Getting Traffic : Article Marketing

Article marketing is one of the best ways to drive targeted traffic to your site, and the best thing is that it is free. It does require a bit of effort, however the rewards can be enormous. Most of the people make big money online are using this as part of their arsenal of techniques for driving lots of traffic to their websites. There are two guides below one which you can download and the other you can read online further below.

Both of them will provide you with full understanding of this process.

Building Traffic With Article Marketing

You can increase your exposure by having your article content reproduced around the Internet. This is a short but excellent guide documenting the progress of an article marketing campaign, and also includes some very important tips on how to write articles, and how to make the most out of your article marketing campaigns.

How I Make Article Writing and Marketing Work for Me

Article marketing has gotten a lot of press lately. Gurus have sold probably millions of dollars worth of ebook manuals on how to do it. Web script writers have made a bundle promoting software, both to create directories and to automate article submission.

Does it work?

That question would probably be answered differently by different people.

So what about me?

First off, I started article marketing about 6 months ago and have published about 20 articles in as many as 80 different directories. Some of those directories have RSS feeds that get my articles onto many more web sites. I have seen search engine directories showing as many as 15,000 results for one of my article titles.

I have had several web sites zoom to number one positions in several of the top search engines that everyone talks about. Now don't get me wrong--I did a few others things in my quest to gain a spot in the search engines. But I believe article marketing has done the bulk of the work for me.

So how do I do it?

First, I write about what I know. When I first started writing, I was promoting a Christian time management website. So I wrote about time management and success--both topics about which I am fairly well versed. Now that I have learned a thing or two online, I write about what works for me online.

Will article marketing work for you? Maybe. Maybe not. But if you haven"t tried it, you must. It may be just what your business needs to get to the next level.

Suggestions:

• Always construct an article title that is not in use so you can track the propagation of your article online. So before I submit an article, I type the article name, in quotes, into the major search engines. Unless the search comes up with "no results", I choose another title. Once you have one that yields no results, you can track how many sites are hosting your article. Once you submit the article, simply wait a few days and type the name of the article into the search engines. Do this every few days. You will be surprised at the results, if you are submitting to at least 10 or 15 different directories.
• Write about something you are skilled at and have an active vocabulary in. If you do not have more information on the topic than the average reader, you are probably out of your topic comfort zone. Simply choose another topic.
• Write comfortably. This isn't rocket science. Write so that it is easy to read. The internet reader is click happy today. If your article is tough to navigate, they will simply click away.
• Write short articles---500-750 words each. You are not writing a book.
• Always include a link to your site at the end of the article. This is critical for building backlinks to your site.

How to Write an Article

Article marketing is one of my favorite forms of traffic generation. Although it builds traffic slowly and sometimes sporadically, I like it because the clicks are generally from people who already like me.

What I mean by "already like me" is that they already identify with my style, and like it enough to click through to my site. This makes this person a far more qualified lead than one that clicks through from just about any ad source out there.

How does article marketing work? Article marketing involves writing articles that pertain to the subject matter of your website, and submitting these articles for publication online.

There are many online directories that publish articles for the purpose of disseminating good information, or even to add web pages to their own site. Whatever their purpose, it doesn't matter to me. I simply like the fact that they publish my article, market it online, and people have a chance to read my article.

One of the keys to the effectiveness of article writing is to include a link back to your site at the bottom of the article. When the reader has finished reading your article, if they like your style and want to know more about you, they will click through to your site. Now, if you set this process up for maximum list building effect, you will have that link go to a squeeze page that collects their information first, then they will directed to your site after they have submitted their name and email address.

You will write informative articles about your web site topic. One thing here about giving away information. Sometimes you may feel as though you don't want to give people your best information, especially if you sell information on your web site. However, people will evaluate your for-sale information on the quality of your free information. If you are just giving away useless "filler information", your reader will assume that that is the same quality information they will receive from you when they pay you for it.

If, on the other hand, you offer truly valuable information in your articles or other free content, then your potential customers will be able to effectively evaluate the quality of your material.

What to write about? Write about anything that gives your potential customer information that they can really use. For example, if you have a web site that sells office supply products, then the following are good topics:

• How to select a good printer
• The five steps to selecting a good pen
• How to choose the best accounting software
• The best ways to purchase office supplies in bulk
• These are all topics that potential office supply customers will be happy to read.

Keep your ultimate purpose in mind as you are writing and balance that with providing good information.

Remember, your primary purpose when writing is to compel the readers to click through to your squeeze page, submit their name and email address, and eventually become a purchaser of your product online.

Follow these steps for writing an article:

• STEP 1: Select a topic. This can be anything related to your line of business. For example, if you sell shoes online, the following topics would be good:

  How to find shoes that fit right
  Best brands of shoes for durability
  Best brands of shoes for comfort
  How to choose a shoe company
  How to find your perfect shoe

  You should be getting the idea here. Simply choose topics that people ask about everyday. Answer people's questions.
• STEP 2: Write a title. The title is extremely important. If the title does not strike a reader's fancy, and compel them to read the article, they will never have a chance to evaluate your through your article, or click through to your site.

  Here are several suggestions for article title formats:

  How to _________

  The (insert number here) ways you can benefit from __________

  The top (insert number here) keys to _______________

  The top (insert number here) ways to ________________

  (Insert number here) things you never knew about ______________

  What is the best (worst, hardest, lousiest, etc.) way to _______________?

  When you first start writing article titles, it will be difficult at first. It may not feel natural. It may feel awkward at first. The easiest way to get better is to write many article titles. You will find that after writing a hundred or so titles, they will begin to flow more easily.

  So give it a try. Using the above suggestions for titles, try to write one hundred article titles. Get creative. Experiment with adjectives. Try using many different adjectives in your article titles.

  Once you have become comfortable writing titles, and you are going to write the title for your article, type it in quotes into some of the big search engines. You want you proposed title to come back as having no results found. The reason for this is that after you have submitted your articles, you can monitor their propagation on the web by typing in the article name in quotes. Since you started out with no results, unless someone else just happens to write something with exactly the same title, you will have an idea of how may sites have your article.

• STEP 3: Organize your article. This is important, because you want to have a natural - feeling flow as you go through the article. This will be different each time you write, based on the article content and style.

  If you are writing an article about the five aspects of something, then you would naturally have an introductory paragraph, one that simply introduces yourself or your topic. Next, you would have five paragraphs, one for each of the five aspects (or keys, points, ways, methods, whatever). Following this, you will have a concluding paragraph, one that simply sums up the five aspects of your topic, and how they can benefit the reader.

• STEP 4: Writing your article. It is important that you write in a friendly, easy to read, style. You are not writing a scientific article that has to have perfect grammar and multiple cites (unless of course you quote something). You are writing an informative article that should be extremely easy to read. Grammar is not extremely important, although if it is too out of control, you may turn a reader off. Generally, you should write like you are talking to a friend, telling him the information you are writing about. One note here: your article should typically be between 500 and 700 words long. Many directories will not publish shorter articles than that, and many of the ezines that will utilize your articles will not publish anything much longer than 700 words.
• STEP 5: Adding your biography. This is one of the most important things you can have in your article, since this is how the reader will click through to your squeeze page, if they want more information.

  A biography might look something like this:

  Michael Andrews is a successful entrepreneur, both in the offline and online arenas. To read more tips and techniques like the ones in this article, please click here: (insert your URL here with relevant link text)

  Now the reader can click through to your site to get more information.
• STEP 6: Submit your article to multiple article directories. Go online and search the term “article directories” to find current lists of directories. Once you find the list, you can begin signing up with each one. Nearly all the article directories require you to have an author account, so you will have to manually create an account with each directory. Most of them will require a confirmation email, so what I find easiest to do when I am signing up to many new directories at a time is to do it assembly line style. I will fill out their online forms, one at a time. Then, once I have done that, I will check my email and there will be a confirmation email from each one. I will click through each of the links in the confirmation emails. Next, I will go back to each directory and submit my article.

Article marketing is not something you can do just once and see results, typically, and certainly not in any kind of long-term nature. Just like any other form of traffic generation you do, you need to consistently get new visitors to your pages everyday. With article marketing, that means writing an article and sending it out to article directories every day. It is time-consuming, but remember, it produces some of the best qualified leads, and at a low cost---only your time. If you are just getting started, this is one of the best ways to utilize your time.

Importance of Writing Multiple Articles

Writing articles is an incredibly effective method of creating the expert attitude. You see, when you write about what you know, you begin to develop an attitude that simply indicates you know what you are talking about.

No matter how well you know something, if you write about it, you become smoother. If you have written articles for awhile, you will be able to crank out return letters and posts to forums much faster, because you are writing something you feel comfortable writing about. And the only way you can do that is to write a lot.

Start with areas you fully understand. Possibly your first 25 articles will be on the basics of your topic. Just write what you know. After the first 25 or so articles, then begin to go in more depth. Once you have covered all the basics, you can go deep.

Do not feel as though you need to cover every detail in your article. You see, when someone is reading your articles, they may not have the time to read a small book--so keep it short and to the point. If the reader wants to learn more, they can contact you.

This allows you to simultaneously develop contacts as you are establishing yourself as an expert. After you have written 100+ articles, you will not only be perceived as an expert, but you will also have created some good contacts.

Review on Article Writing Basics

Where do you start when you are writing an article? You know writing articles for online distribution is important to your internet success, but you sit down at the computer to write and your mind goes blank.

Here is how I do it.

• I pull up the categories section in my favorite article directory, and search through the categories and subcategories to find out what I want to write about.
  
  
• I give my article a simple title, for example, "How to…..", or "The Best 10 Steps to...", or even "What (insert topic) means to me"
  
  
• Next, I outline in my mind how the article will be structured to get the most information across with the fewest words possible.
  
  
• After that, I begin to write. I write some introductory stuff about the topic, in the first paragraph.
  
  
• Then I start writing, starting with the first thing I want to teach or give. And then to the second. Etc.
  
  
• I remember that my audience is not going to be captive for long, so I tend to write short articles.
  
  
• I write in a conversational tone. Like you and I are sitting at lunch in our favorite booth at the neighborhood diner.
  
  
• I try to give specific, useful points in each article, things that the reader (you ) can immediately take away from the article and put to good use.
  
  
• I include a compelling bio so that people reading my articles will click through to my websites to see what I offer.
  
  That is about it--Oh, one more thing - I write a lot. A couple of hours a day. Some days 10 articles, some days 15 or 20.
  
  I believe that if something is working for you, you should do it right and do it big. And article writing is working for me, and driving a ridiculous amount of traffic my way.

Closing Notes

I just want to say here that article writing is truly an art and as you spend time writing you will become better at it.

Do not be afraid to write 10-20 articles per day. Constant article writing and submission do several things for you.

• Article writing becomes easier with practice
• The more articles you have on the web, the more traffic you receive
• If you are like me, the more traffic you receive, the more money you make

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