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Article Marketing and Your Business
I have a few thoughts that I’d like to share this morning about this marketing strategy and how it might be used in your online business.
First though, I’d like you to understand this … every marketer is different just as every business is somewhat different. This way to make income (Internet marketing) is never one-size-fits-all. There is no right or wrong way to do article marketing which is simply one of a thousand ways to prospect for leads to your business.
I like article marketing because I like to write and I find that it is an outlet for my creative promptings.
I like article marketing because it gives me a chance to expose my readers (who are also my customers and business prospects) to my expertise and knowledge so that I can show authority and experience in my niche (online business development).
I like article marketing because I can write a piece once … then distribute it online and it becomes a “doorway” or entrance portal to my business and my products. And it can “draw” traffic to my web site(s) for years to come.
I like article marketing because I can “re-purpose” specific articles for other uses in reports, email content, lead magnets, newsletters, forum posts, even freebies and paid products like ebooks and membership site content. I know several very successful online marketers that have made their fortunes “re-purposing” their content and selling it.
No, you may not be like me. You may not enjoy writing. If that is the case, I won’t be the one to talk you into article marketing as a “go to” online strategy … you won’t enjoy it and there are other better ways to spend your marketing time! Is it worth the time and money to hire out-sourcers to write your articles? Of course, only you can decide that depending upon how well your paid writers understand the subject matter, what they charge for their services, and other one-of-a-kind variables.
Some will tell you that the practice of article marketing is totally dead – that it no longer works. I have not found that to be the case in my own situation. If they think article marketing is simply uploading an article to an article directory in hopes of it drawing traffic … then I tend to agree that this way of doing article marketing is not very productive at all.
Okay, I promised some suggestions or tips on article marketing that should prove worthwhile to you if you decide you want to try this marketing strategy.
1. Article writing is a very stylized and personal thing. Developing your own “voice” and adding your personality into your writing will help to set you and your business apart from others simply because so very few business people do it!
2. Pick a topic, a subject, a niche to address and stick with it. Don’t try to write about everything under the sun. Become the “go to” writer for your niche and work to be seen as the top (or one of the top) authorities on the subject.
3. Post articles as often as it makes sense for the niche. Frequency of your articles will vary depending upon how often your audience needs to hear from you. If there is a lot of news, happenings, changes, and events in the niche, you may want to post every day. Other niches might only need commenting once a week. Set your own schedule, so that your audience looks forward to hearing from you, then stick to it. Don’t hesitate to poll your audience — ask them how often they would like to hear from you.
4. Whatever else you do, make sure your writing is original, thoughtful, and of high value to your audience. Quality will make the difference between people in the niche following you – or following somebody else. If you can’t write … if you can’t form a grammatically correct sentence … leave the writing to someone else or don’t use article writing at all. Poor writing repels prospects and you never want to do that.
5. Keep the links down unless you want to be seen as writing for the sole purpose of selling. Make your links “personal recommendations” like you were trying to help a friend find a solution to his problem … rather than hard selling “you can’t live without this once-in-a-lifetime deal.”
6. I would recommend starting a blog or “portal site” for your niche and posting your articles there first. Also look for ways to then distribute your articles to top sites in the niche after your articles have been indexed by Google. Most article directory sites will give you minimal traffic.
7. It takes time to become an authority. Don’t expect overnight success. Just stay consistent, focused on your niche, and true to your persona.
8. Make your articles “meaty” and of value in the niche. Try to post articles of at least 500 words minimum; even better would be 1,000 – 1,500 words. This alone will set you apart from most other blogs in your niche who will “whitewash” most articles. Most bloggers post 100 to 300 words and generalize their subject matter because writing is something they feel they must do to add content to their web site. Try writing on a professional, in-depth level – something that few can or will do these days. It will set you apart. This type of writing can’t be done in 300 word articles simply because the typical detailed coverage of a topic requires more in-depth treatment. [ By the way, this blog post ended up being 1,142 words. ]
9. Write for your audience, not the search engines. Take a stand, be known for something, be interesting and worth talking about. Yes, include keywords but don’t stuff them where they don’t naturally belong. If you write like I’m suggesting, Google will give you all the love you need.
10. Promote your writing. Distribute it to important sites in the niche. Market yourself and your business so that you draw traffic to your site. Well written and high quality articles are not the norm on the Internet these days so it will be easy to stand out and carve your own niche in the online world if you truly have something important to say. We’ll discuss how and where to get exposure to your articles another day.
11. Promote your writing. Yes, I just repeated myself but I want you to understand how very important distributing your writing around the Internet really is — it’s super critical to article marketing success! Sure, folks in your niche may eventually find your blog or web site over time. A much better marketing approach is to plant your article squarely in front of your targeted prospects so they can’t help but see it!
To your online business success,
Steve Browne
www.SteveBrowneDirect.com