The Right Way to Use Free Articles To Build
Up Huge Traffic And Profits For Your Site
By David Callan
©2005 All rights reserved
Writing and posting articles is becoming an increasingly important weapon and tool in any online marketing campaign.
What's more it is proving to be extremely effective for those who know how to use articles properly.
Knowing how to use articles properly for marketing purposes is important because most marketers do not and instead
end up complaining that articles do not work.
Why are articles so effective?
The truth is that articles not only work, but it would be difficult to get another online marketing tool that
is as powerful.
When you think about it, most people come online to get information (and
not to be advertised to). So if you can supply the kind of information
that they are looking for, then you have their full attention. We cannot
quite say this for any other form of online marketing. The closest form
of online marketing that comes close are search engine PPC
(pay-per-click ads) text ads which have mainly thrived because of the
clever idea of emphasizing on relevance. Is it any wonder that PPC
services like Google's Adsense are so successful?
Those who read your article online will contact you through the
information you make available in your resource box at the end of the
article. Things start to really get interesting when other websites pick
up your informative article and decide to use it at their websites or
ezines. The rules are that they have to keep your resource box intact.
So it is not uncommon to start off with an article posted in a handful
of sites which within a short time virally finds its' way to hundreds
and even thousands of other sites. This viral effect continues almost forever.
In other words, a single article can bring traffic to your web site for
years to come. An article that cost you virtually nothing but your time
to post at a few high traffic sites and article directories. That is if
you wrote the article yourself. But even if you did not the small price
you aid to get it written is an investment that will continue to pay for
you for years to come.
Now just try and imagine a situation where instead of posting just a
single article, an online entrepreneur decides to embark on a program
where they write and post a set number of articles every week. It is
possible to build up traffic tremendously over a short period of time
using this free tool.
There other longer-term benefits your articles will have. For example
the steady increase in links pointing to your site will improve your
search engine ranking and coupled with a careful use of the right
keywords, can lead to significant traffic from search engines.
Are you getting all that you can from your articles?
One of the reasons why some online marketers do not find articles
effective enough is because they do not have a strategy to maximize on
the traffic that their articles receive. Just like every webmaster is
careful to ensure that they try their best to trap email addresses of
those who visit their websites, in the same way you should ensure that
you capture email addresses from those who read your articles, even if
they do not end up visit your website.
How do you do this? It is simple really. Use your resource box to
promote a free report or online course available via email. This will
ensure that apart from directing traffic to your site, your articles
will also be helping you build an opt-in email list, which you can use
to promote your site further and also to sell your products and services
directly to your target audience.
Your article has to be useful to work
Remember that for your articles to be effective, they will need to be
informative and as useful as possible. The more useful the article, the
more effective it will be as a marketing tool for your business.
It is a good idea to track all your articles. You will quickly realize
that some articles pull in more traffic than others. Sometimes certain
subject automatically tend to attract a much higher readership than
others. Tracking your articles will give you this useful information
that you can use to improve on your strategy and articles.
Remember that whatever subject you cover should be reflected in the
headline. Make your headline as attractive as possible. This will ensure
that you attract the right kind of readers whom you are looking for and
are actually your target market for your site.
In conclusion
Well-written, informative articles related to the subject area of your
site, is the most effective marketing weapon any Webmaster can use. And
what is more is that, if you can write your own articles, it is a form
of marketing that is completely free. But for it to work for you, you
will require a clear strategy designed to maximize on the huge audience
good articles usually get online.
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