Starting a Free Online Business with Article Marketing – 12 step tutorial

Are you skeptical about creating a profitable online business with article marketing?

I would be too, however after writing and publishing articles for 7 years I can confidently say it can be done. Read my 7 Strategies for Starting an Online Business with Article Marketing

Here is an outline of the 12 step process:

1. Find a niche you are passionate about.

It’s easier to write about something you have passion for because it will show in your writing and helps to build a strong foundation for successive articles.

Example
I like hiking so I could write about why you should hike, how to enjoy hiking, where to hike and what equipment you need.

2. Do keyword research

Use the free wordtracker tool to find how many people search on your main keyword phrase.

Example
If I enter hiking into wordtracker I get 579 searches. This shows people are looking for information on hiking. There are also searches for hiking trails, hiking gear, hiking tips, etc.

3. Do market research

To determine if your idea is in demand do a search on amazon.com, magazine.com, visit forums, blogs, article directories to read what people are talking about or questions they have (so you can help solve them with your articles).

Example
A search on amazon books shows there are over 85,095 results on hiking.
A search at Ezine Articles shows 70,400 articles have been written.

This is already a good indication there is s high demand for information on hiking.

4. Register a domain name

Registering a domain name gives your online business a professional image. Try to include your main keyword in the domain name so it is obvious to your visitors what your web site is about e.g. ilovehiking dot com

5. Get a hosting account

You need a home on the Net for your future web site. Many web hosting companies try to sell you their services by offering huge or unlimited amounts of disc space or bandwidth. 75MB of space, 3000MB of bandwidth is enough for 100s of pages of content. The most important factors when selecting a reputable hosting company are fast, friendly and knowledgeable technical support.

Check out my hosting plans at: http://www.isitebuild.com/hostingplans.htm
My servers provide daily, weekly and monthly backups, 99% uptime, site statistics, email accounts and many other features.

6. Start a blog

A blog is actually a web site which can quickly and easily be updated. Some other main features include:

* Design and content is separate so you can change the design without affecting the content.

* Rapidly indexed by the search engines. Search engines love web sites which are updated on a regular basis.

* Integrates with social marketing sites. Plugins allow your content to be automatically distributed to social marketing sites such as Twitter, Facebook,,etc.

* Large selection of templates and plugins. There are 100s of free and paid templates to choose from. Plugins help to add more functionality e.g. control spam, optimize your content, etc.

7. Set-up your blog

I recommend using WordPress as your blogging platform because it has lots of documentation, a large number of developers that stay on top of security fixes and is easy to install.

Most web hosts have a one click installation from the web hosting control panel.
You can select a free template however I suggest getting a customized blog designed so it stands out from all the free templates and it is unique to your business.

Visit http://www.isitebuild.com for more information about my web site design services.

8. Write your first 10 articles

Create a list of 10 related topics based on you main keyword then write an article on each topic.

Write your first 350 word article. This could be a how to or 7 tips article similar to how this article is written. Then build upon this foundation by writing the other 9 articles.

9. Publish your articles

Add the 10 articles to your blog and submit them to the top article directories and social marketing sites. Make sure you include a link back to your web site in the resource box of your articles. This will drive tons of traffic (visitors) to your web site.

10. Monetize your web site

You can easily monetize your blog by selling affiliate products. These are products sold by large companies where you receive a commission for placing a link to their website from your web site. When someone purchases from that link you receive an automatic commission.

Example.
If I enter “hiking” in the search box of shopping.com hundreds of hiking products are displayed that I can sell as an affiliate from my web site.

Another easy method of monetizing your web site so to add adsense ads to your content pages. This can easily be achieved with a WordPress plugin. Every time a visitor clicks on an ad you get paid. If you place adsense ads on every content page you multiply your earnings.

11. Market your web site

One of the best ways to drive traffic to your web site is to keep adding optimized content to it and submit unique articles to the top article directories. This will help build links, increase your search engine rankings and ultimately attract lots of visitors. The more visitors you receive the more sales you’ll make.

12. Build your online business empire

The beauty of producing lots of articles is that they can be used to build a profitable online business. You can use them for creating ecourses, videos, audios, teleseminars, membership sites and products such as ebooks and reports.

You are only limited by your imagination.

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Learn how to start and build a profitable online business with

Highly Effective Article Marketing Strategies

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of Affordable WebSite Design