Article Marketing & Online Marketing Strategies from IdeaMarketers - Where Your Ideas Shine

Custom Resource Boxes on Articles

I've had a lot of people ask me how they can have a custom resource box on articles at www.IdeaMarketers.com - a resource box that isn't the same as the default one they've entered on their writer profile. Up until now there hasn't been an easy way to do it other than to type the resource box at the bottom of the article text, but then the default resource box still showed as well. I've also allowed people to sign up for multiple writer accounts to have certain topics posted under one account and other topics under another account.

I just finished programming a better solution. Now you may assign a different

• Name,
• URL,
• Email address,
• Photo, and
• Resource Box

for each article. I still recommend making your writer profile as generic as possible so that it can easily apply to as many of your articles as possible. Ideally, you'll override this profile at the article level as little as possible. Why? Because the writer profile is easier to make a change once and it will automatically update on any article that hasn't had this information overridden.

But if you need an article's information to be different you can change any combination of the name, email, web address and resource box for an individual article. The system will show you what you have in your profile and you should only change the information that needs to be changed on the article level. Don't change more than you need to.

Bear in mind that for any article you've assigned a different email, web address, name or resource box to, you'll have to make changes to this information on the article level. If you don't assign the information on the article level, you'll just need to change it in the writer profile. Writer profile settings will automatically appear on all articles that haven't been overridden.

To modify a resource box for an individual article, just log into your Writer account and then go to Edit/View articles on the menu. There will be an edit link out to the right of each article. Click that and you'll be able to enter the information.

Article Bidding Effect on Distribution and Syndication

One of our writers submitted the following question yesterday: Does bidding make a big difference in how much your articles get picked up and distributed or syndicated?

Answer

First, let me explain that articles on IdeaMarketers are sorted first from highest to lowest bidder and then by the expiration date of the bid (or the date the article was submitted if there's no bid on the article). This gives top bidders prominent positioning on the most popular pages of the site - the home page and the channel pages. The top bid articles also rotate at the top of the site and are recommended on other articles that are in the same broad channel category. For example, the top 8 bid articles in the Business category will appear on all business-related articles.

In relation to syndication and distribution, bidding for article promotion does the following:

1. increases your chances of having your article (and thus your web site) picked up by spidering search engines ;
2. increases the chances of your article being picked up by webmasters, editors and print publications, because it's more prominently placed on our site;
3. increases the chances of having your article syndicated through our category syndication. The top 15 bid-upon articles in each channel category are syndicated out onto other web sites through our channel feeds;
4. increases the chances of having your own syndicated column picked up because if you have a bid running on at least one of your articles, we promote you as a syndicated columnist on your profile, your articles, and also on www.SyndicatedWriters.com

To learn more about the bidding process, go here.

Extending Article Bids

Per the suggestion of a writer, I just finished programming a function inside the writer accounts for writers to be able to extend existing bids. Up until now, the new system wouldn't let you bid on an article that already had a bid running on it. Now you have two choices.

1. You can extend the current bid amount on an article for up to 10 weeks longer.

2. If you want to start over with a new bid amount, you can do that too.

I don't recommend the second option unless your bid is about to expire anyway, because it will  cancel any time and money you have remaining on the existing bid and start over from the day you place the new bid. In other words, you forfeit any time and bid dollars remaining on the existing bid and the new amount and number of weeks starts counting from the day you place the new bid. To maximize the use of your advertising dollar, you'd be better off just waiting for the first bid to expire and then place the new bid.

Read articles in Spanish, Portuguese, French and more!

Now people who speak Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and Italian can read articles in their own language on IdeaMarketers. Each article has a menu at the top where you may choose the language you'd like to read the article in. Here's an example article.

Things Just Got Easier at IdeaMarketers

We've recently streamlined our writer login area at www.IdeaMarketers.com so that it's easier to navigate and easier for you to place bids for promotion and proofreading requests. You can add funds to your account and then place bids for promotion and requests for proofreading using those funds - eliminating going to Paypal after every purchase. You may also place bids so that they last for several weeks at a time.

Here's how it works:

Step 1: Add funds to your account. You may add any amount that fits your budget. But, if you add $60 or more at one time, you'll receive 20% in Bonus Dollars added to your account! So, for example, if you add $60 to your account, we'll add $12.00 (%20 of $60) in bonus dollars to your account, giving you a total of $72.00.

Step 2: Now that you have $72.00 in your account, you may use it however you wish. For example, you could place a $10.00 bid for 3 weeks on one article (total $30) and another $10 bid for 3 weeks on another article (total $30). Then you could have the second article proofread (for $12.00) totaling $72.00 ($30.00 + $30.00 + $12.00 proofreading). Oh, and another delicious benefit: when you place $100 or more in your account at once, you'll receive a complimentary 1.5 pound box of Dreamy Gourmet 4-Chip Fudge from MrPersonalChef.com!

Changes to Our Proofreading Option

We now offer a flat rate of $12.00 for proofreading of any article of 2,000 words or less. While we're no longer offering complimentary proofreading on higher bids, we're giving bonus dollars when you add $60 or more to your account at once. You may then use those bonus dollars for proofreading or bidding. To get started, log into your writer account and then you'll see an option for adding funds to your account.