As an online marketer or freelance writer, you need to keep pace with new trends in your field as well as gain new knowledge and skills not only for survival but to enrich your work and gain new opportunities.
You also need to plan how you will absorb new knowledge and information to avoid confusion and being immersed in a deluge of irrelevant details and time wastage. You need to draw a plan/timetable or programme of action on how you will approach the whole matter.
When we are talking of updating your skills we are mainly talking of research and training. The two are complementary and are very important. If we take the Internet as an information medium, then we will find that it contains a mass of information, knowledge, products and opportunities which have to be sorted out to be of any meaning.
Here are some tips on how you can keep abreast of knowledge and information.
1 Take a writing/ marketing course
If you are a freelance writer or marketer you cannot afford to miss an opportunity to learn new and essential skills on your craft. Even for the experienced there are new courses emerging or even existing courses which can broaden your knowledge.
Courses available range from paid courses on location, distance learning courses by mail or online to free and paid for ecourses by email/auto responder. Some follow a formal curriculum with examinations provided and certificates issued at the end to informal ones where only a few tips exercise and assignments are provided.
Here are a few websites you may visit and see what suits you:
Freelance Writing

http://www.writersvillage.com

http://www.writingschool.com

http://www.writersdigest.com/wds/

http://www.worldwidelearn.com/writing-courses.htm

http://www.active-online-courses.com/freelance-writing.html

http://www.worldwidelearn.com/advertising-copywriting.htm

Marketing

http://www.worldwidelearn.com/marketing-courses.htm

http://www.marketing-resources.com/course.html

http://www.onlinewebtraining.com

http://www.marketing-register.com/directory/o/Online_Courses_Marketing/

http://www.edu-advisor.com/online-marketing-degree.htm

http://www.get-a-degree.com/distance-learning/marketing-links.htm

2 Subscribe to Ezines and Publications
There are hundreds of ezines and magazines relevant to freelancing and marketing you can subscribe to for the regular dose of news and information. While there are a lot of junk ezines that will only fill your mailbox, there are many good ones which are indispensable to any writer and marketer. Select the few that are good and relevant to your work and subscribe.
You do not need to confine yourself to online ezines, there are also many print books and magazines which you could look into. While you may not have the wherewithal to subscribe or purchase all, there are some which you cannot afford to miss.
Check out the following sites for ezines or publications relevant to your business:

http://www.directoryofezines.com

http://www.ezinelocater.com

http://dmoz.org/Arts/Online_Writing/E-zines/Directories/

http://www.go-ezines.com/

http://www.investing-sites.com/News_and_Media/Newsletters/Directories/

3 Online Search and library research
From time to time, you will have questions which you do not know where to find their answers too. You may also need comprehensive and up-to-date information and news. This is where using Internet search engines and on-line virtual libraries and off-line libraries and databases comes in. These are indispensable tools for finding news, knowledge and information.
As a freelance writer, the search for information is an endless exercise. Whether you want to check facts for your article or book or need information for writing a new piece.
For the marketer, pay – per – click search engines are a goldmine for getting prospective clients. Since searchers are looking for particular information using relevant key words, there is likelihood that the information could be on your site.
Here are a few search engines and virtual libraries.
Search Engines

http://www.overture.com

http://www.findwhat.com

http://www.google.com

http://www.yahoo.com

http://www.inktomi.com

http://www.msn.com

Virtual Libraries

http://www.questia.com

http://www.brint.com

http://www.knowthis.com

http://deserthost.net/wd141/

http://www.ipl.org/

There are many other ways you can increase the quality and quantity of your knowledge and skills as a freelance writer or online marketer. However, the few mentioned above are some of the most important.

About The Author

Abdallah Khamis Abdallah is a freelance copywriter and ghost writer.To learn more about how you and your business can benefit from our viral and credibility marketing solutions and how your business can benefit from infinite publicity visit his website at: http://www.qualitywritingsolutions.com.
quantumpro@lycos.com

The internet is one of the best depositories of informative articles especially on business, marketing and writing. These articles can be a very invaluable source of knowledge and information for starting and growing your business. If you are a writer and wish to see your articles published or read what others have written then the internet provides good forums for you to satisfy your needs.
For webmasters and online marketers, publication of free articles on article databases, ezines and other websites is a highly effective and long-term traffic generator. It is in an inexpensive and targeted marketing method for attracting visitors to your website. However, you need to write a substantial number of articles or regularly write and post the articles in relevant high traffic article databases and ezines to be more effective.
There are very few lists of article databases or websites which accept articles submissions for publication and in this article I attempt to list a few prime websites which accept articles for free publication. New websites come up every day while others are pulled down after some time so to get maximum exposure, post your articles to as many sites as possible, save the articles on disk and print the articles and file them for your own reference and record.
Before posting any of your articles, read the submission guidelines on every website you wish to post and follow them if you are satisfied with them.
Here are some of the websites that will publish your articles for free without payment to or by you:

http://www.articlecity.com

http://www.internetbasedmoms.com/submission_guidelines.htm

http://www.marketing-seek.com/articles/submit.shtml

http://clearviewpublications.com

http://www.ideamarketers.com

http://www.goarticles.com

http://www.freelancewriting.com

http://www.businessknowhow.com

http://www.powehomebiz.com

http://www.ebooksnbytes.com/articles/submit.shtml

http://www.theallineed.com

http://www.digital-women.com/submitarticle.htm

http://www.connectionteam.com/submit.html

http://store.bellyandbeyond.com/yhst-4403591833340/submitarticle.html

http://www.makingprofit.com

http://www.boconline.com/sub-art.shtml

http://www.addme.com

http://www.articlesubmit.com

http://www.theezine.net

http://www.ezinearticles.com

http://virtual-professionals.com/articles.shtml

http://www.web-source.net/articlesub.htm

http://www.tigrafix.com/articles/submission.htm

http://ebusinesshelpsite.com/Articles/submit-article.htm

http://www.businesstoolchest.com/articles/submit.shtml

http://www.writerswrite.com

http://salessuccessmagazine.com

http://chinese-school.netfirms.com/submit-business-article.html

http://www.toupin.com

http://www.worldwidefreelance.com

http://www.business-opportunity.biz/addarticle.php

http://www.selling-it.com/Add_article.htm

http://www.homebiztools.com

http://www.marketingwords.com

http://www.amrithallan.com

http://www.workoninternet.com

http://www.executivecoachingstudio.com

http://www.home-based-business-opportunities.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/article_announce

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/articles_archive

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Free_eContent/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freezinecontent/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/articles4you2use4promotion/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/netwrite-publish-announce/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Reprint-Articles

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/free-content

http://www.freesticky.com

http://amazines.com/

http://www.mbnet.com/article_add_form.asp

http://www.family-content.com

http://www.clickforcontent.com

http://sbinformation.about.com/library/blsubmission.htm

http://www.optimizemag.com/mediakit/contribute.jhtml

While some websites will publish your articles without reviewing them some will check them for suitability and conformance to their requirements.
To enable people to visit your website, include your full url in your bio/resource box below each of your articles so that readers can click on it to go straight to you website. Now, visiting your website is one thing and buying what you provide on your website is another. You can have over one hundred thousand people visit your website in a month but none buying anything from you.
This brings us to the issue of what you sell on your website. Do you offer a unique item or service you have created Uniqueness need not be absolute but do you offer something new, refreshing or useful Does it solve a common problem or satisfy a common need This and many other questions need to be answered by you and acted on. Provide gifts, feebies, special offers and free content such as free articles and ebooks to attract readers to your website and to make them buy from you.
The above listed websites can also provide you with useful articles written by others, news and forums to assist you with information to enhance your personal and business productivity and possibly enable you to place advertisements for high visibility and attention.
Some of the listed websites are part of large networks of websites and posting your articles may lead to the articles to be syndicated in a few other websites and ezines. Others are visited regularly by ezine editors , publishers and webmasters looking for new and useful articles to publish and they may pick and publish your articles. All these serve to increase the exposure of your articles and by extension your name and website url.
To know where your articles have been published, go to www.google.com and type the title of your article in quotation marks “ ” in the search box and search. To know where all your articles have been published go to the same search engine and type your name as written in your articles in quotation marks and search. Do this at least every two weeks and you will find that your articles have been published on many ezines and websites. However, the results could be at times disappointing. If your articles do not contain useful, fresh, how to, problem-solving ideas or are not interesting to editors and webmasters, they might be spurned and will not be syndicated.
Do not confine yourself to the above websites or article databases only but also approach ezine editors. Ezines are online newsletters usually sent daily and weekly to opt-in subscribers. These ezines are in need of content and if your articles meet their requirements they will publish them for free. This might give you high exposure as some of the ezines are read by thousands of voluntary subscribers who are hungry for fresh ideas and information. You can find most of these ezines by searching for “ezine directories” at www.google.com or at:

http://www.koolemail.com

http://www.ezinelocator.com

http://zinos.com

So start today to write and post articles to the above websites and ezines to receive high exposure and traffic to your website.

About The Author
Abdallah Khamis Abdallah is a freelance writer.Find articles,money-making special reports,ebooks,etc at his website at: http://www.qualitywritingsolutions.com. Send feedback about this article to: abdallahkhamis@hotmail.com

When writing articles for publication, it is important that you bear certain matters in mind. If you want to write a good article that stands a good chance of publication you need to take the following into consideration before, when you are in the process and after completion:
Have you formed a full idea on what you want to write about Which subject Which topic
Do you know where or how to find facts or material for your article
Have you collected sufficient raw facts/data for your article
Have you considered the article’s audience / market Will it interest or captivate your readers
Does your article have a main idea and secondary ideas
Have you written enough to give readers quality and credible information
Does the article offer any new, refreshing and useful advice or ideas
Are paragraphs short, well arranged and flow smoothly from each other Are sentences short and well constructed Is punctuation all right and there are no grammatical mistakes
Is your article descriptive Is it sensational, thought provoking, emotive or inspiring Does it evoke happy memories, sadness or inspire readers to action
Have you revised the article to flush out irrelevant ideas, strengthen your points and checked it for any errors
Does your article content infringe any law Copyright Libel
Has the article undergone rewriting through several drafts to polish it
Does the article make sense

About The Author

Abdallah Khamis Abdallah is a freelance copywriter and ghost writer.To learn more about how you and your business can benefit from our viral and credibility marketing solutions and how your business can benefit from infinite publicity visit his website at: http://www.qualitywritingsolutions.com.
quantumpro@lycos.com

Have you read the manual that came with your digital camera If not you are in good company, the majority of digital camera owners never get past the *Basic Operations* section.
If you didn*t read the manual why not Was it the obscure photographic terms The numerous cross references The complicated diagrams The myriad uses for each dial and button The convoluted English Maybe all of the above. The fact is that most digital camera manuals are neither user friendly nor written with beginners in mind. If you aren*t already familiar with photographic terms then White Balance, AE Lock, AF Illuminator, and so on, aren*t much help and it can seem like very hard work to figure it all out.
But if you haven*t read the manual you aren*t getting the most from your digital camera. Digital cameras are loaded with options that let you do really cool things. If all you do is point and shoot you are missing out on a whole lot of fun and some great photos.
We are visual learners, and we like our information in manageable chunks. When we are learning a new skill we learn more by seeing and doing than by reading. Don*t you find that you remember a name more easily if the owner is wearing a name badge when you are introduced Isn*t a map easier to follow than listed directions Did you learn to drive by reading about it Figuring out a digital camera is no different- we need to practice. Let*s go back to the manual and pick up from where you got stuck. In the first few pages of the manual there will be diagrams identifying each function. Don*t start there. It*s too much to learn all at once, and if you don*t know what it all means you won*t remember it. It*s much easier to learn each function as you need it. Try this: get your camera and the manual out. Choose a topic that you are unfamiliar with and learn about that one feature. It might be the basic operation or it may be something more advanced, such as white balance or aperture priority mode. The manual may not be very clear about what each feature does but you can check all the terms out here: http://www.digital-cameras-and-accessories.com/glossary.html
As you read the instructions in the manual explore the settings on your camera and try them out. Then stop and practice using this setting. Go and take some pictures around your home or neighbourhood. You don*t have to worry about wasting film any more, so you can snap happily away and then delete the duds. Only go on to the next topic when you feel that you have thoroughly absorbed the first.
This way you will get through all the features in a month at most. In good time to take some fabulous photos at Thanksgiving and Christmas!
That*s it! You are on your way to becoming an expert.

About The Author

Liz Beresford is a writer who owns and operates the web site Digital Cameras & Accessories. Its an information resource for those who are new to digital cameras and photography. If your camera manual is particularly obscure and you need more information you can find it there: http://www.digital-cameras-and-accessories.com/

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, signed into law on Dec. 4, 2003, gives every American the right to a free credit report every year from each of the three major credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
What the law doesn

Most of the desirable one-word, two-word, and three-word dot com domains are taken. However, if add plurals and hyphenated terms, there is still some gold left in the domain name game. If you find that you need or want to use a phrase or a compound word with two or more words strung together, you can use hyphens. All of the search engine robots read a hyphen as a blank space so you don

It seems as if the health of America is failing. One million Americans will die of circulatory disease this year. Six hundred thousand lives will be cut short by cancer as well. How did we get in such a mess I

As we know get paid to read email is one way to develop income stream and perhaps to start your own business on the net with a little hard work. If youre really serious in this arena, it can return you good bucks. Sex sites are not the only ones that can pull in $5000 a week using the power of instant access! I mean not sex sites can make money. Here 9 steps article about Get Paid to Read Email tips & tricks from me who not a

We all want attention. As children we crave the attention of our parents. Later in life, we want to be seen and noticed by friends and lovers. And when running most any type of business, we must attract the attention of our potential customers.
But how do you get somebodys undivided attention When you were an infant, you got attention by screaming and crying. Then your parents knew you needed your diapers changed. As an adult, you can try using the same method to get noticed. Sure, you will get noticed - but in a negative way!
On the Internet, every website that is selling something has the need to be attention-grabbing; to make the visitors read about their offer rather than just clicking away. Some are then tempted to use the infant method of getting attention: screaming and yelling. Popup-windows that pop up in your face and obscure the page text youre just trying to read, is one example. Flash-generated intros that stop you in your tracks and say "Heeey, wait - before you read about our products Ive got this f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c visual effect to show you...!" is another example of attention-grabbing contraptions that actually defeat their own purpose. They yell and scream at you, and draw your attention to the fact that youd better spend your precious time somewhere else.
One of my websites is called "The Hosting Finder". It provides some reviews of carefully selected web hosting companies; the site also offers articles and RSS-feeds on web development and related topics. In other words, I am not selling anything on this website, and so I do not feel it would be appropriate to use a hard-selling jargon in my introductory headline. Right now, it reads:
"Finding a Web Hosting Provider That Will Take Good Care of Your Precious Web Pages ... Can Be Confusing"
I then explain how I researched the web to find good hosting services based on un-biased customer ratings rather than hype.
Recently, a marketing consultant offered to look at this website and give me some feedback at no cost. I accepted, and after checking my landing page he declared the headline to be "generic and bland". Instead, he suggested the following:
"Want An Objective Client Feedback Guide To Help You Find A 100% Trustworthy, Inexpensive, And Complete Web Hosting Service Provider Based On Survey Results, Not Marketing Propaganda -- With All The Options You Need To Run Your Web Site Smoothly And Successfully
Avoid The Hosting Nightmare Of Trying To Keep Your Site Live And Running Smoothly... Stop Wasting Time And Money In Costly Bad Service"
In my reply, I thanked him for his trouble. I also pointed out that this flood of words might not be the optimal way of building confidence in my integrity as the provider of impartial reviews on web hosting.
Maybe I am wrong, who knows. Perhaps I should start yelling and screaming just like everybody else But I just dont like the idea of doing that. Id rather hypnotize people into reading my texts. Some marketing gurus advocate this approach. Here are a few examples of how youre supposed to hypnotize people:
1. As you keep reading this ad copy, you are feeling more and more compelled to experience all the benefits of our product.
2. The more you understand just how valuable our product could be to your life, the less you think about delaying this important purchase.
3. After you read this short ad you will feel like your problems are almost completely solved, all you will have to do is order.
Well, dont you feel compelled to reach for your wallet right now! This is not a joke; its seriously intended to be persuading people. And maybe it is, although I personally find it more amusing than hypnotizing. Ill make a pause here; I just feel I have to go out and buy something!
OK, I am back. Time to finish this little essay on how to get attention. Oh, you have read this far So I have managed to keep your attention then! I did it by ... no, I wont give my secret away. Youll have to read my Special Report, which Im selling for ONLY $97. But hurry, this exclusive limited special offer expires at midnight!

About The Author

Kai Virihaur is a researcher, web developer, and artist. He runs The Hosting Finder www.thehostingfinder.com , a web hosting directory featuring articles and RSS feeds on web development, website promotion, and online marketing.
This article may be used freely as long as this resource box, with intact hyperlink, is included.