If your business is selling information products to stay-at-home moms who want to start their own at-home business, then you want to write articles that demonstrate your expertise in that area and give them something of value to the reader. When those readers get to your resource box at the end of your article, they’ll click on the link expecting more of the same great content. Writing articles for dog lovers, for instance, when your target market is aspiring work-at-home moms just doesn’t make sense.

The best explanation I've ever heard of this was by Jimmy D. Brown who coined the term “useful but incomplete”.  What he meant was that your articles should be “useful” to your target audience, but “incomplete” in that they should lead the reader hungrily to seek more information from you. They'll turn to your resource box in search of more.

Quality is also a key ingredient to successful articles. While anyone can throw together a few sentences, combine a few paragraphs, paste on a resource box and call it an article, this slap-dash method is not likely to produce the results you desire. Quite simply, quality content is the key for any kind of success in article marketing.

Online article directories are filled with articles written by non-native language writers who don’t understand grammar or sentence structure, or by those who have simply copied what someone else wrote and plugged it into an article spinner without thought for the value of the finished article. Using such shoddy marketing methods will never help your article marketing efforts, and will likely brand you as unprofessional and harm your reputation as a business owner.

Most editors in search of content would rather find an expert on EzineArticles.com or LadyPens.com with 10 high-quality articles, than one with 500 junk articles. When editors and readers see junk articles, they assume that everything that person does is junk. Not a great way to build a business!

When you offer well-written, relevant content that helps your reader answer a question or gain new knowledge and understanding of a subject matter they're interested in, you'll establish yourself as an expert and advance your article marketing efforts and, ultimately, your business.

By writing articles on your areas of expertise and offering this content free of charge to online and offline publishers, you can:

-        spread the word to your target market

-        demonstrate your professional know-how & expertise, and

-        create a body of work that continues to "sell" you and your website long after the initial article creation

Other website owners, bloggers, and newsletter publishers are constantly looking for quality content to provide to their readers. You help them out by providing your well-written, targeted articles. In return they include a plug about you and your business, called the "author resource box," at the bottom of the piece. The resource box includes a link to your site. So, they get free content, and you get free publicity. It's a win-win!

You may be wondering if article marketing will work for your niche or industry. There are blogs and newsletters and ezines and websites on just about every topic under the sun, from accounting to Zoroastrianism.

Here's a short list of businesses that can benefit from article marketing:

-        Service providers.

-        Bloggers.

-        Affiliate marketers.

-        Ebook Authors.

-        Infoproduct sellers.

-        Online Store owners.

-        Coaches and consultants.

-        Realtors.

-        Podcasters.

-        Membership site owners.

-        Authors.

-        Speakers.

-        Network marketers.

In short, if you're selling something or trying to drive traffic to your website or blog, article marketing is for you. It's one of the most efficient ways to attract targeted visitors, to build trust among your readers, and to gain new customers or clients.

Here are some broad examples:

• Bloggers can use article marketing to attract readers to their blogs and increase their subscriber base.

• Webmasters can use article marketing to create valuable backlinks, and increase website traffic.

• Writers can use article marketing to exhibit their writing skills, educate readers, and attract clients.

• Hairstylists can use article marketing to share hair care tips, showcase their expertise, and attract business to their salons.

• Dog trainers can use article marketing to share dog training lessons, and inform the public about the needs at a local shelter.

Whatever your passion, article marketing can benefit you and your business. When used correctly, it can successfully attract targeted traffic to your website or blog, grow your mailing list, help you become an expert in your field, build trust with your readers, make your website more popular, spread your name and website across the Web, add backlinks to your site, allow you to "advertise" free, brand yourself and your business, and generate sales.

As you can see, the benefits of article marketing are numerous.

And, it starts with just one article.

Here's what you need to keep in mind when hiring a freelancer for your video marketing:

-        Know What You Need: If you don't know what you need from your assistant or your marketing, how can you expect anyone else to know? If you can describe exactly what you need from your assistant then you will have a great chance for getting just that back from them when the project is completed.

-        Check Their Video Portfolio: Check the abilities of the person you're considering hiring to see if their style suits your needs. Ask for references – and check them!

-        Prepare Materials and Logins: If there are specific materials and login information your assistant will need, it will save you a lot of time if you prepare everything ahead of time. If your assistant needs to email you every time they need something, you'll hold up the process while they wait for you to respond.

-        Find Reference Examples: Locate a few videos with the look and feel you like and forward those to your assistant. This will help your assistant make sure they're clear about what you're looking for.

-        Ask For Referrals: Asking for referrals is a great way to find qualified contractors. If you see a video online that you particularly like, contact the site owner to ask who created it. You'll know what kind of quality you'll be getting when you hire this way.

-        Be Open to Suggestions: Your contractor is an expert, so be open to suggestions from him or her. Explain your high-level goals, and then let them do their stuff.

Having a great team member or even a full team to handle your videos can be a real load off your mind.  Just remember that successful outsourcing requires a careful blend of preparation and clarity on your goals, and willingness to let go and let the experts take over. Once you hit that sweet spot, you can cross one more thing off your To-Do list.

A call to action can take many different forms. Do you want the viewer to click on a link, click the “buy now” button, watch another video, or take some other step? Know what you want from your viewer before you even create your video so everything you do points to that desired end result.

Some people believe that if you push your message on your audience, they will resist any kind of “sell”  and turn away. While you want to avoid the used car salesman approach, remember that when you have the solution to your audience's problems, you're doing them a favor by sharing it with them.

Your call to action can take many forms. Here are some examples:

-         Click here to download your free report on X.

-         Click here to visit X and sign up now for more information!

-         Enter your name and email below to sign up for the free teleseminar now.

-         Fill out the form below to request your free consultation.

-         Enter your information below to apply for this special program.

The logistics of creating a call to action within in a video will vary depending on the type of video you use, the location of the video and the rules of the site where you are hosting your video. Here are some ideas:

Mention in Video – You can include a call to action within the video itself. Create the video to capture the attention of your audience, give them the information they need and then tell them what action to take next.

Text on Video – Another way to tell your viewers what move to make after the video is to add it across the screen of the video. This text can be a link to your website or an explanation of any other action you'd like them to take.

Clickable Video – By using 'Flash' software or YouTube's video tools, you can create video that, when clicked on, can link the viewer to the desired page.

Video Descriptions – You can add a call to action within your video descriptions. If you have uploaded a video to a hosting site, check the rules as to how you can link to your site and how promotional your videos and descriptions can be.

The most important part of your call to action is ensuring it fits with what your audience needs. When the call to action matches the exact needs of your audience, taking your recommended next step will be a natural next step for your viewers.

Creating effective, engaging videos may take you time and practice, especially if you don't feel particularly at ease in front of the camera. These tips can help you on your way to effective video marketing:

Engaging Video Tip #1: Know Your Market

Your target market has similar interests, issues and problems. By knowing, understanding and listening to your target market, you're automatically speaking in their language and appealing to their interests. That makes you engaging!

Engaging Video Tip #2: Keep Your Energy High

If someone is an energetic, charismatic speaker, they could read the phone book aloud and make it sound good. People respond to excitement, so make sure yours is high. You don't want to over-hype it, but imagine you're talking to a group of kindergarteners and have to work extra-hard to keep their attention. Our ears are trained to pick up on change, so give your voice inflection and enthusiasm, varying its pitch and loudness.

Engaging Video Tip #3: Using Effects

Our eyes are drawn to bright colors, beautiful images and motion. See how you can incorporate these elements in your intro and closing. Watch a few videos on Youtube.com to see what captures your attention, and model what works for you.

Engaging Video Tip #4: Eye Contact

One of the most important aspects of person-to-person presentation is eye contact. Talk to the camera like it's a person, a valuable potential client or a friend. Be natural, be real and be yourself. Again, this may take some practice but you'll get it. When you get good at making eye contact you will be well on your way to establishing valuable relationships with your potential audience.

Engaging Video Tip #5: Prepare

You might be one of those rare people with the gift of gab, shooting off a polished presentation with no preparation. If you are, great. If not, then you'll need to prepare to make sure you say what you want to say in your video and get you key messages across. Don't forget to include your call to action so your audience knows exactly what to do after they've finished watching the video.

Creating an engaging video takes work. However, it's well worth the effort as your video will be working for you twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for many, many years to come.

1. Testimonials – Ask your customers or clients to give you quick 1-minute videos of their feedback. You can also interview them about your business for a more structured testimonial.
2. Product Demos – One of the biggest drawbacks to buying online is that you can't actually test the product. Bypass that objection and demonstrate your product on video to help increase sales.
3. Case Studies – If you're involved in some kind of before-and-after (website design, fitness, SEO, etc.) case studies are an excellent way to demonstrate your expertise. Seeing an example helps the potential customer understand exactly what impact your service or product can have on their business.
4. Product Reviews – Video brings an added element to product reviews, particularly if you're reviewing a physical product. But hearing you talk about a book or piece of software is effective too.
5. Education – Use video to educate your market on the use of your products. Lead them towards the sale by answering their most frequently asked questions and objections.
6. Entertainment – People love to be entertained! If you can entertain in your video and combine that with a call to action, you'll have a winning combination.
7. Webinars – If you provide webinars or other video presentations to your market, capture them via video and offer a replay to generate leads or even sell as a product.
8. Commercial – Done correctly (meaning compelling with a clear call to action), commercials for your product or service can be very effective.
9. Business Overview – One of the first things many people look for is who they are buying from and what they stand for. Let your potential customers learn about you and your business through a business overview.

As you can see from the list above, there are many ways to use video to promote your business. Just creating video is not the only step to effective marketing. You must craft a video that responds to the wants and needs of your market. They are looking for solutions to problems and questions. It's your job to figure out how to use a video to solve issues, answer questions, provide the right solutions and lead them to the next step.

1. Personal Connection – Especially for internet based businesses, the personal connection with your potential market is a huge selling factor. With video, your audience can truly get to know you, eye-to-eye. They get to see that you are indeed a real, live person. They start building a deeper relationship with you and feel as if they actually have met you.
2. Social proof – There's an old proverb: “Believe nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see.” On the internet it's so easy to be a fake and a fraud. People are skeptical about claims they read online, and rightfully so. But video puts a face to your words and makes you more believable and trustworthy.
3. Traffic – People are watching 2 BILLION videos per day on YouTube alone! That's a whole lot of traffic you're missing if you're not marketing yourself with video. It's free and easy to add your video to a large number of the video sites available online.
4. Emotional Influence – The classic horror movie is a great example of how the audio has an emotional effect on us. The creepy music comes in, immediately cluing you in that something bad is about to happen. Now, imagine combining that audio with powerful video cues to influence the emotions of the listener and create a much more compelling message than with just text alone.
5. Portability – Maybe even more so then articles and ebooks, video is portable. iPhones, Smartphones, iPads and all kinds of other devices allow video to be seen on the go. You can also allow people to download video easily so they can view it over and over again.
6. Demonstrations – Reviews, case studies and examples are great ways to sell products and services. It's the reason why infomercials make millions of dollars. Now there's no need for you to be as annoying as the Sham-Wow guy to make money with video; you just need to create videos that show and tell your potential customers why your product will be helpful for them.
7. Engagement – There are many reports available online to show that video boosts response and conversion rates. When someone is watching a video, you have their full attention – eyes and ears. Unlike with the written word, they're not likely skip ahead or gloss over important information. Most people will watch a video from beginning to end, allowing you to clearly create a message and call to action that engages your audience.

Overall, video is an effective marketing strategy that is only growing in popularity. Since video is here to stay, it's time to check out the options and see how quick and easy video marketing can be.

The tendency is to think about the exciting things you learned and the people you met – for a while. After a week, you seem to lose your enthusiasm and settle back into life before the event. That is the last thing you want to do especially where your business is concerned.

Now, is the time to cement that lasting impression that you believe you made on the people you met at the seminar. Don’t let a moment go by, from the time you get home, that you are not harnessing the power of that meeting. Besides you know yourself that out of sight truly does mean out of mind if there is no contact for a while.

Here are a few tips to help you get the ball rolling on that pocket full of business cards, that camera full of pictures and that briefcase (or tote) full of helpful handouts and resources.

1. Create a new plan. Now that your head is swimming with ideas, take out that handy notebook and look at what you’ve jotted down. If you have been putting off an affiliate program for one reason or another, this may be the perfect time to get going. Find out a new way to streamline your shopping cart or optimize your website? Flesh out a plan to get the ball rolling right now.
2. Email your new colleagues. Each business card in your hand should contain the website and email address of the one who handed it to you. Contact each person individually and tell them what a great time you had meeting them. To give them a mental picture of you, include your picture at the end of the email. Recalling one tidbit from your conversation with them will help jog their memory and build stronger connection.
3. Get involved in online social networking. Find your new peeps on all the social networks: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn. Invite them to be friends or followers (depending on the site) so you can keep in close contact.
4. Blog about the experience. Get your readers interested in the event happenings. Share your experiences and any new business takeaway advice you received.
5. Develop new products. Talk about leveraging! You can turn that one seminar presentation into a wealth of digital products. Create an e-course on your topic. Use the handouts as filler for your monthly newsletter, content for your site or new topics for video media. Those brainstorming techniques you developed at the event will come in handy now.

What did you learn at your last live event? Did you do anything with the knowledge? Hopefully you did. If not, use these five tips to reawaken the enthusiasm and create new action items.

There is nothing like attending a live event for the first time – unless you are presenting for the first time. Standing in front of all of those people has great advantages so in case your nerves are about to get the best of you, here’s a reminder of why you decided to do this.

Now, you are going to take part in a live event where you will actually stand face-to-face with those who have heard you on podcasts or read you on the Internet. It can be nerve-wracking as well as exhilarating.

Take a deep breath and get ready. You want to shine and the only way to do that is to prepare.

1.  Know the main focus of the event. Share with the group in the session your knowledge and expertise based on what the event is trying to highlight. If it is geared towards a niche then feel free to discuss how you got into your niche, what marketing techniques you use and new ways to expand the niche.
2. Know the other presenters. Some of them may be sitting in your audience. If they are more seasoned than you, prepare a few questions for them about how they stay calm and at ease before a presentation.
3. Practice a lot. There is no substitute for this one. The way to avoid those dead silent moments when it seems that all your thoughts fly away is to get up and go over your speech many times. This is also how you prepare to deliver well-timed jokes. The more practice you get in, the more comfortable you will feel going off script when the inspiration hits you.
4. Have materials in place. The audience will want handouts. Prepare something eye-catching as well as informative for them to read and hang on to. You can create a packet of material including your business card and other pertinent information about how to reach you. Don’t forget to place a sign-up sheet at the door so you can contact them later.
5. Present your products. Bring along some freebies and priced products so that as soon as the presentation is over, they can get everything they need right away.

When you take center stage, make sure you TAKE CENTER STAGE. Use your presentation as a platform for gaining new business partners, new customers and more sales.

Live events have so many opportunities, that you almost have to be wearing track shoes to get around to taking advantage of them all. One plus in particular is learning new business techniques. There is not a single person (and that applies to gurus as well) who couldn’t stand to learn a thing or two. In fact, they will probably be the first ones in line.

The person who has stopped learning has also stopped growing. The only limits that are placed on your business are self-imposed. The Internet is a wealth of knowledge for the one who can access it, but did you ever stop to think where that knowledge was received?

At least some of it was gained at live business events. Here, you are exposed not only to people who can expand on marketing techniques that you currently utilize, but also individuals who have found new ways to harness business power.

Stop and think for a moment. Those who host these events are looking for the best and the brightest to entice you to come. These people prove time and time again that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to business.

In case you didn’t know or haven’t thought about it in a while, here are a few things you can take part in and learn from at live events:

1. Brainstorming sessions – Imagine the energy in the room when hundreds of entrepreneurs get together at tables to discuss new ways to improve each others’ businesses? Be sure to take copious notes to refer to later and get the names of everyone at the table.
2. Visit the vendor area – This is an opportunity for businesses to highlight their products and services. You can learn about new programs computer programs, business software and get to demo items right there on site.
3. Keep all materials given to you – Within the pages of those handouts are vital information. Speakers may lay out for you how they go about promoting new products, implement new programs and techniques and list online resources for you. You may want to bring a tote bag or a briefcase to hold everything you will get so it is easier to reference later.

Attend live events with an open mind. Be ready to expect the unexpected and get immersed into business techniques you haven’t tried before.