The key to online marketing is quality content. To get ahead of your competition, you have to be prepared to write well. The ability to write well is an advantage in terms of social media marketing and search engine marketing. In addition to written content, Video and audio are effective online marketing methods. The best online marketers are experts at getting other spread the word about their products or services. Dedicate yourself to provide remarkable content to empower others to help you get the word out about your business. Take advantage of the inherent viral make up of Internet. Write Articles You can significantly increase your visibility when you write articles in your area of expertise. Be sure that your articles are informational. Don’t waste anybody’s time with commercials disguised as articles. The key to successful article writing is to provide value. People will notice when you have something of value to say. Articles deemed valuable are; posted on article directories; e-mailed in newsletters, embedded in e-commerce site. In most cases, the author receives a link to his website. The links help in a couple of ways. One, they generate traffic to the site. Second, links help to improve your search engine results. The more links you have pointing to your site the better. Search engines view links to your site as a vote of confidence. The more links you have pointing to your site the more valuable your web site becomes. You can contact website that might benefit from your articles, and offer your articles. Just ask that a link to your website and a one-line description of what you offer be included with the article. Articles offer an effective “viral” approach that can produce hundreds, or even thousands, of links to your site over time. Practical Example: As you become a prolific author of articles related to your service you build reputation. Through your articles, you enable you customers to find your website indirectly. A business owner may find one of your articles while searching for marketing advice online. After she reads your article, she may click the link to your site from within the byline. Because you have already provided her with value, she is more likely to become a customer. Start a Business Blog Your business blog is one of the best ways to get others to link to your site. A blog is less formal than an article and more conversational. You have the power to make your industry interesting to your readers through conversational writing. The blog is not about you. It is about providing value for your customers. If you offer outstanding content and regular industry comment, people are likely to link to it, increasing your site’s link popularity. Remember, links are good. Practical Example: When you blog you are elevating your status to expert level. People are rather buy from experts than sales people. Provide valuable content to your visitors, and they will spread the word. If you have a blog about fly fishing, your readers are more likely to buy from you than another business that simply lists fly fishing equipment on their site. In addition to becoming customers, they will recommend your business to others, in essence become your unpaid expternal salesforce.