Monday, September 15, 2008

7 Essentials for Successful Article Marketing by Mike Valles

A lot of talk about article marketing has a lot of people putting a lot of stuff out there in cyberspace. Much of it is the same just because people are in a hurry to get something out there because that is what they had heard that they needed to do. It offers free advertising for them.

It is very true that article marketing can be a very effective way to get traffic to your Web site, but to be most effective there are some simple steps that need to be applied first. Here are seven essential steps for effective article marketing to make your advertising and traffic generation methods more effective.

1. Select A Goal for the Article

Before you type or write out your first word, you need to decide what your purpose for the article will be. Are you going to use it to establish our own credibility? Will you use it for traffic generation? Are you simply looking to increase the number of inbound links to your Web site - define your purpose before you start. It will determine your length, words selected, and much more.

2. Choose Your Keywords Carefully

The next thing you want to do is to make sure you have carefully chosen the right keywords. You want to avoid the more generic keywords such as "credit cards." Although you may use this one, you may want to narrow it down for a single page to "hotel credit cards," or "driver's credit cards," etc. Your keywords should be defined by the page that you want the traffic to go to if someone follows your link.

3. Deliver What You Promised

Articles of any kind really only have value if they deliver what the title promises. If people read the article and only find information that he or she already knew, or that is common public knowledge, and your title promised "Secrets," then you failed to deliver. This means your article will also fail to bring the coveted Web site traffic you want to your Web page. Make sure your article measures up to the expectations you created in your title.

4. Make People Want More

As you write the article, you also do not want it to tell all. There should be a little hunger created by the article for more. If it is well written and gets your points across clearly, then you should be able to prove that you have more to tell. If it informs people about the subject and does so in a way that grabs attention, then they will want more. You will sound like someone that has more to tell - and they will want to know what it is.

5. Promise More in Bio Box

This is where the bio box comes in. Instead of making it a real big ad, focus on where and what, in simple words, people can find the more that they want. Your article creates a taste for it, but real satisfaction can only come from visiting the Web site. Remember that your article focuses on one thing and uses certain keywords, too. It is those things that you need to be advertising in your bio box because those were the words that brought the people to your article in the first place.

6. Write It Well

Although article marketing may be a good way to get free advertising for your Web site, that does not mean that any old article will draw people there. People can tell whether or not a writer has taken some time with the article or not. If it is not written well, or does not flow smoothly, or the spelling is poor, this is a reflection on the writer - and on the Web site, too.

7. Publish Selectively for Greatest Impact

Finally, after your article marketing article is completed, you are ready to post it online. Here is where you can save a little time. Instead of posting it at every article distribution Web site you can find, be a little selective. Choose the ones that rank higher than the rest. This will serve a double duty for you. First, it will be put where there are better quality articles; and second, it will also increase your own page rank.

In some cases, you may only need to post your article in a couple of places. If it is well written, has something unique to say, then people will gladly pick it up and post it on their own Web site. Now that's when article marketing becomes viral and then you start getting the traffic you want.

About the Author

Mike Valles is a freelance writer who writes articles for article marketing and Web content. He also has written a number of Ebooks and is a published book author. He writes mostly about finances, real estate, health, and home business. Learn more about his writing services at http://www.article-marketing-to-go.com.

No comments: