Why I Love Article Marketing!

 I do article marketing every week and always will.

If you are not doing article marketing now, or trying to but not succeeding, let me share why I love it and how it can help you too.

Article marketing works better than many paid methods of advertising.

There are two core truths about article marketing:

One – article marketing creates totally free traffic year after year after year. I still get traffic article directory from articles I wrote and submitted in 2007!

Two – Blogging IS article marketing. So if you have a blog now, you are in the article marketing business already!

Here are the top ten reasons I love article marketing:

1. Article Marketing works

If you look at the history of what work online you will see a pattern. article directoryThere are short term players who create a big splash, then fade away.

There are SO many people who have promised “the next big thing,” that have climbed the gravity ladder and then fell, never to be seen again.

Then there are long term players.

Men and women who share their knowledge openly for the benefit of all, knowing that article directory people who like their message will respond and buy their products.

Three examples are: Paul Myers at TalkBi, and Brian Clark at Copyblogger, and Jimmy Brown at Imstitute.

All three are article marketers, all three have thriving businesses and strong reputations.

2. Article marketing builds credibility

When people article directory trust you and believe what you say, they buy from you. They listen to you. They rely on you.

They trust you. This is more valuable that almost any other asset you can earn. Yes, I said earn. There are no shortcuts here. You simply give your best.

I make sales every time I send an email to my list. Why? Because I have worked article directory hard to give the people on my list true value, before asking for anything in return. These are good people who want to learn, grow and have a real business online.

You can join my list and read helpful articles for *years* and never be required to buy anything at all.

That activity builds trust. Best of all, it helps people.

And that’s article directory what’s it is all about. At the end of my days it won’t be the money I will be counting – it will be the people helped. Not preaching, that’s just how I see it.

If your focus is giving, more than receiving, it will all work out. The making money online part of the equation will take care of itself. I have seen that happen many times.

3. Article writing can be article directory outsourced

Don’t want to write or like to write? No problem. You don’t have to!

However, there is both good and bad news– when it comes to outsourcing.

The bad news is that you can’t expect to pay $5 per article and end up with a good product. You’ll end up with some spun article that will get you slapped.

The good article directory news is that there are terrific writers online who love to write, love to work from home and will write excellent articles for an affordable price.

These articles will belong to you. They will be your articles, never to be sold or used by another person. You own the copyright.

The best writer I know online is Meredith Pond. She doesn’t even know I’m writing this, but she is flat out the best in the business in my view.

Two more resources I use personally are Elance and VA Classroom. I have purchased excellent copywriting at both.

4. Article marketing is durable

The lifeblood of the Internet is information. Without unique high-quality information Google goes out of business.

When YOU become the information supplier, you are rewarded with more and more visitors, year after year.

I still get visitors from articles I wrote years ago!

My motto is simple — do the work once and profit many times!

Article marketing does that.

5. Article marketing pre-sells

While giving away content is great, you still need to sell something, right?

With article marketing you can do both.

An article marketing approach (to pre-selling an idea) would be to start a blog about your idea. You write articles about the hows, whys, what to do and what to avoid, etc. Post to your blog. While using social media, like Squidoo or Facebook are great, remember your own blog is KEY.

Now people visit your blog and read informative articles without any pressure.

When they do this, they will be pre-sold on the idea and very likely buy from you — the friend who helped them get their questions answered and was article directory so helpful.

And because your blog will live online as long as you want it to (unlike an ad that runs once and is gone forever) you have created real leverage.

You’ve done the work once and profited many times.

6. Article marketing creates better visitors

When you write articles that help people (like this one I hope!) you can place those articles on sites, like article directories and on other blogs, for other audiences to enjoy.

When that happens you reach more people and they get to know you for the first time.

All without spending any money!

So why “better” visitors? When people read your article on another blog or article directory first, and then visit your blog, they WANT to know more about you.

Visitors coming because they WANT to know more is far better than the person who just Googles and clicks.

7. So few are doing article directory it well

Marketing online is funny. Once something is discovered that works well, you can count on some “shortcut” or “three click miracle” way of doing it popping up.

It happened with article marketing.

The hype boys noticed that article marketing worked, and created article directory spinners and robots and scrapers to “do the work for you.” These miracle inventions would even submit your articles for you to *millions* of websites!

Of course, that doesn’t work. But people bought into it, spending their time and money trying it… because it sounded easy and fast.

If the same people had saved their money, and written just two articles a week during that time, they would be so article directory much farther along.

With so few doing article marketing well, now is the perfect time for you to get in the game.

8. Articles can be repurposed

I also love that articles make great content on other venues. Here are a few ideas:

Use short snips from your articles on Twitter.

Post excerpts to Facebook.

Add articles to your follow up series

Combine articles into a report that becomes your viral marketing piece.

Make a Powerpoint presentation from your articles and create video for YouTube and other sharing sites.

Record your videos article directory to create a podcast.

Combine articles into a book to sell on Kindle or on your own blog or site!

Write the article once and profit many times. Good motto.

9. Article marketing creates quality back links

When your articles are published on other websites you get a link from that site. When those sites are of high quality, Google pays attention and gives you more attention… and more visitors.

Simple, really.

The thing is, you just can’t fool Google. So why bother “blasting” your article to “hundreds of thousands” of blogs or sites that no human will ever visit, when you can do it right.

10. Article marketing builds article directory your list

There is no better list builder out there. While list swaps and solo ads are *faster* at building lists, article marketing will bring you *better* subscribers.

How are they better?

Because they have already read your work and like it. Now they want to know more.

And having someone want to know more about you, and what you offer, is extremely powerful.

So there you have it, the 10 reasons I love article marketing so much. Let me encourage you to get more information about article writing and article marketing.

It’s morning on article directory the Internet my friend. And now is the time for you to stake your claim and build your business.

Because having an automated thriving online business is a beautiful thing indeed!

Article Marketing Tools

Article marketing tools became the topic of my conversation at lunch with a client two weeks ago.

You might wonder how did it come up in discussion?

She is a company sales director looking for a different marketing strategy for 2013 than the one she had previously used. She started article directory out by asking: “Can article marketing tools really produce?

Find out my response below…

First I reviewed her objectives for using online marketing tools and why she chose content marketing as the answer to her objectives.

After lunch, over our coffee, I indicated that if she wanted to get a leg up on article directory promoting her web content, she should start by considering and then narrowing down an aggregation of ideas on successful article marketing tools. I could only start the process at that meeting.

She asked for some for-instances and I told some tips that I thought could help her get the most benefit from her article marketing efforts.

My first marketing tip:

Showing how other customers have benefited from your product will make your new visitors trust you and more likely to buy from you. Include a section featuring real-life testimonials from buyers who have used your product and were satisfied with the results.

We maintained a back-and-forth, ongoing Q & A as follows…

Question & Answer on Article Marketing Tools

She then asked:

QUESTION: But how can I attract people to my content?

My ANSWER: Most articles, unless they are specifically deleted, article directory will stay on the internet forever. They can be used again and again to direct new traffic to your website. You can also use the article marketing tool of writing articles which highlight other articles you’ve written to increase your followers and networking.

Keep your website fresh by posting new content on a consistent basis. Spiders index your site based on content. You will be indexed more often and be more visible if you continue to provide new content. The more content you post, likely the higher the search engines rate your site and the more visitors you will attract.

QUESTION: How can I be sure site visitors read my content?

ANSWER: Your articles must be written well. Carefully proofread your articles, and ensure that they positively reflect your company, your product article directory and your principles. By doing so, your customers will regard you in a positive light.

Use your title as the attention grabber. The title is your one chance to entice readers to read your entire article. Say it in the title, and then provide useful information with solutions to problems. A gripping title is one of the most important aspects of an article. Article marketing is big business, so make sure that you stand out in the crowd.

QUESTION: What about convincing readers you know your subject?

ANSWER: You will know how you can succeed if you keep going and become an expert. If you don’t know what you’re writing about, don’t do it, because you will then produce work that is not very good. Be open in your articles, and include original content. When your post, readers can relate to you, it allows article directory them to build a deeper connection. This will improve your reputation as the reliable resource in your field of expertise.

Tell your readers something important. The better they like your writing and articles, the more likely they will be to come back again and again. Especially if they feel like you are offering them a lot of great useful information.

If your audience includes readers at different skill levels – tailor your articles to all of those different skill levels. If you are marketing a technical product, be sure to include technical terms. Because not everyone will be familiar with the technical terms, explain them in simple terms, too. Catering to your entire audience will earn you credibility and respect.

QUESTION: How about topics to choose?

ANSWER: Be strategic in formulating the topics of discussion for your writing. Consider which topics you are knowledgeable about and develop a real specialty in a particular niche by writing about topics associated with how prospects can benefit from them in that market.

QUESTION: What can you tell me about the content writing itself?

ANSWER: This one is easy… Information in your articles should be useful, relevant and high-quality. This is very important. Don’t try to fool your readers; they will know if your content is written to serve only yourself rather than to provide genuine and helpful information.

Put a lot of emotion into your writing, this will make you easy to relate to. If you come off as too sales-like or too frigid, some people will avoid your site and, as a result, you will lose business.

One way for you to make your article more effective as a marketing tool is to include a ‘hook’ or ‘attention getter’. The author has numerous ways that create attention-getters based on the nature of the content.

QUESTION: What’s a good way to conclude your articles?

ANSWER: Make your articles lead readers to a next step. Readers are canny enough to understand that a single article will not provide a complete solution for a problem or a full explanation of an issue. Before you begin writing your article, plan out what you think your readers should do after reading it. If you can plant that in your article, you will have readers handing out their money for the results.

Include a call-to-action that will make a strong impact on your prospects. The end of the article should make your reader feel charged and ready to take action. When you do this, your readers will be more likely to actually take that next step.

QUESTION: How about including a Bio Box?

ANSWER: Create an author box that is appropriate and effective. Explain why you write about the things you do. You’re going to want to ensure that your main site is linked back from the author box. Keep your author box info straight if you have different websites for different audiences, and make sure all links lead to the right site.

QUESTION: Tell me about the quantity of articles necessary and about distributing to article directories or blog networks.

ANSWER: Focus on the quantity and quality of each article you put on your site to be successful with your article marketing tools. This will help your readers out when you are able to constantly give them useful content. Once you get the hang of writing your articles, it can become easier for you and you can produce articles more quickly.

Remember that a few exceptional articles are more effective than a hundred fluff pieces. Avoid presenting copies of other articles. Instead, seek out marketing tools which enable manual submission of better quality marketing articles packed with keywords. Focus on sites that are relevant and trusted regarding the content you are submitting.

Try submitting a ton of articles. When posting on blog networks, craft your submissions in a consistent fashion. In order to adequately promote just one keyword, you have to submit a large amount of articles that contain the keyword. Submit multiple articles to directories and blog networks when using a popular keyword. Then you must make fifty posts to a private blog network if you want to get a relatively high ranking.

But, but, but…

That said…

You should not flood indexes with articles which contain identical content. There are many article indexes you should use in your article marketing efforts. It is easy to be tempted to submit the same article again and again to the vast number of indexes out there. Avoid doing this since search engines can discount your rankings.

Conclusion

I hope our dialogue helped. BTW, my client paid for lunch, so I guess she was pleased. By now you should be ready to try your own hand at article marketing. Your focus should be on at least keeping up with the competition by continually working on your marketing strategy. Hard work and information can help you succeed in this business.

Will Brennan has extensive experience in Fortune 500 marketing and business development and has started 6 small businesses of his own. This gives him familiarity with customer details that many others forget or ignore.

He is proud of experience he collected to help guide your business and design optimum marketing tools to achieve your growth goals. Reach him at Marketing Tools Company

Implement the above tips today and please leave a comment below with your own experiences. What sort of results does your biz get using article marketing tools? What article marketing tools have you found useful for boosting the number of prospects who click through to your offer?

Article marketing is one of the best marketing methods of driving traffic to your website. But do you write articles to market your business? Do you know the secrets of writing successful articles? One thing I discovered is that most prominent and well established online marketers use articles to market their websites and to promote their products. This is the reason why I would like to share with you the hidden information about article marketing.

Of what benefit is article marketing to you as an online marketer? There are basically two benefits: sustainability and getting free targeted traffic. When you write your articles and submit them to ezine publishers, they continuously bring to your website a steady stream of visitors for many years to come and at no extra cost. You receive free targeted traffic because you don’t directly pay for it apart from the initial charge paid to article submission service providers for distributing your articles. The benefit of having targeted traffic is that you do not labor to persuade an already attracted customer and whose interest has been aroused through your article marketing techniques.

Success in article marketing requires you to submit quality articles. Quality articles are those that contain and provide to your readers good information. These are articles that are very well written, which add value to the internet fraternity. When you write quality articles, you stand high chances of building positive perceptions in the minds of your readers, which in turn helps you to build your own credibility. When you become credible enough, you obviously begin to make money through the increased sales of your products. The quality of your articles will determine your success in article marketing campaigns.

Additionally, success in article marketing also depends greatly on the quantity of the articles you submit for distribution. You do not have to write so many articles in a very short time, expecting to get quick returns. That’s not how it works. I have come across many marketers, who circulate the internet with over 400 articles in a span of only one year. It’s being overambitious. Two or three articles a week are good enough to work for you profitably. Remember that while quantity matters a lot, it should not be overemphasized at the expense of the quality of your articles. Quantity should not supersede quality if your aim is to successfully promote your business through article marketing.

It’s important to brand yourself well by having your own writing style. Most people who promote their website and products through article marketing do not write their own articles. In fact it’s difficult for most marketers to write their own articles. They instead prefer to source them from outside. But whichever the case, I would advise you to go through those articles and edit a few things to make them compatible with your style. The uniqueness of your style is part of your brand and can bring you good results in article marketing.

How authentic are your articles? If you really want to benefit from article marketing, then the content of each article you publish should be original. Search engines are most of the time scrawling the internet in search of new unique content. Even your readers will return to your website if you provide them with new original content. Remember that your articles’ originality and uniqueness are two important article marketing factors that can lead you to prosperity.

Keyword optimization is an important factor in article marketing. Keywords are words or a set of words that best describe what your visitors will look for. They are words, which your targeted audience type in at search engines like Google to receive the information they are looking for. If your article does not rank among the first 10 to 20 results when doing a keyword search, then your targeted audience won’t be able to read your articles. The onus is on you to learn how to optimize the keywords in the articles you write in order to get free traffic from the search engines and to succeed with your article marketing method as well.

Persistence is another key factor in article marketing. I have come across article marketers, who write so many articles at the start and go in recess only to wake up again after one year. That’s not good and does not help you to build your business. Success is not only achieved through quality and quantity, but it’s also achieved through persistence and continuity. Consistently write your articles, basing on your plan, to continue attracting your targeted audience to your website and to retain your existing customers.

The length of your articles matters a lot in article marketing. As you write your articles, they should be of a reasonable length, say 800 words, to benefit optimally from your articles. This is because search engines will rank your article basing on the word count (number of words in a specific area), keyword density (total number of keywords compared to the total number of words in your article), keyword prominence (relevancy of a keyword in the specific area) and keyword frequency (number of times a keyword appears in a specific area). It’s therefore difficult to rank high if these factors are not considered and long articles tend to be at an advantage.

Last but not least, do not be in hurry to get quick returns when using article marketing as your marketing strategy. One thing you need to know is that it takes some time for your articles to get good rankings and to be disseminated to various ezines. Success in article marketing depends mainly on being persistent, writing quality articles (articles with unique content and properly optimized keywords) and having many articles distributed.