There are a lot of article spinners and other software approaches that some marketers use to create a lot of articles quickly. These marketers are looking to get a lot of quick back links for the article directories, and these tactics may work to some extent.  But if you really want to put article marketing to work for you you want to do better than that.

A quality article will get you a lot more backlinks over time, because the  article will get picked up by ezine writers and bloggers who want to share quality content with their readers.  They will hold their noses to some of the junk that these automated programs create.

Additionally, you will get traffic to your site from a well written article and in the final analysis that’s what you really want. Eyeballs who come to you to see what you have to offer.

Once again I am sharing an article written by Ken Vogt of Content Crooner. If you are serious about article marketing, you want to create quality articles. In the following Ken tells us just what that means.

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What Constitutes a Well-Written Article?

Engaging in article writing to communicate with your niche involves a commitment to quality. The Worldwide Web abounds with sub-standard writing. Providing useful information within properly constructed articles means setting yourself apart from mediocrity.

Your primary concern as an article writer is your audience. You must focus on two main elements as applies to this audience. The first is the kind of information they want and need. The second is the best way to present this information to them.

Therefore, a well-written article consists of useful content spread over a sound structure. It’s akin to a useful concrete pedestrian walkway spread over a supportive steel grid. Thinking of your articles this way means you present information to your readers in a logical, organized manner.

An effective article marketing campaign depends on using a good article distribution service. They gain you that broad exposure your articles require. However, you don’t want broad exposure for poorly constructed articles. This harms your credibility as a reputable information provider.

What results when you lose, or never ever gain, credibility with information searchers? You lose traffic to the website where you look to promote your particular business. The following are tips to ensure you create well-written articles for your readers and build credibility:

Concentrate on the Actual Content

Before you can utilize your structure, you must have useful information to place within it. It all begins with performing the necessary research. Quality research gives you the data, facts, statistics, opinions, viewpoints and more that you need.

You gather this information in various ways. This can include both offline and online research. You may interview experts in a particular field. You may access research materials in a library or read an online whitepaper.

You accumulate vital knowledge as suits your audience’s needs. Research must focus on what your audience wants, not what interests you. What your audience wants and what you want is not always the same thing.

Concentrate on Classic Article Structure

Now you organize gathered information based on time-tested classic article structure. This involves employing a proper title and an opening or introductory paragraph. You want to pique your reader’s interest right away.

A headline doesn’t have to be funny, trendy, or shocking. It does have to let a reader immediately know what they can expect from your article. An introductory paragraph to open your article presents the focus and intent of your article.

Next is significant main body copy where you disseminate the bulk of your useful information. This main body copy may include sub-headings and bullet points with attendant information. These accomplish two things.

First, they allow readers to scan and hone in quickly on major points. Scanning also gives readers a quick overview of what they are about to read. Second, sub-headings and bullet points break up large blocks of text. This makes an article easier to read.

In the main body of your article, you present, point-by-point, your information. This helps your reader gain knowledge in a systematic fashion. Intelligently presenting vital information, linking paragraphs logically promotes faster learning and knowledge retention.

This organized approach means you, the writer, don’t wander off topic. It also means you hold your reader’s attention. A haphazard approach to presenting information increases the chances you lose your reader’s interest. After the main body copy, you employ a concise conclusion, which ties everything up precisely.

Concentrate on Spelling and Grammar

Of course, you must do all of the above with attention to spelling and grammar. In the rush to get articles online, these two elements often get the short shrift. We often rely too much on spell-check programs and forgo rereading our articles.

Spell-check programs, because of their general nature, don’t always catch unique spelling and grammatical occurrences. Reread your articles and look for these situations. This extra attention to detail ensures your articles are of a higher quality for your readers.

Focused attention to spelling and grammar also present you as a professional. It shows you respect the writing discipline and your readers. In addition, article distribution services and publishers demand this attention to these elements.

On top of all that, articles with proper spelling and grammar are easier to read. You get your points across with clarity when commas, periods, quotation marks and such are in the right places. Additionally, spelling mistakes don’t stand out like sore thumbs, breaking your reader’s concentration. This contributes to enjoyable reading for your audience.

Follow the above tips to create well-written articles. Informative content presented over an organized structure with attention to grammar and spelling enhances your writer reputation. This means a growing audience for your articles, and the websites linked to them.

To your success,

Kenneth Vogt

Kenneth Vogt is CEO of Content Crooner; a quality content distribution service. He is an established internet marketing professional and respected Web expert.

Discover how quality content is a driving force behind highly targeted traffic and improved page rank in our Free Report.

Follow Us on Twitter: ContentCrooner

Technorati Tags: article structure, article writer, bullet points, conclusion, introductory paragraph, main body copy, quality content, sub-headings, title, useful content, well-written article

It shouldn’t be a surprise that I believe in article marketing.  For a long time I struggled to come up with products to sell online, only to discover I had no traffic to sell to.  Since then I have learned that marketing is a multi-faceted game, and have done much better.

I had long known that all the top marketers were telling me to do article marketing, but it wasn’t until I started to both write good articles, and actually get them published in a lot of directories that they really started to drive traffic to me.

Today we are continuing the series by Ken Vogt.  Ken is CEO of Content Crooner which is the article distribution service I now use and recommend.

I hope you enjoy it. -etn

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Understanding How Article Marketing Works

In the world of internet marketing, constant streams of information come your way each year. Much of this is get-rich-quick hype from so-called online experts. However, the only ones getting rich are those ‘gurus’ who seek to line their own pockets. Often their systems aren’t worth the time, effort and money required to obtain and learn them.

What you need as an online businessperson are time-tested systems that provide value. You want the system to be affordable and easy to use. You also want a system that doesn’t involve a huge time commitment to set in motion. On top of that, you want a system that works for you when you are not working.

Think of a typical household appliance that adds a measure of convenience to your life. The typical kitchen refrigerator is a perfect example. It provides value by keeping food fresh and in optimum condition.

A refrigerator is also relatively affordable these days and easy to use. You plug it in, stock it, and enjoy it. There’s no time commitment to running a refrigerator on a daily basis. In addition, a refrigerator is always working for you. It doesn’t matter where you are or what you’re doing it keeps working.

You need this efficiency of process and operation when it comes to internet marketing. Article marketing provides this for you and helps you build a successful online business. Here’s how article marketing works:

Article Writing and Article Submission

The first part of the article marketing process involves your initial efforts. You can’t have an article campaign without articles. You can’t gain widespread distribution without engaging in regular article submission.

However, once you or a freelance writer writes articles and submits them, your work is compete. The key is writing articles packed with useful information directed at a specific target market. This sets the rest of the process in motion.

Choose a Good Article Distribution Service

The next stage is to choose an article distribution service that deals with numerous quality publishers. Look for one that has relationships with popular publishers of significant readerships. Classify your articles into the proper categories and sub-categories. Target specialty publications you know your target market reads.

Additionally, choose an article service that employs live editors and reviewers. Make sure they allow unlimited article submission for a one-time fee. Check that they perform ongoing distribution and update their publisher lists frequently.

The Article Distribution Process

The article distribution process is your article marketing service in action. They make your articles available to the publishing community at large. They ensure your articles reach publications exclusive to your niche.

Your articles begin to populate newsletters, ezines, blogs, and web pages. This is significant exposure, which means your target market has a better chance of finding you. The more places people see your articles, the more they take notice of you.

This results in them back linking to your website, provided they found your content informative. Again, quality articles are at the heart of successful article marketing. With increased back linking from widespread article distribution, you gain the attention of search engines.

Article Marketing and Major Search Engines

The search engines take notice of plentiful relevant back links to your website. They deem you as credible and a useful resource for their users. Therefore, they reward you with higher page rankings. This leads to higher search engine results page (SERP) listings.

Higher SERP listings are vital to gaining increased traffic to your website. People tend to look at the first page or two of website listings. If you score in these first pages, you gain significant traffic and improve your chances of getting visitors who convert to customers.

Article Marketing is about Building Trust

Successful article marketing garners you a loyal readership that trusts you as an expert in your field. Through providing useful content, your readers deem you credible, as the search engines do. Your readers then link back to you to find more information on your site.

As you engage them further, you can then recommend products and services to them. They trust you based on your quality articles. There’s a greater chance they will take your product recommendations to heart.

This is how you build an online business with articles. This is how you build that business even when you choose not to work. Article marketing is a way to build relationships through words and linking from those words. All the while, you have time to build your business in other ways.

Article marketing is truly an autopilot system that works to make internet marketing an easier discipline. Much like that household refrigerator, the system operates quietly in the background. As it does, it builds massive back links and your online income.

To your success,

Kenneth Vogt

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Kenneth Vogt is CEO of Content Crooner; a quality content distribution service. He is an established internet marketing professional and respected Web expert.

Discover how quality content is a driving force behind highly targeted traffic and improved page rank in our Free Report.

Follow Us on Twitter: ContentCrooner

Technorati Tags: article campaign, article distribution, Article Marketing, article submission, page ranking, quality content, search engines results page, SERP, trust and credibility

The payday for your article marketing effort is dependent of several factors, the quality of the article you write and the distribution you are able to get for your article. But even if they are both outstanding, it can all go for naught if you do not have an effective resource box to direct that traffic to your site.

Continuing to borrow from the experts, below is an excellent discussion of the topic by Ken Vogt. I hope you enjoy. -etn

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How to Write an Effective Author’s Resource Box

To connect effectively with your target market, it’s important to engage in article marketing. This process allows you to communicate to your audience by offering them useful, relevant information. You create articles, for distribution to popular online publishers.

Publishers know what their readers want and work hard to provide them quality content. They have guidelines for the types of articles they require to satisfy their readers. You, as an internet marketer, follow these guidelines and compose appropriate articles.

Well-written articles of the “non-sales” type offer value to readers. Creating top-notch articles full of useful information is a craft unto itself. It takes practice to write articles that logically get your message across in a clear way to readers. When you do this well, the feeling is a very satisfying one.

Once your articles are ready to go, you still have another task to fulfill. This is the creation of an effective author’s resource box to accompany your well-written article. Your resource box is that precise “About You” text at the bottom of your article.

When you engage in an article campaign via an article distribution service, you want widespread article exposure. However, you also want widespread exposure of your name and website links. This is how you gain that targeted traffic back to your site. The following are the elements of an effective author’s resource box:

A Name

Why spend all that time writing a great article and not take credit for it. Remember to include your name in your resource box to highlight the person behind the writing. People love to know who wrote what they just read. Include any title associated with your name if appropriate.

Are you a doctor, a layer, a certified public accountant, or a PHD? Let your readers know, as this further establishes your authority to write the specific article. Don’t have a title; don’t worry about it. Let your name and good writing speak for you.

A Website Address

You want to promote linking back to your website. Your site is where you further engage your readers. They need to be able to easily click on a link and find their way to you. It’s best to spell out your website address completely. This includes the “http://” at the beginning.

A Concise Description

After your name and website address, you want to include a concise couple of sentences. These sentences let the reader know who you are and what you do. This is where you actually directly promote yourself in a reputable way.

This concise description in effect is a mini-advertisement. It states that you “do this” and have expertise “in that.” It presents you as a valid author of the topic just read. An example would be, “Author John Doe is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). He works with small start-up enterprises to ensure their accounting procedures are in order.”

A Call to Action

Here you think like a Madison Avenue executive. You want the reader of your article to do something when they finish reading. Include a line in the resource box that asks your reader to visit your website.

You can ask them to link to a free EBook or report. You can ask them to check out a product or service you offer via a link provided. Whatever you suggest, get the reader interested in connecting with you beyond the confines of the article.

The above are the main elements to include in an author’s resource box. Using these few is an excellent way to encourage further discourse with your readers. Article submission to a good article distribution service has as its goal the gaining of backlinks from your resource box. It’s the reason you write articles in the first place.

Sometimes, authors wish to include other information in an author’s resource box. You can as well, keeping in mind not to overload the box so it becomes tedious to read. You can include a web address to subscribe to a newsletter or ezine.

You can also include a phone number or business address should you choose to give out this information. You may want to include a link to a press release on the web about your business. It all depends on what you deem vital for promoting your business in the best way.

Spend the extra time after article writing, to create a good author’s resource box. Toot your own horn in a dignified way through this tool. Let your readers’ know who and where you are. In this way, they can continue to build their relationship with you.

To your success,

Kenneth Vogt

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Kenneth Vogt is CEO of Content Crooner; a quality content distribution service. He is an established internet marketing professional and respected Web expert.

Discover how quality content is a driving force behind highly targeted traffic and improved page rank in our Free Report.

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