The first thing that you must do to be successful in article marketing is become familiar with web-business basics. Knowledge of search engine optimization (SEO), site building, online marketing and social media is a must.
SEO writing is gearing your articles to contain important keywords that are relevant to your product. This helps search engines find your article. There are two very important things to remember about SEO content:
Do not plagiarize in any shape or form. Original content that is rich in key words is the only content search engines will pick up. If they believe it is duplicate content, they will overlook your site.
Verify with the article directory in which you are submitting what their keyword requirements are. Some directories only allow a saturation rate of 3%, while others encourage keyword usage to exceed 10%.
Site Building is quite simple and can be done quite cost effectively. Many hosting companies will offer free software to build your own site, no programming necessary. WordPress is one of the most popular site creating tools on the Internet.
Online Marketing. This is a continual learning experience. There are thousands of directories to list articles with, there are many bulletin boards and other marketing sites that can increase you traffic. It is an ongoing learning process and you must continue looking for the BBD (Bigger Better Deal) at all times.
Social Media. What more needs to be said. If you wish to promote a product, what better place to do so than on a site geared toward communication? You need to consider joining social communities to promote your product.
4 Steps To Success
Now that you have familiarized yourself with all the basics to promoting and maintaining an Internet based business, you are ready to begin your venture.
1. Select A Product. There are unlimited products available on the Internet to promote. The easiest way to be successful at article marketing is to find a product, or products, that you believe in and enjoy. If you are not promoting a product that you personally create, look for one that is something you personally use. This will allow you to write more in-depth articles and generate a better response. If you are not familiar with the product or service, it will show in your writing. Poorly written articles do not generate good responses. To find an affiliate program to your liking, search websites that you frequent to see if they have an affiliate program. There are also many sites that list affiliate programs as their service which you can join for free.
2. Create A Website. While it is true that many article marketing sites will allow you to paste your direct affiliate program link into your article, the same amount of sites will not. These sites require you to have a personal website. Create a site, register the domain name and arrange for hosting. Use free site creating software to create your pages. Use your site as an anchor for the products you are promoting. Create a sales page for each product, or at least an information page, and include the affiliate link here for purchasing.
3. Article Writing. Most articles contain about 300 words. Some article submission sites will require less, while others post no limit to text. Once you have established what is needed you will need to write about the product. Remember to be keyword conscious, but more importantly, remember to be interesting. If you cannot hold the reader’s attention, they will simply move on. In the future, when you begin to promote several products, you may wish to enlist the services of a content writer. Many freelance writers specialize in writing articles for submission. However, this is not a free service and may not be practical until you are established.
4. Go With The Flow. There are many tools that are available through your own website that can help you track the traffic to your articles and product. Many affiliate programs have a dashboard available to so you can track traffic to your link. Google Analytics is a superior tool that can help you fine tune your marketing. Review your statistics often and make changes to your keyword usage accordingly. You can also track sales through these figures, allowing you to focus on more popular products and change any product lines that are not doing as well.
