Article marketing is a type of advertising in which businesses write short articles related to their respective industry. These articles are made available for distribution and publication in the marketplace.
Each article has a bio box and byline (collectively known as the resource box) that include references and contact information for the author's business. Well-written content articles released for free distribution have the potential to increase the business credibility within its market.
Also it helps in attracting new clients. These articles are often syndicated by other websites, and published on multiple websites- Wikipedia.
In internet marketing, article marketing is used to help direct traffic to a website. Articles are written in the same fashion as your blog postings then posted to an Article Directory.
Article directories are websites where users submit unique articles to be categorized and included to a specific niche. Well-written content articles released for free distribution have the potential of increasing the authoring business' credibility within its market as well as attracting new clients- Wikipedia.
There are a number of article directories available. Some more used than others here is a listing of some of those directories. Since I am new to this aspect of internet marketing I will start out using one or two directories to measure the impact on traffic at my site.
Since I am using Commission Junction, Yola, and Blogger I have plenty of statistical tools at my disposal. I can track any increase along with information for the source of the increase. Once you start using the charts and graphs you will be able to see even the slightest increase or decrease in traffic.
So, traffic is a must. By now you should be using Facebook and Twitter (or some type of social network) to advertise your site. I know a good portion of you following the blog receive my Tweets. You can follow me on Twitter at Help for the 99ers.
Blogger also offers notification to other bloggers and readers through Google Buzz. You may also be using click exchange advertising.
Article marketing gives you one more way to drive traffic to your web site. The first article marketing I attempted was to write guest blogs at 99ers.net. Compensation for the work was the opportunity for me to post my writing and website address at an established site. That gave me the opportunity to have my work in front of all of 99ers.net’s followers. His readership is well above mine.
The next attempt was to post an article at GoArticles.com. I had actually picked the directory at random, but it turns out it is one of the better Alexa rated directories. The process is simple enough. You register with the site and then submit an article (400-5000 words). The article is then reviewed and either approved or dis-approved. Luckily my first article was approved by a highly ranked article directory.
It is then posted at their website for others to read and hopefully re-post at their own website.
One alternative to writing a blog is to use directories like GoArticle.com. Then find articles other folks have written and copy and re-post content at your website. I do not recommend that practice. Fresh new content keeps people coming back.
If I want to reference a specific article I normally will provide a hyperlink back to those sites (back links). I actually posted at 99ers.net and GoArticle.com within a day or two of each other and the traffic increase was hard to distinguish. But, either way they both increased traffic.
I posted a second article today at GoArticle.com and also submitted my first article to Ezine @rticles.com. I will let you know if it is approved. Ezine@rticles.com is the highest ranked article directory per Alexa. With any luck my article will be published.
Here is the caveat, you must post and re-post at the directories to attract attention. The more articles you post, the more people you expose to your work. Much like fishing the more lines you have in the water the better your chances.
There are over 550 article directories. The more you directories you use the more exposure you receive. It took me about an hour to write the article. It takes me about 10-15 minutes to get into a site and manually upload an article.
There are services you can use that will list your articles for you at a large number of sites each time you post, but you pay for that privilege.
Check out an article directory for yourself. You will quickly see the free advertising advantages to article marketing. I will discuss article marketing and Google rankings in my next blog.
Like always, join and follow the blog, click the banners and text links to start making money. You can use the EWAHR forum to post questions or request a review of a site. You can also email me directly at ewahr2011@yahoo.com
Peace.
