Whoever knew that your writing skills could make you so much money?
Article marketing is possibly one of the most established Internet marketing methods out there, in fact when I was talking to a very successful UK based internet marketer recently who’s been ‘doing it’ for over 10 years now, his comment to me was if there was one thing he’d have done differently and more of it is article marketing – he’d have started earlier and done more of it – so there you have it!
Whether you consider yourself a “writer” or not, you can use article marketing & therefore article directories to great advantage. Information-based marketing, supplying quality and unique content is THE thing the Internet is all about actually, it’s just a twist on the oldest strategy of marketing, which is finding your target audience and putting your product in front of them. This is why submitting to article directories has become such a popular Internet marketing method. But you must stay focused.
A number of tools are out there waiting to help make your article submitting campaign easier and more effective. This is how you get exposure for your product or service, but it’s only part of the story. Here are a few mistakes Internet marketers make time and time again when it comes to article submitting, so please read on …….
Mistake 1. – Allowing Yourself to become Confused
First of all, lots of people confuse their reasons for writing and promoting through directories. There are three reasons for submitting to article directories – lead generation, promotion and branding. All of these are part of your whole SEO strategy. The reason for article writing is to provide information to your audience. – As identified it’s a key Internet marketing method that has stood the test of time – you should be using it.
If that’s not your focus, it won’t work at all. For example, if you write an article that is promotional hype, they won’t read long enough to get to the link at the bottom and in many instances the article directories will not accept them anyway. It needs to provide the information they’re looking for. Get them to read it first and save the promotional stuff for the resource box at the bottom.
Mistake 2 – Not Using Keywords Effectively
Another mistake marketers often make is that they don’t realize the full promotional potential of this method. Everyone knows that articles get traffic to your site through backlinks, but there are ways to get more traffic that most people don’t use enough. These include fully optimizing for search engines with keywords. Most people don’t realize how important these keywords are. They have a direct bearing on how much traffic you get. Use them in key places with anchor texts that lead back to your site. If a directory allows you three, use all three of them. Otherwise, you’re missing lead generation opportunities.
On this same topic, remember also that you want your articles to be syndicated. This is when other sites republish them and multiply the backlinks you’ve got out there. This lets you reach a wider audience and also improves your site in the eyes of Google, which sees it now with backlinks from diverse sources (not just article directories).
Mistake 3. – Not Focusing Your Efforts
This doesn’t actually earn you money, but it gets the traffic to your site. Decide what you want to achieve with your article marketing, start posting articles, and see if you can reach your goal. If not, try to rethink your strategy a little. But do remember its just one of the Internet marketing methods you should be applying. You also need to be posting on forums, getting links, etc etc – don’t be a ‘one trick pony’
Mistake 4. – Not Writing to Topic Successfully
Finally, a common mistake is publishing articles that don’t help your readers. First of all, you have to make sure that your content is appropriate to the sites you’re submitting it to. They may have editorial guidelines, which keep you from publishing there. Make sure that you understand their guidelines and write accordingly. You should write for readers, but also for directories and publishers. If a good publisher picks up your articles, it can increase your readership by the thousands. To make your content as publishable as possible, make sure that it offers real value. It should be interesting, informative and unique, and should be free of all spelling and grammar mistakes.
How you pursue article marketing is all up to you. It depends on the results you’re hoping to get. For example, you might do better to submit to directories that have a narrow readership, but one that will definitely buy your product or service. Learn the ins and outs of it, and through publishing and monitoring your stats, you’ll develop strategies that work.
Tony
