The Ultimate Guide to
SUCCESFUL Article Marketing Discover the best-kept secrets!
By Thomas smith – Editor Find Me on Google+
Submit your Articles today to http://www.socialnewsbook.com
1
Can You Really Make Money With Article Marketing? Internet marketing is information marketing. You make money online by offering valuable content that’s just what people are looking for. One great strategy for doing this is article marketing. Article marketing involves writing articles on your topic that help the reader and then submitting the articles to directories or other sites that would want to publish it. This free submission gets your articles seen and gives you a backlink to your site in the author bio at the same time. But is it really possible that something this easy can generate profits for you? Turning Your Articles Into Cash Submitting articles to directories doesn’t boost your bank account, but it gets you exposure. Your articles help you in several different ways. First, you get a backlink to your site, which can help your search engine rankings. Second, you get visitors. People read your articles and, if they find the information helpful, they’ll click through to see what else you have to offer. Your articles also help to build your authority in your field. When selling online, trust and credibility are everything. If you’re an author who has published over a hundred high-quality articles on your topic, people will see you as an expert. You can monetize the traffic from your articles once it hits your site. The best way to do this is to presell your product or service through your article. Provide information that’s not only relevant to your topic, but gets people interested in buying as well. Google Updates and Other Troubles Some Internet marketers have turned away from article marketing because directories no longer get the page rankings they used to. This is due to Google’s frequent algorithm changes, some of which have targeted ‘content
Submit your Articles today to http://www.socialnewsbook.com
2
farms’ that crank out hundreds of articles. Many article directories were included in this category The decrease in directory authority hurt many article marketers, but far from everyone. The people who were hurt most were those who skimped on quality or who relied solely on directories as their main source of traffic and publishing option. What you can learn from this is that quality matters and it’s always good to diversify. Article marketing can make you money, but it shouldn’t be your only traffic strategy. How to Get Started Article marketing takes time and commitment. To make it work, you need to submit new articles consistently. The best way to get started is to write short articles in your niche that will help your target market. Make them relevant to the product or service that you’re selling. Either schedule some daily writing time, or spend a week writing a batch of content and then submit regularly. Consistently submitting fresh content keeps your articles at the top of search engine results for your keywords. It also gives publishers of your content something new to expect, making you a reliable source for material to publish. Choose just a few top article directories to submit to at first. Look for directories that are high-traffic, have relevant articles in your niche, and that let you monitor your statistics. This is particularly important because you’ll want to see how your articles are doing. When one article is a big hit, you can use it as a formula for future articles. Article marketing can make you money, but it’s not the only traffic strategy you should use. It’s just one weapon in your arsenal. While your articles can drive traffic that converts, make sure that you are using other marketing strategies to draw traffic to you site as well.
Submit your Articles today to http://www.socialnewsbook.com
3
How to Write Article Titles That Grab Attention In article marketing, the title is everything. When people search for articles, they get a list of titles. Yours should jump out at them and address their needs. Then, they'll click to see what you have to say. It’s as simple as that, but not necessarily that easy. Here's how you do it. Resonate With the Reader People get online and search for information because they need something. They've got a question they need answered or a problem they need solved. Your article's title should tell them that you've got what they're looking for. In order to do this, the title should resonate with the reader. How do you do this? It's easy – stop being a writer for a minute and imagine that you're the reader. For example, you're tired of weight loss programs that don't produce results. What title would get you excited? Something like – ' Weight Loss Programs That Actually Work.' This title has emotional appeal. Use Action Words Some words simply pack more punch than others. 'Action words' are words that are more assertive than other words and they catch the reader's eye. These are words such as 'drive,' 'generate,' 'boost,' 'discover' and 'reveal.' When you're toying with your article title, try writing a few different versions using synonyms. Read each version and you'll feel which words are the action words. Keep a list of the words you feel work best and refer to it in the future when you're coming up with titles. Appeal to the Reader's Curiosity One of the best ways to write compelling titles is to appeal to the reader's curiosity. An article title should make the reader say, 'What is this?' and click it. Words such as 'secrets' and 'hidden' are great for doing this.
Submit your Articles today to http://www.socialnewsbook.com
4
Another way to pique your reader's curiosity is to turn your title into a question. They'll find themselves inwardly asking the same thing, and checking out your article to get the answer. Be Different The best article titles grab attention because they're simply different from all the other titles out there. Choose wording for your titles that stand out from the rest. If you're submitting to a directory, scan the articles in your niche first. Then, create a title that's unlike anything you see there already. Make your title unique, but be careful to keep it relevant. If your readers can't tell what the article is about from the title, they won't check it out. Also, be sure to keep it short and sweet. The title should be easy to scan so that the reader can take it all in with just one glance. A great way to find out which titles work and which don't is to monitor your articles' progress. Find out which articles get read the most and look at the wording of the titles. This will give you an idea of how to write your titles for future articles.
4 Keys for Using Article Marketing to Drive Traffic Article marketing is an excellent way to drive traffic to your site. You offer the reader helpful information, and they click on your link to get more. It also gives you an opportunity to pre-sell your goods or services. Here are four easy, but highly effective tips to help your campaign succeed. Feed the Starving Crowd Your article content should target your audience perfectly. The way to do this is to identify what they want and need, and then give it to them. People get online to search for solutions to their problems and answers to their questions. If your articles are helpful to them and offer them value, they'll
Submit your Articles today to http://www.socialnewsbook.com
5
want to know more. For example, let's say that you're writing about meditation. While an article on the history of meditation would be interesting, it doesn't really address a specific need. If you write about how to get started meditating or what tools will help you meditate, this will work much better. You've solved a problem for them. Don't Give It All Away The highest-converting articles don't actually solve problems or answer questions. You have to leave them wanting more. If they're completely satisfied with what they read in your free article, they won't be interested in buying. Your articles offer the reader a taste of what you have to offer. If you're writing an article about roofing repair, for example, you don't want to explain step-by-step everything they need to know about how to fix damaged tiles. Instead, give them enough information to get them started, and at the bottom of your article tell them to click the link for more. Keyword Optimize But Don't Stuff Make sure you're using the keywords you're targeting so that the article will come up in search engine results. You should include the keyword in the title and first paragraph at least, and then sprinkle it naturally throughout. The key is to 'sprinkle' and not cram it full of one keyword. Search engines don't like that and you'll end up with an article that's nearly impossible to read. Instead, use related keywords and synonyms. Call Your Readers to Action The final ingredient of any good article marketing campaign is a strong resource box. This is the author bio at the end of all of your articles with a link to your site. It should not only introduce who you are, but more importantly, tell the reader what they need to do right now in order to get
Submit your Articles today to http://www.socialnewsbook.com
6
even more value. If you're not seeing the traffic you'd like to see, a few simple changes can make a tremendous difference. Try using a couple of different resource boxes and see which one gets more click-throughs. Drop article directories that are underperforming and find new ones. Article marketing success is all about monitoring your stats and making the necessary changes.
Duplicate Content – Why You Should Worry About It In its most official meaning, duplicate content is something that appears on more than one page on the same website. However, when most people talk about it, they are referring to any content that appears on the Web in more than one place. This can be content that's posted on sites on several different domains, or it could be on different pages within one website. While duplicate content may be irrelevant for someone like a news syndicator, it can cause problems for many internet marketers who are trying to rank a specific page or site. Why the Search Engines Don't Like Duplicate Content Search engines have spiders that 'crawl' the Web, looking for relevant content and indexing it. This is how websites appear in their results pages. When spiders come across duplicate content on different sites, they don't know what to do with it. As a result, they ignore it and it doesn't get indexed. If you have multiple pages with the same content on your site, the search engines think you're trying to game them. There are a number of black hat strategies that do this in order to achieve higher search engine rankings. One of these methods is 'mirroring,' where identical or near-identical pages are created within one website that target different keywords. This is against Google's TOS and can get you banned.
Submit your Articles today to http://www.socialnewsbook.com
7
What If You Need Duplicate Content? There are times when you need to put the same content on multiple pages of your site. For example, maybe you're selling items online and you need different URLs for the item descriptions. In this case, there's a way you can legitimize your duplicate pages so that you don't get penalized. It's called 'canonicalization.' With canonicalization, you choose a preferred (canonical) URL for Google to recognize as the main one. You can then choose multiple 'canonical' links where the same page can be found. This way, Google knows which site it needs to index. Duplicate Content on Other Sites One of the biggest myths in Internet marketing is that you'll get penalized for submitting the same article to multiple directories. There's absolutely no rule against this. You can also take articles or blog posts from your website and submit them to article directories without getting penalized. However, it's important to understand how Google indexes duplicate content on multiple websites. When it finds the same content across domains, it indexes the original poster first. It sees this person as the authority who created the content. What this means is that if you post an article on a directory first, and then put it on your site, your site won't necessarily benefit in the search engine results. The duplicate content issue confuses lots of people, but it's very simple if you look at it through the eyes of a search engine. They want to give people the highest quality and most relevant results for their Web searches. No one wants to find 10 sites with the same article when they do a search. Let Google know if you're putting duplicate content on multiple pages, and if you submit to multiple directories, make sure it gets indexed where you want it to.
Submit your Articles today to http://www.socialnewsbook.com
8
Your Article Marketing FAQ Article marketing is easy and effective if you do it right. Because there's a great deal of misinformation about article marketing out there, here's a simple FAQ to answer the most common questions. 1. How Many Articles Do You Need To Write? There's no standard number of articles that works best, but the general rule is that the more you write, the more backlinks and views you get. It's best to write lots of articles if you are submitting primarily to directories. You'll get a small amount of traffic from each article, so by writing 50 or more, you increase that traffic stream. Don't expect to write one great article and see lots of traffic unless you already have a great reputation and a network of high traffic sites that like to publish your articles. 2. How Long Should Your Articles Be? Your articles should be at least 500 words, but it's fine to make them longer. 500 words is long enough to make your point and offer 3-4 tips or steps. It's also short enough to leave the reader wanting more. Most article directories have a minimum length, so make sure you know what that is before you start submitting. 3. Where Should You Submit? There are thousands of article directories and most of them are complete garbage. Do some research and find the directories that get the most traffic. You can do this by simply searching 'article directory' in Google. You can also submit your articles to Web 2.0 sites like HubPages.com and Squidoo.com. These sites generally get more traffic than standard article directories and they have features that make them more interactive. However, submitting to these sites takes more time and they often have stricter editorial guidelines.
Submit your Articles today to http://www.socialnewsbook.com
9
4. How Do You Know If It's Working? The key to article marketing success is monitoring your articles to see how they're doing. You can do this by checking your site analytics and seeing how much traffic is coming from each directory. Many directories also offer stats on their site so that you can see which specific articles are getting the most views and click-throughs. 5. What If You Can't Write? If you're not a writer or you find that it takes too much time, you can always hire a ghostwriter to write your article for you. Sites like Elance.com and Freelancer.com are full of web content writers who charge reasonable rates. You can also use PLR articles. This is ready-made content with 'private label rights,' which means that you're free to use it. Since other people may have bought the same articles, it's always best to reword them or hire an article writer to rewrite them. This is much cheaper than paying for original articles. 6. How Do You Get The Most Out Of Article Marketing? To make article marketing really work, you need to be consistent and write great content. Keep submitting articles on a regular basis and provide your readers with valuable information they can use. Always be on the lookout for new sites to submit your articles to, and monitor your stats to make sure these sites are getting you the traffic you need.
Submit your Articles today to http://www.socialnewsbook.com
10
Submit your Articles today to http://www.socialnewsbook.com
11