Article Marketing is still a good way to get targeted traffic.
Simply because someone has to actually read your article then click on the link to visit your site. If they’ve read your article, they know what your site is about and they are not going to click your link unless they are interested in more info.
So you write an article, based around the subject of your site and submit it to article directories . . . free
There you go. Yes, article marketing is that simple. Well, almost.
Firstly, the article must be written around a keyword related to the content on your site, so both the search engines and real people can find it.
So if your keyword was weight loss tips for example, your article could be:
“5 weight loss tips to lose 2lbs this week” “3 fast weight loss tips” “Weight loss tips for painless slimming”
Within the article you can refer to a product or products which you have for sale on your site. Maybe include a comparison of products for different fitness goals, a review of a best selling product, info on various effective diets which are helped by your products or an article on the fitness benefits of different nutrient, which are obviously available in various formulas on your site.
Obviously these are just examples. So long as your article is written about something to do with the subject of your site, and it’s useful to visitors who are interested in the subject, go for it.
Always use your keyword in the title of your article and a couple of times throughout the article.
You’ll automatically be including other related keywords as you write about the subject, which is good as the search engines like to see related keywords.
It’s so easy now to research anything online. Visit other weight loss sites, check out the article sites and you’ll have lots of info you can re-write to form your own article.
Massive Tip Do a little research on what other people are writing about in your niche. Go to ezinearticle.com and research other articles in your niche. It can be a great source of ideas.
Your article’s purpose is to get people interested in visiting your site. If you sound like you know what you’re talking about and have useful and interesting content, people are more likely to click through.
Good articles relate to the content of your website and entice the reader to the resource box which would contain a ‘call to action’ and a link to your site.
The call to action is simply the end of the article, written in a way to encourage the reader to click and visit your site.
As each link to your site within the article is classed as a backlink to your site by the search engines, the links will show the search engines your site is popular and so they will rank you higher.
Also, human visitors can click on the link once they have read the article and come to your site.
Back to your Author signature for a minute . . .
Your Author Bio Box or Author Signature as it’s called is simple the bit at the bottom of the article. Sometimes it’s simply the last paragraph of the article and sometimes it’s in a separate box at the bottom.
It depends on the website you are submitting the article to. They can be a little different. Example Author Box
A great way to increase your click throughs is to have a ‘call to action’ at the end of your article in your author signature, as in the above example.
For your Health & Fitness supplement site, your author signature could say something along the lines of:
If you want to find out which are the most powerful and effective weight loss supplements . . . Click Here to visit www.yourwebsite.com
Or…
Looking for the fastest way to get fit at home? . . . Click Here to visit www.yourwebsite.com
.....or
Don’t waste your money on weak ineffective supplements, get it right first time and see the difference in your health. Click Here to visit www.yourwebsite.com
These are just examples to give you an idea of how to approach it. But you need to use a ‘call to action’ so more visitors are persuaded to click and visit your site.
Remember, once you’ve uploaded your article and Author Box, you can’t change it. So give it some thought before hand.
The best advice I can give you is to also look at what other authors are doing. Go to ezinearticles.com and have a look around. Especially for articles in your niche.
You post single articles to Article directories such as ezinearticles.com and articlebase.com, whereas Squidoo is a site where you have your own page of content.
You can include your article text along with other things such as videos, polls, etc and update regularly, as it's like your own little webpage.
Hubpages is similar to Squidoo and on ehow.com, you post content related to ‘how’ to do things, which is great for losing weight tips, exercises etc.
So for instance you could build a Squidoo lens on Best Weight Loss Tips, Best Weight Loss Supplements, The Truth About Fat Burners etc.
You then have links to your site throughout your content.
Here's a list of some great sites you can post your articles and content to. The best thing to do is click on each of the links below and have a look for yourself. You’ll soon get the hang of it.
http://ehow.com
http://goarticles.com
http://squidoo.com
http://ezinearticles.com
http://isnare.com
http://hubpages.com
http://examiner.com
http://articlerich.com
http://technorati.com
http://voices.yahoo.com
http://buzzle.com
http://triond.com
Remember that for articles you post, or indeed any content you put on any of the above sites, each post will have 2 purposes:
SEO/Backlink: To act as a backlink, telling the search engines that you have another site linking to yours, to prove your site’s popularity. Long term and with enough backlinks, your site will rise in the search engine results.
A source of visitors to your site: To act as bait for potential visitors. They will be searching for info, see your article, read it and hopefully click on the link to your site for more info.
The other good thing about article sites is that other website owners can use the articles on their own site. As long as they leave the author box intact.
Many other website owners, ezine and newsletter editors will search the main article directories for suitable articles to use as content. And as your author signature box will still be included when they put the article on their site . . . more traffic for you.
You can try writing fewer, very high quality articles and posting them to let’s say just ezinearticles.com. As it’s classed as number one in the eyes of many marketers.
Or you can write lots of articles or have them written for you, and post them to as many article directories as possible.
The best option would be to send your original articles to ezinearticles.com, then re-write them and send them out to various other article directories. Make sure the original is accepted by ezine first.
It’s easy to post your articles on these sites. You usually have to sign up to the site for free first. Then just find the submit article page. Follow the instructions and you’ll soon be doing it in your sleep.
Check your email as some of the sites will send you a confirmation email, which you have to click a link in to activate your account.
There are tools available online to speed up your article marketing efforts:
Article submission software: You load up an article or articles and the software has a list of article directories where it automatically posts your article. Very good for time saving and getting your article out to many sites quickly.
Article spinning software: Load your article into this software and it will re-write it. (also called spinning) Many of the article submission software program have built in spinners.
Write 300 to 500 word articles based around your keywords. Your articles should be useful to readers. Solve a problem, give great info/advice or give 10 best tips, etc. Make sure there’s a benefit in the title.
Make sure you include your keyword at the beginning of the title of the article. Also use your keyword in the first paragraph of your article and sprinkle it throughout the rest.
Use your Author Signature wisely to sell yourself by offering more info and advice via a link to your website.
Write and submit as many articles as possible. Relating to as many of your keywords as possible. And do it regularly.
When you feel ready, you can also put some of your articles on your site as content and submit different articles to the article directories.
Concentrate on feeding articles regularly to the top directories like Ezinearticles.com.
Hire people to write articles for you. You can get good quality articles for around $5 each. Visit fiverr.com and take a look.
Don’t use the same link text for every article.
Don’t submit the same article to all the article sites.
