I’ve been endorsing article marketing as my #1 method of building traffic, links and branding, for a long time. In fact at the time of this writing, this blog is ranked between #6 to #8 out of 118,000,000 sites on Yahoo search for the key phrase article marketing.

Yes, that’s 6 out of 118 million!! Not bad, huh?

So I know what I’m talking about when I endorse this excellent "Article Production Strategies" Training Report and Audio Product by Chris Knight, of EzineArticles.com

Chris invited 400+ authors to participate in his teleseminar on how to get into an "Article Production" mode. He answers the 45 most pressing questions about article writing and marketing including:

• How to crank up the traffic your articles can generate for your website(s)
• The (1) secret that 14% of EzineArticles.com Authors Know that the other 86% don’t
• (7) Article Content Sources you may have overlooked
• An Article Idea Generator that will help you plow through any slow creativity periods
• Article Writing Production Mistakes Newbies Make That You Must Avoid
• How to double your article inventory in 90 days or less
• 3 Simple Article Templates To Help You Begin Your Article Production Mentality
• Strategies To Track Your Article Writing Production
• Where you should be submitting your articles (my 3 tier approach)
• Helping you identify which topics get the most interest so you can focus your time better
• The basics of keyword research and when to and not to use it with your articles
• Mistakes that far too many authors make in the RESOURCE BOX that ruins their results
• How to convert readers of your articles into traffic
• Article title mistakes to avoid and strategies to test
• How to be a white hat article writer and be a good netcitizen to the search engines
• Should you worry about the duplicate content penalty or not?
• How you can double or triple your article production even if you already are an expert
• What the ideal length is for an article and which length gets a higher distribution
• Article format basics, length, font attributes, etc.
• An example of a highly optimized and effective resource box
• Ways to manage multiple brands or topics that you write articles about

Article writing and marketing has worked wonders to help me build my traffic. I recommend it to all our clients as a way to build links, branding and thought-leadership.

And if you need to attract qualified, highly-relevant traffic to your website, get yourself a copy of Chris’s "Article Production Strategies" Training Solution.

Internet marketers, be warned! There’s a rash of new products catering to (lazy!) Adsense publishers who want to beat Google’s duplicate content filters.

They claim to provide unique content for you either with public private label rights content or by generating hybrid articles using article creator software. Here’s why these are a very bad idea.

1. Search Engines Can Detect And Filter Hybrid Content

If you want to believe marketers touting Public Private Label Rights (PLR) and rehashed articles as the way to beat Google’s duplicate content filters, do so at your own risk.

According to Chris Knight, of the EzineArticles.com article directory, even software like the EzineArticles.com CASM (Content Association Sequence Matching) system can detect exact complex sentence matches in PLR articles.

Search engines like Google are even smarter. They use more than one way of identifying duplicate content, including methods of dating to identify the page on which the original content first appeared.

So if you think these “unique” article creation tools can beat search engines like Google in the cut-and-paste content game, think again. The best way to beat the duplicate content filters is to create unique content.

2. Article Creators Violate Fair Use Guidelines

There’s no doubt that it’s unethical to steal sentences from other articles, rewrite them and call them your own. Chris Knight also warns against marketers who claim that you can take and steal any exact match sentence from any author under fair use doctrine.

It’s the equivalent of taking bits and parts of other people’s songs, remixing them and releasing them under your own name. The word for it is plagiarism and it applies as much to written content as it does to music.

If you publish hybrid content created from another author’s articles you could be guilty of plagiarism too.

3. PLR Articles Will Kill Your Brand

Building your brand through article marketing involves creating trust by sharing original ideas and content.

If you’re caught using plagiarised content on your own site or submitting it to article directories, you’ll end up destroying the trust you built between you and your target audience.

If you do use PLR articles for your Adsense site, use common sense and don’t submit them to article directories as your own, even with modifications.

And if you really want to go about it the right way, check out Chris’ Article Production Strategies Seminar and learn how to leverage article syndication to grow your adsense sales and traffic.

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Priya Shah is a partner in the search engine marketing firm, SEO & More and writes an online marketing blog. Visit Article Writing Tips for more article marketing strategies.

This article may be reprinted as long as the resource box is left intact and all links are hyperlinked.

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Have you ever gone through a difficult time in your life? A period when you felt helpless and powerless to deal with your circumstances and destiny? We all have.

Many of us have experienced the tragedy of abusive childhoods, broken relationships or the loss of a loved one. The easiest thing to do in times like these is to blame other people or circumstances for your life, your state of mind, your finances and career.

It’s so easy to blame an abusive parent for the way you are today, or a broken relationship for destroying your ability to love again. But blame is a very disempowering emotion.

It places on others the responsibility for your life, your emotions, your self. It disempowers you because you cannot change people or circumstances. The only thing you can change is yourself and the way you react to them.

Some people go through their lives blaming others, living in hopelessness and despair. But, with the exception of child abuse or losing someone you love, no one can do anything to you that you do not give them the permission to do.

By choosing to let things happen they way they do, you are as much to blame for the consequences. It takes a lot of courage to accept that you’re the way you are because of the choices you made. But it can be very empowering indeed.

The simple act of taking responsibility for your self and your life is the first step towards picking up the pieces and moving on. When you shift the onus of change to yourself, the constraints of the past are lifted and you can be anything you choose to be.

True empowerment is not about taking control, passing laws, fighting injustice or changing the world. Empowerment starts from within. It comes from your willingness to be responsible for what is happening to you, your life and your world.

At some point in our lives we all face adversity. Some of us blame others, while others own responsibility and get on with their lives.

The way we deal with our pain and let it transform us makes the difference between winning and losing the battle. When you realise that and act on it, you are truly the master of your own destiny.

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Copyright © 2006 Priya Shah

Priya Shah blogs on internet marketing and SEO. Read about her latest passion at the Exhilarate Adventure Sports blog.

This article may be reprinted as long as the resource box is left intact and all links are hyperlinked.
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I’ve just been informed told that Dina’s Web Content Awareness Day is on the 9th of February, not the 6th, as I reported earlier.

Sorry about that, Dina. I guess my eyesight hasn’t returned to normal after my accident…

Go here to Expand Your “Content Consciousness” as Dina so aptly puts it.

Want to host videos on your blog but are put off by the high costs of bandwith and hosting?

I’ve been hesitating to use video on this blog for a long time, primarily because I’m not into making video yet. But who says you can’t put up someone else’s videos on your blog?

Sherman Hu of Mastering Wordpress Tutorials fame has just published a guide to using Google’s new video search feature to host and publish videos on his blog. So if you’ve been dying to try out vlogging, check it out right now.

As this article in Forbes says

Blogging encompasses everything from way-out rants to legitimate news and commentary from established, mainstream reporters, pundits and columnists. Video blogging is likely to follow the same path, offering a stations correspondents greater freedom to communicate with a constituency 24/7 and those with a desire and a little technology the chance to write, shoot, edit and distribute video journalism on their own, even from the field.

Videos are one of the best viral marketing tools online. If you’re really SERIOUS about Vblogging, you simply must check out Marlon Sander’s Tips on How To Profit from VBlogging.

More information on vblogging:
Everything About Video Blogging or Vblogging

Jim Edwards, creator of Website Video Secrets , hosts some extremely watchable videos on his I Gotta Tell You blog, and has his own list of free websites that will showcase your videos online.

Take a look at his new course on creating videos.

Website Video Secrets Highlights

So whether you want to publish your family videos or use video as a medium of profit, these resources should help you launch your own TV station online.