How to Start a Business on the Internet: 5 Article Marketing Mistakes That Are Bogging You Down

Yes, its cliche, but content will always remain king on the Internet. The primary reason why Internet users go online and bump into your website is because they’re looking for information. What better way to give them what they want, than to write articles on a certain subject matter that would be of interest to them and then publish them.

It’s unfortunate that though many understand the importance of article marketing, they fail to implement it properly. Thus, they’re not just losing traffic, but they’re also draining their money and resources.

To avoid these, take note of the common article marketing mistakes and avoid them yourself:

1. You copy the same content across several websites. A lot of article marketers just upload the same article into their different websites. This isn’t really considered unethical since it’s your own work. However, you may get flak from Google for duplicate content. Writing copies definitely takes time, and if you don’t have the patience or the time, it’s better to hire a writer who charges per hour or per copy.

2. You only depend on article mills. You have a lot of avenues for article marketing and there’s no reason for you to use article mills all the time. Besides, poor ones have already been demoted and flagged by Google. Some great examples of article marketing strategies are e-books, reports, courses, case studies, and even blogs.

3. You don’t proofread your work. You’re not expected to have flawless writing skills, especially if you’re not selling yourself as a writer. However, it’s important that your articles are well polished. Too many grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors reduce the effectiveness of your copies as well as your credibility.

4. You don’t make the most out of your resource box. The author box or the resource box is one of the best places to promote your website as you’re free to include your link as well as add keywords. But a number don’t know how to maximize it. They forget to add their own name and their designation. They don’t properly describe what the website or the product is all about. If there’s one place you can pitch like a pro salesperson, this will be it.

5. You don’t believe in creating relevant content. Don’t feel so satisfied just because you’ve created articles. The most important thing is the content. Is the content really relevant to your niche? Is it useful to your readers? Does it add value to your business? Unless you answer yes to all of these questions, your articles will miss the mark and will be rendered ineffective.

How to Start an Internet Business: What Is Google Analytics?

One of the greatest challenges in any online business is how to translate traffic and even clicks into actionable information. Unless you’re using a very costly application, you won’t have any data on what pages your Internet users are visiting, how long they spend on the page, how often they visit your website, or even how to increase your traffic, isn’t that impressive?

These, however, are things of the past. Today you already have Google Analytics. This is a code you embed on your webpage to monitor and translate kicks into useful information. It’s been used by thousands of business owners, even the big ones, for the following reasons:

It is for free. A lot of people are surprised on how powerful the software is, despite the fact it doesn’t cost a single cent. All you have to do is to set up a Google account. If you already have a Gmail account, you can use that to sign in. Then you create a code and embed it in your webpage to collect data and report to you.

It is powered by Google. One of the greatest strengths of Google is its security. So far, we haven’t heard of any news about information breach. Moreover, it’s a company that seeks to improve its products every time. You cannot expect Google Analytics to be 100 percent perfect, but you can be sure major issues are addressed and fixed.

You can properly track your revenue. If you don’t want to waste money on stock management systems, then you’re better off with Google Analytics. The software has the ability to track all types of orders, online and offline. You can also organize your revenues by channels, categories, and keywords. Best of all, you can determine your conversion rate by comparing your purchases to unique website visits. The software also generates the bounce rate, which is a percentage of people leaving the website immediately.

You can generate sales reports. Google Analytics makes sure you’re always in the loop with the status of your online business. And if you don’t have the time to take a look at your stats online, you could simply generate sales reports and print them out.

You can spot errors and change them before they cause a huge damage. If your website is not driving enough traffic, the culprit may be broken or inactive links. Google Analytics can be used to determine what these links are, so you can immediately fix them.