Article Marketing

To be honest, until the last couple of months, I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about “marketing articles.” I knew people wrote articles but until I really started trying to build my list of followers, I hadn’t considered looking into this form of advertising. Let’s just say in the last four weeks I’ve been doing some heavy duty homework, and I’m ready to submit some articles to directories. I always thought who’d want to listen to what I have to say? Well, I’ve learned, who wouldn’t want to listen to what I have to say? :). My emotions are running the gamut of fear of failure to excitement of what might happen. I thought I’d share the process of what I have learned in researching article marketing and you can see if anything works for you! I’d love to hear back either way and if you do something different, please share that too!

Idea Behind Article Marketing.

Write an article
Include a resource box with a link back to your blog and opt-in page/opt-in form
Submit the article to article directories (see list of some directories below)

The straightforward goal is to increase traffic to your site, but the main objective is that bloggers and others will find your article (keyword usage is very important) and publish the article on their sites and then end result is your subscriptions/opt ins will rise.

What Should You Write About?

Write articles that are related to your blog/niche and be very specific in your articles. What are some of the problems and issues your readers are facing? These are the types of things you want to write about. As your site grows in popularity, this will become easier because your readers will start to tell you what they want to learn about.

Another option is to visit popular forums and look for questions people are asking, or you can browse some of the article directories and look at what other people have written about in the category that relates to your blog/niche.

Now that you have your topic, write an article of 400-500 words and answer the question you started out with or share 5 to 10 tips on your topic. People will soon learn you are the expert on what you are writing about.

Remember to spend a bit of time completing your author resource box. This is where you lead readers from your article back to your blog. An effective idea is to include two links: one link will go back to the home page of your blog and the second link will go to your opt-in page, if you have one. If you don’t have a separate opt-in page, link your reader back to your blog page or wherever your opt-in box is located (I have my opt-in box on every page of my website).

Where Do You Submit Your Articles?

Once your article is written, submit it to the more popular article directories. Below, I have included a list of some directories I have researched. This is not a complete list of sites, but as you become more comfortable with marketing your articles, you can find other directories online:

How Many Articles Should You Write?

However many you are comfortable with! You don’t want to burnout so if you are just starting this venture, I suggest one per week. Of course, more is always better, but you don’t want the quality of your articles to suffer. Also, if you set a goal you want to be able to meet it or you will probably feel like you failed. So whatever goal you set make it realistic and measurable. If you want accountability, contact me and I’ll hold you to it. Write it down. For example, say you can complete one article a week for a month then two articles a week for two weeks and then three articles a week for two months; whatever works for you and you can handle without compromising your quality, your workload, and your realistic goals. Consistency is key.

Next week, I’m starting with one article a week for a month. I have an accountability partner/group I’m working with so I know I’ll make it work. What’s your goal for article writing and submitting them to directories?

Until next time,

Colleen