How to Measure the Value of Your Article Marketing Campaign – Writing-Articles
How to Measure the Value of Your Article Marketing Campaign
It's not enough to scatter your articles across the internet - you've got to measure what you're doing so you can be sure that you're getting value from your effort.Here are some of my preliminary thoughts on what's measurable in regards to article marketing, (and what you measure should depend on your predefined article marketing goals, but you knew that already):Number of new of links to your siteThis is a big one of course, and just about the easiest to measure with a simple "link:" search in the major engines.Since I submitted "Build Links and Your Brand: Article Marketing Delivers" to 8 directories on January 26th Google has logged 24 instances of my article (I did have a little help from search engine expert Andy Beal's mention in his blog), MSN search shows 59 instances and Yahoo has me down for 10.Now, all those mentions aren't links... just instances of my article title.Google currently shows no links to my main blog site. Yahoo and MSN both show 14 to http://articlemarketing.blogspot.com.I'm also currently ranked 3rd in Yahoo for the term article marketing - woo hoo! Not bad for only 3 days. We'll see how long I stay there - things may change dramatically after an update. I'm currently nowhere to be found in MSN. Ditto for Google, except the post from Andy's blog about my article marketing blog that puts me at 4th for "article marketing."To give some idea of scale, here are the number of millions of results for article marketing per engine: 12 million in Yahoo; 17 million in MSN; 27 million in Google. I don't think Article Marketing is a phrase that currently generates much competition.Article submission sites like EzineArticles get the freshbot treatment because of their regularly updated content and I think that speeds indexing.Article submitted 1-26-05, searches conducted 1-29-05.Number of readers/impressionsTo borrow a bit from the world of online advertising you can measure impressions, that is, the estimated number of readers/site visitors who had the opportunity to at least read your article title and, let's hope, associate it with your business name.To get an idea of how many impressions your article may have gotten talk with those who republish your article. If you submit to EzineArticles you can see how many writers and editors have viewed your article's page.It's great to have your impressions high, but it's better to have them targeted to your audience (and by audience I mean customers... here are my thoughts on client as audience). The more care you give your content creation process the more your content will appeal to your target audience.Which brings us to...Placement in previously identified key industry mediaIf at the beginning of your article marketing campaign you identify key industry publications you'd like to be published in... and you get published or don't get published, that's something you can measure.This is more of a branding initiative than a linking initiative, though it can certainly generate at least one solid link. And once your article's been published and your editor says "go" you can submit it to your article submission directories of choice. And then measure links.Lead generation through reader inquiriesThis is a fun one. There are specific industries and products that are likely to sell well through article marketing... namely information products. If your primary goal for article marketing is sales though you should construct your article campaign in a particular way. Many of the same rules still apply, but the strategy needs to be a little different. Let me know if you have questions about creating sales generating articles. And you still have to follow responsible article writing guidelines.Email addresses gathered for newsletter signup/downloads/free serviceYeah you're being published in someone else's email newsletter but that doesn't mean you can't try to drive signups to your own newsletter! We had this happen when I worked at WebProNews, where we published all free content. One author's article marketing strategy focused on driving subscribers to her newsletter. I think, but I'm not sure, that it was Dianna Huff, who specializes in B2B article marketing. As an aside, be sure to check out her site.Pageviews to info pages on your siteIf you link out of your article to more info pages on your site you can measure for an increase in traffic on those pages. Have some kind of call to action on these pages though. Don't just boost page views for the sake of having higher page views. Get them to do something on that page, such as give you an email address or visit your products or services page.Requests from editors for articlesIf it's your goal to have more involvement with your target market then be sure to accept all requests from editors for new articles. In fact, cultivate any relationship with an editor you can. This is one fantastic way of staying in front of your target audience and getting new ideas for articles.How can you increase this likelihood? Contact editors from publications within your target market. In addition, include a mention in your author bio that you'd like to work with editors to help them have happier, more engaged readers.Audience involvement/questionsThis is another fun one, and something I tried to promote during my time at WPN. The level of reader feedback I received led to my creation of the "Ask the Expert" section of WPN (now untended) as well as my proposal for the WebProWorld forums, now with over 50,000 members. (To be fair iEntry had rolled out forums before - they were just scattered across all our publications rather than targetted on the flagship. WebProWorld was definitely a home run.)So if you'd like to establish more of a relationship with the online audience in your publications contact their editor and see if you can field audience questions.What else is measurable?
Those are a few of my thoughts for article marketing measurables. Did I miss any? Let me know your measurable ideas and if I use them in an upcoming article I'll throw you a link with your link text of choice.Want to build links to your site and enhance your brand? Send article marketing questions to GFrench@gmail.com for free article marketing brainstorm, including article topic suggestions and key industry media identification. Garrett French is a search engine marketing copy writer for Websourced and conducts branding and link building research on his article marketing blog. If you wish to publish this article, please retain all links.
Self-Confidence Secrets: Measure Your Successes – Positive-Attitude
Self-Confidence Secrets: Measure Your Successes
Would you like to be confident in the things you do? Most people would. The problem is that many people aren't sure how. They think it is some mystical trait that some people seem to have and others don't. Actually, being confident in yourself and your ability to achieve your goals is a skill that can be learned.Let's say you've decided to move forward in your efforts to achieve your goals and have taken action. Congratulations for reaching this point! Along the way you will certainly experience many victories. Yet there will also be challenges. To keep yourself going, you are going to need lots of support from one very important person: Yourself! This support comes in the form of setting achievable goals, supportive self-talk, self-monitoring to acknowledge success, and plenty of rewards along the way.Today's theme is the crucial importance of acknowledging success. To balance the scale of triumphs and challenges, the skill needed is learning to recognize and feel good about all the little steps you take each day, and the efforts you put forth toward achieving your goal. Building on every little victory acts like fuel to your confidence. Achieving any new goal isn't easy. It takes decision, hard work, effort and dedication. But that is what this life is about . . . setting new goals for ourselves and accomplishing those goals. Learning to feel good along the path to something new is what makes life a grand adventure."Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.
If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."
~ Albert Schweitzer ~WHY ACKNOWLEDGE SUCCESS?For many, the journey towards reaching the overall goal is often a long road. It's frequently so full of experiences and opportunities (okay - challenges) that we often don't notice the gradual change that is occurring. We don't recognize the progress we have made. This error of self-acknowledgment can be devastating and stop us dead in our tracks.One sure fire way of putting out your own fire is to dismiss your success. Let's imagine you've been binging on food for quite a few days. Through much effort and determination you manage to stay binge-free for three days. Following these three days, you binge again. What are you most likely to do with this situation:* Do you count those three days as success?* Do you dismiss those three days as proof that since they didn't last, you are not good enough to have what you want - now falling into helplessness or hopelessness?* Do you use those three days (and subsequent relapse) as an occasion to self-condemn and shame yourself?* Do those three days count for anything wonderful in your book?WHEN TO ACKNOWLEDGE SUCCESSOne day, I decided I wanted to increase the amount of water I was drinking each day. I thought this goal through and decided that the best way to achieve success would be to drink one bottle of water each morning as I was getting ready for my day. After a few weeks had gone by, I pondered my goal. I realized that almost every morning I had drank one full bottle of water. Had achieved success with my goal? How long must a goal be achieved before I could call myself successful?Contemplating, I became aware of my own particularly nasty habit. I set goals for myself. With enough time, my goals became habits. But I had no mental criteria established for when I could call myself successful. There was no endpoint of, "How do I know I've achieved my goal." And since there was no endpoint, there was no feeling good at the end of my goal. I was running my own life story of not being good enough for myself, and having to earn my own love but never succeeding. I sat there amazed at my own self-realization. I asked, "How long must I maintain a behavior before I can call myself successful?" The answer came immediately: "The very first time the behavior is achieved, you are successful." Wow! This about blew me away. I successfully achieved my goal the first day I followed through with my intention. No wonder I never felt enough. I was completely failing to recognize, acknowledge, or celebrate my strengths, efforts, and my achievements.Many of the people I work with also have no internal criteria established for knowing when they are successful. Oh, sure, they may say when they lose 40 pounds, then they will be successful. Or when they stop binging, then they will be happy. But what happens when they lose those forty pounds or stop binging for several days? Success is never measured, never celebrated, never acknowledged. Eventually a few pounds creep back on or a relapse in binge behavior occurs. Wouldn't you know it? This gets acknowledged! Lots of negative self talk, huge emotion, beastly feelings of self-reproach. Now there is evidence that success can not be achieved. Without being conscious of it, the criteria was that if the weight was maintained forever, or a binge never occurred again, then success would be achieved. The problem with this strategy? Success can't be measured until forever occurs. Meaning success never occurs."Success is never final.
Failure is never fatal.
Courage is what counts."
~ Sir Winston Churchill ~SUCCESS EXERCISEClose your eyes and relax. Think of a success you had today. Maybe it was feeling good, or deciding to drive past the fast food restaurant, or choosing to sit still while envisioning your goal, or laughing instead of feeling heavy. Maybe you overcame an urge, and even though later you didn't overcome the urge, that first "overcoming" was a success. You cannot change the fact of it or deny that it was a success.Remember your goals. Recall your successes of the day. Remember your efforts. Get in touch with your very being. Feel your physical body. Breathe in ... breathe out. Acknowledge your successes over and over again in your mind. Say to yourself, "I was truly successful. There is no denying that." Imagine the lightness of your joy is spreading all around, filling your body. It is filling your chest, spreading to your abdominal cavity reaching towards your thighs, legs, and feet. Think of a similar spread to your shoulders, arms, hand, head, neck and face. Now your whole body is filled with radiant blissful lightness. You are calm and centered and feeling really good. Nourish your goal by looking for more successes. Bring your goal life and light through praise and intention and enthusiasm. Strengthen your goal by feeding it love. Breathe in . . . breathe out.DO YOU:1. Expect the best from yourself?2. Understand your needs and use this information to create an environment that builds your motivation?3. Establish standards of excellence that are attainable for yourself?4. Create an environment where failure isn't fatal?5. Encourage yourself or nag yourself?6. Recognize and applaud your efforts?7. Use a mixture of positive and negative reinforcement (acknowledge without judgement, but with honesty, your failures)?Dr. Annette Colby, RD
Nutrition Therapist & Master Energy Healer
For free inspirational newsletter, articles & info visit:
http://www.LovingMiracles.com
972.985.8750
"Opening Creative Portals to Success"
Measure Your Window for Verticals and Horizontal blinds, Wood blinds, Faux Wood Plantation Shutters – Home-Improvement
Measure Your Window for Verticals and Horizontal blinds, Wood blinds, Faux Wood Plantation Shutters
Here are five important things to remember.1. Use a steel measuring tape2. Measure to the nearest eighth of an inch - don't round your measurments.3. On your notes, clearly indicate which measurment is the width and which is the height. It is very common to transpose measures. Please note width first, then height.4. Do NOT take any deductions for an inside mount. Our factory takes those allowances. You need to provide us with your exact window size opening5. You need to provide the exact overall blind size needed for an outside mount. Our factory makes all outside mount blinds the exact width you specify.Click here for your FREE estimate...Choose Inside or Outside Mount:Before taking any measurements, step back from your window and decide if you want to mount the window treatment inside the window recess or outside on the wall or moulding. For an inside mount, the window opening must have enough unobstructed depth to allow mounting.Tip: For a flush inside mount (the blind completely recessed so that no part of the blind projects out of the opening) check that you have enough depth and make sure you request the valances be made the same width as blind since they are normally made an inch or two wider.Tip: We usually recommend an inside mount when possible because it provides a cleaner look. However, an outside mount can make a window appear larger or hide an unattractive window. When you specify inside mount, we will make a size deduction to allow for operating clearance. We will deduct up to 1/4" from each side (on vertical blinds there is also a height deduction of 1/4"). The deductions are made so that the blind will not rub or scratch your window frame. If you specify an outside mount, we will not take any size deductions. When measuring, don't be surprised if your windows aren't square, it probably won't be noticeable.http://www.normansverticals.com