Marketing With Blogs and RSS

This review is a little different from my usual fare, in that I'm not reviewing a particular software product, but rather discussing a general marketing technique that you need to know about.

In case you haven't heard, blogs and RSS feeds are cropping up like wild fire. In the past year or so, internet marketers have begun to understand the substantial marketing power behind blogging and publishing RSS feeds.

Still, only a small percentage of marketers are taking advantage of these new advertising, sales, and traffic mediums. That gives you the chance to be "in on the ground floor" of something that promises to be huge over the next couple of years.

You already know what a blog is, or you wouldn't be reading this. But do you realize the marketing potential you get with a blog? My blog is actually a good example.

I provide software reviews. I've bought and used the product. I tell you what I liked and didn't like about it. You get useful, informative, valuable content and information. You also get a link to a page where you can learn more about the product, and/or purchase it. Of course, those are my affiliate links.

Not only do I get the benefit of the ability to "deep link" one of the pages within one of my sites, I get traffic and a boost in the search engine rankings as a result. I also get some affiliate sales now and then.

It costs me nothing but my time to post this blog, and look at the benefits. Actually, the ones I've mentioned barely scratch the surface. There's also an RSS feed with this blog, so I can list one or the other in hundreds of directories.

People who sign up for my RSS feed get instant notification every time I update the blog. They can read the new post, or part of it, right on the feed. Again, I'm barely scratching the surface in telling you just one of the many, many marketing benefits of having an RSS feed.

Want to learn more? You really should! I've just developed a new blogging guides web site that features the best available blogging guides, blogging advice, and books about RSS and its many uses.

You'll find anything you need there, from a beginners guide to blogging (written by yours truly), beginner to advanced RSS texts, and blogging tools and add-on software, to the most advanced blogging guides and blogging advice.

Come on over and visit the site. You will NOT regret learning about the marketing power of blogs and RSS. You owe it to yourself to learn this!

Publicize Your Newsletter or Articles : Ezine Announcer Reviewed

Recently, I started another online newsletter, and decided to give Ezine Announcer a try.

For those who don't know, this piece of software semi-automates the process of submitting your ezine or newsletter to various ezine directories and announcement sites.

It also does the same for articles that you wish to distribute, and helps to automate the process of submitting ezine advertising.

Many experts have pointed out that writing articles for distribution and posting them on the various article announcement sites is a great way to "brand" yourself, get free publicity, and get free links and traffic.

Ezine Announcer makes the job of submitting your articles a breeze. You can submit directly by email to ezine editors, or post your articles on the announcement sites, or both.

For everything this software does, the price is amazingly low. In addition to the software, you get several pdf and zip documents that will help you get started, free software to help you format your ezine articles, and several very clear step-by-step instructional videos.

Personally, I consider this tool a tremendous bargain, and expect to recoup the cost of my purchase through increased traffic, sales, and website exposure, in a short time.

I give it my highest recommedation as one of the most useful tools that I own.

Read my full review of Ezine Announcer

If you're interested in buying a copy, or trying the free limited-use demo, check out Ezine Announcer here.

Update on Search Engine Optimization Tools

Some time ago, I reviewed both IBP and WebPositionGold. Between the two, I have tended to prefer WPG, since the release of the new version in 2004. Before that, I preferred IBP.

Does it sound like I'm waffling? I guess I am, but that tells me that these two companies continue to challenge each other to improve their software.

Recently, I've been using Internet Business Promoter more and more again. The feature I find most useful is the submission tools. In a short time, you can automatically submit your site to all of the major search engines that will accept automated submissions.

Additionally, you can do a semi-automatic submission to a large number of other search engines.

I'm also especially fond of the Directory Submitter in IBP, as well as the Special Interest Site Submitter. These are two more tools that will help you get lots of incoming links to your sites, many of them without the need for reciprocation.

IBP continues to publicize the fact there is a new version coming in 2005, which will be free to any customer who purchases the current version. This new version promises to be an exciting new competitor, with many new features that are described on the IBP sales site.

IBP is certainly very clean and straight-forward in its interface, and very easy to learn and use. That was one of the reasons I always preferred it in the first place. I'm hoping that the new version, with all of the new features, will retain a simple interface.

Check out this great search engine optimization tool for yourself.