Even though I’m a copywriter and often have to resort to writing it myself, I hate hype!

But one product you’re going to be hearing a LOT of hype about in the next few days is Jason Potash’s Article Announcer Marketing System.

Now, never having seen what the system looks like, I wouldn’t recommend that you drop everything and jump on it like its the greatest thing since sliced bread.

But I’ve been submitting articles manually for a long time and I can say this about manual submissions…

They SUCK!!

So you can understand when I say that I’d be ecstatic if someone created a software or system that took my articles and submitted them automatically for me.

But since I refuse to send out hypey mails, you’ll just have to check out the Article Announcer Marketing System for yourself.

Here’s what it contains:

• 21 step-by-step video tutorials on 2 CDs averaging about 10 minutes each (covering the everything from how to research article topics, outsourcing secrets, the submission process… right up to advanced level teachings about article sitemap creation and article search engine optimization).
• Almost 4 hours of audio instruction with special guest John Reese, that goes through dozens of the top questions about how to be wildly successful online by marketing your articles.
• A complete 105-page training guide, article swipe file, cheat sheet, quick start guide, and more.
• The powerful, ArticleAnnouncer submission software and 5 "must have" scripts to help you with every aspect of creating, optimizing and promoting your articles.

And if you need proof that article marketing works just check the sort of coverage I received with my articles below.

My articles published on:

WebProNews - a well-read newsletter for webmasters and internet business owners.

EzineArticles - a high-quality, high PageRank directory that gives me a PR7 link back every time I publish an article there.

To check the number of listings for my articles published on Google, I checked for the term “Copyright © Priya Shah” and found 40,600 listings!

That’s an approximation of the number of links pointing back to my websites because of my articles. And because I use more than one URL in each resource box, that means the actual number of links pointing back are enormous (at least by my standards).

Article marketing works - whether you want to publish a website, a blog, an ebook or just your own personal page. Use it and reap the rewards as I have.

Does writing articles and submitting them to ezines REALLY build traffic? Of course it does!

Article marketing has done even more for me personally than blogging has. It’s helped me gain exposure, get high-PR links back to my site, build my brand and credibility, increase my influence and more. Its truly the best marketing tool I have in my arsenal.

I’m such a firm believer in the power of writing articles, I even compiled a little ebook on it called Article Magic that you can download here or read online here

Here are some more resources for article marketing.

My own BIG list of places to submit your articles.

Jim Edwards co-authored a great manual that shows you how to get started writing articles.

If you don’t want to go through the trouble of writing your articles, the resources here will help you create or access content that you can pass off as your own.
InfoGoRound.com (IGR)
Viral Article Toolkit
How to Create Web Content FAST

Jason Potash’s new Article Announcer Article Marketing System will help you automate the tedious process of submitting your articles.

Tips for article submission

Always read the submission criteria before submitting your article.

Format your article to 60-65 characters/line when submitting to announcement lists or by email.

Some of the best editorial guidelines on writing, formatting and submitting articles came from Chris Knight who runs the high-quality EzineArticles directory.

Garrett French writes a blog on Article Marketing.

Increase Your Chances of Being Published by IdeaMarketers Staff

The Business Case for RSS
Wednesday, June 22, 2005, 8:30 p.m. ET - FREE
Guest Expert: Rok Hrastnik author of the “Unleash the Marketing Power of RSS”

E-mail marketing and publishing, search engine marketing and optimization, business blogging, internet advertising, digital public relations, branding, e-commerce and others ¦ all key elements of a strong marketing mix, and all can be powered by RSS.

Misunderstood by most marketers, overlooked by many end-users, it has the potential to power the entire internet marketing mix. It is not the solution to all of our problems, but it is the one tool that can have the most profound affect on our internet marketing and business results in 2005 and beyond. Find out more at the teleconference …

Rok Hrastnik , the author of the »Unleash the Marketing Power of RSS« report, is currently serving as the E-commerce Manager at Studio Moderna, managing their corporate and brand internet marketing operations. Studio Moderna is the leading direct marketing company and network in Central and Eastern Europe, present in 19 European countries.

Rok has released a free report called The Business Case for RSS to show you just how RSS can help you improve your internet results … even without investing a single dime.

• Getting your content delivered to your subscribers, prospects, customers
  and business partners … and with absolutely no chance of it being stopped
  by any spam filters on its way.
• Discovering new business and marketing opportunities; from podcasting (audio)
  to constant content updates that your subscribers actually want to receive.
• Getting your newsletter or e-zine actually read, and not deleted or overseen.
• Improving your search engine rankings.
• Generating new traffic from dozens and dozens of new traffic sources.
• Getting your content published on other sites.
• And much much more …

This is only part of what RSS can do for you.

Download Rok’s special report “The Business Case For RSS” to find out more…

Register here

Conversations with Experts is sponsored by Build a Better Blog System.

Are you building your online business on a bed of quicksand, asks Jason Potash in his new report , where he issues the dire warning that

Before The End Of 2005: Thousands Of More Websites Will Vanish From The Search Engines¦ Their Traffic Will Plummet¦ More Lawsuits Will Be Served¦ And Entire Businesses (And Incomes) Will Literally Sink Overnight¦

Have you been using those automated page-generating or blog-spamming software to make your internet fortunes?

Then you MUST read this report by Jason Potash to find out why YOU are especially vulnerable to having your income literally vanish overnight, because Google and Yahoo are only 2-steps away from shutting YOUR traffic down - Automatically!

And if you’ve been using less-than-ethical means to get your content, be afraid… Be VERY afraid. Cause the people you hurt are coming after you. Or will, real soon!

I personally know of people that its happened to, and have warned against the use of such software - and cautioned that you use it very judiciously - time and again in my communications.

I agree with Jason completely when he states in his report that such gains are short-lived, so you need be prepared for the possibility of having your income vanish overnight. Even though I suggested using these tools in my Adsense newsletter issue here, I warned that they should never be used “out-of-the-box.”

Jason’s report also goes on to give some very sound techniques for building links to your sites to keep the traffic coming. Of course the report also plugs his new software that will help you make articles and content work for you and your business, but the tips he offers are definitely worth reading.

Articles are definitely an excellent way to get started with a good content site. But they won’t get you the rankings you want unless you know how to leverage them.

This may sound contradictory, but as I explain in my article “Why Articles Are Not The Route To High Search Engine Rankings“ its really UNIQUE content that will take your site from good to GREAT.

So if you want to learn how I keep mine at the TOP of the search engines - through algo updates and dances - then you should get yourself a copy of my SEO guide, Number One In Your Niche.

A few months ago I published some very well received tips on Adsense for publishers in an issue of my newsletter.

Since then Google has come up with many innovations in Adsense for publishers, including image ads, CPM ads (pay-per-impression), Adsense in RSS, and the newest tiny adlink format, which according to Marketing VOX, will only “put further strains on the copywriting skill requirements that have already reached haiku-level difficulty.”

I’m sure Google’s very busy labs will come up with many more innovations suitable to different publishing formats.

As publishers we know that testing different formats, placements and backgrounds is the best way to increase your CTR (Click Through Ratio). Optimized placements easily get CTRs in the double digits.

Hot Tip: One of the best placements is the Large Rectangle (336×280) format placed above the fold, just below the header, but you should test different placements for your own pages and see which gives you the best CTRs.

Adsense Resources:
Top Paying Keywords report
Adsense Gold
Adsense Secrets manual by Joel Comm
Definitive Guide to Google AdSense
Google Adsense Tips

Have you always dreamt of being a published author? As the author of my own SEO guide, Number One In Your Niche, I know from personal experience that publishing your own book, especially for independent professionals, is the best calling card you can ever get. There’s no better way to impress your peers and clients than letting them know that you’ve published a book.

Book publishing is also one of the best ways to create passive income, while spreading your message to potential clients. But its very time-consuming to write a book, and even more time consuming to get it formatted and printed.

According to my colleagues, Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff, authors of Build a Better Blog System, 9 out of 10 professionals and small business owners have at least one book or information product inside their head, but lack the time and organizational skills to get it out into digital or print form.

If you’re an independent professional, coach, consultant, or solo-preneur and want to get on your way to publishing that book you’ve been putting off, Denise and Patsi have a solution for you. They invite you to join an exclusive group of professionals as part of their “Blog to Book Project ,” that will help you create your book or info product in 90 days or less.

But they have some conditions that you need to meet if you want to be part of this exclusive project.

• You have a book or ebook inside you aching to get out.
• You are committed to its completion.
• You want it to reflect the quality of your writing, thinking and professional services.
• You are relatively Internet savvy, and can use email, the Internet, and common software with ease.
• You already have a blog, or are willing to set one up and use it.
• You are open to learning a new system that will save you time and money, and get your book ready in a minimum 90 days
• You like to work in a self-paced learning environment.
• You want to start promoting your book as soon as you start writing it and create an audience hungry for your expertise.
• You like to be on the cutting edge and are willing to participate in beta testing new software for online book formatting and publication, and give your feedback to the software provider

This is a self-paced, self-study program you can join at any time. The class blog will be open on June 15. Monthly coaching Q&A sessions are being scheduled for live interaction. Special guests who are experts in publishing, writing and book formatting are being invited to speak to participants.

Check out the Blog to Book Project

Wednesday, June 8, 2005, 8:30 p.m. ET
Guest Expert: Susannah Gardner of Buzz Marketing with Blogs, featured in the Build a Better Blog System

Blogging continues to move out of the realm of personal diarists and into the hands of business professionals and marketers. The transition isn’t always smooth, especially as creative marketers use blogs in new ways to promote products, businesses and business strategies.

Long-time bloggers often refer to these efforts as “fake” blogs, and the resulting hue and cry generates publicity of the negative kind. Are there lines that can’t be crossed? What has been tried, and failed? What has been tried, and succeeded? Learn to plan for the reactions you will get as push the boundaries with new and exciting ideas.

Susannah Gardner, author of “Buzz Marketing with Blogs for Dummies,” will review recent efforts to create creative blogs. Learn where and why marketers have had problems, and what strategies are succeeding.

We’ll talk about the Lincoln Fry blog, the Mazda blog, Moosetopia, Where The Secret Girls Get Real, and others. As well, Susannah will talk about some of the programs and efforts that exist today to recruit popular bloggers as marketers.

This session will give you some targeted suggestions for creating a marketing blog that won’t rock the blogosphere with outrage. Susannah Gardner is the co-founder and creative director of Hop Studios Internet Consultants, a Web design company specializing in custom Web solutions for content publishers. She is also the author of “Buzz Marketing with Blogs for Dummies,” a practical hands-on guide to business blogging for marketing and PR professionals.

Conversations with Experts: How to Build Your Business On and Off-line
Hosted by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff and sponsored by Build a Better Blog System.

Register here.

Is India Inc missing the bus by ignoring blogs? asks an article in the Economic Times, reprinted on AgencyFaqs.

According to the article Carat Media Services is contemplating the use of blogs in its marcom services.

The main points from the article:

Carat’s interactive and digital media arm ISOBAR, active in the blog landscape in the US, the UK and some Asian markets, will soon be launched in India.

The Indian blogosphere is small compared to the US, but Indian bloggers are well-informed and highly opinionated consumers - a group whose views will have to be taken seriously because they are gradually assuming a role which might impact businesses.

India is a typical market where informed and peer-group opinion is taken very seriously. So blogs will emerge as a platform for generating collective opinion on businesses.

While a majority of India bloggers are independent groups and write about topics like politics, travel, life activities, issues like globalisation, economy and corporate practices are also being blogged about.

Some product categories - especially high value, high investment categories, like automobiles and those where word-of-mouth plays a definitive role in final purchases - will have to pull up their blogging socks soon.

To those categories I would also like to add information technology services, software and business process outsourcing and FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods).

Some MNCs I know of are already expressing interest in blogging, but personally I feel that the biggest advantage of blogging will be for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs.

I don’t usually write about things that are very personal on my blogs, but I’ve decided that its much more therapeutic for me to get back to some form of work, especially blogging, which I really enjoy.

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, for your wonderful words of support and the beautiful sentiments you left here and sent me by email. They truly helped lift my spirits at a time when I needed it most.

I will always remember my love. He has not gone away. He is only in another dimension - one that I cannot see or touch.

I can still feel his presence. I know he is always here with me and my daughter, watching over us like he always did. I know I will see him again.

I keep thinking of the good times we had, the many years, the warmth, the caring, the laughter, the happiness, the sorrows, the fun things we did together. The “second honeymoon” we went for on the weekend before he passed away.

The music we listened to the day before - Willie Nelson, John Denver. That day we did something we hadn’t done in years - browsed for books together - and bought a bunch of them to add to the mountain of them already on my reading list.

We were married for 12 years, together for 18. Fell in love listening to the Beatles, when we were in our teens, barely out of school.

Norwegian Wood was “our song,” but I remember most of all the way he used to sing “Hey Jude” to me, loudly and off-key.

I want to leave a tribute for him here. Its a song I recorded for him - the one he sang for me on the way back home the day before he left us to go to a better place.

For you my love, wherever you are now.

Life is continuous.
The flower may fade but the fragrance floats;
The body may disintegrate,
But the immortal fragrance of the soul
Always will remain.

From the book “What becomes of the soul after death”
by Sri Swami Sivananda.

On Wednesday morning I lost my beloved husband and companion of 18 years to a sudden and massive heart attack.

My life has been turned upside down, and I need some time to pick up the pieces.

I may be back after a week’s sabattical, but please understand if I do not reply to emails or comments immediately.

Do say a little prayer for me and my family.