What is Article Marketing?

Article Marketing is using articles to market your website, product or service … Simple, huh?!

OK … seriously though that is what it basically is.

For the long answer:
There are MANY article directories on the internet. And many of them receive tons of traffic – mainly from owners of blogs and other websites because those owners use the articles from these article directories on their own site for content.

So, how does this actually help me make sales?

What we want when we write an article to post on these directories if for that article to be picked up by other webmasters and used on their own sites. That gives us lots of exposure – at ZERO COST!

Think about it for a second…if you have your article on say the top 10 article directories, and your article gets picked up by 50 webmasters from each directory – that puts your article with your name/website, hopefully, on 500 websites….and if those websites each get 100 views a mont — that is potentially 50,000 page views for your article

Now, inside the article…you will have a link to your website…either in the article itself (if they allow it) or in a Author Bio Box.

Most article directories allow you to have a “Author Bio Box” in the article — THAT is what is very important in making article marketing work.

Inside that Bio Box, you have an opportunity to both brand yourself and your website. BUT there is a catch….many article directories, especially the top ones, do not allow you to use affiliate links or direct links to your product. So, to work within their guidelines, you should use a blog or website URL in the Bio Box instead….which is not necessarily a bad thing….it allows you to use your blog or website to sell your product or service even better than in the article itself.

How long does an article have to be?
It varies, but most of them require a minimum length of about 300 words. That, IMO, is not long enough. I would highly suggest that you create articles in the 500 to 800 word range. Not only will it allow you to talk more in depth about whatever you are trying to get across to your audience, but places like ezinearticle will like you better for it!

How many articles do I need to write?
That is the $64,000 question!! I have seen stories where 1 article has produced thousands of dollars in sales, and I have seen posts from people that say they have written 50-100 articles and have had no luck at all!

I believe the key to be not only number of articles, but also the quality of the article.

If you write crap – you will not have success. If you take a little bit of time and write a solid article, you will be rewarded…even if it is a shorter article.

So, to give you an answer — don’t worry about quantity (although I would suggest that you do more than one!!) and concentrate on creating quality articles….perhaps doing one really good article a day or every other day … and submit them to the top article directories.

There you have it … article marketing in a nutshell!

Remember:
1) focus on quality articles rather than quantity
2) create articles 500-800 words in length
3) follow the rules of each directory
4) submit your article to the top 10 or so directories
5) continue to write – it will pay off!

To your success,

Dave