Article marketing in 7 easy steps

Posted by: Krishna De | Posted on: February 7th, 2007 | 1 Comments | Posted in: Article marketing, Branding, Free resources, Marketing online, Writing

Article marketing is an often under utilised no-cost marketing strategy to grow  your professional services practice.

Article marketing will enable you to extend your reach, connect with ideal clients and it enhances your ability to be found in the search engines.

However not all articles are created equal.

If you are using article marketing in your practice but have found it had not yielded the returns that you expect, here are 7 keys to review your articles against: 

1. Powerful headlines – ensure that your headline is not obscure but promises to deliver value. Consider the headlines in a newspaper – they capture the essence of the story in less than 10 words.
2. Summarise your promise – the opening paragraph should reinforce the promise of value in the headline, summarise the content of the article and read in a way that it flows into the rest of the article, drawing the reader into the article.
3. Make it accessible – rather than trying to over impress your reader with long sentences, make your article accessible.  Keep the number of words to between 10-16 words per sentence. This keeps the energy high and makes your writing accessible.
4. Break it up – increasingly we scan read on the web. Most people will read your article online so make it easy for them to grasp the content. Using bullets or numbers is a great way to increase the amount of white space and allows the article to breath.
5. Lose the jargon – review your article and check for any jargon. Keep your language engaging and straightforward. Re-read your article and see if you can simplify it further.
6. Check for errors – make sure that you spell check your article. Mistakes in your article will not enhance your credibility with your readers or enhance your personal brand.
7. Review your resource box - at the end of the article, you will be able to write a short bio and call to action. Keep the resource box short and compelling. and make sure that the link to your website is relevant to the article.

If you have not tried article marketing, then I highly recommend Ezine Articles which is one of the most effective and extensive article marketing sites on the web.

So what’s stopping you? Start writing articles to build your online brand and attract more clients today.