The money is in the list.
How many times have you heard that? And how can you build a list without spending a fortune?
Articles.
More and more people are turning to the Internet to pre-qualify companies and products before they buy, so it is crucial to position yourself as a resource for such information. Well written, informative articles will help to position you as an expert in your field. As prospects read more about what you have to offer, they will begin to feel comfortable with you, and will see you as someone who can meet their needs.
When people do these online searches, they are looking for tips, guidelines, methods, and information – not sales pitches. Make sure the articles you write deliver quality content that enhances your product or service. For instance, if you are clothing designer, write an article about how to achieve personal style. As you earn their trust, they will continue to come back to you site, and when they are ready to buy, you are at the top of their list.
In addition to positioning yourself as an expert, as you continue to write more content for your site, your visibility in the search engines will increase. How does this all work? As you post new content around the web, Google (and other search engines) are constantly picking up the new information and indexing it. Because the articles you write will have links back to your website, your ranking in the search engine results will increase. That higher ranking will ultimately result in more organic traffic to your site.
Another great thing about article marketing is that it’s very low cost. If you do the writing yourself, it costs you only your time to do the writing and to submit them to article directories. If you are selling your expertise, you absolutely should be doing the writing yourself. If you are using article marketing to sell products, there are a ton of options to buy content that you can use as your own. Here’s one good source of nearly 10,000 articles.
While you can be very successful with online article marketing, don’t ignore offline opportunities. Just about every industry, profession, and hobby has one (or several) trade magazines. These publishers are always looking for quality content from people knowledgeable about the subject. If you don’t already know what these magazines are, a quick online search for “your niche + magazine” will turn up several.
Next week, I’ll get into a little more detail on how to best write and distribute articles online.