Article Marketing For Fun and Profit

A lot of online marketers have a tendency to jump on the video marketing bandwagon because of the potential of generating boatloads of traffic and leads for their business. A marketing strategy that is too often overlooked is article marketing. Just like with videos your articles can be online assets that can generate leads and sales for you for years to come. So how do you get started with article marketing?

1. Decide what to write about.
There are several ways to generate article ideas. Whatever your chosen niche happens to be you need to know the "language" that people in your niche speak. I use google's keyword tool which should suffice when you're first starting out. Forums are also a good way to get some good ideas and find out what people are talking about and what their problems are. If you are committed to continous learning than you can write about what you are learning about everyday.

2.Content of articles.
The body of your article should provide value to the reader and is not a place to promote or sell anything that you have. What you do want to do is provide a call to action at the end of your article that directs the reader to either your website or maybe a blog. If the content of your articles pique their curiousity and keeps them interested in what you are saying you shouldn't have a problem getting that desired result.

3. Where do I post my articles?
There are tons of article directories that you can submit your articles to. I would start out with ezine articles. What I like about ezine articles is it's a well respected site with tons of great content. If you can get your articles approved there then you know your articles are "up to snuff" and you're headed in the right direction. Buzzle.com is another one of my favorites. What you can also do is post that same article you wrote on your site or blog as well. Just make sure you don't give everthing away in your article and you get the person reading your article wanting more.

4. How many articles do I need to write to be effective?
The key to article marketing is consistency. Try to write two to three articles a day to be effective. Just imagine how many pieces of content you would have created in just one months time. It should only take 20 to 30 minutes to write a good article and maybe a little longer if you're just starting out.

Article marketing can be an effective strategy if you do it on a consistent basis and you do it the right way, and most of all it wont cost you a dime!