Article Marketing Explained
by Brent Stangel
Business article marketing is a type of advertising in which authors write short articles related to their respective industry. These articles are made available to the general public for distribution in the marketplace by way of article directories. Each article contains a biography box that includes a link to the author's website or blog. Articles written and released for free distribution have the potential of increasing the author's position of authority within their market as well as attracting new clients.
Online article marketing
With the rise of Internet marketing, article marketing has made a
move to the online world as well. As in traditional offline media, online article marketing has served the dual purpose of providing website publishers with free content, and authors with essentially free advertising. Theoretically making it a win - win...
The website where an author can post an article is known as an article directory. Search "article directories" and you will find plenty to start you out. The primary reason an author can post an article free is that the directory owner places ads on each page and collects the income generated from the ads. The article directory gradually gains in search engine ranking as more articles are added, which benefits both the author and the
directory owner with increased article views and visitors
to their websites.
Unlike the off-line version, there are additional dimensions to article marketing online. Among the differences is the use of articles for search engine optimization. Articles are written to target particular keywords, and distributed to publishers that cater to those markets. Authors are able to target their market with informative content, sent to an interested group of readers.
The popularity of article marketing has caused a reduction in quality
in many subjects, due to individuals writing low-quality articles as a way
of achieving exposure. Profitable use of article marketing as a form of promotion requires invested effort in writing high-quality articles. Don't brand yourself as a producer of poor quality content. Be sure you have a well-written, original article you can be proud of before you start investigating distribution. You want to associate your byline with high quality content.
One method of Search Engine Optimazation encompasses the idea that a website's rank in search engines will rise as it obtains more one-way backlinks. Writing and distributing articles that contain a link to a website within the bio box should result in more links back to that website. Theoretically this will increase that website's rank within search engines. This idea has led to a trend in online marketing toward writing articles
solely for SEO purposes, and are commonly referred to as reprint articles.
The free distribution of articles led to a large amount of duplicated
content appearing on websites across the Internet. The quality of articles can also suffer as some authors seek a large quantity of backlinks at the expense of content quality
Writing well constructed, informative, helpful articles can put you on the fasttrack to success quickly. Like most things, your success will depend on the amount oftime and energy invested. If you are willing to put in the effort you can easily rise above the mass of low-quality content that clutters the internet.
About The Author
Brent Stangel is the owner of a portfolio of niche websites including "Free Business Training." He also publishes "Viral Marketing Goldmine", a blog for marketers experienced and beginner alike. He specializes in 100% free marketing methods and offers ALOT of good, free information on his websites and blogs.
Writing top quality content in high paying subject areas that you know little about is a difficult task. You have to decide which topic you want to write about, then research subtopics that should be covered in your article, then go out and research information on each topic and subtopic you want to cover in the article--and that's all BEFORE you actually write anything!
Does all of that sound like a lot of work?
