Article Marketing – How Articles Help Promote Your Home Business Web Site

Writing Articles is a great way to promote your home business web site and it’s very easy to do. You can write articles that are related to your business and submit them to article directories. All it takes is take time to create the article and submit them. The pay off though can be an increase in website traffic and more sales opportunities.

The article process is as follows: You create the article, proof read and correct the article, and submit the article.

One way articles create traffic to your web site is from the reader. The reader can find your web site address from a link in your article resource box. You have to make sure the article resource box contains a link to your website.

Article marketing is also known to be a method of viral marketing. Meaning popularity of your article has the potential to grow. For example, webmasters from other sites can use your articles to use as content on their web site. In return for allowing the webmaster for using your article, your article will include the resource box you created containing a link back to your site.

As you create more articles and more sites keep using them, the total number of links to your site increases also. Search engines are place value on incoming links to your website. This determines the how relevant your web site is. The more relevant your site becomes the higher it may place in the search engine results.

Articles can also build trust between your business and potential customers. For example, with more people buying online, writing articles gives you an opportunity to present yourself as an expert on the product people are looking for.

I consider an article as a warm lead generator. You see, people are actually looking for the information you are writing about.

Article marketing is a great way of having your site on the search engines. When writing articles, you must understand that the propagation of the article takes time. While no marketing method is guaranteed, in time you may see desirable results from this method of marketing.

There are many advantages to marketing your home business on the internet by writing articles. The best part about article writing is that it doesn’t cost anything. It does take time to write the article correctly and submit them to your favorite article directories. When done correctly, the payoff will benefit your home business.

Article Marketing and How It Works

It is an estabilished fact that Article Marketing works by a large number of Internet Marketers in wide variety of niches. This has been repeatedly proven. However, those who have not ever attempted article marketing tend to think that it is harder or more time consuming than it actually is.

Starts by writing an article. This can be done by yourself or you can hire a ghost writer. The cost of ghost written articles is usually less than $10.00 for a 300 to 500 word article. It is important that the article be informative and related to your niche. The article should not sound like a sales letter.

At the end of the article, you include your ‘resource box.’ A resource box is simply information about the author, and it usually includes a link to the authors related website, a link to subscribe to a newsletter, and possibly even an email address to contact the author. If your article is ghost written, you are still the author.

Underneath the resource box, you type a statement giving others the right to reprint the article for free, as long as they don’t change it and keep your resource box attached. This allows others to help make your article viral.

Once the article is written, you should distribute it to as many article directories as you can find. It helps to also send the article to ezine publishers within your niche for consideration. You can find lists of ezines in the various ezine directories that are available on the Internet.

There is article-submission software that can be used to speed up submitting your article in. One example of this type of software is Instant Article Submitter at www.instantarticlesubmitter.com . There are also services that will manually submit your article to directories. This is highly recommended because many article directories do not allow and will not accept articles submitted with software. One such recommended article submission service is We Submit Articles at:
www.wesubmitarticles.com .

Submitting the articles yourself is a time consuming task. If you can hire someone else to do that work, you will have more time overall to concentrate your efforts on other marketing tasks, including producing more articles.

Increasing Traffic With Article Marketing Through Article Directories

Writing hundreds of articles in your related niche and making them available for distribution through article directories and ezines is one of the best strategies for increasing targeted traffic to your website. Considering getting your articles published online is free, article marketing is also most cost-effective strategy for increasing targeted traffic to your website.

Here’s how article marketing through article directories and ezines drives traffic to your website:

* When your key-word rich article is published by established ezines that are highly ranked by major search engines, your article could very well zoom up to the top ten results for that keyword search. This is something you could hardly hope to achieve on your own. Anyone who clicks on to the link and reads your article will also click on the link to your website, which can be accessed from the author’s box that is featured at the end of the article. An added benefit of getting traffic using this method is that the traffic is likely to be highly targeted traffic, which is the only kind that matters in the end. Whoever arrives at your site via this route has clicked on the link to your article and read your article. Because they are impressed with what they read, they would have immediately acknowledged your proficiency in the area and have now come to your site looking for the more information from you.

* Writing a valuable and informative niche-related articles and publishing them with reputed ezines establishes you as an authority in the field. This recognition can give you the competitive edge against other businesses in the same niche as customers prefer to buy from someone who knows what they are talking about. An unexpected bonus- taking the time and trouble to write articles and get them published through ezines and article directories indicates that you are not some scam-artist or fly-by-night marketer out to make a few quick bucks on the internet. Publishing articles regularly with ezines and article directories gives you and your business extra credibility and also helps you build a rapport with your prospective clients. People who buy on the internet and who are looking for the product you are offering, would prefer to buy from you rather than somebody they cannot trust.

* Submitting your articles to the right article directories helps you to build up valuable back links by having these article directories link to your optimized web pages by way of your article. Obtaining several relevant back links helps you enhance your search engine rankings, pushing your web page to the top 10 rankings for your optimized keywords. While this may not happen overnight, it’s a sure fire way of eventually getting your web page right where it can be seen to all those who matter.

* Some ezine publishers even archive their ezine on their site. This offers potential customers the chance to check out back issues before they make a commitment to subscribe. Getting your article archived means it can be viewed over and over again several years down the line, increasing your exposure tremendously and driving traffic to your site several years after the article was first published.

* Another way to increase traffic to your website is by allowing ezine publishers to include your articles in their free Ebooks. This increases the exposure of your article even more and anyone interested in visiting your website can easily do so by clicking in the link contained in your resource box.

* Some ezine publishers allow their visitors to republish articles that are featured in the free content directory on their website, the only caveat being that the author resource box that accompanies every article is featured along with the article. There’s no saying where your articles are likely to end up and who will be reading them! Your article could pique the interest of somebody who had till that moment not the slightest inclination to buy whatever it is you are offering. And if the quality of your product matches the high quality of your article you will have converted yet another curious visitor into a loyal customer.

If you’ve been hesitating to submit your articles to ezines on the premise that you would like to get paid for articles that you write and publish, then it’s time you woke up to the extended benefits of article marketing through ezines and article directories. It drives traffic that too, not any old traffic but quality, targeted traffic stampeding to your site without costing you a dime. Think of all the money you would have spent to attract the same volume of potential customers by any of the more conventional forms of advertising.
Here are a few factors that will help you choose the right article directory to submit your article to:
* Look for article directories that have been in business for more than a year. Article directories that have been in existence longer would rank higher with the major search engines and would also have a larger reader base.
* Article directories that feature less than 1,000 authors have not hit the big time yet and are best avoided. Look for article directories that have over one to five thousand authors.
* Ideally, a good article directory should be powered by humans and should have the name of the owner or the person in charge clearly visible. Absence of either one of these factors indicates that the owner does not want to be held accountable and that the site is fully automated, which means there is nobody policing the quality of the content. Better to avoid being associated with such a site.
* If your e-mails go unanswered for more than 48 hours it speaks of dismal lack of service and is an indication of worse to come after you join up.
Getting your article published in a few carefully selected article directories and ezines will guarantee better exposure of high quality rather than getting your article published in several sub-standard article directories.

Questions And Answers About Article Marketing

The following article is one of a series of articles which focus on Article Marketing, Affiliate Marketing and Internet Marketing. All of the articles are based on real experiences and research done over twenty years as a personal and business coach. They are also written in response to questions which I have been asked as well as address common challenges that people have with affiliate marketing, article marketing, internet marketing or running an online business in general. I sincerely hope that you find the following information of value. One idea, one tip, one clue can make all the difference.

Article Marketing – Your Answers To Questions On Article Marketing

Article marketing is probably the most effective list building and link building strategy in existence. Article directories allow you to include a resource box for every article you will submit. Inside this resource box, you could include a link to your website and specifically to your newsletter subscription form. If you submit just one article to 100 article directories, you’d immediately receive 100 back links to your website. There are thousands of article directories on the ‘net today!

Now, let’s say you submit, for example, 5 articles to a hundred directories, you’ll get 500 back links easily! The best part about this strategy is that quite a number of article directories have high page ranks. We’re talking about PR4, PR5, and on occasion, PR7 websites! Having a link to your own website in a website which has a high page rank would give a significant boost to your own pages’ search engine standing!

All seems terrific with article marketing, but as with everything else, there are growing concerns as to its real value.

Let’s take a look at five of the most common questions which are asked about article marketing…

If I submit the same article to many article directories, won’t it violate a search engine’s policy against duplicate content?

No, it won’t. Since we’re dealing with high ranking websites, the search engines would assume that the submitted content is their original work. This is the reason why a lot of article directories are pretty confident about the articles they display. The problem that they encounter, really, is with regards to the credibility of their services.

They don’t want to be known as a repository of junk content, that’s why they have outlawed the posting of PLR articles as well as articles full of affiliate links.

If you always submit quality, informative content that readers are looking for, you’ll never have a cause for concern.

Does this mean that I could submit articles which I have already posted in my own web pages?

You need to take care here. The search engines will assume that the higher ranking websites are the originators of the content, your web pages would be distinguished as duplicates, and this could possibly lead to the de-indexing of your website or, at least, that particular article page. You wouldn’t want this to happen.

Can I submit as many articles as possible to as many article directories as possible?

Yes, you could! In fact, this is very much advised, to build up your link popularity and secure for your website a great page rank.

However, please bear in mind that search engines, and Google in particular, become quite wary about a website that suddenly experiences a great increase in the number of its back links. It is advised that from the outset, you decide how many articles you can submit and at what intervals, then stick to it. Consistency is the key here.

Does article marketing really work?

Yes, definitely, article marketing does work! If your article’s page views remain in low levels, ask yourself
Is your article title compelling or intriguing enough to want to read the whole article?
Is the actual content of your article interesting enough? Does it cater to a wide audience?
Is your article informative enough to consider recommendation?
Is your article readable enough to give your audience an easy time in digesting the information you want to share?

These are the factors that contribute to low page views. Doing some necessary editing to correct these problems will dramatically increase the number of times your article will be viewed.

Additionally, some article directories really attract a few visitors only. But the popular ones like www.ezinearticles.com , www.goarticles.com, www.articledashboard and www.isnare.com should give you hundreds of readers in a month’s time.

How sure can I be that my article and resource box will be kept intact by people who will use it in their own websites or Ezines?

Unfortunately, you can never be sure. This is why you have to run your own check from time to time. Search for unique phrases in your article, and click on the results. Determine if the webmaster honored your resource box. If he or she did not, you could ask them to include the resource box, or you could file a complaint with the article directory so that they themselves could act on the matter. As always, Persistence and Vigilance are the k