by: Melissa A Rosati

Content is the currency fueling the Internet. Yet, article banks,
repositories for authors to promote their content, are still the
Internet’s best-kept secret.
I learned about article banks through a casual chat at a networking
event. A few days later, I posted my first article, Five Secrets to
Winning Book Proposals. What happened next made me a true believer
in the marketing prowess of free content.

My website stats skyrocketed. In one day, I had 933 new visitors, 40
new newsletter subscribers and six client leads. The days and weeks
that followed provided more encouraging results.
Previously, my cat Harvey was my only loyal visitor. His motivation
for coming to the website was the heat generated from atop the
computer’s monitor that displayed my homepage—cute—but not a
business-building strategy. Articles provide a new level of
expertise, consistency and ubiquitous Internet coverage for any
business.

>From my experience, I found that placing an article in an article
bank is like dropping a pebble in a pond. The energy expands the
rings of influence. Five Secrets, now published in over 20 e-zines,
still produces client leads and the occasional fan letter.
If I can do it, you can, too. Here are several tips for getting
started with article banks.

With any marketing activity, you want to measure it effectiveness.
Web statistics are important. Contact your host provider about
receiving regular traffic reports. I suggest reviewing them on a
monthly basis.

I also think it is important to track where articles appear. I
suggest that your first step is to benchmark where you are today on
the Internet by setting a Google Alert for your name or the name of
your business. Every time your article is posted to a website by a
third-party, Google will send you the link via email. This is a
great way to track where you content appears on the web.

Step 1: Go to Google. On the search page, select MORE, this is
located directly above the search box in the right-hand corner.
Step 2: Under Google services, the first service listed is ALERTS.
It is marked by an alarm bell. Click ALERTS.

Step 3: You are now on the WELCOME TO GOOGLE ALERTS page. You can
create an alert using the form given on this page. Alternatively,
you can click the link MANAGE YOUR ACCOUNT that will allow you to
create a free account in order to set multiple alerts.
Step 4: Set-up a Google Alert for your name. Be sure to put your
name in quotation marks. (“Melissa Rosati”). Quotation marks
instruct Google to only pull references where these two words appear
together. Without the quotation marks, I would receive every generic
MELISSA listed on the Internet.

Step 5: Select NEWS AND WEB. This command specifies that Google will
search the eight billion pages on the web and will retrieve for you
all of the pages where your name appears. You may choose to have
Google report to you every day or once each week. Depending on your
current web presence, Google will send you your first alert within
one to two weeks. As your articles expand on the web, the alerts
will come more frequently.

Step 6: Do a search for “article banks.” You’ll find banks that are
free as well as sites that may offer promotion for a fee.
Personally, I stick with the free sites and find them to be
effective. Once you’ve selected an article bank, you may be able to
specify that your article appears in more than one section. For
example, Alumbo.com will allow you to choose up to 10 sections.
Every site will have its own submission guidelines. By accepting the
submission terms, you agree that e-zines, newsletters or other
content sites may reprint your article. Most article banks always
state that a third-party must produce the article in its entirety
and that your name and copyright notice must appear.

Each article bank expects that your submission will contain five key
elements.
Headline: Help the reader solve a problem. People go to article
banks to find a quick solution to a problem. Construct your headline
as a question or in tip form—Five Secrets to Winning Book Proposals,
for example.

Description: Make the article description one compelling sentence
that addresses the problem.
Article Body: This is your core message. Remember, net readers need
short paragraphs and short sentences. Reading is tough on the
screen. Think—short and white space.

Subtitles: Include key words related to your topic. This gives your
article more pizzazz with search engines.
Resource Box: By all means, highlight your expertise. Always say
something like “To learn more, visit…..” This is how you drive
traffic to your website.

Don’t let your cat be your only returning website visitor. When used
consistently, article banks give you terrific exposure in short
period on time and will keep working for you for months to come.


About The Author

Melissa A Rosati provides readers with her “Top 60 Article
Banks” on her website. She is a co-active coach. Her clients
are writers, artists and business visionaries. In addition to
her international publishing experience, she is a professor of
publishing at Pace University, New York City. To learn more
about her services, please visit her website at
http://www.melissarosati.com
 2005 Melissa A Rosati. All rights reserved.