Article marketing is an excellent choice to promote your online business/website. Here’s a few things you MUST consider doing in order to be successful:

1. Whatever you are writing about, be sure to do your research. Even if you think you know everything there is to know about your topic, check up on it and see if there hasn’t been some updating or relevant news about it. People want up-to-date information. Be impeccable in your delivery of such information. One good way to get automatic information is by signing up with a site that sends alerts to you on topics you request. Google Alerts is a very good example.

2. You will see, as we delve further into this subject, that posting your articles to many Article Directories will, obviously, increase the exposure your articles receive. However, there is an issue I would like to address, briefly, at this point. There is a raging debate going on about “Duplicate Content” and how the search engines do not like it. I have gone into this issue in other blog posts and articles, but for now, the short and dirty way around this problem would be to post the article on YOUR site first, allow the search engine spiders to index it and THEN submit it to your favorite Article Directories. A complete detailed post, including what Google actually says about it, can be found at ArticleWritingNews.com

3. Don’t think that writing just one post about a topic is sufficient. There are many ways to re-purpose your article. Just one article can be written in at least 6 different ways: a straight-up informational piece, a tips list, a how-to list, in an interview style, as a story and a FAQ list. There are more ways, just look around.

4. Article viralization is a fantastic tool. This is standard procedure and is how Article Directories have become so popular. What happens is that a webmaster, in search of good, quality content for his or her website, will peruse the article directories and find your article. If he/she likes it, they are allowed to copy it–completely intact, including the resource box–and reprint it on their website.

5. Another way of getting your work “out there” is to provide writing services to others. If you feel confident in your writing–and trust me, that will come with time and practice–this will give you a nice little side income.

6. Article directories have minimum/maximum word count restrictions. Generally, they are 300 to 750 words. This is actually a good thing! Not only will a shorter piece be easier for your readers–and thus not bore them silly–they are also infinitely easier to write!

7. In the case of article marketing, more is better, but if you’re not in the habit of writing prolifically, 2 articles a day will suffice until you get into the habit. Strive to write prolifically.

8. How many articles should you write, anyway? To start, as mentioned above, 2 a day will suffice if you are just beginning your writing/article marketing career. But as you get better established and more comfortable with writing, you will want to branch out. If you have, say, 10 or so articles on one particular topic, you could very easily compile them and create an eBook. eBooks are fantastic giveaways to entice new visitors/readers/customers. By offering your eBook to visitors as a reward for subscribing to your website, you will be encouraging a relationship with them that, hopefully, will benefit both of you.

9. RSS feeds are another important feature to offer to your readers. Encourage your readers to sign up for your RSS feed, as they will receive immediate notification as soon as you hit the “publish” button on new articles or posts.

10. You can do all the writing yourself, if you feel up to that challenge. We have plenty of advice here at ArticleMarketingNews.com, if you feel you need help. But you can also hire others to “ghost-write” for you. Check out elance.com, among other places. Fees are usually very affordable.

By following these article marketing tips, it won’t be long before you get a lot of hits.

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