Article Writing for Offline Businesses?

12 replies
Has anyone tried out article writing for online businesses? I know trying to explain SEO to offline business owners is like trying to speak a different language but it should be easier for business owners to understand the value of an article.

A lot of article writers online don't get paid what they're worth but you can get paid a lot more by a business owner because some will see the value of an article for their business. You want to charge a fair price to business owners. How much should you charge for an article?

I'm thinking of doing this and submitting them to Ezine Article and Go Articles. Any experienced advice or tips with this?
#article #businesses #offline #writing
  • Profile picture of the author traceface
    I think article writing is a good way to supplement any business, seo, smo, all of them. I have 'expert' writer status at e-zine Article from years of writing finance articles when I worked as a mortgage banker. I'd recommend that you write enough articles to get to that point, and then supplement them every week.

    Best,

    Trace
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    • Profile picture of the author Ehanson
      Thanks for the input Trace. Although, I already have expert status at EZ Articles also. I'm going to test this idea out and see what comes of it.
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      • Profile picture of the author myob
        What I've been doing for quite some time now is have my writers do news releases/PR campaigns for businesses, then add these to the clients' website and submit them as modified articles to a few of the largest online article directories and targeted ezines as part of a separate SEO package.

        It's difficult to communicate the value of an online article, because there are many other factors involved. But, you can very easily get paid $700-$2000 or more for writing a 250-500 word press release. Online article writers are getting a pittance for what they can command for comparable offline business correspondence. You may consider just knocking up your SEO service fees to cover the cost of article writing instead of itemizing it as a separate service.
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        • Profile picture of the author xpatflipper
          I certainly agree that article writing is much more valuable to offline businesses...if you can find somebody who realizes it.

          Do you have any products that outline your method of operation?

          Best regards,
          Art Williams
          Skype: atwill4

          P.S. BTW...you can email me through my blog...Just Google..."WanderingSalsero"
          Skype: 575 219 4844
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          • Profile picture of the author myob
            Most of my clients have a PR dept, and quite frequently we just hit them up for doing their business correspondence as part of our other services.
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  • Profile picture of the author Avesel
    Do they understand the importance of building a solid reputation online? What type of "language" do they understand and what sounds totally foreign to them?
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  • Profile picture of the author Intermission
    I think using the press release as a starting point might be good for this. Most businesses would understand the purpose of a press release. Like @myob says, place it on their website and then modify it for publishing as an article too.

    Although where I live I think $700 to $2000 is too out of reach for the businesses I target, price according to the going rate of a price release in your area and increase or decrease it to the point you feel comfortable with what you will provide.
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  • Profile picture of the author AidenChong
    Let me chime in and give you some ideas.

    Let's take this and look at it in a different angle.

    What if you're NOT doing it as a normal article service, such as writing normal articles and submit the articles to EZA, etc... but you're marketing your service as a PREMIUM PRESS RELEASE service, which is something like writing press release style articles for a brick and mortar company, and then send it over to some media houses for publishing.

    The only difference is that, you do it online.

    In the offline world, A LOT OF business person don't know anything about online, but that doesn't mean you/we would have to deceive them with online marketing strategist. It's the way you present to them.

    What if I tell you that taking the articles and doing a much more appropriate press release using something like www.i-newswire.com or www.prweb.com, and your article will be picked up by Google News site, which will be then getting thousands of views, once if it's picked up?

    Does that make a little bit more sense now?

    I had this idea of offering this service to my local area's businesses, but don't have the time to do that yet.

    But really, it's how you present the VALUE of your service, to the offline businesses.


    In USA, there are a lot of businesses grabbing their online virtual real estate, because people are going to search through Google or other search engines before they visit another businesses, or places.

    But in Malaysia, where I'm staying, they use internet mainly just for Facebook, email checking, sort of things like that, it's picking up but not up to par like you guys in the U.S yet.

    So, sometimes it's hard for us to go in to a business talk using ONLY the online method, that's why I'm using some really "offline" strategies, combine with some online strategies. In fact, I don't have a fixed strategy to any businesses, I custom make it for businesses...

    Does it make sense? Let me know if that helps

    Aiden
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  • Profile picture of the author Oren Ganon
    To get the most of article marketing you need to add 50% of your articles in to your website.
    If you will submit all your articles to articles directory you will get result but if you will add the 50% of them in to your site (Unique articles) you will get better result
    as Google will add value to your site.
    Also when you add new article to articles directory try to link some articels to inner pages don't link all the articles to the home page.
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    • Profile picture of the author MerlynSanchez
      I've found that press releases are an easier sell for most businesses. Independent professionals and private practices (such as attorneys, accountants, consultants, etc.) are more receptive to articles than other business people.


      Most business owners do not understand SEO so if you're using this as a selling point, it helps to show a before and after of a client who's rankings or leads increased after using your articles. Of course, you'd need to get your client's permission before sharing this information. You could also provide it "anonymously" but it doesn't have the same impact.
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  • Profile picture of the author DavidJeff
    Personally i like your idea but its little difficult to apply but you can gain good business by doing this, only need to find some solid businessman as you said offline business
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  • Profile picture of the author montero
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