It is commonly known that one way that you can help build your site traffic is through the contribution of content to other sites, being sure to have hyperlinks in your content so that the reader can be led back to your site.
Well, another twist on this is to take a more assertive stance. Instead of looking for sites that accept editorial contribution and then asking to contribute yours, how about looking for sites that don't?
What kind of sense does this make, you ask? It makes perfect sense if the purpose of your efforts is to help add value to the site that you're now going to solicit. You're going to offer these sites a terrific service - creating free "custom" content for them!
Many sites don't seek out editorial contribution because they hardly even understand the value of content on their site. Even more sites are lacking content altogether. With your offer, you're going to help improve the marketability of the site, making yourself a valuable resource to them, while at the same time, building your own credibility and site traffic.
Don't just look for any old site, however. Look for ones that meet your own personal criteria for being a good site - are they clean-looking? User friendly? Easily navigated? And most importantly, DO THEY ATTRACT YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?
Now, look to see how they can best put your content to use. Do they have a newsletter? If they don't, put them on the list. Do they have date-sensitive content? If, they don't, they're a candidate, too. Be sure to note carefully all contact information - you'll want this to personalize your solicitation. Also, check to see if they're collecting email addresses on the site. That they have an emailing list is critical to part two of this strategy.
Now, after you've got a healthy list together, begin your course of action. Send a personalized email to the appropriate contact person, letting them know how having good, fresh content would benefit their site immensely and help to generate loyal and frequent visitors. You can offer to provide them with free editorial copy for their site (provided that you can get a hyperlink, of course).
Better still, if you've got the time, here's an even better idea I once read: propose to provide them with a newsletter free of charge. You'd take care of managing everything - the content, the frequency, and the distribution. Assure them that their list would be kept absolutely private and protected.
What do you get from providing all of this free of charge? Tell them all you ask for is the opportunity to include up to three unobtrusive ads toward the bottom of the newsletter. Get this permission in writing! Ads that you don't use for yourself, you can sell and generate revenue! Plus, you've piggy-backed getting your name promoted through someone else's mailing list!
The beautiful thing is that this newsletter does not have to be used for only one web site. If you can get your "clients" to add a few individual things to each of their own newsletters, you can then tweak the same newsletter and have it be unique for several different web sites.
A word of caution, however. Creating regular editorial is a lot of hard work, and requires dedication as well as diligence. If you're ready and willing to take it on, however, you WILL see results from your efforts.
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This article was provided by Web Ad.vantage, Inc. (www.webadvantage.net), a creative Internet marketing, promotions and public relations firm specializing in strategy building and implementation.
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