View Our First Article Marketing Video Here:

It’s fairly well-know that one of the better ways for building a list or generating website traffic is by writing articles. But just as important as writing the articles is where they are distributed and used. How they are promoted. You’re going to find that that’s going to be the key to getting traffic to your site and building your list. Articles can be submitted to directories, posted on your blog, on your website, on forums, wherever you have an opportunity to reach people that may be interested in your niche.

So you want your articles to be as distributed as widely as possible all over the Internet and in the offline world wherever possible. For example, here some sites where you can submit your articles, and where other newsletter authors and publishers will come to get content for other publications:

http://www.articledashboard.com

http://www.articlealley.com

http://www.goarticles.com

http://www.articlecity.com

http://ezinearticles.com

http://www.ideamarketers.com

http://www.marketing-seek.com

By letting others publish your articles in their ezines, your website can gain even greater exposure. Nothing terribly new about that.

Where most people fail is how they attempt to get readers of their articles to take action. That is, getting them to both:

1) Visit your website

and…

2) Get them to opt in to your list

It takes some planning and work on your part to make this desired result happen.

- Writing your article takes time and effort.

- Getting someone to publish your article in their ezine takes more effort.

- Getting people to read your published article takes even more effort.

- It takes additional effort to get people to visit your website after reading the article.

- And finally, it takes effort on top of that to get your website visitors to opt in to your list.

Is it any wonder most people aren’t as successful as they could be? There are many places along the way for missed opportunities, where potential subscribers will slip through the cracks.

Not only that, but you’re competing with tons of other marketers who are trying to do the same thing. The odds are definitely stacked against you.

Here, you’ll see some techniques to significantly improve your odds, techniques that 95 percent of all article authors aren’t using. Do you think this will give you an edge? It will…if you use these techniques and actually put them to the test.

First, let me talk about some of the basics of writing your article. If you go to article directories, you’ll find that too many of the articles you see there don’t even incorporate these basic response-boosting tactics.

The title of your article is key, so choose it wisely. Your article title is your headline for your article. And in a sales letter, the purpose of your headline is to get your letter read, right? Well, in this case, the purpose of your title is to get your article read. You’ll find that many of the same principles of writing headlines apply to choosing your title. You want people to stop what they’re doing and read your article right then and there.

That means titles that are benefit-driven will outperform those that aren’t. Your readers want to know what’s in it for them. So you need to craft your title accordingly. This is no time to be vague or clever.

And before you choose your title, you’ll need to know a bit about your target audience. Their wants, desires, needs. Their problems. What’s on their minds. In short, you need to fit the message of the article, and your title in particular, to what your target market wants. And by target market, I mean those who you ultimately want to come to your website and opt in to your list. So the more targeted the message, the better.

Your title should…

- Address something desirable

- Be as specific as possible

- Convey a sense of urgency

- Make a promise

- Be intriguing

The more of these points you include in your title, the better you can generally expect your readership to be.

Here are some examples:

The Top X Ways To ____________

The Top 5 Ways To Lose 5 Pounds in a Week
The Top 10 Ways To Knock 5 Strokes Off Your Next Round of Golf

How To __________ In ____________

How To Double Your Profits In 30 Days
How To Get Out of Debt In 3 Simple Steps

How To ____________…Even If ___________

How To Make the Lottery Pay Off…Even If You Never Invest a Dime
How To Turn Your Hobbies Into Cash…Even If You’ve Never Sold Anything

The Quick and Easy Formula for ______________

The Quick and Easy Formula for Finding That Special Someone
The Quick and Easy Formula for Selling Your Home

____ Little Known Tips for _______________

7 Little Known Tips for Training Your Labrador
3 Little Known Tips for Roughing It in the Wilderness

The _____ Hidden Costs of ___________

The 10 Hidden Costs of Buying Your New Home
The Sneaky Hidden Costs of Renting a Car on Your Next Vacation

___________: The Proven ______________

Direct Mail: The Proven Way to Reactivate Former Customers
A.I.D.A.: The Proven Formula For Sales Conversions

One final word about titles: Remember that when someone is browsing an article directory, they are seeing your article title alongside tons of others. It’s kind of like the Yellow Pages. The Yellow Pages are one of the most competitive places to advertise. Why? Because your prospects see your ads right alongside your competitors’. You definitely NEED to stand out from the clutter. Your title should be about your prospect’s needs, wants, and desires. It should be about the person reading the article, not the article itself.

This becomes even more critical when a publisher looking for content is browsing an article directory. After all, which do you think will bring you more exposure: a reader browsing articles or a publisher with a 100,000-person subscriber list who publishes your article?

Your first paragraph will keep them reading—or not. After your title, your opening paragraph guides them into the main body of your article, so you’ll want it to be interesting, and an extension of your title.

Some good ways to keep that interest going are to:

- Present a problem Set the stage with a story, anecdote, or quote

- Ask a question

- Reveal an interesting or startling fact

- Present an overview

- Paint an emotional picture

Use proven formulas. Just like a sales letter, proven formulas boost readership and response in articles too.

- Problem-Agitate-Solution – You present a problem, then agitate it further. Finally the solution is hinted at towards the end of the article (with an incentive for them to go to your website to get the full picture).

- Before and After – I was fat, now I’m thin. I was poor, now I’m rich. I was a hack, now I’m a scratch golfer.

- Useful, but Incomplete – Give just enough information to entice them, but leave them wanting more (which your website will provide).

- Frequently asked questions – Include some great ones, but leave some out to be placed on your website. Be sure to let them know in your resource box at the end of the article that there are more at your site.

- Share a specific set of points.
5 Steps to Making a Fortune on eBay
How to Speed Up Your Metabolism in 3 Easy Steps
10 Ways to Write Better Ads
3 Keys to a Greener Lawn
7 Quick Tips for Self-Defense

Position yourself as the expert, but don’t be condescending. This is a given, but it’s worth mentioning. Yes, you want to be seen as an authority on the subject, but you don’t want to come across as arrogant or a “know-it-all.” Remember these are real people reading your article. If you offend them, you’ve lost them. Of course the same can be said for off-color or offensive remarks. When in doubt, leave it out.

Your resource box should present itself as the next logical step. The article should transition nicely right into the resource box. You want them to go to your website, so your resource box should hint at more information to be found on the topic.

Give them an “ethical bribe.” Your resource box should also give a no-brainer offer. An “ethical bribe” designed to entice them. Just like you need a premium to get them to opt in to your list, you also need a premium of sorts to get them to your website in the first place.

Leverage your article wherever possible. In short, you want that article reused as much as possible all over the Internet (and offline as well).

- Post it in the article directories.

- Post it on all relevant forums.

- Submit it to search engines.

- Post it on your blog.

- Post it on your website.

- Encourage others to publish it in their ezines.

- Include your article in viral ebooks to be passed around the web.

- Offer your article as a premium report for other people’s products. Expand on the article, if necessary, to make it a content-packed report.

- Offer it for others to use on their content sites (e.g. Adwords), membership sites, as part of a mini-course, anywhere your target market will be exposed to it.

- Offer it to your affiliates.

Give your best tip at the end of the article and your second best tip at the start – In a sales letter, we’d usually start off with our strongest benefit or point and work our way down to the lesser benefits from there. In an article, you often want that big bang at the end, just before they’re led to your resource box. Also your last tip can carry the greatest weight if you lead up to it, by making all other tips depending on the final one, and by foreshadowing the final tip to come.

Then your resource box should offer something related to your final point. All they have to do is head over to your website.

Design your resource box like you would a headline – Similar to the effort you must put into your article title and the headline on your squeeze page, your resource box needs to contain a sense of urgency. It must tap anticipation, desire, curiosity, and/or other emotional hot buttons. It must have a call to action. And like your title, where the goal is to have your article read, the goal with your resource box is to get them to go to your website. Now, not tomorrow or next week.

And much like there should be congruency between a Google Adwords ad and the landing page headline, so must your resource box and headline on your squeeze page match. Think about it. If your resource box looked like the following:

About the Author

Jane Doe is a certified massage therapist, author, speaker and consultant. Watch her conduct her stress reduction workshop each month on video. Jane is giving free access to this private site, but only while charter memberships last. Join today at http://JaneDoeMassage.com.

…your headline your squeeze page should tie into that offer. Maybe:

“Jump to the Head of the Line and Get FREE Access
To Jane Doe’s Private Membership Forum…Before
All Charter Memberships are Gone”

Or something like that. I just made that up, but you get the idea. Here’s another example of a resource box with a good call to action:

John Smith is the author of the free 36-page report, “How to Turn Your Hobby into Your Own Personal ATM Machine.” Head over to http://www.whatever.com for your free copy while supplies last.

Remember, everything in your article is designed to get them to go to your site. And everything at your site is designed to get them to subscribe to your list. So you really need two calls to action here—two incentives: one to get them to go to your website, and another one to get them to subscribe.

View our second video on article marketing here: