Budget Marketing Solutions
Niche blogging is one of the best ways to make money through Internet marketing. Just creating a niche blog, however, isn’t going to be enough to get people to visit. It isn’t called Internet marketing for nothing. Fortunately for all of us niche marketers, there are many different and effective ways to bring traffic to our blogs and to get people to buy our products, click our links, read our affiliate reviews, etc. Unfortunately, the world of marketing changes rapidly and what was a great way to drum up traffic yesterday may not be the way to go today. Here I’m going to talk about some of the old, new and ugly ways of niche blog marketing.
Email was once considering the greatest thing to hit the advertising world since sliced bread (not sure why sliced bread was good for advertising). However it has gotten so overused that most people either delete unfamiliar emails or those with uninteresting subject lines (even if they asked for them) or filter them directly into a spam folder. Since email is free and personal, it isn’t quite on the ‘don’t bother with this anymore’ list. Email is still a vital part of the niche marketing strategy. However you simply cannot rely on the opt-in list to separate those really interested in your information and those looking for the freebie that you’re offering anymore.
Email marketing can still be effective but if you are using all the tricks and tips talked about a year or more ago forget it. Your emails will almost never get read, except by people who are already die-hard followers of you site. Forget the tricky subject lines that try to excite the reader and stick with a simple subject that tells the reader exactly what to expect. You should already know to avoid caps and “buzz” words like free and sex. Also avoid trying to trick the spam filters with spaces and unusual characters. The spam filters have caught on to most of the tricks and ugly subject lines instantly turn off readers. If you are using an opt-in list and your readers really want your information, you won’t have to entice them into opening your emails, they’ll be waiting for them.
Search Engine Optimization
Just like email, search engine optimization (SEO) has been around for a while. SEO is used to get a website or blog ranked highly in the search engines thereby increasing the number of visitors to the site. It makes sense that the number one ranked site for the term “real estate” will be clicked more often that the number 125th. Similarly, the rules for SEO have changed since it first started being exploited. That’s the common story with any Internet marketing strategy. A good method is discovered or created and thousands or unscrupulous marketers do their best to come up with ways to cheat the system. This causes the search engines to change their tactics so only “white hat” marketing is rewarded.
The use of highly targeted keywords throughout your site and article writing was once the best way to get the attention of the search engines and rank high on Google and Yahoo. Due to high levels of “keyword stuffed” sites and articles, the search engines have started to turn away from considering keyword density for ranking purposes. My advice for you when it comes to SEO is to use a few targeted terms liberally throughout your site. Four or five different keywords should do it and use them only where natural – don’t force them or your content won’t make sense. Use good page titles, blog categories and tags. The search engines will catch on and like your site for it’s clean, informative, non-spammy nature.
Article Writing
This is by far my favorite way to market my niche blogs, and one of the most effective. By writing a short (about 400 words) and informative article, then submitting to article directories on the net, I can get my blog’s url in front of hundreds of readers in a very short time. Many of the directories allow other Internet markets to use your article on their site provided they keep your resource box intact, so readers of other sites will come across your site’s information on other blogs and webpages. This is a great way to drive traffic to your sites.
When writing an article, remember that content is king so provide good quality information that your readers are looking for. The more professional and knowledgeable you come off, the more likely you will become the reader’s “go-to” for that type of subject matter in the future. Include some of your niche’s keywords but don’t force them or add too many. Nobody likes an ugly article anymore than an ugly website. Create an attention grabbing resource box to lure readers to your blog.
With all of these free marketing methods, you have a good chance of getting your niche blog launched and attract a following before you have to spend any money out of pocket for advertising. Although these strategies will attract readers, it is important to know that marketing is a never-ending business duty and you will eventually have to look into paid advertising to help you website or blog reach its fullest potential.
