How to Use Article Marketing by Simon G Ford

Article marketing is today’s name of the game if you need to profit online. Unluckily, not everybody understands how to use this new tool effectively and properly. When we say effectively and properly, that means writing articles that attract readers to know more about – or even patronize – your products or services rather than switching them off completely. Whether you’ve yet to try or already tried article marketing to raise your list and achieve so-so to deplorable results, the ideas below will surely boost your website’s profits: DON’T UNDERSTIMATE YOUR READERS. Your readers are not fool. Underestimating them will be the end of your market. Readers are competent to easily catch on when they’re being played the fool. Giving them single worthless article to read and waste their time with may be overlooked and forgiven, but doing so too always would earn your business the wrath of your customers. NEVER DUPLICATE CONTENT Think of it as the standard in article marketing. Violate this rule, and you’ll get incensing readers and search engine spiders alike. There are millions of words at your disposal, so you get no excuse to be lazy and use the same article over and over just to improve search engine rankings and generate more traffic to your website. It’s okay to use the same content, but please do try to reword them in totally different manner, and publish them at proper intervals. TITLES MATTER! A title is primarily what provides the first impression for several readers. Thus, if you need them to continue reading, your title must offer them reason to do so. On making titles, make sure that they use the main keyword or contain the main theme of the article; secondly, they must be short but catchy: don’t go beyond 12 words unless it’s absolutely necessary. USE THE INTRODUCTION TO SPICE THINGS UP! A brief introduction to the article could still be boring and summed up as “yada, yada, yada”. The introduction to your article must broaden the impression that your catchy title has built; it must further engage the interest of the reader and provide him more things to look forward to in reading your article. THE SEQUENCE OF PARAGRAPHS MUST BE ORGANIZED AND SMOOTH-FLOWING. An article is not a short-story; it will not help from having flashback scenes, or a writing style that jumps rather than glides from one topic to the other. If you have to liken a marketing article to a dance, it’s same with waltz or ballet, and never breakdancing or hip-hop. IF IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE MENTIONED, THEN DON’T. Never contain useless information. As long as it’s not directly or significantly important to the topic at hand, don’t mind including it. At the very least, just have passing mention of it. Readers, specifically Internet readers, are into articles that are short and easy to comprehend so as not to waste time and effort. BENEFITS, BENEFITS, AND MORE BENEFITS! Readers don’t need to know about who’s behind the company, how many awards your company has received, or something else. Readers are always primarily interested in what they can acquire from your article, and consequently, your item. Thus, on writing any article, make sure that you strongly sress these two types of benefits: the valuable information they’ll earn from reading your article and the advantages they’ll enjoy once they buy your product or service. ENDING WITH A BANG After the main content, people often end the article with a brief description of their product, and a call to action. That call must neither be a shout nor a whisper; rather, it must be said in a normal but persuading manner. When reading between the lines, your call to action’s simply saying “if you don’t purchase our products, it’s your loss, not ours”. At times, simpler things lead to bigger and better effects. PROVIDE SHORT BUT DETAILED CONTACT INFORMATION. Include your company name, primary website address, and email addresses which they could send inquiries or requests for reports and ezine or newsletter subscription. HOW AND WHERE TO USE ARTICLE MARKETING Besides using it to provide content for your website, articles could also be utilized in blogs, newsletters, auto-responders, e-zines, and ebooks. Article marketing is a way that can never fail, as long as you provide your readers the information they wish…and deserve.