3 Ways to Craft Great Article Titles to Build Your Online Business

If you are trying to build your online presence, article marketing is an excellent way to drive targeted traffic to your site. When done correctly, submitting articles to various article directories will raise interest for your products and help you generate leads that will be hungry for what you are selling.

If you've spent some time browsing the article directories, though, you've probably noticed that there are thousands of articles competing for the same clients in nearly every product niche. Your goal is to write articles that stand out in the crowd, so you can build your client list.

The best way to make sure that people read an article is to craft an effective title. Your title is the gateway to a loyal reader base that will follow through to your website, so they can become loyal customers.

So how do you write an effective article title?

A great title will do three things:

1. It will make it clear to your readers what your article is about. Article titles that are vague or misleading won't help your business. People will click on the title, see that your article isn't what they are looking for, and hastily click the "back" button to find another article.
2. It will promise a specific benefit to the reader. People are looking for solutions -- that's why they are searching article directories in the first place. Tell your readers what they will gain from reading your article.
3. It will compel your readers to click on your article title and read your content. Your readers should know that when they read your article, they will be making good use of their time.

Let's look at each of these elements a little more closely.

Making it clear to your readers what your article is about

Your title should convey the topic of your article as specifically as possible. If your article is about finding ways to save money on health insurance, for example, A vague title like "The Truth About Insurance" isn't going to get many people to read your content. Potential readers will ask themselves:

• What "truths" are there to know about insurance?
• What kind(s) of insurance is this person talking about?
• Do I really care about the "truth about insurance"?

Be specific, so readers will find exactly what they are looking for when they click on your article.

Promising a specific benefit to your readers

After you have nailed down exactly what your article is about, you should consider what benefit your readers will realize by reading your article. It should help them in some way -- financially, professionally, emotionally, etc. It should also naturally lead to the content of the article.

Using the health insurance example, here are a few titles that promise a benefit to the readers:

"10 Ways to Save Money on Health Insurance"

"You Can Save Hundreds on Health Insurance with This Simple Step"

"Cut Your Health Insurance Bill in Half in Just 15 Minutes"

See the promised benefits? The payoff for the readers is that they will learn "10 ways to save money on health insurance", "how to save hundreds on health insurance with a simple step", or "how to save half on health insurance in 15 minutes".

Note: Your article should always follow through on these promises. If the reader gets to the end of the article and hasn't realized the promised benefit, there's no way he or she is going to visit your website for more information.

Compelling people to read your article

Aside from specifying the content of your article and promising a benefit, your title should give your potential readers the impression that your article is worth their time. It has to be well-written, gramatically correct, and free of overblown language.

Don't use abbreviations or "netspeak" in your titles. Don't use excessive punctuation or other non-alphanumeric characters. Your title should be simple, direct, and to the point.

Also, trying to lure readers with unreasonable claims, such as "You Can Get Health Insurance for Free Right Now!" will turn off potential readers. Internet users look at every claim with a discerning eye, and can spot a hyped-up promise right away.

Use these tips when crafting your article titles, and you will notice an increase in readership and conversions.

In a future post, I will tell you about 4 elements of your article content that will help you drive readers to your website, so you can start making more sales.

I wish each of you a happy and prosperous New Year!

Lee Rowley

Java Joint Media

www.javajointmedia.com

Should You Add Video to Your Website?

I'm always looking for feedback -- positive or negative, about our website, http://www.javajointmedia.com/. I've been fortunate to have received numerous suggestions since the site launched about a month ago, and I've used some of these suggestions to greatly improve the site.

One criticism that I hear over and over again, though, it that the website needs video.

In fact, I heard it enough times that I finally emerged from the stone age and bought a digital video camera. Nothing fancy, just a little Panasonic with too many buttons for my taste, and a battery that knows to run out of power at the exact moment that something worthwhile is happening.

After I spent a couple of hours reading the instruction manual, and after my four-year-old showed me how to get the danged thing to record (preschoolers are great sources of technical wizardry, if only because they tend not to overcomplicate things), I sat down to plan. I'm going to put this great video on our website, I thought, and that will really keep my visitors glued to the site!

People love video, so I'm told. New internet marketing wisdom dictates that the greatest way to promote yourself or your business is to put video on your site. It's Web 2.0.

So I thought about our business, and spent a fair amount of time trying to think of what I could put in the video to add value to the Java Joint Media site.

I could stand in my office and tell you about how my team can help your business grow. I could talk about our services, give examples of how we've helped other businesses succeed, and maybe even throw in a few testimonials from our clients.

But all of that is already on our website in text form. Would you really want to watch some lanky bald guy in a suit stand there and tell you everything you could read for yourself?

I suppose I could get really creative and edit in some screenshots, snippets of Carla or I tapping away on a laptop, or some other Madison Avenue trick to make our homepage look like an infomercial. But again, what would that really add to a visitor's experience?

Now, I'm not denouncing web video altogether. There are many situations where video is indeed useful. Depending on the nature of your business, you can use it to tap into a person's logic or emotions, which will help you increase conversions.

If I were selling software, video would be great for helping visitors make a logical decision -- the decision to buy the software based on how it performs. I could use it to show how the software works, what the control panel looks like, and what kinds of results you could get by using it. Offering video footage of the software at work might make the difference between "I'll buy it" and "I'll think about it", because no one wants to buy software that is hard to navigate, or doesn't produce the intended results.

Now, if I were selling espresso makers, I'd use video to tap into visitors' emotions. I'd want my visitors to hear the sound of the espresso being made, and see the steam rolling out of a pristine white cup as the espresso is placed on a white tablecloth. If you love coffee, you know how those things can make you want a great cup'o'joe. If you don't, well, you probably wouldn't be shopping for an espresso maker anyway.

Video can be a great addition to your website if it serves the purpose of connecting with your visitors, either logically or emotionally. But don't just put video in your site because it's the current big thing in internet marketing. There's plenty of gratuitous video out there taking up bandwidth, when a paragraph or two of text would have served the same purpose. Conversely, there's plenty of hard-working, high conversion sites out there that don't contain a single second of video footage.

Before you spend the time and money on web video, make sure it adds value to your site. If it doesn't educate, entertain, or emotionally move your visitors in a way that text and images can't... then you probably don't really need it.

As for Java Joint Media, I couldn't think of a single good reason to add video. I guess we're going to stay Web 1.0 (or something like that) for now. I'll use my video camera to record my daughter's Disney trip next month instead.

Now, if Web 3.0 gives us the ability to add not only video, but smell as well... I may just get into the espresso maker selling business.

To Your Success,

Lee Rowley

Java Joint Media

Divide (your free products) and Conquer!

I've read several blog posts and discussions on offering free products to your website visitors recently, and it seems the consensus is that free products are the price you pay for getting a visitor's contact information.

It makes sense... I'm not likely to give someone my email address unless I'm going to get something out of it.

Usually, the free products are a one-shot deal - a video, a PDF report, or something else that I see once, and then forget about. It's not that the products are always of poor quality (although they sometimes certainly are); but rather that I have a hundred other things competing for my attention at any given moment.

For this reason, I prefer multi-part free products, such as email mini courses or video courses. These products give you the chance to get in front of your potential clients several times, instead of just once.

For example, I wrote "Six Secrets of Sizzling Sales Copy", available on the Java Joint Media home page, appropriately enough, as a six-part course, distributed every two days. I picked out the best tips for crafting sales copy that captures visitors' attention and leads them to the sale, so I know when someone subscribes to the email course, they're going to read every single part.

Subscribers get a wealth of great information on using sales copy to increase their income, and I get six opportunities to remind them of the products and services Java Joint Media provides.

Studies show it takes seven contacts to convince a reader to buy. Shouldn't your free products help you make more of these contacts?

If you're going to offer free products to build your email list, you can get the most out of these products by dividing them into several parts. This technique will help you build sales, instead of just an email list.

The Lonely Road of Internet Marketing

Internet marketing can sometimes feel like a very lonely venture.

You've probably felt the frustration -- you're in the middle of writing yet another blog post or an article you plan to submit to a directory, when suddenly, it hits you. You stop writing for a moment, and wonder, "Why am I even bothering with this? No one is reading what I have to say anyway."

This is the curse of new internet marketers who have not yet had the chance to see their efforts come to fruition. Unfortunately, this is when many people give up, leaving their dreams to stagnate with a handful of blog posts and a couple of poorly distributed articles.

Perhaps you are at this point right now.

It is important, however, to understand that solid internet marketing takes time. If you have recently launched a website that you are trying to promote, your first few months may be spent writing to no one but the search engine spiders, wondering when and if the traffic will come.

During this time, you may have to convince yourself that you are writing to an audience of thousands, and that you are just one post away from enormous success. If this is what it takes to make that next blog post or that next article happen, by all means, do it.

The traffic will come. If you have a solid product, and you are using every resource you can get your hands on to learn how to refine your internet marketing techniques, the traffic has no other choice.

Can you imagine what it will feel like when you receive an email that tells you that you've just made your first sale? If you haven't imagined it, stop and do it right now. That sale will come, followed by many others, and you'll get to see all of your efforts finally paying off.

Write one more article. Compose one more blog post. Make one more comment on someone else's blog. You never know where that first sale will come from, and the catalyst for that sale may well be hidden in your next action. You just have to make sure that you do take that action.

The weeks or months of writing to no one are not pointless or a waste of time. They are periods when your business is building energy so it can take off. Even if no one is commenting on your blog or downloading your articles, this content is still fuel for your business.

Any successful marketer has been there, probably many times. The difference between successful marketers and the rest is that successful marketers always take that next step.

To Your Success,

Lee Rowley
Java Joint Media
http://www.javajointmedia.com/

Are Squeeze Pages a Bad Idea?

I received an email this morning from a client that asked whether or not she should use squeeze pages as part of her list building strategy. Since this is a question I receive quite often, I decided to share my thoughts on squeeze pages with our readers.

In case you aren't familiar with this marketing tool, squeeze pages are dedicated pages (and often, a dedicated website) that uses long copy to entice readers to subscribe to the owner's email marketing list. Squeeze pages usually have few or no outbound links, to minimize the reader's temptation to click away from the page.

Squeeze pages also often use incentives, such as free reports, email mini-courses, or web-based tools, to get visitors to give up their email addresses.

I can't really discount the value of squeeze pages -- a number of internet marketers are very successful with squeeze pages, and have built impressive marketing lists by promoting them along with their full websites and other marketing tools.

Squeeze pages have a few distinct advantages. First, they are fairly easy to build. If you use dedicated URLs for your squeeze pages, you won't have to worry about checking your links or making sure that multiple pages compliment each other visually. You can use a website creation tool such as PageBreeze to easily create squeeze pages in just a couple of hours each.

Second, squeeze pages are easy to optimize because of the long copy style and the level of description you will need to use to convince visitors to opt in to your email marketing list. Once you have selected your keywords, you can quickly write copy for your squeeze pages around your keywords, without having to check the keyword density for multiple pages.

Third, squeeze pages allow you to easily segment different product groups you may have available on your main website. You can use squeeze pages to put your visitors in the correct mindframe to be receptive to product offers, and once they have subscribed to your list, you can use email marketing efforts to further entice your prospects to buy certain products. Once they have decided to buy, you can redirect them to the correct page on your main website. After the sale, you can introduce them to other products on your website, or direct them to new squeeze pages to promote other products.

My one reservation about squeeze pages is that many marketers load them with content similar to strong sales copy. When I land on squeeze pages and see long, drawn-out copy loaded with Impact font headings, bullet points, and testimonial boxes, I find the benefits (the free products) as quickly as I can. If I can't find them right away, I find something else to do. I don't have time to read tomes of website content lauding some free product that may or may not be worth reading.

Maybe I've just seen so many squeeze pages that they're beginning to lose their effectiveness. I know I'm not alone in losing my patience with squeeze pages -- I'm hearing from more and more internet users that are starting to groan every time they see one.

As effective as squeeze pages have been for internet marketers, I have to wonder if more and more people are going to burn out on squeeze pages over the next few years. If that happens, marketers will need to quickly drum up some other way of building opt in lists.

My short answer is that I don't see anything wrong with squeeze pages right now, but I'm not sure they're a good long term strategy. While squeeze pages are not jet on their collective deathbed, I'm cautious about relying on them as a permanent marketing tool.

To Your Success,

Lee Rowley
Java Joint Media
www.javajointmedia.com

"Six Secrets of Sizzling Sales Copy" is ready!

I mentioned a few days ago that we would soon be offering a free sales copywriting email course on our site.

It's here, a whole two days early!

"Six Secrets of Sizzling Sales Copy" gets to the bottom of what it takes to put your visitors in the right frame of mind to buy your products. Use these secrets in your sales copywriting, and you will see your conversion ratios increase dramatically.

And you won't pay a single penny for it. Not ever.

In fact, feel free to forward the email course to your friends and business associates. We don't mind. All we ask is that you leave our text and website links intact. After all, even though we're not charging for this information, we did put quite a bit of time into making sure we included only the best and most useful tips. We wanted to make sure that if you are willing to trust us with your email address (and don't worry, we won't share it with anyone), you should get information that has real value.

While we're on the subject of value... you know how some internet marketers give you something for free, and then tell you it has a value of $XXX, to make it look like other people really pay hundreds of dollars to obtain what you're getting for free?

Frankly, I don't have any idea how much "Six Secrets of Sizzling Sales Copy" is worth to you. We've never sold it, and we're not planning to. If you put the tips and techniques to work in your sales copy (or hire us to do it for you), it might be worth tens of thousands of dollars -- maybe more. If you casually read the email course and decide to go get a beer and a cheeseburger instead, it might be worth nothing at all. That sounds harsh, but it's the cold truth. You decide the value by what you choose to do with the information.

However much money it makes you, it's yours for the taking.

If you're ready to take your business to the next level... to stop wondering why your visitors are browsing but not buying... to start seeing sales pour in while you're out with the family, golfing, or taking a long afternoon nap... then I invite you to take advantage of this offer.

Visit the Java Joint Media home page to get started learning the "Six Secrets of Sizzling Sales Copy" right away!

To Your Success,

Lee Rowley
Java Joint Media
http://www.javajointmedia.com/

The Tao of Email Marketing

The sale that can be experienced is not the true sale,
The pitch that can be perceived is not real.
Without selling, the sale can be experienced,
Without the pitch, the profits can be known.

I’ll admit it – I’m a sucker for opt-in forms. As a copywriter and an internet marketer, I can’t resist the opportunity to learn more about internet marketing. So every time I run across a website that offers an email course or a free report, I can’t help but give up my email address.

Sadly, I almost always end up regretting it.

Why? Because most of the emails I get are non-stop sales pitches that are thinly veiled with useless information. Many marketers assume that once you’re on the list, you’re a sale that just hasn’t clicked the “Order Now” button yet. A sheep that just needs to be herded into the pen, and quickly shorn.

It doesn’t take long for me to unsubscribe from these marketers’ lists. Sometimes I keep the emails as examples of bad internet marketing, but once I’ve gotten two or three emails packed with hyperbole and affiliate links, I’ve seen all I need to see.

If I subscribe to an opt-in list, I want to see good, useful content. I want tips and techniques that I can use to make my own business more successful. I want to read an email and say, “Man, I’m glad I didn’t miss this!”

Of course, you don’t build an email list without the intent to sell something to your subscribers. That’s just business – without money coming in the door, there’s no reason to give up your evenings and weekends creating content for your readers. There are plenty of other people around to do that.

Therein lies the paradox of email marketing. You have to have sales to stay in business, but pushing for the sale isn’t going to get you where you want to be. People can smell a sales pitch instantly, and when they see an obvious pitch, the walls of resistance go up.

Like the Tao, successful internet marketing is not what it seems.

In order to build a successful email marketing campaign, you simply cannot turn every email into a sales pitch. In fact, only one out of every three or four emails you send out should be about a product you’re selling.

Your other emails should be about building trust and loyalty, and about establishing yourself as an expert in your field. Give your subscribers solid, useful information – not just vague theory, but real tips that they can start using today to improve their lives.

Ask yourself, “Would I pay for this information, if I were in my subscribers’ shoes?” If the answer is “yes”, give it away in your emails. Don’t worry– you’re not going to run out of useful information. You could write an entire library of content about any topic imaginable. Some of it, you will sell; the rest, you should give away to make subscribers want to buy your products.

Give away useful information, enrich your readers’ lives, and you will build loyalty and trust that will significantly increase your sales figures.

To Your Success,

Lee Rowley
Java Joint Media
http://www.javajointmedia.com/