Do you like to write? Was this something you were good at in school?

Content and article marketing is taking the Internet by storm. As Google looks to change the way people search and find information on the web, good content that is keyword rich and interesting is taking center stage. Businesses can bring in web traffic from all over the world by having good and relevant content spread all over the Internet. The catch is: there's not enough writers for the demand for good content.

Businesses are turning towards outsourcing in foreign countries to fill the void. A lack of English skills has created a large amount of content that is ineffective at best, not to mention the inability to understand the nuances of search engine optimization. Effective articles need to have the proper keyword ‘weight' to them — the right keywords that people are searching for in just the right amounts. Too few keywords and the article becomes irrelevant; too many and it looks like spamming.

It's not hard when you learn exactly how to do it. It's an important task that is growing more popular all of the time. This creates an excellent opportunity for young people with good writing skills to work at home and have the freedom of self employment. What could working from home at a lucrative and growing career field mean for you?

The answers are right here…

Discussion forums are a great place to get to network with like-minded people and express your expert opinions and answer questions for others. Many forums are heavily populated with users that log in a couple of times a week, and have a large subscribership. Most forums are broken down into a main topic and many sub-topics, attracting a narrow interest focus of highly qualified visitors. It's for this reason that forums can be used as a great marketing tool.

As a member of a forum, it's bad etiquette to simply try and sell from the forum discussions. In fact, leaving a URL to an outside website address in the post body itself can get you into trouble. But most forum mediators let members create a ‘signature file' that is appended to the end of each conversation and response, that can help drive traffic to websites and information. These sites can be blogs, websites or affiliate products that each member has a chance to promote. Here is a snapshot of a signature file in a member's post:

For a member like this, who has posted over 2000 times on this forum alone, think about the millions of people who have read these posts and possibly clicked on the links in his signature file at the bottom (clickable links in blue). And these clicks aren't random — they are from people who are familar with this member's expertise and trust what he has to say. How can you use forum marketing to your advantage?

The headline of a piece of sales copy or advertising is the most important part of the entire ad. That's because it's the first point of contact and the single element that ‘pulls' the reader in further. You can't sell to someone if they don't read the ad. The headline needs to be well thought out and stir the emotions of the reader so they will dive in head first. What are some important elements to look for?

Does it relate to them?   – TO PEOPLE WHO WANT TO WRITE — BUT CAN’T GET STARTED

Do they imagine it could be them?  – THOUSANDS HAVE THIS PRICELESS GIFT — BUT NEVER DISCOVER IT!

Does it create a fear?  – LAST FRIDAY…WAS I SCARED!—MY BOSS ALMOST FIRED ME!

Does it create a sense of wanting to change?  – OFTEN A BRIDESMAID, NEVER A BRIDE

Does it ‘personalize' and identify with someone else?  – IMAGINE SOMEONE LIKE ME…HOLDING AN AUDIENCE SPELLBOUND FOR 30 MINUTES

These are emotional ‘triggers' that stir curiosity in the reader and will make them want to read further. It's important to try and put a point across without sounding to salesy. You want them to focus more on the information: What's in it for them? What benefits will they get? Rather than making it look like something's for sale.

Writing ads will never go away. There are even more places on the Internet to compel people to buy: squeeze pages, videos, articles, banner ads, etc… and each one has a certain element that makes it stand out to your visitor. IMTC teaches the techniques of good web copy and profit pulling content. It's something that will make you more valuable in the workplace. Be your own attention-grabbing headline and lure employers to you!

Earlier this year, one the largest and most popular article directories, Ezinearticles.com, took a hit from Google. Ezine enjoyed a positive relationship with Google for years, rewarded with good search placement for its authors. After some time however, far too many articles slipped through the cracks that were low-content or led to low-content websites. Google made a change to its algorithm that ‘slapped' content farms, or plainly said, reduced search rank for sites that published articles not based on quality content, but written to just to get the backlinks that Ezine provided. A review of the articles in the Ezine database revealed that nearly 30% were quickly written, low-content drivel published en masse for linking strategies. This caused Ezine to lose 71% of its search power for hundreds of keyword phrases.

This shouldn't be a concern for anyone, however. Content creation is still the key ingredient for getting high search engine placement. It works well with articles published on your website, or ones published on other major websites. To have a guest article, blog post or editorial published on a website with heavy traffic and high page rank could be one of the most powerful promotional linking strategies you can do for yourself. Google still searches out quality content to deliver to its customers. Whether it's a post, article, video or podcast, if you are writing for your customers and not solely for the search engines, your content will work wonders for you.

Smart marketers never published articles on Ezine just for the backlinks anyway. They did it to promote themselves, build their status in their industry, make themselves the experts and have people click on the links to drive traffic to their websites. Article directories are still a great place for all of this to happen. Ezine may attach ‘no-follow' tags to the links in their articles to amend the situation and get back into the good graces of Google. This is actually a good idea: writers who published crud just to get the backlinks will now have no incentive to abuse the system, and it will leave serious writers to benefit from the traffic.

Content is King on the Internet. It's the only way you can advertise and promote your business properly to your target market. Learn the correct ways to promote yourself online.