Archive for the ‘Social Marketing’ Category

Niche marketing success, as all savvy online marketers know, requires several elements:

1)   You have to choose a profit-pulling target market;

2)   You need to know what keywords they’re using to find the solutions they’re after;

3)   And you need content to attract your audience to your offers for conversions.

But where is the best place for niche marketers to position this valuable, expertise-laden content?

Article marketing works.  Everyone agrees on that.  But then again, so does social marketing (done properly).  Everyone agrees on that too.

The argument about articles versus social networking sites has been brewing for quite some time.  Advocates of article directories say that social networks have too many restrictions or are too time consuming to learn how to use.

On the flip side, niche marketers who utilize the world of web 2.0 embrace the new platforms that help them build attractive web pages without having to learn complicated code.  And, they argue, article directories that perform best (such as Ezine Articles) also have limitations on how and where you can be promotional within the body of the content.

Fortunately, marketing is not a one-or-the-other thing.  But, if your goal is imply to use one or the other, your best bet is to do a split test of the two. 

Your best bet is to do a split test of the two, if your goal is to simply use one or the other.  

Split testing is when you’ll take similar content (same keywords targeted, same length, for example), and post to one article directory and one web 2.0 site, tracking the results of traffic and conversions. Then when you have a winner, you alter one element – such as testing out a different directory or social network – and pit it against the former winner until you know which site(s) perform best for your niche marketing needs.

Successful niche marketers like to have a good balance of articles on directories and web pages built on social networking sites.  The choice is yours!