Article submissions are a great way to grow your business online; that much is clear. Yet many people just like you are wondering, “What makes a good marketing article anyhow?” We are taught to use bold action words in sales copy. We are trained to present a problem and a solution. We are instructed to use an engaging second-person tone directed right at the consumer. These are all true. However, what you don’t want to do in your article writing is to seem desperate by pushing the sale. You want your article to appeal to a person who is seeking information, first and foremost. When that person feels comfortable enough, he or she will make a purchase. If your article has been particularly compelling, the subtle link to your page will be clicked and a sale will be made.

To understand what makes a good marketing article, you must first consider the similarities and differences between writing for print publications and writing for online mediums. Magazines and newspapers have hundreds or thousands of subscribers who will flip through the pages each week or each month, regardless of what’s there. Headlines can be witty and coy. On the other hand, internet marketing articles need to seek out an audience by using more direct headlines to attract search engine attention. Magazine and newspaper articles often have to write to certain editorial standards, with advertisers in mind. Online writing instead appeals directly to the readers, aiming to inform them, which will ultimately make them feel more comfortable with upcoming purchasing decisions. The attention span also varies greatly with print versus online writing. While someone may read 5,000 words in a magazine, 500 words is a more appropriate length for internet copy — and paragraphs should be shorter, rather than longer.

Every good marketing article uses keywords that target business-related terms typed into the search engines. According to a 2008 ComScore Study, there are six basic ways people will find a business; search engines (31%), the phone book (30%), internet directories (19%), Google or Yahoo Local search sites (11%), newspapers/magazines (3%) and social media sites (1%). As you can see, article marketing strategies must focus on finding what keywords people are searching for and filling out pages at the online phone book sites like www.whitepages.com, www.yellowbook.com and www.superpages.com. To find the best keywords, you can check out the free article marketing tool at www.adwords.google.com.

Lastly, your marketing article should be organized properly. The best article submission is 400 – 500 words long, with four or five short paragraphs. No more than one or two keywords are used for each paragraph. The article should be free from spelling and grammatical errors, naturally. The company itself should not be mentioned within the body of the article to avoid blatant promotion. Instead, use the box at the bottom of the article to give company details and links, directing readers to your site. Remember, readers are sifting through the article for useful information. If they are satisfied with the information they receive, they will be inquisitive enough to click to your site and perhaps even buy something.

Write Marketing Articles

You’re trying to make sure that more people know about your business, and that you have more of an online presence. This means you’ll need to find professionals that know how to write marketing articles for your business. When you own a blog or small business website, article marketing will help you to promote the goods and products that you’re selling. However, you’ll need to make sure that the articles you write are strong and ’searchable’, and if you can’t hire a writer, here are some tips for doing it yourself.

When you write marketing articles, you should choose a subject that you know you’re familiar with. This way, your writing will be much more believable and the articles will be easy for the public to read. Make sure that you’re considering your audience as well. This way, you will choose your writing style carefully,and will pull in the desired amount of readers.

You’ll also need to be consistent and informative when you write marketing articles. Don’t fill up your article with random information that doesn’t have a whole lot to do with your original subject. Engage the audience by making your article easy to understand, but include some less well-known facts to show that you’ve done your research on the subject. You may even want to do an outline of your article, so that you can stay on subject. The goal of your article is to leave the reader wanting to know more. This way, each time you post a marketing article on the Web, you’ll get new followers each time.

Don’t forget to create a website for yourself as well when you write marketing articles. This way, you can provide your reader with more information about your writing qualifications (which will increase when you get more practice). You should include a bio about yourself on your website, so that readers can get an idea of your qualifications and will want to know more about your business. If you leave a space on your website or articles for people to leave feedback, make sure that you respond to those that leave comments on your site. This gives people the impression that you appreciate the fact that they’ve taken time to read your Web material.

When you write marketing articles, it is also very important that you select primary and secondary keywords for your articles. This will make it easy for people to find your written work, and will increase your popularity with search engines. To get started writing articles today, you can check out free blog sites like Blogger.com and WordPress for more details.

Writing a useful paid survey will result in a more accurate and useful response from the survey taker. With that in mind it is important to carefully consider what you want your paid survey to accomplish and how to organize the questions to get the best response.

The first thing to think about before creating your paid survey is what kind of information do you want to find out? What areas in the product or service the company provides do you want to focus on? Once you have this information, you can then start thinking about what questions will result in answers that are useful and specific and will allow you to make accurate decisions.

In terms of organizing the information and questions on the survey, simple is best. You will likely be dealing with a wide range of people, from different backgrounds and it is recommended that the language you use be simple, but not condescending. In this day and age, it almost goes without saying that gender-neutral language be used, and that less formal language be the norm. It may be grammatically correct to use “his or her” but for the sake of simplicity, “their” can certainly be used. Contractions used to be a no-no for written prose, but these days a lack of contractions can sound overly formal.

The attention span of the average person seems to be dropping and therefore a long survey with lots of text will cause most people to skim over the material rather than go through it carefully. A more concise survey will result in a more accurate response, and one that is more detailed as well.

Try to put the questions in logical order to reduce confusion. Ideally, put the most interesting questions at the start so the person taking the survey will be encouraged to keep going through the survey with enthusiasm.

Consider the format that your questions are written in. All closed questions will be easier for the participant to answer, but will you get enough detail? Open questions can provide more information since the participant has to write out an answer, but too many of these types of questions can result in the survey taker becoming tired and you will lose accuracy and detail. Prepare a balance of open and closed questions and make use of multiple choice questions as a happy medium between the two.

Prepare an enticing introduction to the survey, one that gives the participant all the information they need to complete the survey and starts things off on a positive and energetic note. At the end, provide a reminder on how the survey should be returned and end with a thanks for the participant’s time.

There are numerous sites out there that can provide information on the best way to write paid surveys that will result in the most useful responses from consumers taking the survey. A paid survey that doesn’t tell the company much about how their products and services are being received, is just a waste of time and money.

Web article marketing is a work-from-home business that offers a steady stream of income and, of course, a flexible schedule. However, to be successful, you must have the motivation and the commitment to set aside a good portion of your time to work each day. You must be dedicated to see a project through and work tirelessly to ensure your client base is satisfied. Often times, aspiring online marketing professionals will keep their day jobs while they are learning article marketing techniques, web design/programming, copywriting and search engine optimization. Once you feel more comfortable, you can then launch your own article marketing business.

There are many different article marketing strategies commonly employed by experts in this field. One school of thought believes that quantity in articles is most important, so they make a pitch to clients that they make bulk orders that can bombard the internet to draw in many leads. Another school of thought believes that a better quality article submitted to a few carefully chosen sites can act as a powerhouse, reeling in tremendous targeted traffic that is ready to purchase. A third school of thought aims to write content that gets picked up by publishers, so that they will re-use the content (with permission of the author, of course) and provide back-links to the author’s website in return.

Targeted article marketing is one strategy used in the article marketing business. These articles are created with the intention of finding readers who are almost ready to buy. According to a March 2009 report from www.pricegrabber.com, 91% of online shoppers strongly agree with the statements: “Researching products online makes me feel more comfortable” and “Comparing prices online reassures me that I am getting the best deal.” In addition to price checking and reading up on products, consumers also browse for current news, look for coupons and visit social networks. Target marketing publishes articles that are steeped in information and use keywords that target a person’s geographic location or unique needs.

The article marketing business is a tricky one because “the nature of the beast” is always changing. In other words, the criterion Google bots use to rank pages today may not be the same criterion they use tomorrow. An article marketing expert must engage himself in every facet of the industry — attending seminars, reading books, searching online for new tools and talking with other industry professionals. This is why other businesses often outsource their internet marketing campaigns because they admit that they cannot possibly work 40 hours per week on keeping up with the latest updates in search engine technology.

There are many people who dread having to write papers or articles. Many just feel like it seems to be too much work and it all just goes to waste when no one reads the. To some people, reading articles seems like work to, especially if the article is boring and very bland. Well, articles are supposed to be read, that’s their purpose to impart your message and information. If it is not read then it is a waste of time and effort.

But all the same, articles have to be written to be read. It’s just a matter of making them good. Making a good article doesn’t have to be strenuous and straining. There are just some points needed to be reminded of, and some guides to follow. Once you get the hang of it, writing articles could be fun, as well as profitable for you and your site.

Of course, writing articles must be about something you know about, that’s why if you own a site, you probably is knowledgeable about that certain topic and theme. When you write about it, you won’t have a hard time because you already know what it is and what it’s about. It’s just a matter of making your articles creative and interesting.

To make sure that your articles get read and enjoyed, here are six red hot tips to get your articles read. These tips will make your articles readable and interesting.

1) Use short paragraphs. When the paragraph are very long, the words get jumbled in the mind of the reader just looking at it It can get quite confusing and too much of a hard work to read. The reader will just quickly disregard the paragraph and move on to much easier reading articles that are good to look at as well as read. Paragraphs can be a single sentence, sometimes even a single word!

2) Make use of numbers or bullets. As each point is stressed out, numbers and bullets can quickly make the point easy to remember and digest. As each point, tip, guide or method is started with a bullet or point, readers will know that this is where the tips start and getting stressed. Format you bullets and numbers with indentations so that your4 article won’t look like a single block of square paragraphs. Add a little bit of flair and pizzazz to your articles shape.

3) Use Sub-headings to sub-divide your paragraphs in the page. Doing this will break each point into sections but still would be incorporated into one whole article. It would also be easy for the reader to move on from one point to another; the transition would be smooth and easy. You will never lose your readers attention as well as the point and direction to where the article is pointing.

4) Provide a good attention-grabbing title or header. If your title can entice a person’s curiosity you’re already halfway in getting a person to read your article. Use statements and questions that utilize keywords that people are looking for. Provide titles or headers that describe your articles content but should also be short and concise.

Use titles like, “Tips on making her want you more”, or “How to make her swoon and blush” .You could also use titles that can command people, for example, “Make her yours in six easy Ways”. These types of titles reach out to a persons’ emotions and makes them interested.

5) Keep them interested from the start to the finish. From your opening paragraph, use real life situations that can be adopted by the reader. Use good descriptions and metaphors to drive in your point, just don’t over do it. Driving your examples with graphic metaphors and similes would make it easy for them to imagine what you are talking about. Making the experience pleasurable and enjoyable for them.

6) Utilize figures when necessary and not just ordinary and insipid statements. Using specific facts and figures can heighten your article because it makes it authoritative. But do not make it too formal, it should be light and easy in them and flow. Like a friendly teac her having a little chat with an eager student.

Article submissions are a great way to grow your business online; that much is clear. Yet many people just like you are wondering, “What makes a good marketing article anyhow?” We are taught to use bold action words in sales copy. We are trained to present a problem and a solution. We are instructed to use an engaging second-person tone directed right at the consumer. These are all true. However, what you don’t want to do in your article writing is to seem desperate by pushing the sale. You want your article to appeal to a person who is seeking information, first and foremost. When that person feels comfortable enough, he or she will make a purchase. If your article has been particularly compelling, the subtle link to your page will be clicked and a sale will be made.

To understand what makes a good marketing article, you must first consider the similarities and differences between writing for print publications and writing for online mediums. Magazines and newspapers have hundreds or thousands of subscribers who will flip through the pages each week or each month, regardless of what’s there. Headlines can be witty and coy. On the other hand, internet marketing articles need to seek out an audience by using more direct headlines to attract search engine attention. Magazine and newspaper articles often have to write to certain editorial standards, with advertisers in mind. Online writing instead appeals directly to the readers, aiming to inform them, which will ultimately make them feel more comfortable with upcoming purchasing decisions. The attention span also varies greatly with print versus online writing. While someone may read 5,000 words in a magazine, 500 words is a more appropriate length for internet copy — and paragraphs should be shorter, rather than longer.

A good marketing article is written with search engine optimization in mind. Research dictates that most consumers have no idea which brands they prefer when they come to Google to search for something. They’ll type in phrases like “inexpensive digital camera,” “real estate agent in Seattle Washington” or “best article marketing company” to find what they’re looking for. To win these consumers over, you need to base your content around what they’re searching for. An invaluable tool is Google Adwords, which will list the most frequently searched keywords, useful variations and keyword popularity. If this all sounds like Greek to you, then perhaps you should speak with a qualified SEO article marketing expert.

Lastly, your marketing article should provide new information in an entertaining way. To do this, you should be scanning Google news headlines or other blogs to see what people are talking about. For example, if you are selling digital cameras and you hear a report that people are cutting back their spending on consumer electronics due to the recession, then you might want to write an article about “cheap digital cameras” or “inexpensive cameras” to draw in that target market. If people seem to be interested in “product safety” or the “green revolution,” try to relate your products or services to those topics. The best free articles have an engaging tone and use second-person narrative to actively engage the reader. You may also choose a more detached, professional-sounding third person perspective, but rarely should first person “I/my” be used.

Some entrepreneurs feel they can whip up a 500-word article, submit it to multiple free article publishing sites and just sit back, while the traffic streams in. However, professionals who’ve made it to the first page of Google’s search results know that marketing with articles entails so much more. You need to know what keywords will bring — not just traffic — but targeted traffic to your page. You’ll also need to know how to use links to your advantage. You will have to realize that submitting the exact same article to many sites can negatively impact your Google rating. You’ll also need to understand how affiliate marketing, linking, press release submission and other tools work along with your article business marketing to create a strategic plan for success.

In one case study, a business owner created a 25-page niche website, with each inner page created around one target keyword phrase, for which a promotional article was created. Each article (including back-links in the “About the Author” resource box) was also submitted to directories like www.ezinearticles.com and www.goarticles.com. He also got linked up with an affiliate network of 10,000 sites that trade one-way back-links as well. After eight months, there were 2,600 unique visitors and 650 returning visitors each month. This number continued to grow steadily to 5,315 in August and earned the owner $180/month in revenue through AdSense. As you can see, article business marketing really works!

In another example, Danforth Diamond outsourced their targeted article marketing to another firm that specialized in copywriting and search engine optimization. Their main focus was a new metal they were selling called palladium. So this marketing company wrote a landing page for “palladium jewelry,” an additional article about palladium and why it’s good for jewelry (which was distributed on article submission sites), a press release about Danforth Diamond’s palladium and blog posts about palladium. Focused link building with keywords like “palladium,” “jewelry” and “rings” were also part of their overall marketing strategy. After a few months, marketing with articles had really paid off. They moved from virtual obscurity to a #3 Google ranking for competitive search terms like “diamond engagement rings” and “engagement rings.”

Marketing with articles is best left to the professionals. If you enjoy writing and have a knack for it, then consider creating your own blog instead. Even if you are a proficient writer, you will need someone with an in-depth knowledge of online marketing strategies, keyword research, keyword density, link building, affiliate marketing, submission of articles, press release writing and copywriting that presents a “call to arms.” Writing for enjoyment and being able to write marketing articles to sell are two very different things, after all.

Business-to-business marketing is unique in that the business buyer needs your product. He isn’t looking out for something he “might enjoy,” but rather he is coming to you with a specific need, so he is already on the verge of buying from someone. Secondly, the business buyer is more sophisticated and has the desire to learn everything about your product or service. He is willing to read longer copy and he wants to read a promotional article that is packed with facts and valuable information to help facilitate his decision making process. Business to business article marketing is designed to educate a discerning fellow business owner who wishes to learn more about your products and services.

A 2009 study conducted by Booz & Company and the Association of National Advertisers found three key attributes of the most successful business-to-business marketers. First, they collected loads of data, including customer’s buying decisions, purchasing history, financial position, marketing strategies, pricing strategies, buying motivation and business goals. Once this information was collected, they integrated this with product/service development. Second, they said their focus on brand management and separating themselves from the competition was one of their strengths. Third, they set prices based on market response and value to consumers, rather than internal cost-driven factors. Article marketing strategies fit well with the objectives of top performing companies. In essence, business to business article marketing can be used to create a brand identity and to track statistics.

Another important reason to add business to business article marketing to your overall strategy is the undeniable truth that search marketing is still generating the bulk of business-to-business leads. The 6th Annual B2B Marketing Benchmark Report 2009-2010 (conducted by Marketing Sherpa) sums it up by saying, “During the most difficult economic times that the search marketing industries has seen in its decade-long life, search marketers are more relevant than ever. The Web itself is getting ’smarter.’ Web 1.0 was mostly static with publishers communicating to consumers. Web 2.0 is two-way, with consumers talking back to publishers. Web 3.0 uses information from the consumer to tailor the experience to individuals.” A true article marketing expert understands current trends and knows just how to use programs that analyze online article submissions to see what keywords bring traffic to a website, as well as what keywords bring business owners who are most ready to buy, what messages are bringing in the most targeted traffic, what messages are scaring people off and where are they going and what are they looking for once they leave the site without buying.

Business to business article marketing is part of an $85 billion/year industry. The growth of business to business marketing in general is attributed to the increasing number of entrepreneurs present in this country. More retirees, students and stay-at-home moms are finding ways to bring in additional revenue through resale businesses or running their own companies. The freedom to set one’s own hours and pay rate is attractive for many individuals, which has increased the number of small business service providers that specialize in niches like article marketing services, search engine optimization, accounting, document preparation and social media advising.

Writing articles may have never crossed your mind as a marketing idea, but it’s the technique behind every successful site online. From a search engine standpoint, the best websites provide users with something of value. They should be directed to a page that has content they want to read and/or products they want to buy. So how does the search engine bot find these sites, you ask? That’s the million dollar question, of course, guarded fiercely by computer scientists at Google, Yahoo and Bing. However, what we do know is that the top performing websites all have something in common; content article marketing.

First, we’ll talk about how the writing of articles can help your business. Ultimately, you want published articles to bring potential buyers to your site. The only way visitors can find your site (unless they’re specifically searching your name) is by typing a term into the search engine and checking the links on the first page of results. Statistics show if you’re not in the top results, you can forget about people ever finding you. A group of people called Search Engine Optimization experts spend their days analyzing what sort of terms people are typing into the search engines. They can even run diagnostic tests on your page that tell them where people are coming from to reach your site, what search terms delivered traffic, what search terms delivered sales, how long people stayed on your site, what pages sent people fleeing and where people went next. This research can greatly help your overall internet marketing campaigns.

Your website can be the best in the world, but what good is it if no one can see it? By writing articles to publish on your homepage, you will show search engines that you mean business. You’re not just another useless site out there; you have much to offer consumers. As the search engines crawl your page, they’ll look for numerous internal pages, freshly updated content, blocks of 500 words or more, keywords that are in high demand and the appropriate density of keywords. Well-written promotional articles can accomplish all of these things. If your rankings improve, then you will undeniably see more traffic coming to your site. Ideally, this increased awareness will bring more buyers and sales.

As far as marketing dollars go, you can get a lot of bang for your buck with online article marketing. Some people start by writing articles themselves, while others hire established copywriters to do the trick. The benefit of working with a professional is that you’ll be sure people will be impressed by your writing caliber and will read through the entire article. You’ll do a better job establishing credibility, calling the reader to buy and urging the reader to visit your page. The going-rate of a professional copywriter can range from $10/hour – $100/hour. Some writers may charge by the project or by the article. You may also choose to bundle your services with a writer/search engine optimization expert combo. Whatever you decide, give it about six months and you will see dramatic results.

Article writing is a valuable tool that businesses use to grow. You can publish these articles on your own website, which shows search engine bots that you have unique, compelling, freshly updated content that uses all the right keywords. You can also publish these articles on third party article submission sites, which provide you with inbound links and shows that there is distinctive value on your page. The content of your articles should show readers that you’re knowledgeable within your field and should get readers excited about the products or services you specialize in. Then, when it’s time to buy, readers will click on a link to your page and find instant gratification!

Most article publishing sites offer their own writing and submitting guidelines. Generally speaking, the best article submissions are 400-500 words and contain one or two well-researched keyword phrases. The best keyword phrases are location-specific for small business contractors, realtors, retail stores and other companies. For instance, “Atlanta carpet cleaners” is a better term than just “carpet cleaners.” Additionally, the density of your keywords is relevant too. In the past, web users would occasionally find sites with a hodgepodge of nonsensical words strung together. Today’s search engines are much smarter and demand that relevant content be published, not just strings of useless keywords. Your tone should be engaging, written in second or third person, and informative. Try to tie industry news, recent studies and current events to your articles.

It’s also important to note several common article writing blunders. Perhaps the most common is the failure to proofread an article for spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. This can really kill your articles! Once a reader sees an obvious error, they’re gone, never to return, and in the meantime you’ve managed to destroy any credibility you had hoped for. Another error is an author’s tendency to over-hype a product or service. People don’t like to feel as though they’re being treated as mindless consumers. Save all your promotion for the box at the end and instead, focus your efforts on submitting articles that educate the reader on their chosen topic.

Article writing is best left to the professionals. While you’ll find many generic, poorly-written article promotions, you want yours to stand out. You want an article that not only attracts and interests readers, but one that also drives people to buy in a very subtle way. Search engine optimization can easily be a full-time business. Most business owners don’t have the time to run diagnostic tools to see how much traffic is visiting the site, where they’re coming from, how many are buying, or which pages are scaring people off, etc. Optimizing your homepage can be tricky too, since Google is always creating new algorithms to determine which sites contain the most value for users.