Masters of Marketing June 2010

June 2010

Getting Started With Article Marketing

Meet Your Mentor

Cindy Bidar PO Box 9024, Wyoming, MI 49509.

Website: http://allqualitycontent.com E-mail: cindy@allqualitycontent.com Cindy is a writer. She has always been a writer. Even before people started paying her to write she was a writer. In fact, she wrote her first book when she was eight, about two girls alone in a haunted house. She has not stopped writing since.

Cindy has also expanded her repertoire, and now specializes in web content, SEO copy including keyword research, copywriting, and blogging. She can help you put together an article marketing plan, write an e-course to build your list, and write an ebook for sale to that list. She can set up and maintain your blog, or teach you how to do it.

To see some examples of her writing, please visit her Portfolio page.

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What is Article Marketing?

Article Marketing: An SEO method that relies on distributing content via article directories. Each article contains a link back to your site (in the author resource box) with the keywords of your choice.

How Article Marketing Can Help Your Business Article marketing, sometimes called bum marketing, can be one of the most useful (and least expensive) forms of internet marketing you can engage in. Submitting your original articles to directories across the Internet is a great way to get your name “out there” and to drive traffic to your website.

How Article Marketing Works The basic idea of article marketing is to improve your site’s visibility by riding the coattails of a more visible site. If your business is pizza, the likelihood of your new website being found in a Google search for pizza (146,000,000 results) is slim. You simply can’t rank high enough. But if you publish articles about pizza on sites like EzineArticles or Buzzle, you can take advantage of their high rankings to get your article seen and to drive traffic to your own site, and to get high-ranking backlinks to your site, which will improve your rankings.

It’s All About The Keywords A keyword is just a word or phrase that you might type into Google–or another search engine–to begin your search. If you are looking for Chicago style pizza in Phoenix, then the phrase Chicago style pizza Phoenix is your keyword. If you are the owner of a pizza place in Phoenix specializing in Chicago style pizza, you want to be at the top of that search.

When constructing articles for your article marketing plan, you first need to determine your keywords, and then build your articles around them. Stick to two or three keywords or phrases per article. More than that and you can dilute your ranking.

Make sure that your main keyword or phrase appears in the title of the article, at the beginning, and at the end of the piece. Don’t get carried away, though. More is not better, and might even be seen as “keyword stuffing” by some article directories, causing your article to be rejected.

Content Is Still King Keywords are not all you have to worry about, though. You still must have good content. Keywords can get you readers, but it’s the content that will keep them there. Without good content, the reader who arrives at your article or site via a keyword search will just as quickly hit the back button and move on to the next thing on the list.

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More importantly, good content will keep them coming back. The more often a reader visits your site, the more likely they are to buy. Good, compelling, and helpful content will convert a onetime visitor to a loyal reader.

The Resource Box The resource box is the answer to your reader’s question, “Now what?� Your article should leave your reader wanting to know more, and trusting in your authority enough to click on the link in your resource box to find out what else you have to say about the subject.

There are a lot of different opinions on the best use of links in your resource box. Some people use the links to drive traffic to the front page of their site, hoping the reader will click through the site on his own once he gets there. Some article marketers prefer to link to a squeeze page, where the reader will be asked to provide an email address in exchange for more information, usually in the form of a free report or ebook.

Persistence Pays Off Article marketing can drive traffic, build your list, and dramatically increase sales, but it will do none of those things if you are not persistent in your efforts. You cannot simply write one or two articles, distribute them to two or three directories and wait for the traffic to roll in. Like blogging, article marketing needs to be an ongoing campaign, and like blogging, it will build on itself, with more links meaning better search engine rankings, and better rankings turning into more links.

When putting together an article marketing plan, make sure you intend to keep at it for several months to truly see the positive effect it can have on your sales.

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7 Steps to Writing a Great Article and Improving Your Article Marketing Strategy 1. Craft a better title. This is the first thing potential readers see, so it needs to make an intriguing promise in order to grab their attention. Titles that start with “5 Tips” or “7 Ways” pull the reader in and keep them reading.

2. Do your keyword research. An intriguing title is good, but an intriguing title that contains pertinent keywords is better. For example, the title of this article contains two good keywords: article marketing, and article marketing strategy. Keywords are important because they tell the search engines – and the people who use them – what your article is about.

3. Write a meaningful description. In search engine results pages (SERPs) and on article directory category pages, your article description is used to “sell” your article to potential readers. You have about 160 characters in which to make the sale. That’s about the length of a Tweet, so use it well. Make sure to include your primary keyword and tell the reader exactly what to expect from the article, without giving away the farm.

4. Write for human readers. Stilted, keyword stuffed prose won’t work, and will probably get your article rejected from all but the lowest ranking article directories. Aim for quality writing, with natural use of keywords, and you’ll have a lot more readers.

5. Deliver on your promise. Remember that intriguing title you wrote? Make sure your article delivers. Never make a false promise by offering one subject in the title and then writing about something else, and never force a reader to click through to your site for the “rest of the story.” Your job as an article writer is to provide good, useful information. Do that, and readers will follow you back to your site without being tricked into it.

6. Create a compelling resource box. The author resource box is your payment for all that great information you’re giving away, but if you do this wrong, you’ll lose a potential clickthrough. Ideally, you want to make your resource box an extension of the article itself. This will keep readers engaged, unlike the standard author bio that begins with “John Q. Writer is an Internet marketer…” Starting your resource box with your name is an unmistakable signal to the reader that the article is finished, and he can quit reading.

7. Repeat. One article, or five, or even twenty is not enough. Just like blogging, the key to a great article marketing strategy is consistency and volume. The more you write, the better your results will be.

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Hey Baby, What’s Your Keyword?

If you are a blogger, or internet marketer, or business owner with a website, you should know the answer to this question. Your keyword is what brings visitors to your site, what drives your traffic, what makes you money. In short, it’s the most important piece of every post or article on your website.

How do you know what your keyword is?

A keyword is simply the word or phrase the your potential client or reader types into Google when he or she is looking for the information you have. If you were looking for you, what would you search for? That’s your keyword.

There is a lot more that can be said about choosing keywords, like how to conduct keyword research, and what constitutes a good keyword versus a not so good keyword, but for now, all you really need to know is that your keyword is what your potential customers are searching on.

What do you do with a keyword?

Once you’ve figured out what your keyword is–and a keyword is not likely to be just a single word, it’s generally a phrase, like “car dealerships in Cheboygan” or “dentists in Boise.” Anyway, once you’ve figured that out, you need to do something with it. You knowing your site is about a dentist in Boise is not enough for Google to know it. You have to tell Google what your site is about, and one of the ways to do that is by the use of keywords.

Whether you write your own posts and articles or hire a content creator to do it for you, the first thing you need to do is figure out what keyword you are targeting with that article. Once you know your keyword, you need to use it. Use it in your title, use it in your headings, use it near the beginning of your article, and use it near the end. That’s it. Don’t overuse it. The Google gods do not look kindly on those they deem to be “keyword stuffers.”

You don’t have to limit your article to only a single keyword, of course. You might have two or even three related keywords for a single article. I wouldn’t target any more than three, though, or you’ll risk confusing your writer, your reader, and Google. If you think your article warrants more than three keywords, you can probably split it up into multiple articles.

Keywords are the key Keywords are the key (get it?) to getting indexed in the right place on the search engines, and the key to getting found by your potential customers. Choose carefully and use them well, and you will be rewarded with more traffic. Keep your keywords in mind in everything you do on your site.

Optimize every post, every page, every article for your keywords. Make it a habit. You’ll be glad you did.

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New Article Worksheet

Resource to the 7 Steps Article While Completing This Worksheet Step 1 –Title ________________________________________________________________ Step 2 -Keyword Research.

Resource to the article on Keword Step 3 – Description ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Step 4 –Content Remember to Write for human readers. And deliver on your promise. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

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______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Step 5 - Create a compelling resource box. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Don’t Forget!!

A benefit to membership is our very own

Learning Den

a place for you to post your articles where they will be found by people searching our site and the internet on articles about your topic!

To Submit your articles CLICK HERE Or go to http://www.womenoftodaylearningden.com/gosubmit.php