You get told to write a blog post, post it to your blog, submit it to Ezine Articles, create a video and submit that to YouTube, convert it to a Powerpoint and submit THAT to SlideShare. Then you need to share ALL of it to all the social media outlets.

And that is just the tip of the iceburg…

But every time you hear these things you think the same thing. I know you do, because I think the same thing too…

“I don’t have time for all of that! I have WORK to do!”

I understand completely. After all, someone has to actually do the work. Someone has to help all the customers that you get from all this marketing effort you are putting in.

Well there is a new tool available that will help save you time and still re-purpose your content.

It is a WordPress plugin that Ezine Articles has developed. And (the best part..) it is even free.

If you have a self-hosted WordPress blog site you can install this plugin. It will not work with WordPress.com because they won’t let you upload plugins to their hosted version.

So why is this plugin so great?

Because you are already logging into your blog to post articles (right…?). Normally you have to login to your blog and post the article, add your bells and whistles and publish it. Then you have to go over to EzineArticles.com and login and post it again. Choose a category, add the resource box, enter the keywords, all again for the second time.

But with this plugin you only do it once. You only log in once.

It links in to the EzineArticles.com account you already have. It lets you pick a category, enter keywords, and even choose one of your pre-done Ezine Articles Resource Boxes. Or it will let you do a custom one for that specific article. Then you can even validate the article right there to see if it passes their basic test. Then you click the submit button and it is posted to EzineArticles.com for them to review, just like if you were going to go and login and post it separately.

Now…you finish adding in your blog bells and whistles and click the publish button on the blog.

And now you have posted to your blog AND to EzineArticles.com and only spent a minute or two extra over how long it would have taken you to post that article to your blog.

Now you have done 2 things to market your business today and you can happily move on to the rest of your To-Do list for the day.

This plugin might only save you 10 minutes (if you are really quick on other sites), but that is 10 minutes each time you post a blog post/article. If you post everyday like you do (right…?) that is 60 hours a year!

One little free plugin saving you 10 minutes each day earns you 60 hours a year in time saved. AND you are posting to two places at once.

What could be better than that?

One of the easiest ways to do this is to write a regular column for a local publication on a regular basis. If you are an expert in your industry, and you should be if you are in business, you’re ability to give valuable information to others and educate them on the aspects of your business can easily be one of the easiest ways to get your name known out there and quickly become known as the expert in your industry.
Step 1 – Get some basic articles written to start with.
You need to realize that you ARE the expert. If you weren’t the expert in your industry, you wouldn’t be in business right? Realize that if you have one year more experience in the field, you have more expertize than your general audience. You just need to realize this and start educating people.

What kind of tips, tricks and basic information can you share with your prospects and clients that will help them in their lives? How-to articles are one of the best ways you can educate the reader quickly.

Let’s say you own a landscaping company. You could easily write articles on the “Top 10 ways to keep your grass green in the summer heat without a huge water bill” This is something people want to know about. Your articles don’t need to be big. 300-500 words most of the time.

Step 2 – Contact local publications
Do may not realize this but local media like your local newspapers are always looking for good information for their publications. If you are willing to give them good solid educational content and not just write articles that are a long sales pitch, many will be more than happy to insert these in their publication from time to time if not on a regular basis.

Here’s the good part, you generally get to put a small bio line at the end of your article. This can have a link to your website, email address or even phone number.

Just be sure to keep your article every educational and informational, not a sales pitch.

Step 3 – Rinse & repeat
Once you get in the habit of writing articles on a regular basis, you’ll start to get a large number of articles built up that you can use. Nothing says that you have to only submit these articles to just one publication. The more places you submit these articles, the better. Not all publications will want them. Not all will have room for them. That’s ok, just keep it up and see what you can do to find more places that would be willing to take those articles. The idea is to keep adding as much as you can out there and build a reputation as the expert in your industry so your name keeps popping up all over.

Most publications that will publish your articles are happy to do so for free as long at it’s great content and adds value to the quality of their publication. You won’t get paid for the articles but you also won’t be paying for the exposure either.

As long as you provide regular valuable content, you are likely to get great result and it might even turn in to a regular column in a publication or two. If you become a regular contributor to a publication, people will see you as the expert and when they need your services, you will be the first person they think of.

You will have to decide if you want a printed newsletter or an electronic newsletter (or ezine). Though printed newsletters are more costly than electronic newsletters you might want to look at adding this in to your budget as you will get a much higher return and open rate from a physical printed newsletter than an ezine.

Ezines are great because there is no print cost and you can automate the process quite easily. It doesn’t cost any more to do a full color ezine than a plain text ezine which is great. They also can be delivered automatically and you don’t have to worry about postage costs along with print costs.

Either way you go, you do want to keep some basic tips in mind to keep your viewers reading your newsletter on a regular basis and to get the most out of it.

#1 It’s not a straight sales pitch
You want to make sure that this is something that your customers look forward to reading. Keep it educational and informational. Don’t make it boring. Adding information about your company is great but be sure to add value to it.

Educational “How-to” articles are a great way to add good solid value to your newsletter. Adding information about what’s going on in your company is ok, but be sure ot add good content that will interest your readers too.

#2 Keep it consistent
Be sure to set a schedule and stick with it. If you send one newsletter and then don’t send another one for 4 months, then people won’t expect it and are less likely to pay attention to it. At minimum, you should be having a quarterly newsletter.

It is best to have it monthly so people will expect it. Plus, do you really want to stay out of touch with your customers for three months at a time? Think about going on a date. If you like the person you went our with, do you wait 3 months to call them again for another date? Same principles apply here.

#3 Getting Good Content
It really is best if you write the content yourself or at least hire a ghostwriter to help you with the content. You can even find a journalism student that you can hire as an intern to help out. You just provide them with the topics you want articles written on and then let them go to town finding the research and writing the article.

If you really are stuck, you can also pay for pre-written content. I don’t like this one personally but many people have used it very successfully. You can pay a service to give you articles and other content for your newsletter. All you have to do is add your logo and contact information to their newsletter.

There you have it. The basics for adding a newsletter as part of your marketing mix. Remember that it isn’t about selling in your newsletter. It’s about education and keeping your customers and prospects up to date on what’s going on.

You’ll build better relationships with your customers and they will be much more likely to remember you when they need your services or products again in the future.

What I’m talking about here is writing articles and publishing them. Most of the time when I talk to small groups I ask the question if they think they are writers. Almost no one says yes. Most of them actually look scared when they even think about this.

So why are articles so great to use to market your business?

Reason #1
Articles are actually one of the easiest and fasted ways to build your reputation online and offline in your marketing. They are actually much easier to write than you might think. All you have to do is think of the most frequently asked questions you get from your customers on how to use a product or what they they should know about a product or
service before they but it and then answer that question.

They don’t have to be very long either. Some people think that they need to write a 20 page report and then they start having flashbacks from high school. These articles can be anywhere from 300-800 words long. I personally try to keep them at the 500 word mark when I am writing.

It might take a bit at first but the more you do it, the easier it will get. If you really have a hard time you can also hire a journalism student from college to ghostwrite them for you.

Reason #2
Articles make great website content. Search engines love new content. That’s what they are all about. Your fresh new articles can be added to your website or posted to your blog easily and this will give you more content for Google to index. More content = more listings on the Search Engines.

You can also publish your articles to online directories for free in a lot of places. This is a great way to get additional exposure for your name and your business.

Reason #3
Local media is always looking for more fresh content. You can take these same articles and get them published in your local newspapers and other publications.

Try getting published in your smaller local papers first. All you have to do is call and find out who to submit the articles to. Asking never hurt anyone. They may not need them but if they do, you might be able to get published very easy and your new articles might even get turned in to a regular column in the that paper.

This is a huge credibility piece and really can make a difference for any business if it is done right.

The more you are known as the authority in your industry, the more your business will thrive. Remember that this isn’t complicated. Keep it simple and just answer questions that you get form people all the time.

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When you have finished writing your article make sure that you proof read it at least twice, then set it aside for a day or two, so that you can go over it again when you are in a different frame of mind. That way you can view it as though you were the reader and this can help you to get a better prospective.

If you would like a second opinion ask a family or friend to read through it and see if they suggest any changes. There are also services that will proof read your articles for you. Try doing a search for “article proofreading service” and you will find several.

Spell checking is absolutely important.

After you run your spell checking software, it is a good idea to go back and reread your article again.

Unfortunately your spell checker is not perfect and can lead to unexpected errors. For example, the words “form” and “from” are both legitimate words. But if you wrote an article that said, “Take fifty FORM your advertising budget and use it to place an ad” your spell check wouldn’t see anything wrong.

It doesn’t know that you meant “take fifty FROM your advertising budget and use it to place an ad”. Spell checkers are convenient, but they are not always perfect. That is why it is important to read through your article at least once after you spell check it.

As part of posting your articles online you will be given a resource box. This is a spot in the site where you tell people about you and how they can find you and your products.

It is very important that you pay attention to the way that you write your resource box. Keep in mind that your resource box is the way that you will introduce yourself to your reader.

Don’t just put a list of links to your websites. Let them know who you are and give them an idea of what you can do for them. Include one link to your web page or product that is most likely to be useful to the reader and if you can include some anchor text that will entice them to click through and see what you have to offer.

So you have finished your article, now it’s time to make the most out of it.

You don’t want to waste all of your hard work by just submitting it to one directory. You will want to submit
it to as many directories as possible.

You can do this yourself or you can spend a few dollars on an article submission service or software that will submit your article to multiple directories at the same time.

By submitting to more than one directory you can get better results from your article, because it will be seen by many more readers.

Here are a few sites that are the most popular:

eZine Article Directory
Go Articles
Articles 888

Go to each one of these sites and create an account. Then follow their directions on how to submit your article. Most of them review articles manually so it may take a few days before your articles start showing up on the internet.

By submitting articles on various topics within your industry on a regular basis, your potential customers are more likely to find you when they go searching. You also establish yourself as an authority in your industry.

This is just one way to gain free listings across the internet without even having your own web site.

Hopefully you have found this series to be helpful. We will post again soon. See you then.

Today we are going to start with credibility.

It is important to establish credibility with the reader. After all why should they listen to you, have you had this problem and if so how did it affect you and your business? When you solved the problem, what benefits did it bring you and how did it make things better?

If you can establish credibility with your reader they will be willing to listen to you and follow your advise. If you lack credibility in their eyes, they may be unwilling to follow your advise and will most likely be uninterested in what you have to offer.

In order to do this you need to tell your story.

Telling a story or sharing your personal experience can be a great way to encourage your reader to keep reading instead of losing interest.

Let the reader know what you have gone through. Give them a reason to empathize with you so that they can see themselves in the same situation. Once you get your reader thinking “he’s one of us”, you will be perceived as an understanding individual offering a solution and not just an anonymous writer.

Then share with them the solution the problem. Let them know how it worked for you and how it can help them too. Once you have finished your story your article will be complete.

The next thing you need to make sure you include in your article is the solution that you can provide to your readers. Solutions are almost always a great basis for your articles.

Once you have discovered a problem that relates to the topic that you are planning to write about you can then offer the solution within the content of your article.

If you can give your reader the solution to his or her problem and then explain in detail why your product or
service is related to that solution you will grab their attention immediately.

Don’t be shy. Let them know exactly how you can help them. Explain to them that you can show them how to fix the problem or avoid having it again in the future. Once you have done a good job of convincing them that you can help them, you will be sure to have a great article.

One of the best ways to get a particular point across to your readers is to give them examples. Let them know how yourself and others have benefited from the information, product or service that you are writing about.

Explain in detail what effect it could have on their lives or businesses if they listen to what you have to say. Be helpful and informative. Try not to hype up your examples to much or they can end up sounding like a sales pitch instead of useful advise.

Don’t forget to reassure your reader. When you are offering the solution to a problem in your article be sure to reassure your reader. Let them know that if they follow your advice they can not only solve the problem but they can also avoid it ever happening again in the future.

Again use examples to tell them that everything worked out with the problem for yourself and others by using the same advise and reassure and that it will for them too.

So now you should have a great article. You have talked about your tip or trick. You have provided your reader with usable, valuable information. You have explained to them your story and they have begun to empathize with you and understand why you would be a great person to listen to on this subject.

Now it is time to go back and re-read your article. Maybe even write a few more using all of the ideas that are filling your head.

Next time we will talk about how to post your articles online and what you need to do in order to direct visitors to your web site or to tell them how to contact you.

Until later.

But some people are still a little scared of getting their company “on the internet” so we thought we would take about a way that you can kind of get your feet wet without having to jump into the pool head first.

The first thing you will need to do is write an article or paper about your industry.

Writing articles to promote your product or service is a great way to increase your sales. When you are writing to promote something you must first ask yourself several questions, so you don’t write an article and then have to figure out how you can relate it to your business.

Determine what you want to promote. How you want to promote it and then you can begin to write your article. The basics in writing the article are much the same, no matter how you plan to use it. It should be written to present the positive attributes of your product or service without being obvious or making it sound like a sales pitch.

Remember readers are looking for information because they want to learn something. If you provide them with good information they will be more likely to click on your link and see what else you have to offer.

A good way to write a popular article is to find a problem that the people in your target audience have and then provide them with an answer that will help them solve it.

People like to read things that offer solutions to problems and preferably ones that are not too hard. Articles that contain easy to follow steps work very well in just about any situation. For instance; Three Steps to Super Clean Windows or How to Stop a Leaky Faucet in Four Easy Steps.

Keep that in mind when you are deciding what to write your article about and you will have an easier time deciding one the topic.

Let’s talk about choosing the right title for your article.

Do not underestimate the power of a good title when it comes to getting your article read. The right title can help your article be picked by interested readers and published by newsletter owners.

Your title should be descriptive and catchy, It should make the reader want to know more about the content in it. The idea is to capture the readers attention with a casual glance and let them know what it is about at the same time.

This may sound a little tricky but with some practice and testing you will easily get the hang of it.

What should you include in your opening paragraph?

Your opening paragraph should not only introduce the reader to the subject but also give them a reason to continue reading. It should give them a brief overview of what they can expect to learn from the rest of the article.

Let them know what problem are you going to help them with. Assure them that you have a solution that will save them time, money or trouble. When you are writing your opening paragraph keep in mind that you have to give them a good reason to keep on reading or they may lose interest and look elsewhere.

For today I will leave you with this bit of homework. Keep working on your article. Next time we will talk about establishing credibility with your readers, sharing your personal story with them, and what solution your can provide them with.

After we have completed your article we will talk about what you need to do with them to help boost your online presence.

So, get to writing and we will talk again soon.