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Article Marketing - 3 Mistakes Writers Make

by Dean Shainin
13 replies
Article marketing is a very lucrative approach to promoting a service, web site, or affiliate marketing.

The costs are minimal and the benefits are manifold. However, there are ways to make your article marketing skyrocket.

If you avoid these 3 mistakes that writers often make in article marketing, you should do very well.

1. Push their product too hard. I don't know why so many article writers think that they can contribute little to no value and the reader is going to just flip open their wallet and dish out the cash. It just does not work that way. You should write to give back to the reader and after having contributed valuable content, then lead to the link where the sell takes place. Nobody wants to be "sold to." Readers need to know that you are giving something to them and then it is the job of the article marketer to show them a product that can meet the need that they have.

2. Use lame article titles. If you look at the number of views on articles posted throughout the various directories you can't help but notice that they share one thing in common: Titles that are not enticing. A writer should never assume that readers will want to read their article. It is your job to make them want to read it. This is best accomplished through descriptive, call to action titles. A writer can say, "Here is how to lose weight," or they can beckon, "How to Shed 15 Pounds in 3 Short Weeks." Ask yourself which title would draw you in as a reader. Think like the reader and this will help write better titles. Remember to be specific and descriptive.

3. Put little time into creating a resource box. It is a shame to have created a great article and get nothing back in return. Spend more time on creating a great resource box and then you can use it over and over. In your resource box include at least two links with anchor text. This will help with search engine optimization. Also, make sure that you provide a call to action.
#article #make #marketing #mistakes #writers
  • Profile picture of the author Michael Dominic
    Spot on, Dean! I especially agree with #1. I provide quality content and try to be as subtle as I can in my anchor text while still getting readers to click through. I thank this for my high click through rate.
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    • Profile picture of the author Traffic2MyPage
      I agree with your three reasons... would also like to add the bell theory or better known as the duplicate content filter.....

      check out this post to read more

      Increase web traffic @ Maximizing web traffic by exploiting the bell theory of article marketing Traffic2MyPage.com
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      • Profile picture of the author angela99
        #4 Rehash others' articles without adding value

        As article marketing becomes more popular and competitive, it's a real challenge to present valuable and new material.

        However, it's worth the time it takes, because these articles are reprinted, and send you great traffic over time.

        Just yesterday I was chatting with another article marketer about the huge increase in people using article marketing.

        The competition will rise over the next year or two.

        He made the excellent point that any article you write today will increase its value to you over time, as the search engines focus more on trust factors.

        So keep writing. :-)
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        • Profile picture of the author cylwac
          Nicely put Dean!

          I must admit when I started out I made 2 out of three of those mistakes. The important part is that I learned from them and have grown.

          Article writing in my opinion is a key factor is any success you have, if your article has quality content you can get traffic for years to come (depending on your topic of choice of course!)
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      • Profile picture of the author Christie Love
        Hey,
        I know you guys are new. Just wanted to let you know that there is no spamming in this forum. Only quality posts. Limit your links to you signature.

        Dean,
        I totally agree with you. One thing I would add to content is to review your article. I know that an articles writers' goal is to write as many articles as they can to submit to article directories. Therefore, please read over your article to make sure there are very few (if any) grammar and spelling errors.
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        • Profile picture of the author Art Turner
          Great post, Dean...

          I especially agree with your thoughts on the importance of the title. Your post title is a good example. Whether writers are confident or unsure, they're going to read this post to see if they are making the three mistakes.

          Art
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          • Profile picture of the author write-stuff
            Well said, Dean. Too many people mistake what "real value" really is. Crappy useless content doesn't help your cause. If you're going to publish an article, really make it something new and useful. Something that people will be better off for having read it.

            - Russ
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  • Profile picture of the author vbm08
    Banned
    I totally agree with all the 3 mistakes that most article writers seems to make in the beginning. Only thing is that they should quickly overcome their mistakes.

    May be one more thing I would like to add here is keeping your article length as short as possible like 300-500 words at max. Because today people don't have time to read longer articles and they lose their interest over time while reading the long articles. So KISS (Keep It Short & Simple) method for article writing is very profitable to keep the reader's interest level at the desired level.
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  • Profile picture of the author rommel120783
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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
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      • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
        Originally Posted by TMG Enterprises View Post

        As Paul Myer's repeatedly says (and I completely agree), people are still reading entire books on what interests them every single day. If you can't hold their attention for more than the 5 minutes needed to read 300 - 500 words, maybe the problem isn't in the viewers. Either your topic or your writing is the issue.

        Short articles may be the best way to go but it's not because people don't have the time or the interest.
        I usually recommend shorter articles for article marketing via directories. 500 words is a good max benchmark. You want to give some useful information, but let's all be honest here - we're submitting articles to get click-throughs to our sites. Since that's the goal, the article body is really a means of convincing the reader that you know something about the topic. You're trying to demonstrate a measure of proficiency. That's going to increase the chances of getting each reader to click your link at the end. Then you need to appeal to some selfish (in the better sense of that word) want or need of the reader with your call to action.

        Shorter articles are all that's necessary, bottom line, when you're submitting to directories. I do write longer ones occasionally, but it's not the norm.

        However, I also tell people that longer articles are better for article distribution purposes. I've found that more ezines and sites will pick up distributed articles that are over 500 words. In fact, the best I've personally gotten in terms of number of publishers has been with articles in excess of 700 words. Of course, you can go too long, and in my limited testing, the max appears to be around 1200 words. Over that and you start dropping again.

        For what it's worth. Nice post, Dean... agree with all your points.

        John
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  • Profile picture of the author kkchoon1
    Banned
    I will add two more:

    3. Use broad keyword such as Dating, Dating service and expect a lot of traffic without further SEO.
    4. Expect few articles to bring sufficient traffic...
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  • Profile picture of the author Ken Leatherman
    Dean very good points for article writers to follow. Your spot on with the "Title".

    It's just like fishing, you have to cast the right bait in front of the fish to lure them in, set the hook and reel them in.

    John made a good point about providing enough information to make your readers want more of the valuable information you provided them in the original article. However, I have noticed some writers (including myself) tend to fall in love with the "expertise" in the article and give away too much info and kill the "desperate" desire to cure what ails the reader. Try to avoid the overkill on information.

    Ken
    The Old Geezer
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Buckley
    Excellent. Number two is key. A good title translates directly into page views.
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    "Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something." -Plato

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