PyraBang is great fun too. The concept will remind you of Digg and similar tools – you can use it to advertise directly (which costs credits – known as ‘bangs’) or you can write something informational only with a view to earning bangs.

We all know that Google loves a good blog. A blog, grown organically will become a Google magnet. And that’s even if you just write naturally about subjects. If you think ahead and plan some keywords into the post then you can really get ranked well for some great terms.

So where does PyraBang come into this?

Well as I said, you can place adverts on PyraBang. But to attract comments on a blog, you first need to create a new post on your blog. Write about something topical, humerous, interesting, factual - anything that lots of people might want to read.

And then, much as you might Twitter, post to PyraBang. A ‘post’ in Pyrabang is almost exactly like a Google sponsored Ad. You have a limited length headline and a limited length description and it has to capture attention. The great thing about PyraBang compared to Digg is that you can determine how long the story stays around for by how many bangs you ‘invest’ in it.

You will certainly see traffic to your blog. And some of those people are likely to comment. Particularly if you write in such a way as to invite comments. E.g. ask a question, be controversial, do a poll.

If you’re even luckier, you might get others investing in your post too.

There are other benefits to the internet marketer too. PyraBang gives you stats. So you can practice writing headlines and descriptions – these are very much like sponsored Google Ads but much cheaper to experiment with.

You can also see what other people post and try to work out why some posts get more views and earn more bangs. This is going to be a great tool for those who work out how to use it to their advantage.

Known as knol – which they say stands for ‘a unit of knowledge’ – a neat concept. Superficially, knol would look much like a squidoo lens or a hub page. Google’s blog states ‘A knol on a particular topic is meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read’ – which sounds ominously like a knol ought to be at the top of the organic SERPs.

They go on to say that knols can contain ads from which the author will receive a substantial share! They won’t be moderated, only ranked so there is no censoring and marketers will flock to get their affiliate links in this new format.

It certainly seems like it would be worth trying to get in early and write some definitive knols about your pet subjects.

Perhaps this is why squidoo lens fell from favour!

Here is an example knol from the big G – they have a more serious and business-like feel to them than lenses.

While there will no doubt be plenty of rubbish appearing, community tools like ranking will help to make sure the genuinely good ones get to the top.

So go forth and nab your knols.

You can find the service at http://knol.google.com

Boy, am I glad I did. This software sets the bar very high indeed. At least based on the video preview – I would love to be reviewing this product for real right now but I guess I’ll have to wait.

There’s a link to the video at the end of this review.

I have never used Instant Article Wizard 1.0 so I don’t know how that performed but it gleaned its content from free articles. Version 2.0 uses the web at large! And the preview shows how to use it to generate really readable articles that look like they were written by one person.

I would like to make a suggestion both to anyone intending to use it and maybe to the great Jon himself: modify every sentence slightly rather than using it verbatim. Maybe the software should only let you retrieve the content after it’s been modified a small amount. Nothing too onerous but change a few nouns, insert superlatives, do something to each sentence.

Why?

Because good as this is, Google could easily detect these articles. Not saying it would now. But if Google didn’t like this concept, it could detect them. I may be wrong but if I’m right, you read it here first.

What are the odds of two people writing the exact same 10 word sentence? OK, if it’s on a specific topic it’s of course feasible. What if 3 or 4 or 5 people have that exact same sentence? Now while the article may well look extremely unique taken as a whole, if (and it is a very presumptive if) Google finds the exact same sentence used in multiple sites, Google can now simply look for that sentence and any site with the exact same sentence will be penalised because it’s a near certainty it was scraped.

Will Google care? Maybe not. There is some value in an article that ’summarises’ lots of other articles. But if the big G does care, I’m guessing it could switch on detection in a heartbeat.

Change a couple of words in each sentence and it would dramatically reduce the chance of big G spotting it.

This is not to knock the product, far from it. It’s great and I would recommend it. But if it’s overused and if people are too lazy, it may lead to lots of sites getting slapped.

So be smart. Like any tool, use it wisely, not lazily – you might thank me one day. Then again, I could be talking rubbish.

What do you think?

Here’s the video

To understand why you need to realise that the benefit from posting to blogs comes in two forms:

• The extra traffic from people seeing your comment and clicking on your link
• The benefit of a backlink to your site, thereby improving your standing in the search engines

The 2nd of these benefits only applies if the blog doesn’t use the ‘nofollow’ tag because that tag means ‘don’t follow this link’ -  a directive to the search engines to not consider the link a link to your site.

Many sites add the nofollow tag to make it less attractive to comment spammers but there are still many sites that don’t have it. These are obviously the best sites to find for commenting on.

 Comment Kahuna is a free piece of software that helps you find such blogs. Rather than me explain it, go watch the video and see it in action.

And come back and let me know what you think.

Troy

Article marketing is a key element in many online marketers’ overall strategy and for good reasons.

This article will show you how effective it can be and how to do it properly so that it doesn’t do you more damage than good.

An article often implies an accurate, factual, objective piece of writing about some subject. At least that’s probably the thought of many people when they see an article; they tend to take it at face value.

Naturally, if you’re the reader, it inevitably helps before you begin to read the piece to briefly think about the agenda of the person who wrote the piece. In this way your guard is up for any bias there could be in the writing and you can take that into account when considering the content and any actions you may make based on that article.

For example, if the piece is all about product product A from company x and it’s written by company x – it’s likely to be biased and you should be wary about making a decision to buy based on just that article.

But if the piece is a review of several related products and is written by someone not connected to any of the featured companies, you’re much more likely to be able to take what has been written at face value.

Or is that too naive?

In this scenario, you may have to probe a little deeper. Why has this person created the review? Chances are (especially for online articles) the author is going to make a percentage if you buy any of the products through links on his/her/their article.

So, being cynical, the article may be biased towards the product that pays a higher percentage.

There are many articles on the web that are created by people just because of their interest in that subject and there is no money-making reson behind it.

But these are fast becoming outnumbered by articles created to ultimately make a sale and a commissionpercentage for someone. Always be cogniscent of that.

And be aware of that when creating your own articles designed to market something.

I’ll use the term marticle to indicate an article meant for marketing something and ulimately making money.

Many people reading your marticle might be naive but many people generally are becoming more wisened up to marketing techniques and tricks. Therefore, my advice is to try to be as genuine as possible so that whatever else happens, whether the marticle is effective or not, nobody can accuse you of not having integrity.

In the main people don’t mind you earning money; they realise that people make money on the net and they can only achieve that by promoting products and ultimately making sales.

But people hate being manipulated. As soon as they feel they’re being manipulated for your profit, you can wave them goodbye, if you can see them through the dust that is!

If you’ve used a product and feel you could be comfortable promoting it, great. Write an article that says how you’ve used the product, what benefits you got from it, what you like and dislike about it and include an affiliate link (or a link to your own site if it’s your own product).

But be authentic – don’t imply it’s the greatest in the market if you haven’t objectively reviewed the other products yourself. Don’t try to mislead – be open and honest that this is the only product you’ve tested and this is how it worked out for you.

People will thank you for that. They may look for more reviews from other people who have tested other products but your integrity is intact and some people will buy through your link because your review is sufficient information for them.

Many people write a marticle that just states the benefits (often straight from the product owner’s website) and then offer their affiliate link. They’re not adding value to the info the visitor could get directly from the owner’s website.

Add value by either reviewing more than one product (thereby saving the visitor time in researching) or add value in a different way:

As you’ve used the product, offer hints and advice about how to get the best out of the product; stuff that might not be on the product owner’s website. Show that you’ve used it and note: pointing out a few negatives but showing work arounds is a very powerful way of making your marticle seem genuine and creating rapport with your reader.

Offer a newsletter supporting the product; offer your support by email if they buy the product through your link; offer free bonuses.

Just ensure that you add some value and not just put your affiliate link in there. Your readers and your bank balance will thank you!