An Unwritten Rule For Article Marketing
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Whether you think of yourself as a writer or not, if you are into internet marketing then you are almost certainly doing some writing and you surely know that you can make money with articles. The basic formula is simple: write an article related to your subject, include a link to your website and submit the article to directories.
However, there is one thing you must do before you start writing, and many people forget this. Take a few moments to consider how your article fits in to your overall marketing strategy, or you could be wasting your time. And time is money in article marketing!
This just means taking a moment to think about the article’s reason for being - in fact, its reason for being from two different points for view. First, what will be the reader’s reason for reading the article? And second, how does it fit in to your marketing, or how will it make money for you?
Maybe from your point of view, your only reason for writing an article is to make money. But if you do not appear to have any motivation that helps or informs the reader, they will be turned right off. The benefit to the reader must be very clear, and your make-money motives should be well hidden.
So keep in mind that the main reason for writing an article is always to inform or assist the reader. How it does this should be made very clear. Nobody should have to guess what they are being helped with!
If you are directing readers to a site where you are trying to sell them the answer to their problem, you probably don’t want to give away too much in your articles. But it’s easy to pick out one point, perhaps something that you didn’t cover in your ebook, or something that you did not go into depth about. It needs to give real value to the reader, so it should be both interesting and helpful in solving their problem or whatever need or wish they have that has made them read your article.
Keep in mind that there are some people submitting articles to directories who have no money-making motive at all. They simply want to put across their point of view. This applies particularly to people writing about subjects they strongly believe in, such as religion or politics. So imagine how you would write your article if you had nothing to sell. Then simply add a link to your site at the end.
However, do not try to stuff your article with all the information you can think of. This only confuses the reader. One point is enough if you can develop it well; three points is certainly all that you would need. Remember that the aim is to leave the reader wanting more.
At the same time, keep your own money-making reason for writing the article in the back of your mind. This is usually either branding (building trust in your name), sales (sending readers directly to a sales page) or lead generation (sending readers to a squeeze page where you can offer them more information). As a general rule, where your article is very closely related to the product you are selling, you can link straight to a sales page; less closely related, link to a squeeze page; and only broadly related, link to something like a blog that promotes you as an authority.
So before you submit your article, consider the thrust of the article both from the reader’s point of view and from a money-making perspective. Do the two purposes go together well, or do they conflict? You may have written other articles leading to a squeeze page, but would this one be more effective if it went directly to a sales page, or to your blog?
Don’t miss your chance to pick up more money-making tips. Before you submit another article, check out my free ebook 5 Fatal Bum Marketing Mistakes. It’s short, it’s new and it’s well worth a read!
Filed under: Article Marketing, Free downloadable ebooks
