Information based marketing is one of the oldest and most effective techniques for bringing targeted prospects to your site and converting them into buyers. This is part of the reason that software, and distribution services that make the process of article promotion easier have been so popular lately.
There are various invaluable tools out there that you can use to make the process of distributing your articles easier and get your content to the places that have the most potential to bring you exposure. But that's only half of the story. To get article marketing to work for your site you should mind two crucial things:
- The quality of the article you're submitting, and
- The preparation you do before you a single word of your content is written.
Since those two determining factors make at least 50% of the difference in bringing you success, let's take a look at what the most common mistakes are in that area, and how to overcome them.
Mistake 1 - Confusing the Reason to Promote using Articles with the Reason to Write an Article
There are three reasons for promoting an article - branding, lead generation and as a consequence, to promote your site. At the same time, there is only one reason to write an article, and that is to inform your audience. If your article is not geared towards this as its primary purpose, the three benefits of promotion will also remain unfelt – simply no one will want to read your article.
The quantities of links you're able to generate by submitting your article to hundreds of sites will matter little if you're unable to get them picked up by publications, or read by people who search for information.
Of course, if you know what you're doing, all those links pointing back to your site will benefit your search engine results to some extent - but remember that generating links to your site is only one part of optimizing your site for search engines like Google, Yahoo or MSN. And if everyone is doing it, the effect will be dulled.
To overcome this issue, you'll need to figure out how to get people to read what is in your article, and then click through to your site from your resource box.
Mistake 2 - Starting the Article Promotion without a Plan
Not every article can fulfill all three purposes of promotion. Some will work better for branding, others can generate leads and increase sales. But unless you start out with a plan for what the function of your article should be, you'll end up dissatisfied with the results.
To overcome this issue, before you write a single word, decide what purpose the article is supposed to serve. An article aimed at branding you as an expert should display your knowledge. One for generating leads may need to be geared towards solving a very specific problem.
Mistake 3 – Producing Content That Doesn't Help Your Readers
Maybe you're thinking: "All I want is links back to my site - any visitors the article generates is gravy".
I have to disappoint you here. Not all article banks and directories are going to accept your content automatically. You can double the number of sites you can submit to by writing articles that the directories want to share with readers. And remember that all it takes to increase your potential audience tenfold is one publisher with a hundred thousand readers.
So, if you want article marketing to work for you, write articles that publishers want in their publications.
This also means obeying the standard guidelines, like running a spell check, or even hiring a writer to produce articles on your behalf if you doubt your own literary talent.
Mistake 4 - Failing to Maximize the Promotional Opportunities of Article Marketing
You already know that articles marketing can help you generate additional links back to your site. But did you know that you can get more visitors and better search engine results from articles in a variety of ways?
You can mention your desired keyword in strategic places, though you should take care not to overdo this. Some will probably advise you to make use of anchor text, which can in its turn be an effective method. However, you should know that the majority of directories and publications aren't able to support this.
There are alternatives to this method that are just as effective, if not more so, but they require more space to explain on the next page.
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