Saturday, April 7, 2007

The Fifth Step to Increase Internet Traffic through Writing Articles Requires the Personal Touch

Each day hundreds of articles make their way to the Internet from article submission sites to blogs. Yet, if the purpose of article distribution is a marketing mechanism to increase web site traffic, what creates the loyal readers who look to find your articles on the web? Simply, what makes one article viewed and consequently distributed many more times than another?

In reviewing my own articles, I realized that the more that I could connect my personal or professional experiences to the content of the article, the greater the increase in views. People want more than the purely technical information. They want to know from your experiences what worked, what didn’t work and by sharing your experiences how the article can help them.

Writing from a personal viewpoint is a challenge because you as the writer do not want to overload the effort with a lot of “I’s.” However, by not including some personal perspective, the reader cannot make a connection with you. If the reader cannot connect with you as the writer, there is a greater likelihood that the reader will not read your complete article. If they don’t finish the article, they probably won’t forward the article, review the article nor include the article for future distribution. HINT #5: People will buy who you are first and then what you do second.

When writing using personal experiences, you are beginning the development of a relationship. As more articles are submitted, readers have the opportunity to see you as a giving, sharing individual who truly wants to help them overcome a current challenge or prepare them for a future one.

Since I have changed my writing style to be more personal, I have experienced dramatic feedback in both the articles and the monthly newsletter than I co-publish at www.processspecialist.com/newsletters.htm. Will ever reader relate to your article? Absolutely not! However, I believe that if the goal is to increase traffic to your website and to have your article widely distributed, you must make yourself unique. Given all the information out there, one of the simplest ways to achieve that goal is to write from a more personal viewpoint.

Asking yourself the following three questions may help you write with a personal viewpoint while sharing what you do or know.

1. What excites me as a reader?

2. From my own experiences, what can I share to help others?

3. Am I truly sharing or editorializing?
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About the Author

Leanne Hoagland-Smith helps individuals and organizations to double results usually within 2 to 12 weeks. She builds lifelong change through proven processes seeking that next level of success. If increasing your revenue, improving your organizational culture or finding balance interests you, visit www.processspecialist.comor ask to subscribe to complimentary copy of Power Choices a monthly newsletter at info@processspecialist.com

What Is Internet Telephonys

When the Internet is used for communications by voice, facsimile, or video conferencing the process is called Internet telephony. Known as voice over the Internet VoI or voice over IP, VoIP, in this system, sound is converted into digital packets that are then transmitted over the internet to the receiver where it is once again converted into sound or text.

All one needs is a multimedia computer, a high speed Internet connection, a sound card, speakers, and a microphone. Since it reduces telecommunication costs significantly, many individuals and businesses are adopting this system. The charges of internet telephony are not dependant on the distance but just a flat fixed rate for use of bandwidth. The only thing is that both you and the person you are calling will need to have the same or compatible software.

First introduced in 1995 the PC-to-PC telephony is set to grow from US$ 1.96 billion in 2003 to US$9.08 billion in 2007. Industry experts predict that over half the phone traffic in the world will be based on IP protocol.

To use the VoIP system, all you need is a regular phone, an adapter, broadband Internet service, and a subscription to a VoIP service. All your offices on a LAN or WAN can benefit from a common phone system with extension dialing, seamless call transfers, voice mail, caller ID, conference calls, music-on-hold, free phone calls, as well as ability to transfer data.

Even while making or receiving calls, you can surf the web or use other web based applications. You will also be able to retain your existing PSTN phone number if the provider you use has this facility. A VoIP provider is a telecommunications company that will handle the technical aspects of the calls and provide the interconnection between VoIP and PSTN networks. Internal calls are transmitted as data on your company network while external calls are transmitted through the network to a gateway which in turn connects to a public telephone network.

The advantages of Internet telephony are numerous the first being cost effectiveness. With a high speed internet connection phone calls can be made all over the world for almost free. By signing up with a VoIP provider you can get unlimited calls within the country at very low costs. The system is portable and you can take the headset or internet phone along with you when traveling. When plugged in to an internet connection anywhere in the world you can both make and receive calls at no extra costs. Wonderful features like call waiting, call forwarding, voice mail, caller ID, and three –way calling are all included with the Internet telephone connection at no extra cost.

The system is flexible and you will be able to send documents as well as pictures over the system while you are talking on the phone. The problems you are likely to encounter are: inability to call emergency services, loss of service during power outages, problems with clarity of sound, and scrambling of data. These are however being addressed on a war footing and problems small or big should be ironed out quickly.

VoIP is all set to be the industry standard for telephone communication in the future and is all set to change communications forever.

About the Author

Paul Wilson is a freelance writer for http://www.1866Voip.com , the premier website to find help on Voip including topics on online voip, voip phone, voip service providers, voip solutions, business voip, internet telephony voip and more. He also freelances for the premier Ringtones site http://www.1888Ringtones.com

Article Submission on Steroids

We all know the reasons for submitting articles online to all of the many, article depositories that reside on the Internet. Writing an original article and submitting it will get you massive exposure, your credibility will be enhanced, and you will receive quality and relevant leads to your website. The more sites you submit to, the more exposure you will receive.

Submitting your articles establishes you as an expert in whatever field you have chosen to write about. If your articles have relevant content, they could be picked up by numerous other websites, Blogs and eZines getting you additional exposure.

Ensure that you use original content, write articles that are straight and to the point, and have something important to say. Search engines look for meaningful, original content and are quick to spider something fresh and new. And we all know how important it is to be indexed by the major search engines and also to be constantly checked by the spiders for updated material. A stale and stagnant web page will get nowhere in search-engine land.

There are many web site owners, eZine publishers and eBook creators that are starving for quality content and would jump at the chance for fresh, quality content. We all get tired of seeing the same old stale material on every web site we visit, so publishers are always on the lookout for quality material.

The problem we all face is manually submitting the articles to the hundreds of article submission sites. Having to copy and paste each individual field, different formats and requirements for each and every site, and then being rejected because of some minor problem. This is an extremely time-consuming and tedious process but well worth the effort if one wants their site exposed all over the Internet. AN automated article submitter is your answer.

So, make sure that you write quality material, your content is accurate and fresh, and that you submit your articles to as many sites as possible. In this case, exposing yourself is a good thing.


About the Author

Larry Westfall Submit your articles to over 200 sites with just a few clicks of your mouse button. http://tinyurl.com/dbkq4

How to pick a good VoIP provider

VOIP is a new technology and it has some drawbacks: some of which are inseparable and some are because of bad services. So it becomes requisite to find out what are the essential features needed to be kept in mind when choosing a VOIP provider. The disparity between VoIP providers is by the features that they offer. If you shop around in the market, you will find a variety of providers who offer several calling plans at competitive rates. Therefore, selecting a VoIP provider from amongst them can be tough decision sometimes. Make perusal of these features that a good provider should possess, while going for VoIP services.

First, one considers, while going to such services, is rates. You can go for VoIP provider's free services or subscribed one that charge a monthly fee. It is up to you how you make use of these services. For chatting with friends and family over the Internet, a free service may be sufficient. If you are going for long distance call, consider a VOIP service with a paid package. A VoIP provider can save you up to seventy percent on your long distance expenses. Shop around for quality providers since there are many companies, which offer different rates according to different needs. Therefore, if your calls are towards a specific number then you then you can ask free calls to a specific numbers. Degree of calls that you make, can sometimes determine your charges, and you can ask from your providers for low rates for heavy calling or light calling.
Second thing, you need gateway and a soft ware to use VOIP services, ask your provider whether that is included within their subscription rates or you will have to pay for them additionally.

Most considerable thing is the features of a service. Usually, VOIP services include caller ID call transfer, return call, fax capabilities and call filter options; they provide you with the facility of forwarding the call to a particular number give the caller a busy number and play a message. Some services may seem you cheap but they may lack such essential features. Therefore, you need to check the offering and select that one who offers the features that you need the most with good rates.

Fine VOIP services offer you the facility to call not only on VOIP user but also on regular phone connections they also give you the facility Local Number Portability that allows you to use your regular phone number. Go for a service that gives you local area codes since without it many of your calls will be long distance calls. These aids have to be checked with respect to the associated costs.
Ascertain the quality of Service, since it is a very complex technology, you can confront with calls having a buzzing tone in the background and discontinuity of conversation. So a lot depends on the quality of a service. In addition, you must know how to install and set up the service, and the proper use of the service.

About the Author

Anupam Agnihotri is a high profile technical writer and business consultant and provide you latest information about various Voip products available in the market. Read more on Voip providers.

Employing the KISS Model as The Fourth Step to Increase Internet Traffic and Deliver Results

Reading at least 10 to 50 articles each day, I realize that I am drawn to those articles that remember the old KISS Model – Keep It Simple and Short. Articles that are intentionally written with simplicity, are short in length and provide me with valuable and rich content attract me.

Simplicity does not mean that you, the author, need to “dummy down” the content, but rather write in such a way that the reader can quickly progress from one point to another without being confused. Your message should provide the reader with new rich content and not recycled content. Think of a funnel in which the beginning of the article is the top of the funnel and the tip is the conclusion. Your articles should draw the reader down with the desired end result of visiting your website or even better giving you a call or an email.

As writers, we need to remember that potential readers have limited time and that the human brain can only process so much information. Even though it is in our nature to want to share all of our experiences or expertise, sometimes this creates a feeling in the reader of “drinking from a fire hydrant.” Writing a series of shorter articles rather than one long article respects the readers’ time. Also, shorter articles work for many of the newsletters that search the Internet for new content.

For a moment, consider yourself as a reader. Do you actually read those long articles or do you skim through the content? If you are like me, you probably quickly glance through the content looking for a new idea or concept. Would it not make more sense to write a shorter article where the reader actually reads more words?

Articles that vary in word count from 300 to 600 words provide an opportunity for the reader to actually read and easily recognize the expertise of the author. Shorter articles force writers to expand their vocabulary by incorporating words that better describe the topic. HINT #4 – The Thesaurus is your best friend.

Shorter articles do take more time to write because being concise and succinct is a learned skill. In working with one colleague, Alan Boyer at www.leaders-perspective.com, Alan has reduced his articles from 1,500 words to 6oo to 1,000 words and is working to reduce them even further.

As more and more individuals use article distribution as an Internet marketing strategy to achieve the goal of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the quality of the articles becomes even more important. Your mission as an article marketer, if you decide to accept, is to write both for quality and submit enough quantity to accomplish that noble goal.

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Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, www.processspecialist.com

This article may be freely published. Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).

About the Author