Some Article Marketing Tips to Get You Started

I am a huge proponent of article marketing. And while it's true that article marketing is great for driving traffic, you can still utilize it even if you don't have your website up and running yet. By distributing your articles off-line, you'll begin to make a name for yourself in your local community or your specific niche.

Alright, let's move on to the tips...

1. Do your keyword research.

Before you even start writing your article, do a bit of keyword research, since you want your it to be found in the search engines. But here's a bit of a sticking point when it comes to keywords. Long tail keywords are great for Google traffic, but "regular" keywords are better for getting found in the article directories. It's kind of a catch 22, isn't it?

Here's my recommendation: when you're first starting out in article marketing, use "regular" words. This will allow webmasters and newsletters publishers to find you easily. Once they get used to your name, your writing style, and the quality of your articles, they will start searching for you by Author's Name. At that point, you can start going longtail. (It's similar to the "know like trust" principal in marketing.)

2. Use your keywords.

No, I'm not being sarcastic here. I've consulted with a lot of entrepreneurs who thought a web page or an article or a PPC ad was optimized for a specific word when in fact, it was not at all. The biggest reason is that they weren't sure what to do with the keywords once they found them.

You want to put your keywords in your article title, as close to the beginning of the title as possible (just like you do for a web page). You want your words to appear as close to the beginning of your first paragraph as possible and repeat it one time in your first paragraph. And you want it to appear one time in each of your following paragraphs, as long as you can do it naturally. The thing with article marketing is that publishers don't have to pick up your article. If it sounds forced or mechanical or "sales pitchy" it won't get published. So quality is more important than quantity.

3. Publish the article yourself first.

This is another huge step that many entrepreneurs forget. It's natural to get so excited about a great new article you just wrote that you want to spread it all over the place and start distributing it right away. But wait! Give your own readers first dibs (and take advantage of all your hard work and effort!) Publish the article in your own newsletter and on your own blog first, and then start distributing it elsewhere. You can distribute your articles a week or so after they've been published in your own newsletter. 

I've had some clients express a concern over duplicate content if they publish their articles on their blog and also to article directories. But actually, the duplicate content penalty comes about when you place the same content on your own site multiple times. So you don't need to worry about publishing your articles and then distributing them elsewhere.

And here's one more quick tip regarding duplicate content - a mistake I actually made myself! If you're publishing your articles in your newsletter and in your blog, head this warning: If you're publishing an HTML version of your newsletter you should always include an online version (if you're reading the HTML version you'll see a link at the top of this newsletter that says "read online"). Be sure to disallow your newsletter directory in your robots text file.

When I moved the Modern Image site to a new server a few months ago, I forgot to update the robots file. And since we were publishing our articles to the blog and they also appeared in the online version of our newsletters, we got slapped with a duplicate content penalty. And ouch! Did it ever hurt!! (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just mention this tip to your webmaster and she'll know exactly what you mean. And she'll probably have a good chuckle at my expense!)

4. Create a great author's bio box.

Your author's bio box is the only place you get to "sell" your business so you want it to be very powerful. Make sure your bio box (also known as a resource box) is benefits-rich and compelling.  

5. Distribute the article online.

Even if you don't have a website yet, I still suggest you publish your article online. You'll be setting yourself up as an expert so you'll have "instant status" when your site does go live. Plus, you'll then be able to add those articles to your website, so you'll have instant content.

To get your articles distributed to multiple publishers (sometimes thousands of online publishers), use an article distribution service. They do charge a fee, but for the amount of time you will save it is definitely worth the cost. 

6. Distribute your article off line.

Article marketing isn't just for the web. Once you have your article written, be sure to send it to off line sources as well. There are tons of local and niche publications that are craving high quality content. Just make sure your article doesn't come off as a sales pitch in anyway.