After scrapping my jaw off the floor upon reading the aforementioned myth, I knew this bad advice needed to be addressed.

Text content is search engine food. If you are wanting to promote your site through search engines (and if you are online, you should, as search engine promotion is the cheapest and most effective marketing method online) you need to feed them. And the only way to do this is to provide lots of quality content.

Now, please note that word I slipped in there: quality.

Using software to spin 300 versions of one article and pasting the unreadable copies into your website will do more harm than good.

Writing about your baby’s daily diaper changes won’t help much either — unless you’re using your wonderful cloth diapers that you sell on your site.

Writing high quality content that the search engines will index and that other people on the internet will link to is a necessary part of marketing your business online.

Popularity: 42% [?]

I hope you are making last minute preparations to take a break from business and spend time with your family and church for Easter weekend. I’m taking the rest of today off and taking the kids to the park, or something fun. Hope the weather cooperates.

But first, I want to take a few minutes to share a great new source of Private Label Rights content with you.

If you’ll remember, private label rights articles are written by someone else and sold with reprint rights. You can post them on your blog, your website or in your mailing list. You can even compile several into an ebook. You don’t have to put someone else’s name and link on them like you do with free reprint articles and you don’t have to pay as much as you would for a ghostwriter.

Even better, my friend Melissa Ingold and I have put together a PLR resource just for YOU. It includes topics that are relevant to your websites, such as:

• Cloth Diapering
• Attachment Parenting
• Baby Carrying
• Breastfeeding
• Jewelry Making

Head over to our website and check out what an awesome deal this is at ProductSellersContent.com.

Popularity: 31% [?]

People are becoming more aware and concerned about their health each and every day. Because of their growing concern, the need for quality health information is growing. Health is a hot topic, just as it should be in today’s society and here are some statistics in case you didn’t know just how popular the topic has become.

In 2005 alone, the National Sporting Goods Association notes that Americans spent more than $5.2 billion worth of exercise equipment. According to the National Center for Disease Control, almost a quarter of all American adults are physically active at least 3 days a week. These statistics are just in the United States and are also a few years old. Imagine the heights those numbers would reach if you took them worldwide and calculated for the growth since these numbers were reported.

The Internet being the huge source of information that it is, it’s no wonder places like Amazon.com have nearly 300,000 health and wellness products for sale on their site, nearly 6,000 of which are books filled with content to fuel our culture’s eagerness to find out more.

If you run an online business that caters to any one of the multitudes of health and fitness topics, you are probably aware of the just how popular the health market is. That is, of course, if you are offering your customers quality content and feeding their desire to learn more. Here are some tips to help you create reliable content that will make your customers want to come back again and again — to read your information and buy your products.

Facts and Statistics
Their health and wellness is not something people want to play around with. Give them true facts and statistics that can be verified.

Quality
Quality content is a huge part of any online business, but especially when you’re talking about someone’s health. You have to give your readers helpful and truthful information if you want them to continue coming to you as a resource.

Uniqueness
Make yourself different from all the other online health sites. Don’t just link to articles from places like iVillage or WebMD. If you have a story that you think will benefit your readers, share it.

Honesty
Let them know you are not a doctor or a professional (unless of course you are). People want to, and have a legal right to, know if they are seeking professional advice as apposed to advice from someone who has gained their knowledge by being there. If you’ve been there, done that tell your readers that. Sometimes, that’s what they want to know more than anything, is that they aren’t the only ones going through it.

Recommended:
For great health-related content for your readers, we recommend All Health Content. Each month you receive 50 pieces of fresh health-related content that your customers and prospects will love. Find out more at All Health Content.

Popularity: 9% [?]

If you are new to writing, you may be full of ideas. You may be able to post on your blog every day without a problem. You may be constantly finding new ideas for content on your website. Unfortunately, there will be a day when writer’s block hits. A day will come when you just “get stuck” and cannot seem to think of anything.

When this day comes, a swipe file can be a real lifesaver. A “swipe file” is a collection of writings that you can go to for inspiration. Please note it is not a collection of work that you copy or plagiarize. There is a big difference! A swipe file is there just to help out in case you get stuck in the creative process.

A big part of the learning process is to mimic what others have already done. As you are reading magazines, newspapers, email, blogs, and web copy, start making mental notes of what catches your attention. What are the things about the writer’s style? Take notice of the fonts, colors, and graphics that were used. You can clip the tangible pieces and save them in a manila folder. And you can create a virtual folder on your computer desktop for the digital items you liked. This is your swipe file.

It does not matter what business these clippings are for. The only thing that matters is that you are in some way inspired by them. If you have a business targeted to mothers with children and you see an ad for basketball jerseys that you like, save it. You can take the things you liked about the ad, article, blog post, etc., and adapt it to fit your business.

Creating your swipe file may be the hardest part because using it is quite easy. For example, let’s say that you recently created an information product that explains how to make homemade gifts. If you find yourself sitting at the computer and trying to come up with an idea for the sales letter, take a look at your swipe file.

Perhaps you had saved an ad for a women’s watch company. Maybe the headline read something like, “It’s Time To Make A Statement.” And perhaps the ad had a graphic centered just below the heading in a way that you found very attractive.

You can adapt those things for your own product. Since the above example is for an information product about homemade gifts, perhaps you can use a heading such as “Avoid The Mall Rush – It’s Time To Get Started Now”, and you can place a graphic of a present or other holiday symbol in the same way that the graphic in the ad was placed.

As you can see, you are not plagiarizing anything that the original author wrote. You are simply taking something you liked and adding your own spin to it. A swipe file is something every writer should have, as they can save you lots of time and frustration.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Michelle’s Note: Click the ebook cover to download a free special report.

By Alice Seba & Mila Sidman

Many Internet marketers use writers to create content for their websites. We are frequently asked for suggestions on working with contractors. Let’s take a look at some of the more common questions on the subject of hiring a writer.

How do I find the right person for the job?

When first looking for a writer, you might be tempted to go with the cheapest one just to save a few dollars but cost should not be your only concern – and never your first concern. This person is going to be writing as you and you should feel comfortable putting your name on the work they do. Here are some things to do to find the best fit for you.

• Request samples of their writing. This will give you a feel for how they approach different topics, the amount of time they put into making sure the content is informative and engaging to your readers, as well as if they have an understanding of the subject.
• Request references. Ask around your group of networking friends. Have they used the particular writer? Was the writer timely and did she ask questions for clarification? Was the client happy with the outcome of the content? Did the writer need to tweak the article more than normal?
• Test their work. Give the writer a small assignment so you can see how she works. Does she take constructive criticism well? Does she make certain she understands the assignment before beginning by asking questions? Does she need hand holding throughout the entire process or do she complete the project with very little direction?

What about payment?

How payment to the contractor is handled will be something the two of you should discuss up front, before any work is passed back and forth. You should find out the following from the contractor regarding payment:

• What are her rates? Do she charge by the hour, per page, per word, etc?
• Does she offer discounts for on-going work or client referrals? Many writers will offer this. Keep this in mind for future projects.
• When do they invoice clients? Do they bill once the project is complete, weekly, or monthly? What are your payment terms?
• Is a deposit required? If so, how much do you need to initially put down? Although paying a deposit is ok, never pay 100% upfront. We like to think the majority of contractors are honest and ethical, but there is always a possibility a contractor will accept payment in full and then never complete the work. Give your writer an incentive for completion; payment or remainder of amount due.
• Will you be paying them via paypal, check, or some other method? Paypal is pretty standard in today’s virtual world, but not everyone does it this way, so be sure to double check. If you want an alternate payment method, be sure to ask about that.

How do I assure I keep a contractor that does a good job?

When you find a writer that fits well with you and your business, you had better keep them. Some tips for keeping them include:

• Give her continual work. Don’t just throw her a task or two a month, when you need something and expect her to stick around forever. She can and will move on to bigger and better projects if she doesn’t have on-going work from you.
• Be patient during the learning curve. Working with someone new always has a learning curve. Your writer needs feedback and patience while she learns your writing style and preferences.
• Pay her on time, every time. Swift payment makes a writer want to work with you more because she knows she doesn’t have to worry about whether she will receive her money or not.
• Allow them to correct any mistakes they make…don’t just fix it for them. Your writer can’t learn what you want if you don’t let her know.

Once you find someone that works well, using a contractor to create content for your business is a wonderful thing. Be patient during the learning curve that comes with working with someone else and if you find it’s just not working out, don’t sweat it. Let her go and move on.

Michelle’s Note: If you’d like to take the hassle out of content creation and get back to running your business, let All Custom Content take care of all the little details. For professionally researched and prepared content, visit Mila & Alice at www.AllCustomContent.com

Be sure to tell them Michelle Waters sent you and they’ll take good care of you.

Popularity: 26% [?]