Karrak Interactive » Link Building

Unique Article Wizard: Article Marketing Review

Rachel Kuptz — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:07:07 +0000

Unique Article Wizard: Article Marketing Review is a post from: Karrak Interactive, the online reputation management agency.

Review: Unique Article Wizard

What Is Unique Article Wizard?

Unique Article Wizard is an article submission tool that allows you to submit articles to a variety of blogs, directories, and submission sites. Unique Article Wizard has a number of blogs that belong to it’s directory, so finding relevant sites that will list your article is usually no problem.

How Unique Article Wizard Works

Typically, a person may write an article, submit it to an article directory, and then link back to their web site or blog with relevant information. If you’re submitting to a niche site with quite a bit of traffic, this method is great for getting quality traffic. If you’re looking for backlinks for SEO purposes, however, you’re stuck with one or two backlinks. Through Unique Article Wizard, though, you’ll be submitting an article to a variety of web sites by picking categories and topics that your article is relevant to. I’m a monthly subscriber to Unique Article Wizard and have used it to pick up a number of backlinks to my site, as well as to rank on the first page of Google *quickly* for a number of terms. There is a non-disclosure agreement that doesn’t allow me tell you exactly how the articles are submitted, but it’s completely white-hat.

How Can Unique Article Wizard Help Me Rank For Specific Keywords

After you write an article, you’ll be able to write an Author Resource or “BIO” box. In that resource box, you can also include html. So for my web site, the resource box may look something like this:

Karrak Interactive provides a variety of KEYWORD 1 and KEYWORD 2 resources.

Where keyword 1 and keyword 2 are, those would be html links and you wouldn’t see the code. By distributing your article to upwards of thousands of blogs and article sites, Unique Article Wizard is placing keyword anchor text for you, something that could take hours if you were to do it yourself. You have the potential of placing hundreds to thousands of targeted anchor text on high PageRank and trafficked sites, increasing your chances of ranking for the keywords you are targeting.

How Fast Will I Begin Ranking For The Keywords I Am Targeting?

Unfortunately, that’s not a question that can be easily answered. If you’re trying to rank for a highly competitive term, it may take quite a bit more than article marketing to rank for the keyword. I have, however, ranked for competitive terms by solely using Unique Article Wizard. My site already has links pointing to it, but my technique consisted of pushing out 1-2 articles per DAY. If each article is posted to 800-1,600 sites (per the category I was targeting), that’s a potential of 8,000 links a week, on the low end! I make sure to switch up my keyword anchor text, though, using a variety of phrases and pages so that all the links count, instead of being counted as duplicates.

How Can I Check That My Site Is Benefiting From Using Unique Article Wizard?

A few days after I get the notice from Unique Article Wizard that my article has been submitted, I take two steps:

1. Run a Rank Check Report: Using Aaron Wall’s free SEO Book plugin, I type in the keywords that I was targeting in the article and see where I currently rank. Over a week period, if I’m aggressively distributing unique, informative articles, the ranking will steadily increase.

2. Check In With Yahoo Site Explorer: After a week or so, backlinks from your article marketing should begin showing up. I use Yahoo’s free tool to find out how many links my site now has, and I use tools like SEOPro (free) to find out the PageRank of those sites, the anchor text that is pointing to my site, and whether that anchor text link is nofollow or not. Yahoo Site Explorer is a quick way to confirm that, yes, my article marketing is getting me backlinks, while SEOPro is a more time intensive way to confirm that, yes, those links are providing value.

Is Unique Article Wizard Worth The Money?

That’s also a hard question to answer without knowing your situation. For me, the answer is YES. Actually, it’s MOST DEFINITELY YES. Unique Article Wizard will cost you $67 a month via PayPal. If that’s not in your budget right now, then obviously it’s not worth it to you. If you’re on the fence about ordering it, the nice thing is that Unique Article Wizard IS a monthly subscription, and you can cancel at any time.

For me, Unique Article Wizard provides benefit in that I am at no loss for new article topics, and Unique Article Wizard makes it easy for me to distribute those articles to relevant sites AND get quality backlinks back. I submit anywhere from 1-10 articles a DAY via Unique Article Wizard, albeit for a variety of sites and client web sites. If you are only going to use Unique Article Wizard once a month or so, the cost may not be justified. You can easily submit a few articles to sites like Ezine Articles or Go Articles, but you may not get as many backlinks.

The other thing about Unique Article Wizard, the thing I want to make ABSOLUTELY clear, is it’s not an end all be all for link building. For a link building strategy to be successful, you need to partake in a variety of methods: press release distribution, directory submission, blog commenting, forum commenting, image alt text, link bait, AND article marketing. Article Marketing may quickly get you to the top spot for a long tail keyword, but for competitive keywords and niches, it’s only going to nudge you a few pages. What article marketing and Unique Article Wizard CAN do, though, is push you to the top if you’re ALMOST there — maybe a few links behind your competitor. Your competitor will have to work extra hard trying to find new links, not knowing that a few articles are all it took to get you thousands of links and to the top of the rankings.

I’m Not A Writer. How Will Unique Article Wizard Work For Me?

This is where I tell you to outsource. I, in fact, outsource the writing portion of my article marketing tactics for a few of my affiliate sites that would take me hours of research for one 500 word article. For subjects I’m passionate or knowledgeable about, I can knock out a few articles a day, but there are a variety of places to find credible writers at. Check out a site like FreelanceSwitch or FreelanceWriting for writers that know their stuff – you may pay a bit more, but the quality of the article will be a lot higher. There are a lot of article marketing services that claim they provide quality articles at $3 per article, but I’ve found that you do often get what you pay for.

READ THIS PART IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BUYING UNIQUE ARTICLE WIZARD:

If you have any questions about Unique Article Wizard, ask them in the comments and I’m happy to respond. I have been a subscriber to Unique Article Wizard now since January 2009 and it has helped me to rank for some highly competitive terms.

Link Building Strategies

Rachel Kuptz — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:42:49 +0000

Link Building Strategies is a post from: Karrak Interactive, the online reputation management agency.

Spruce Up Your Link Building Strategies With These Tried And True Methods

While press release writing and article marketing are great methods to incorporate into your overall link building strategy, there are quite a few other tactics to consider to make sure your strategy is complete.

Directories

Large directories like DMOZ and Yahoo! Directories may not drive major traffic to your site, but they can help in making sure that your site is found by the search engines faster. Niche directories related to your field, or directories that rank for keywords that you want to rank for, should also be considered. You can use a free tool like SoloSEO to find directories that are relevant to your niche or keyword.

Press Releases

There’s the regular process of submitting press releases to paid distribution channels, then there’s the SEO process of distributing to paid distribution sites. Partnered with a pitching strategy, the paid distribution sites are great for getting media attention, but it’s the free distribution sites that will help you earn some backlinks. While a paid distribution channel, PRWeb also offers an SEO Package that will get you backlinks. If you regularly submit press releases to the paid channels, take a few minutes each month to also distribute them to the free press release distribution sites.

Article Syndication

Article marketing can consist of submitting articles to directories, social media sites, or even guest blogging or writing an exclusive feature article for another site. By submitting articles to a variety of sites, you expand your traffic base and receive backlinks from relevant sites. Sites like Ezine Articles and Hub Pages are great when you have unique content to distribute, but also consider re-writing one of your popular blog posts and submitting to a site like Unique Article Wizard. Your article will be distributed to over 500+ sites depending on the topic, and a large percentage of those sites will give you a one-way link back.

Profile Creation

It seems simple enough, but creating social media profiles can be a quick way to earn backlinks. Some of the social media sites will give you a dofollow backlink to your site, while others aren’t so generous, although the traffic you get might still be worth it. Check out sites like KnowEm for an extensive list of social media sites that allow profile creation.

Blog and Forum Commenting

Finding a blog that will follow your comment is a dime a dozen, but blog commenting is still a great way to receive links, especially if you are commenting on relevant sites. While a software blogger commenting on a food site may not make sense, commenting on blogs in your industry does. Forums also generally follow backlinks via the signature field and are a great way to earn additional links.

Reciprocal Links

While reciprocal links are frowned upon, they can still make up a small portion of your link building strategy – just don’t depend on it for your entire link building strategy. You can get reciprocal links from vendors and partners that you do business with, friends and family with web sites, directories and sites that offer a reciprocal exchange, or by emailing sites you’d like to appear on, asking them for a reciprocal link. Try a tool like Link Assistant to help find reciprocal linking partners and to monitor your link popularity over time.

Emailing Relevant Sites

If you think your web site might be relevant to another web sites target market, email the webmaster of the site explaining who you are, what your request is, and how it would benefit them. Don’t send blanket emails though – make sure to thoroughly research the website, find out their needs, and then pitch accordingly.

Link Bait

Similar to article marketing, link bait consists of writing an article or blog, but instead of submitting to a variety of sites, you’ll keep this on your own web site. With link bait, you’re looking to write an article that will spike the interest of your industry peers, social media sites, or verticals that you’re interested in entering. Link bait articles aren’t always planned – a blog post that took you 10 minutes to write may end up driving thousands of visitors to your web site, while a post that took you hours of research and time may not get a single view. Posts that tend to get the most links and views offer a different viewpoint to a common issue or problem, describe how to do something (a 101 posts of sorts), are top 10 (or 7, 6, 3…) posts or roundups of a popular topic, consist of breaking news or trends, or even just supply a picture, humor, or thought on something that is unique to your industry. You can also use a tool like Bookmarking Demon to bookmark your site or post on hundreds of sites automatically, creating both backlinks from the social media sites and targeted traffic if the post goes viral.

Additional Reading

Optimize Your Press Release As Part of Your Link Building Strategy

Rachel Kuptz — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:50:07 +0000

Optimize Your Press Release As Part of Your Link Building Strategy is a post from: Karrak Interactive, the online reputation management agency.

When most people think of press releases, they think media attention. Press releases can also be used to gain quality inbound links to your web site, though. As part of your overall link building strategy, there are a few reasons why press release writing can be beneficial: get one way links from quality sites, earn links from sites that find you via a press release, and get placed on relevant directories that re-distribute press releases.

To write an optimized press release, start with these steps:

Define Keyword

When writing a press release, identify one keyword that you want to rank for. There are a few free tools that you can use to determine which keywords receive the most traffic, including Google Keyword External, SEO Books Keyword Tool, and ActualKeywords.com. Pick a keyword that is relevant to your site, receives a considerable amount of monthly traffic, and that will be used on the page that you are trying to rank. The keyword should ideally be in the Title of the page, in an H1 tag, included in the body, and used in your internal linking structure.

Include Keyword Throughout Release

Once you’ve identified a keyword, write out a rough draft of your press release, making sure to include the keyword throughout your release. The keyword should be included, at minimum, in the header of your press release, one to three times in the body of the release, and at least once in the “About” section of your press release.

Hyperlink Thoughtfully

For press release services that allow you to include hyperlinks within the release, make sure to hyperlink from the keyword you identified instead of using non-optimized keywords like “click here.” While not all press release services allow html or hyperlinking, most will allow you to at least include a link back to your site in a resource or contact box, or once in the “about” section.

Consider the Upgrade Option

If presented with the opportunity to upgrade, in most cases, do so. Upgrades generally offer you the opportunity to specify the anchor text of a hyperlink or in some cases, include a hyperlink that a free package doesn’t allow. Not all upgrades are created equally, though. Consider the page rank, traffic volume, trust factors, and cost when determining whether to upgrade or not.

Distribute to a Variety of Services

When submitting press releases for link building purposes, don’t submit to just one service – instead submit to a variety. Some press release sites will check to make sure that your release is unique, however, so make sure to distribute to those sites first. Start with the quality sites that have a number of links and tend to be picked up by the press; also re-write some of the verbiage in your release so as to avoid duplicate content. Simple things like re-writing the header or a few sentences within the release can make sure that your release will be picked up by a number of services.

Online Press Releases For Linkbuilding: Press Release Distribution Services

Rachel Kuptz — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:19:17 +0000

Online Press Releases For Linkbuilding: Press Release Distribution Services is a post from: Karrak Interactive, the online reputation management agency.

Paid Press Release Distribution

Free Press Release Distribution