I’ve recently completed a 100+ page ebook on internet marketing. Not for sale yet, but I’ll be looking at various options as to what to do with it.

At the moment I’m focusing on article marketing as a traffic driver. I’ll let you know how that goes at a later date.

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I’ve not posted here for a short while. Here’s why.

This blog is obviously a central focus for me and my business. I’m still wondering to ever have any ads (even any more link ads) on here.  That is, to keep it clean for pure content.

Also:

1 Been thinking about how I can now begin to develop out from the blog, or rather the best way for me to do it. I’ve always had a plan. As ever, with actual practice your perspective changes, as you learn new things. I think this is a problem everyone meets and meets at various points in business development. In effect, not only what’s the next step, but what’s the best next step, and for me and my business specifically. This is all very briefly put.

2 I’ll just say, then that part of the above is that I’m considering setting up an internet marketing membership (free as a start) or an internet marketing portal-type site or content/information site, which could still be monetized if it’s all valuable enough. I know this is vague stated in this way. I have more detailed ideas. I’d be really interested in any responses to this.

Also, I did say originally I would have a new product out this month  – obviously things have changed. Firstly, because I’m not satisfied with the resources I could provide as useful to people in a one-off stand-alone product. Secondly, because I’ve grown more ambitious (over-eager?) to get to at least my stage one I was aiming at, that is, a membership site, which would in fact have originally been the end point of a Stage One for me.

3 The vexed question of article marketing. I still need to pursue this particularly, so I need more time on it.

Lots of people have always claimed that article marketing  done by itself (bum-type marketing) will get you lots of targeted traffic. You write lots of articles and send either to lots of directories or to a few key directories.

I will only ask: is this actually, as it stands, true? Or partly true? Is it the case, which might seem a bit daft to say, it depends on your interpretation of the various factors, including the results! I won’t say anymore about this because I want to make the next point about article marketing – which I think is the real emphasis.

Article marketing is best done, perhaps needs to be done, contextually, in the context of other methods. Put simply, article marketing needs links back and forth in a mesh of links, sites, and texts. For example, rather than be stuck in a directory and left, which seems to be the general advice with slight variations, there needs to be a context of Web 2.0 sites, blog(s), ezine(s), other articles, RSS and whatever.

In other words, there needs to be a pattern of formation and interaction in the total context.

I think this is where people get confused who are trying to work out traffic methods. For, what is the best pattern? Perhaps there isn’t a “best”. There are hints and some maps here and there.

I’ve mentioned in a comment about my interest in the relationship between ezine, blog and articles. Having already questioned the role, in some sense, of articles, I think these 3 are also best in a larger pattern of relationships and links.

No wonder people get mixed up, and find traffic-getting in this way difficult.

Try mapping some patterns out yourself and you’ll see;)

Oh…and I haven’t even mentioned backlinking in all this!

Let me know your thoughts. I’d love to read them!