Put simply, article marketing is the process of providing content to the public via the internet which in turn results in exposure and traffic for its provider. The most common form of article marketing involves creating articles and submitting them to various directories. The premise here is to get your content published, and receive links from the publisher back to your site. While worthwhile, this is only the most rudimentary basics of article marketing. Think of the links you receive this way as “gravy” on the meat.

The real benefit comes when bloggers and websites reprint your articles to their own sites, post links to them, or even just circulate them via e-mail or forums. The reason they do this is because they find the material interesting, relevant, and complimentary to their own subjects. Thus, the exposure and links you receive from these “organic” reprints are much more valuable in terms of SEO and page ranking, as Google and other search engines place much higher value on natural linking.

Remember, to use your articles, they must credit you and cite the original source thereby providing you with the exact marketing you were seeking. Targeted, relevant, organic links that cost you nothing more than the price of the article. Compared to the price of paid advertising or SEO, it’s an unbeatable bargain.

The benefits don’t stop at simply gaining links.

Regularly submitting articles to directories is one approach that can be effective. But it is not the only one. You can also target well ranked websites relevant to your own, and offer the use of your articles in exchange for a link back to your site. Success in getting your article on the right website can cause major increases in your traffic, and is a valuable resource that should not be overlooked.

Of course not to be forgotten is your own website content. Not only do your visitors want to be greeted with fresh content when they visit, the major search engines also factor in how often content is added when they calculate ranking. Nothing will do more to increase your traffic, and KEEP it, than to have fresh content updated at least weekly, if not more often.

One more important aspect is your appearance on the web. You want your visitors to feel you are an authority or reliable source on your given subject. When they search Google for your name or subjects, you want them to find hundreds of articles originating with you. In this way, you build authority and presence that can mean the difference between a loss and a sale.

What can you expect from Article Marketing?

Despite all the benefits of Article marketing there are no promises. The web is full of individuals who will tell you they can do everything you dreamed, but offer nothing but excuses when the dreams never materialize. The success of article marketing depends on a wide ranging host of factors. My opinion is that the three greatest factors are the subject matter, keyword placement, and consistency. While there is not much anyone can do to improve your subject beyond writing about it well, It can certainly help if you are providing a steady stream of quality content.

Article marketing is not for everybody.

If you’re already established and enjoying good exposure and traffic, Article Marketing is going to be of little benefit to you. However, if you are operating a new website, just getting into business, or just looking to create a professional online presence, then Article Marketing can be of great benefit. Article Marketing is only one of many ways to improve exposure and search rankings. It requires consistency, well authored text, proper keyword placement, and of course, quality content. Whether you choose to market articles or not you will still need fresh quality content in order for your site to attain and keep effective search ranking.

If you find that producing and maintaining your article flow is too time consuming, or your skills lie in areas other than writing or communication, you can hire someone to handle your writing needs for you. You can pay someone by the article, or you can set up contracts for regular deliveries of content. Often, you only need to discuss with your article provider what your needs are, how you would like to present your content, and provide the subjects you would like to have addressed. You can work with a provider to rewrite your own articles, or simply give them a subject and let them handle everything for you. The choices vary widely, and usually you can find a writer who will specialize in catering to your particular needs. Paying a reliable content provider is an excellent way to get all the benefits of quality articles, without having to spend the time and resources on producing them that you could otherwise spend running all the other aspects of your business.

Author. Paul Novak- webmaster for Alicia’s. http://writingfourmylife.com Article is copyright 2009-2010 Paul Novak & Alicia’s@expressionsbyalicia.com
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