Article Marketing

How to use Article Marketing

Article Marketing is a tried and true, bread and butter marketing strategy that works and will help you get ranked in Google, MSN and other search engines.

I consider it a staple and I use article marketing in conjunction with other SEO techniques to get on page one in the search engines.  That’s exactly how I got this website ranked.

Of course there are many other methods one can use to generate traffic to your website, but I highly advise article marketing as a weapon you must have in your arsenal.

Articles targeted towards your “niche” is one of the best ways to draw free targeted traffic. Plus, when done properly, you create valuable back links to your pages which in turn helps the search engines send you free “organic” traffic.

I Don’t Like Writing Articles

I Just Don’t Like To Write

The thought of writing content that others are going to read can be a bit scary to some people.

I have to admit; when I first started online I  was filled with angst at the thought of someone reading my material and picking it apart like my ninth grade English teacher.

I wasn’t particularly interested in writing either, in fact I’m still not. But the fact is this business is going to require/demand that you do some writing.

So if you have a problem with that here’s what you need to do. Get over it pal, fast.

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Writing Challenge

Start Writing Right Where You’re At

If the thought of writing makes you apprehensive don’t let it because I’m going to show you how to overcome it. But understand this: You are going to have to do a little bit of writing as you begin setting up your web pages.

The best advice I can give you is to simply write in a conversation style. Just write as if you were talking to someone sitting right next to you.

What would you say to them? How would you explain to them that it really isn’t that hard to write a simple post, or demonstrate how easy it is to……write? See how easy that was.

The debate as to whether or not you should write your own content or have others do it for you is still ongoing. If you don’t mind paying for someone else to do it for you then go right ahead.

I’m on the side of the fence that believes it’s better to write your own content. Yes it can take a little time but the beauty of it is that you get to write your own stuff, your own way.

But of course you can acquire content from other sources.

Article Writing Resources

Outsource it

As I said, article writing is essential for any well rounded marketing campaign. Understandably you will want to setup your blog and web pages initially yourself. But when it comes to various articles and posts; this is something you can “get around” or have someone else do for you.

Content Scraping

This involves taking or “scraping” articles and posts from other websites and posting them on your own site. So if someone has a really great article which happens to be on your topic, you simply use it.

A variation of this, and more ethical method, would be to use someones content but leave their authorship and links intact.

Personally I would stay away from this sort of thing. But there’s nothing wrong with writing a brief introductory sentence or two and then placing a link to other resources related to the topic.

Freelancing and Outsourcing

Find a freelancer. There are tons of people and companies who will write your content for you.  In fact, you can even have your entire website designed and setup for you, complete with all the articles and posts you want.

Of course you have to know how to do it yourself before you can instruct someone on exactly what you want.

Here is a short list on some outsourcing companies. I have personally used Scriptlance and had mixed results. I connected with a writer from Thailand and she did everything I asked of her.

I had her do some re-writes and had to go back a couple of times for corrections, and she came through at the end, but I wasn’t totally happy with it, grammatically.

I also found a guy who did some graphics for me and he was fantastic, I didn’t have any issues with his work.  If you need eBook covers or any graphics let me know and ill send you his information.  I can’t comment on the others but they were recommended by a good friend.

Elance.com
Odesk.com
GetAFreelancer.com
Scriptlance.com
Guru.com
Workaholics4hire.com

Article Spinning

The Spin Behind Spinning

Article spinning is another topic of much debate.  You either love em or you hate em; kinda like the Cowboys.

All it involves is taking an existing article and re-writing, or “spinning” the article into multiple variations. So what you end up with is 30, 40,50…..hundreds possibly, of articles generated from one original writing.

It’s a way to bypass the actual writing of multiple articles and it does come in handy. You can write one article, spin it, and then post it to as many article directories as you like.  Unique content is the key when it comes to using articles as back links and forum posts. Never post the EXACT same article in any two places.

I use The Bestspinner to spin my own articles and it does cut down on the time it would take to write as many.

Now here’s the spin. Spinners are not perfect and you still have to go through the spun article and check it for clarity, structure and flow. It’s a tool like anything else; something which makes your life a whole lot easier once you have the process down.

I like it because I can write an article once, spin it, and then go through and tweak the spin so I end up with multiple articles which all say the same thing a different way.  Then I simply post to my favorite article directories.

I personally think it’s best to learn how to write articles the way you want them. Then,,, later try a spinner and see how you like it.

Articles 4 Newbies

Quick Way To Start

–No longer supported–

If you would like a complete and very thorough walk through on article marketing take a look at Articles 4 Newbies. In this video course you will be taken by the hand and shown step by step how to get started writing articles and submitting them to article directory sites.

Aaron does a real good job at this. He explains the concept, then starts you from the beginning and shows you. He talks about title, body, tags anchors text, etc. It’s a put together very well, and although I learned it all through trial and error you’re sure to get all the basics down with this course.

You also get access to hundreds of articles which you can use to get started. You can use them for posts or even product promotion.  I personally didn’t find them all that helpful because I like to create my own topics.  But if you want instant content you may find them useful.

One of the best perks with this product is that you get full re-sell rights to it. That means you can take it, add your name, and offer it as one of your own products. It’s another way to get started if you want a product to start with.

Get Started

Writing is going to be a companion of yours one way or the other. So the best way to start is simple. Start writing. You’ll find that it becomes easier and easier the more you do it.

I’ve listed some tools here which you may want to take advantage of but be clear, these are just tools. Doing it all from scratch is always a good idea because you learn the PROCESS of how it all works.  As you grow you can add as many tools as you want to help speed things up. But you should learn how to walk before running.

Remember

You Can do anything you want. Stay focused and Stay faithful

I wish you every good thing.