Article Marketing

Tips & Strategies on How To Use Articles To Promote Any Product, Service, or Affiliate Program

YES, article marketing or writing and distributing articles online, really can increase your website traffic and help you make more sales, but most people don't really understand how writing articles and distributing them can help you, so here's what I'm talking about:

"Your articles with your keywords are shown on dozens of other websites or blogs that are already indexed by the search engines. And each of those sites links back to your site or blog. It's a double benefit for you because you have incoming links and they are coming from relevant search traffic."

If you can follow these 5 steps exactly as they are laid out you will see a remarkable difference in your sites traffic.

Step #1: Choose the product or service you want to promote.
Don't get hung up on this. If you're having trouble coming up with a product see my article on keyword and product research.

This process also works very well for your favorite affiliate program. But don't confuse this with promoting your newsletter or subscription publication, I'm talking about a product or service that you can earn profits from when people who read your article make a purchase.

Step #2: The "helpful, but incomplete" approach.
This is the magic approach and it works extremely well with free e-books, e-courses or reports.

What this means is you provide your reader with helpful, useful information (it must be something they find of value and are able to actually apply).

The idea is to use your content to build up a desire for your reader. By the time they finish your article they should be so willing to put into action your useful information that they'll be happy to buy your offer.

For example, let's say I was promoting a search engine optimization tool. I would start by explaining the benefits of good SEO, how it increases traffic, increases search engine ranking, etc. Then go on to write a step-by-step tutorial article for "do-it-your-selfers", explaining how to do your own SEO from scratch, then I would go on to promote my tool as an oversimplified way to attain perfect search engine optimization.

Are you getting the picture?

Step #3: Next, turn your approach into a tips list or tutorial.

OK, by now you're probably asking "What kind of tips, strategies or tutorial do I create?

Using our SEO example above you could create things like:

"How to optimize each page of your website for better ranking"
"How to implement better linking strategies that offer the most benefit"
"How to implement better linking within your website
"How to find the right keywords and use them to your advantage"

Think about what you want to help your reader accomplish. Decide how you want to help them get there with the helpful but incomplete approach, then develop a list or step-by-step tutorial for your article or content that leads the reader along.
 
With each new "idea" or "way" or "tip" or "step" or "strategy" that you share, you can further direct the reader towards realizing their need of your upcoming offer, and lay the foundation for them to accept the offer.

Step #4: Expand on each point to build your content.
Here's a way to make it easy. Just "fill-in-the-blanks" to complete your article.

Write 1-2 short paragraphs for each of your points. Provide quality content and make it convincing. Poor results are inevitable if the information isn't helpful and useful. Try to provide information that isn't found everywhere or that your reader may not have heard before. Be as original as you can. Be motivating and compelling. Light a fire under their chair. Challenge them.

What you are doing here is really "pre-selling" your reader on the idea that they are going to need your offer. If you don't provide them with quality information that they WANT to begin using immediately, they won't be interested in buying.

Step #5: Put on the finishing touches.
There are five things that you should always do to finish up your ezine article. Don't skip any of them. They are all important...

1. Polish. Read and re-read your article. Does it provide information that really is "useful" to the reader? And yet leaves them wanting even more? That's what you want. Polish it. It has a very specific purpose -- make certain it has the means to achieve it.

2. Promote. Here's where your resource box comes in. Go back and read step #1, this is where we actually promote your product or service. Give the reader what they (hopefully) are wanting ...a way to maximize the information you gave them.

3. Proofread your article.  Many writers try to do this themselves ...don't do it!  Have a friend, relative or co-worker check your article for grammatical and typographical errors. Bad spelling and grammar can be a big turn off and presents a bad image.

4. Publish. Send your new article out to your favorite list of publishers. Submit it to the announcement lists and the ezine directories. Don't forget to publish it yourself in your own newsletter!

5. Profit. If you've done everything above, sit back and be amazed at the profits roll in.

That's it. Use, rinse and repeat!

If creating your own articles is more work than you have time or ability for, Private label content or PLR articles are an excellent way to get quality articles, massage them into your own material and use them to help promote your products. Here's where I get many of my best articles.

Check Here for More article writing help....

Article Directory - Article directories, resources, article banks and sites for submitting your articles, helping you gain website exposure and traffic to your site

Check out our internet marketing articles covering online marketing and internet business topics that you are welcome to use on your website or ezine publication.