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I have to confess I don’t write and submit as many articles to online directories as I should. But when I saw how quickly a recent article was picked up by Google and spread around Twitter, I knew it was high time to revisit this very powerful marketing technique.
While a previous post focused on some of the benefits of article marketing, today I’ll explain more about the ‘nuts & bolts’.
Title – Just as with emails and newsletters, article titles are very, very important. People will often decide whether they want to read the article based on the title. Make it clear who the article is for and what it’s about to help them decide. Using a cute or clever title could work against you. (there’s a new & nifty-looking tool from ezinearticles.com called ‘Title Suggestions’ – it’s free for Platinum and Premium authors)
Layout – Keep sentences short and paragraphs brief. Use sub-headings and bullet points (bolded text too if possible) to act as visual markers and help the reader. You’ll know yourself how much harder it is to read long chunks of unbroken text on a computer screen.
Length – To write anything meaningful is more difficult in less than 500 words, while articles exceeding 2000 words may be better split into two separate submissions.
Quality – Providing high quality information is key to succeeding with online article marketing. Poor quality content and badly spelt articles won’t be shared and can damage the author’s reputation.
Frequency – I know quite a few people who submit articles every single day! If you seriously want to get good results from this marketing technique, aim for weekly (in my previous post I said monthly – but that was back in 2008 and article marketing has become more important since then, with the growth and spread of social media).
Ideas - If you’re having trouble coming with ideas for articles, perhaps this short video from Ezine Articles will help to inspire you!
Right, I’m off to write and submit more articles, how about you?
What’s your biggest Article Marketing challenge? Let us know in the comments below … and if you found this post helpful, please share it by retweeting!
