Article marketing provides an inexpensive way for small businesses to establish their web site firmly on the internet map.
Marketing with articles is also one of the relatively easy and profitable business generation activities from which you can see gratifyingly quick results.
Done correctly, article marketing = profits.
So, here are my 6 tips to improve your article marketing strategy and increase those profits.
1. It’s a fact of life that not everyone writes well enough to convince readers to act. There’s no shame in that. We all have different skills and gifts. Always have someone evaluate your articles and give you honest feedback on their reaction – before you post those articles anywhere. Don’t ask a friend who will tell you what they think you want to hear! Ask someone whom you can rely on to be impartial and honest. If the feedback is less than positive, and you have given it your best shot, get someone else to write your articles for you. Barter if you don’t have the cash. But, don’t risk your business and reputation with a less than convincing article.
2. Always test. Yes, I know it takes time but it is time well spent. Test article title and also test your author’s resource box. Prepare a number of alternative ‘about the author’ paragraphs and test them. You are looking for the one that attracts the most click-throughs. Conduct enough trials to be sure it is your resource box content that is working and not just the article itself.
3. If your articles are not driving people to your website, ask yourself ‘why?’ If you cannot be objective, ask someone else why. Is the article dry and uninteresting? Is there no compelling call to action at the end? Have people fallen asleep before they finish reading the article? Start tweaking and testing. Don’t be afraid to be provocative in your articles. Spark a debate or a thought process in your reader. Also try to give your reader something new. Don’t just spend 500 words telling them what they already know.
4. Whilst there are many tools and scripts that claim to be able to post your article to directories, it’s worth making manual submissions to those that really provide the links. www.ezinearticles.com springs to mind as being one of the best article directories and, because of the high standards maintained by Christopher Knight and his staff, the quality of the articles on the site can be relied upon totally. Don’t risk your relationship with them by trying to save yourself a few minutes in article submission. Yes, there are many article directories that will not mind automated submissions but decide which ones you want to establish a strong relationship with and take the time to submit your articles manually.
5. It may sound obvious, but you need to schedule time into your working day to write and submit articles. If you are serious about using article marketing to generate valuable backlinks to help your SEO efforts, you need to have a determined article marketing campaign, writing and submitting articles on a daily basis – and I don’t mean spamming the directories, I mean excellent quality thoughtful articles that provide unique and valuable content. Once you have submitted a new article every day for a month, you can reduce your submissions to weekly and then monthly but you will need that boost in the beginning. Ensure you allow sufficient time in your day to do the required writing.
6. Good spelling and grammar are essential. Never submit an article until you have checked it at least twice for spelling errors and grammatically incorrect sentences. Don’t always rely on spell checkers – they may not save you. Print your articles off and read them out loud. You’ll be surprised at the errors you spot! Write your articles and leave them overnight so you can return to them with fresh eyes – once again you’ll spot previously unseen typos and mistakes.
So there you have 6 very simple tips which, if followed, will improve your article marketing results. They are not rocket science. They are not ’secrets revealed’. They are just good, old fashioned common sense that we implement at Philoscribe every day – simply because they work.
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