myself and later Onlinejobs.ph. Now John Reese has taken outsourcing to a new level.

Reese hasn’t put a cap on how many he will let in to the course yet. But at a $1,900 entry fee he stands to make a ton of money in a very short time. With just a 1000 sales he will generate 1.9 million less affiliate commissions. Reese alluded to a projected 2000 sales.

I have no doubt that he’ll do it too. His pre-launch videos are very convincing.

Reese plans to launch a video game company with the proceeds. With that goal in mind he’s set up an office in the Philippines and staffed it to get started.

If you can afford it and think you have a great idea, along the the necessary managerial skills it should be a good opportunity. Learn from an Internet Master.

Lots of people have jumped on the sniper bandwagon over the past 12 months, spurred on by products like George Brown’s Google Sniper, and (Xfactor) John’s Micro Niche Adsense Course. And there can be no denying that these sites can generate a profit, but the problem is they rely on SEO for their traffic, and Google doesn’t like them, and has de-indexed a number of sites recently and closed a number of Adsense accounts!

Now, you might argue that nobody outside of Google really knows the reason why those sites were killed off by Google, but actually you can be reasonably sure what Google does/doesn’t want!

Most often deindexing of sites, and/or banning of Adsense accounts occurs after a manual review (I’m talking about MFA/Sniper sites and thin affiliate sites here). So there are 2 things to consider:

1. What would trigger a manual review
2. What would Google not want to find during a review which would cause them to take action.

Let’s take a look at triggers first…

Now we all know that Google keep their algorithm close to their chest, but that doesn’t mean we don’t know what they do/don’t like from a site in their index. Look at it from Google’s point of view, what are they trying to achieve?

It’s tempting to look at it in terms of Adsense, and that then don’t want you taking their advertising money but IMO that is entirely wrong, you should be looking at it from a search perspective.

Google (as a search engine) exist to provide SERPS to searchers – that’s their raison d’être. They are trying to second guess their searchers, to take their search term input, and provide them a “perfect” list of websites – exactly the sites that searcher wants to see based on the terms they searched on.

Now, while every search is different, there are generalisations which we can be pretty confident about. Let’s look at an example, let’s say I do a search for “Sony Bravia Televisions”.
What sort of sites is this searcher looking for? Well there could be a number of options, I might be looking to buy one, I might have a broken one and want it fixed, I might run my own blog and I’m looking for a photo to use along with a post I just wrote, I might be a college student doing research for a paper, I might be a hacker looking for technical information to help me tinker with the circuitry… the list is endless.

However, I would suggest that a huge percentage of searchers entering this term (probably way over 90%) are looking for one of two things – either to but one (so they are looking for an e-commerce site, like Amazon) or for quality information on the product (either the manufacturer’s site or a quality in-depth review).

Do you think that searcher is looking for an MFA site? An Xfactor site for example will provide them with a page of text, largely cobbled together from Amazon reviews, and a bunch of Adsense adverts. Does that “add value” to the searcher? Does that give the searcher what they were looking for? No, in fact all it does at best is force the searcher to make one more click (they click an Adsense ad to reach an e-commerce site, rather than click directly from the SERPS).

Why doesn’t Google like sniper sites?

So if Google wants to give the searcher the best possible SERPS, and sniper/MFA/Xfactor sites are preventing that, is it any wonder they are deindexing and/or banning them?

Now, I mentioned looking at what might trigger a review. Well, most times I’ve heard of an account being manually reviewed it has been when the account passed an earnings threshold. I’ve read $100 per day, and $200 per day. Now those could be flukes (i.e. those earnings could have nothing to do with the timing of the review) but Google are big, and manual reviews are expensive to them, so it sounds quite likely.

The other thing that could potentially trigger a review is complaints from searchers. I have no idea if Google do listen to and act on complaints from searchers, but it would make sense that they do. If someone searches for “Sony Bravia Televisions” and gets pissed off that 5 of the sites in the top ten look almost the same and provide no real content do you think they might email Google about it? It’s certainly quite possible, and I suspect that Google might use an automated flag system – get 3 or more flags and you’ll get added to the manual review list!

Now, whatever the reason for getting reviewed, what happens if you are? Well again, we don’t know exactly what a reviewer will be looking for, but again we can have a pretty good guess. Does the site look professional? Is the navigation clean and honest (i.e. clicking on links that look like navigation, but are really Adsense links is not honest!), does it provide good quality, unique content? Are the Adsense blocks (or other adverts) too aggressive?

Now I suspect that most people reading this could look at a site and make a pretty good guess about whether it would pass a Google review or not just on instinct, even though we don’t know exactly what they are looking for. Just ask yourself, “Is this site giving value to the searcher, or only trying to make money for the site owner?” – I believe that one question will tell you whether a site is likely to stand up to review 9 times out of 10.

So is this the end of “sniper” sites?

Not necessarily. The key, as I mentioned above, is to add value and give the searcher whatever it is they are looking for. Don’t put up 1, 2, or 5 page sites that just regurgitate content found elsewhere, don’t try to “trick” people into clicking on your adverts, make your sites look good and unique, don’t “follow the herd” too much using templates and styles other people are using. If you focus on creating good quality, useful content then I believe you’ll be fine – if you’re creating good content that people actually want to consume (rather than just click through) then you and Google are working together, rather than fighting each other! Finally, steer very clear of putting up content about SEO – remember that Google doesn’t really want people “manipulating” their SERPS, so teach other people to do so at your own risk (especially if you’re then putting Adsense on the page!) and this doesn’t just apply to mini-sites. Alan Liew’s MoneyMakerInfo blog, a well established and profitable blog teaching SEO and other online business information, and monetised via Adsense was recently taken down by Google, and while they cited spam as the reason, it looks quite likely that they considered it a “Made For Adsense” blog, and since it was hosted on Blogger (owned by Google) they simply deleted the entire site! A good reason if you needed one for making sure you control the hosting of your own sites!

So the formula for avoiding Google wrath is clear…

Add value, give the searchers what they are looking for, and don’t spam = you and Google can be friends!

Name:

Bio: Billy studied computer science and electronic engineering at the University of Salford, specialising in  audio and video engineering and graduated in 1998.  His first “online business” involved selling video games through the (at the time very new) eBay auction site while he was studying at college.  That business might have only turned over a few hundred dollars each week, but it kept him in beers all through college and started his interest in online business.

He began developing websites, and e-commerce stores commercially in 1999 and founded his own web design company in 2002.  Shortly afterwards he began developing multimedia projects and Flash games, founding a site which became an “overnight success” drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors per month with no promotion – in fact the sheer number of visitors crashed the hosting servers on more than one occasssion.  That site was featured in the UK press, and Billy decided to concentrate on Flash and multimedia, building sites and applications for himself and clients for several years.

By the mid-2000s he was beginning to change focus.  The online world was rapidly evolving, and realising that his business also needed to change in order to keep up he began studying marketing, and implementing his new knowledge into his business.  He diversified into a number of markets, and built over 100 websites in niches as diverse as pet care and home business opportunities. Through repetition, testing and study he slowly gained expertise in a wide range of IM related subjects, built a solid client base, and managed to stay “under the radar” while building an online presense in over 20 different markets.

Today Billy continues to run and expand his online business, working as a developer and consultant with major brands such as Orange, Miniclip and The BBC, and teaches both online and offline to share his skills and experience.

It’s possible that his new mentoring group is taking all his time and he has outsourced promotions of the affiliate stuff through his list.

He has alluded to a new fantastic product release he is planning but hasn’t shown his hand. I’m always suspicious when any IM gurus that supposedly have great products of their own own start promoting affiliates. I think it has a detrimental  impact on their credibility and trust factor. I know it does for me. On affiliate promotions you always have to question their motives.

Do they really like the promotion? Or will they promote anything they think will sell?

Stay tuned to 3-IJ.com for a straight forward “tell it like we see it”, commentary. We may not always agree with each other but that’s why you come here. We tell it like we see it and you sort it out for yourself

So, is there room for another blog about the direction America is heading these days?  And, if so, what would make it successful in getting a message out.

Admittedly this would be one of many and perhaps would add nothing to the discussion without a factual, unique and attention getting presentation, but…

I’m really interested in and concerned about the rapid push to change America from a representative republic into a secular socialist style form of government and wonder if there is room for one more blog by a very concerned citizen?

The potential for an explosive and deadly insurrection by illegal immigrants and street gangs and promoted by radicals on both sides of the illegal immigration issue and that will be painted as a race war by the main stream media is looming in America as states try to get a handle on and reduce the flood of illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and potential terriorists that are crossing the U.S. border daily from, mostly, Mexico.

With an estimated number of illegal immigrants set at between 10 and 12 million, there is an huge potential for disaster considering the latest round of pro-illegal immigration rallies being promoted by labor unions and communist organizers.

Complete compatibility:

Can you depend on the stars to lead you to that perfect partner? Honestly answering questions on a relationship test can help you decide if you’ve found your perfect match. Compatibility questions often show agreement with your partner about the important things in life.

Healthy or not?

Being caught up in a situation that is abusive, either physically or psychologically is something to avoid at all costs. Don’t let emotions prevent you from seeing trouble signs.

This is where asking the right questions will be helpful. Potentially harmful situations could be exposed when taking a relationship quiz.

Eternal love or dead end?

Emotions can run high and mask problems that could develop in the future. If you’re sure there’s no problems, then there’s no harm in taking a relationship quiz. Wanting similar things in the future is a key to a lasting situation.

What problems are in store?

Yep, every relationship has some problems. Knowing yourself opens the likelihood of seeing problems ahead of time. A well designed quiz for a relationship uses questions that help you zero in on potential problems which could grow into something bigger and be a deal breaker.

Stress in a relationship often comes down to the little things and a good relationship quiz can pinpoint those.

How others see you!

When you and your partner seem to be doing great, but there’s still something not quite right, maybe that’s coming from someone else. Not making enough money for your needs can damage a relationship, but loving someone can cause you to dismiss those thoughts. Letting friends dictate the terms of your relationship with your soul mate is usually a bad idea. You need to be aware of what social problems you might run into so you can discuss how you’re going to handle them.

Well written questions will give you answers about you and your partner’s likely direction. Just remember, though, no two relationships are the same, so no matter how accurate the test, be ready for a few surprises all the same.