Article Marketing: Busting The MythsWriting by Nick on Tuesday, 31 of July , 2007 at 8:00 am
Article Marketing defined:(Source)In general, article marketing is where you write an article on a topic that is related to your website topic. Not a promotional article for your website, but an article about something that is informative to the reader. In the article you use keywords and phrases that relate to your topic as well, much like you would optimize a webpage.
Most people don’t really understand article marketing. If you don’t understand it then you shouldn’t do it until you do. Take some time to learn what it is and how to do it before you just jump in and go. You’ll be so much the better for it when you do.
The thing to keep in mind is that article marketing is just as its name implies. You write an article and you use it as a marketing tool for your business or website. First, the article has to be about the same topic that your website is about. It helps if you make a list of topics related to your website theme. They should be items that you can comfortably write 500-700 words on and still have things left to say.
The second thing to remember about article marketing is you are not trying to promote yourself or your business. You are trying to help your readers. You want an article that is helpful to the person reading it and it can’t come across as an advertisement. Think of it like a magazine article. It’s a way to tell people what you know without bragging or sounding like a know-it-all. This establishes you as an expert in that field of knowledge, an important concept if you want people to trust you.
Article Marketing Myth #1:
MYTH: The only way article marketing works is you write an article then submit it to thousands of article submission websites.
This is probably the least effective way to go about article marketing. The object is to reach a targeted audience. You want the readers of the article to be the same people who might buy your products or services. Think about what your customers would want to read. Before you publish any articles you might try giving a copy of them to two or three of your best customers, ones that you think will give you honest answers, and ask them if they would read that article in a magazine and if they did so would they receive a benefit. If they answer yes to both questions then you’ve got a good article.
Writing the article, however, is only part of the equation. With article marketing, your choice of directories you intend to submit your article to is just as important. It could even be more important. There are general directories out there that are good and that have a high PageRank, but that doesn’t mean that your article will get published there. If your articles are geared toward a niche market then try to find an article directory for that marketing. Articles are likely to be picked up by publishers in those directories than in the general directories.
NOTE: The objective of article marketing is not to get published in the directory. The article directory is a means to an end. You want your articles to be picked up by other websites and newsletters within your field of expertise. When that happens then the result is more credibility for you, links back to your website from relevant websites, and more targeted traffic. Article Marketing Myth #2:
MYTH: You should always post your article in your website first, then wait to get crawled by the search engines before submitting the article elsewhere.
The problem with publishing articles on your website first is that search engines usually index the first occurrence of content on the web. If it appears on your website first then it will be considered website content on your website. Any article marketing you do with the same content will be diminished and will not have as much value. On the other hand, if your articles appear in article directories first, then no matter where else they appear on the Internet they will be considered articles. If you want to include those articles on your own website then you can publish them the same way every other publisher does - with your bio and links intact, and most article directories now require a link back to the directory where the article was found.
Article marketing is very effective if done the right way. Take some time to learn what it’s all about before you actually jump in and try to do it.
See more article marketing myths here.
Affordable Internet Marketing Services, including Design, Pay Per Click, Blog Marketing & More! For More Info Call Expert Nick Stamoulis at: 877-295-0620.
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