Article marketing is one of the best ways to generate traffic to your website.

Here's how it works.

1. You write an article.
2. You submit it to article directories.
3. Web publishers (website owners & bloggers) grab your article from the article databases and use your article on their sites free of charge.

Inside your article, at the end, you include a resource box that contains a link to your website. When the article is published, that portion must tag along and be published, too.

Your link tags along with your article and you get FREE advertising.

Want an example?

I'll give you a few.

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4 Quick Writing Tips to Make the Most of Your Article Marketing Efforts

Writing an article for article marketing purposes is a great way to market your product, service, blog, or website. Content is what makes the Internet world go ‘round. Without information, the World Wide Web would be a boring place. The net is ever growing and expanding and it’s because of content it will continue to do so.

Remember, “Content is King.” If you keep that in mind in all of your Internet Marketing pursuits, you will be successful (combined with a little luck, determination, hard work, and diligence).

That’s all fine and dandy, but because of this fact, there is a lot of information on the same topic flowing around out there. How do you make yours the information people find, read, and continue to come back for?

Give your readers content full of quality information they are actually looking for – that’s how!

There are many ways to get your article noticed and in the hands (or on the computer screens) of your target market. I’m going to give you four specific areas to focus on that will greatly improve the odds that your article will be read, and – at the same time – you will create a relationship with your prospects that can last a lifetime.

Know What You’re Talking About

Really?

Research is a word that many people dread. Most of those who shy away from research have yet to recognize its true value. If they did, I’m willing to bet they would change their tune on the subject. In order to come up with quality information for your reader, you will want to do research to come up with new ideas and find the latest theories and trends in your niche.

A lot of people assume reading a few blurbs about a subject here and there is enough to write a quality article. That is far from the truth. In order to really give your readers what they want to know, you’ll want to dig deeper. Determine who the experts in your specific area are, find out what they have to say on the subject, and take a look at the items they are recommending. Do as much as you can to get background information and facts.

I know, B-O-R-I-N-G!!!

Also, necessary!

Researching your content improves credibility and expertise. You’ll be able to present quality content people will want to read and continue to come back for. If you don’t have time to research a topic in depth, find someone who does.

There’s a reason they say “Knowledge is key!”

Clear the Cobwebs & Stay Focused

Hopefully you know what you want your article to sound like and what you want your reader to do after reading it. Do you find yourself struggling with transferring what resides in your brain into an informative, smooth-flowing article that gets the results you want?

One of the smartest steps you can take when writing an article is to create an outline before you begin. This will help you to stay organized and on track. It works wonders for focus too.

An outline doesn’t have to be extremely in-depth or comprehensive. Start off by planning the introduction, add a few key points for the body, and finish it up with a conclusion or miniature summary of your article’s main points. Here’s a little trick writers use to create their outlines.

1. Tell your readers what you’re going to be talking about. (Introduction)

2. Talk about it. (Body)

3. Recap what you just told them. (Conclusion)

If you’re thinking putting together an outline will only create more work for yourself, think again. In all actuality, it will save you time in the long run. Your thoughts will be organized and you’ll be able to focus on each individual piece of the puzzle that – when complete – will flow together nicely.

Spice Things Up with a Dash of Copy

The most important function of any article is to inform its reader. However, your article must get and keep their attention in order to inform, right?

Absolutely!

Many people neglect to focus on the fact that while articles need to be compelling, they also need to sell if you’re trying to make money online (and that’s why you’re here, right?). There are many elements of copy you can include to make your articles compelling and lead people to a certain action. You can create interest and increase action with things like:

• Attention grabbing headlines and subheadings (These draw the reader in and leave them wanting to know more)
• A hook line (This will keep them reading)
• A bulleted list just like this one
• Blockquotes
• Outlined boxes that highlights something important
• Bold, italics, and color fonts

Keep in mind that everyone is very busy these days; if you want to get your article read from beginning to end, you will have a higher chance of success when you add a bit of creative copywriting.

Lead Your Readers Onward

If you remember nothing else about people who buy online, remember this:

You will make more money when you TELL your reader what to do next!

Yes, we humans are fickle creatures. Even if your reader thinks she knows what to do next, that doesn’t mean she will do it. Always remember to tell your readers what to do or where to go after they’ve finished reading your article. Because, believe it or not, even when they know what they want or what they should be doing next, Internet users are indecisive. Like a child who is just learning the ways of the world, your reader needs to be taken by the hand and led to the next step. It’s called “suggesting the sale.”

For instance

• If you want your reader to visit your website to learn more about your product or service, send them there.
• If you would like your reader to complete a survey or give his opinion on the topic he just finished reading about, tell him where to go to do so.

This is where your author or resource box comes into play and can quickly become your best friend. Use this area to tell a bit about yourself or your website, and give your readers something to do. Give them a clear call to action.

Writing an article is not difficult as long as you put the right strategies in place. Know what information is relevant to your target audience.

Summary

• Be as well-versed in the area you’re writing about as you can in order to provide superior information.
• create an outline to help keep you organized and focused.
• Throw in a bit of captivating copy to create interest and keep them reading.
• Tell your readers exactly what you want them to do next to achieve maximum benefits from your article marketing efforts.

Want to learn more? Check out How To Drive Free Traffic To Your List Page With Ezine Articles.

I’m going to share with you 10 traffic-building tips in each of 10 posts, for a total of a whopping 100 traffic-building tips in total. Does that sound good? Good. Here goes.

ARTICLE MARKETING

Adding articles to article directories is one of the best ways to build traffic and get your website spidered by the search engines. These two critical things will raise your site up the search engine rankings. Plus, by creatively using your resource box, you get a backlink back to your website.

1. Do your keyword research. You can get your site indexed for “long-tail” keywords very quickly by writing articles with juicy keywords that you want to get ranked for in search engines. I’ve seen results for ranking for keywords I’m targeting by submitting articles to directories in as little as under 1 hour at Google. There is really no faster way of getting ranked for target keywords than article marketing. But do your research! In order to get ranked quickly, you’ll have to choose keywords that people would use in a search query but that do not suffer from high competition.
2. Balance your articles for your readers, but keep the search engines in mind. What this means is that you write for people but you also write for search engines, which are definitely not people. Sprinkle in keywords that the search engines (SEs from now on) like but in a readable and natural way. Remember this, though: ALWAYS write solid content for your visitors’ sake. Content is, has always been, and will always be — KING!
3. Don’t waste time submitting your same article to dozens of obscure article directories. There is a temptation to write one article and submit it to every “Tom, Dick, and Harry” article directories. Don’t do it! Make your article submissions exclusive with sites like eZineArticles, GoArticles, ArticleDashboard, and SearchWarp. These are quality article directories with thousands of visitors every day.
4. Make the best Resource Box possible. This is your one chance to get your reader to act; and by “act” I mean to go to your website, fill out a form, buy something. In other words, to take an action that you want them to take.
5. It’s a numbers game, so submit MANY articles. Getting your site indexed by the SEs for highly desirable long-tail keywords is an arduous process that requires dozens of article submissions. Like I said before, make your articles exclusive to a particular directory. So, you’ll have to write a bunch of articles and submit them to article directories. See what happens. Watch your stats!
6. Re-purpose your content. Does this contradict what I’ve just said? No, not really. I am suggesting here that you not only put your article up on an article directory, but that you also put that article up on your own website. Don’t worry about the SEs counting those two nearly-identical articles as duplicate content. It’s only “duplicate content” if it’s on YOUR site more than once. This way, you will be leveraging work you’ve already done to building a long-tail keyword page on your site at the same time as you wrote an article for a directory that the SEs love!
7. Don’t give it all away. What do I mean by this? In your article, give enough information to entice your reader to visit whatever link you reference in your Resource Box. Get them to take your “Most Wanted Action.” In other words, give your readers “interesting but incomplete” information that forces them to take the next step of signing up for your email marketing list.
8. Become an expert. By writing dozens of articles that thousands of people daily have access to makes you an expert in your field. Capitalize on that fact!
9. Research your competition. Look at the most popular articles in a particular directory in your niche and find out what their keywords are, how they write about the topics, how they construct their Resource Box, etc. You want to find out how successful people are submitting articles so that you can mimic their process and make it your own.
10. Set up your article marketing profile. Put up a picture and some interesting facts about yourself. If somebody finds one of your articles, he may try to find you on the article directory website. No picture = very little credibility.

That’s 1-10 of our traffic building tips. We’ll bring items 11-20 next week.