Article Marketing has really taken off in recent times. When the potential for promoting products through the use of articles was first realised it was often, rather unkindly, referred to as Bum Marketing. Because it was a way to advertise products free of charge, the only expense being that of the expenditure of time, it was spoken of in rather scathing terms by the online business community. That has now all changed. Even the most successful of online entrepreneurs now acknowledges the importance of article marketing as an essential part of their business.
There are certain ground rules, however, if your article marketing is going to be worthwhile. Just to throw a few sentences together and stick them up on an e-zine site isn’t going to do your business any favours whatsoever. Astute use of articles is a great way to increase your status as an expert in your field creating kudos and credibility which will be a great boon in your marketing. To achieve this requires quality writing. Quality is a very important word in the world of internet marketing. If you don’t offer quality you don’t have a business. This even applies to free offers and front end products.
The first and rather obvious step when submitting an article is to ensure that you select the correct category. The article directories now have subcategories, which they didn’t when I first began to submit articles, so think very hard about exactly which one to use if you want your writing to be positioned to best advantage. These new categories, sometimes referred to as niche article directories, obviously have a much narrower focus than the broader terms of the main directories so they can be a great help if you are targeting a very specialised niche.
Always check spellings and use of grammar very carefully. Readers will not be impressed by basic errors in this area. Certain common mistakes particularly come to mind when thinking about this. The important difference between “your” and “you’re”, for instance is so easy to confuse. “There” and “their” is another choice of wording which is often incorrectly used. There are other similar mistakes which are frequently found in documents of all kinds. Make use of your spell-checker which will also help with grammar and punctuation at times. With important documents it is always a good idea to let someone else read them through. It is amazing what other people will spot. When you are actively involved with anything creative, you get too close for comfort, in a sense, and overlook things which are obvious to others. The Icelanders have a wonderful proverb: “The eyes of the guest see clearly”. Avoid long tortuous sentences which meander across several lines of text. Use a full stop more than a comma or a semicolon. Keep your sentences short and to the point.
Just as the articles themselves should be of a high quality so must any links you include to other webpages. If you are trying to create an ethos of quality, giving readers a link to a rubbish webpage will not send out the right message. Ensure that any links go to a page which is truly relevant to the topic of your article and which can enhance your message.
Only submit articles which are genuinely original. If you don’t feel able to write your own, find a professional writer on the internet who will do it for you. You can get a very good article professionally written for a very small financial outlay. One other way to create your own, is to locate PLR (Private Label Rights) articles and rewrite them giving them your own personal touch, – making them your own. This is easily done.
The length of your articles is an important issue too. You are not trying to write a book but you do need to produce something which is long enough to be of benefit to your readers. Articles which give real value to a reader will often concentrate on solving problems, providing helpful information on a particular issue, etc. In order to present an article with sufficient content to achieve this it would normally need to be of over 350 words at the very least. The subject matter should discuss issues associated with the product or service offered by your website rather than being a simple promotion. You are trying to offer your reader something of real interest which will encourage them to click the link in your resource box.