If you're reading this, I'll bet you're
either a copywriter like I am, and/or you're someone who wants
to grow their business online. Either way, the idea of an
"article marketing campaign" is as dazzling with
the promise of free business exposure, as it is daunting to
carry out.
Maybe you're laboring over the article writing
yourself. What to say that hasn't been said before? How much
to reveal in the articles, and how much to save for paid information
products? Or, perhaps you're sweating the fees that come with
professional, high quality writing and article distribution.
These and other potential issues should be addressed before
you launch your grand-scale article marketing campaign.
If you get confused or make a few small
errors, don't stress out. It's more important to get as much
content out there as possible than nitpick and fuss every
little detail. Your articles will get better (and go faster)
with practice.
There is most definitely a strategy to getting
quick streams of articles online in a hurry without sacrificing
quality or emptying your bank account in the process. If you
work as a copywriter, you can offer this service to your clients.
If you're a marketer or business owner, you can easily hire
a copywriter to unburden you of this task. Either way, a partnership
and equal division of responsibility will aid you in your
progress.
Some Prerequisites for the Plan:
Forge article marketing alliances with great
minds.
If you consider yourself an intelligent
and enterprising person, grab a buddy who shares these qualities
and get serious about taking your article marketing to the
next level - together. It's amazing how much more you can
get accomplished with a buddy to motivate you! Some partnerships
start out strong but for whatever reason you just can't work
together. If that happens to you, that's okay - next time,
you'll know what to look for in a collaborative partner.
Decide who gets content
control.
Too many copywriters spoil the article.
Yes, it's true. While it is always a smart idea to have a
second pair of eyes reviewing the work, don't, I repeat, DO
NOT, let the back-and-forth editing get out of hand. One person
should have ultimate content control, while the other is there
to point out possible errors or make suggestions for improvement.
It's okay if one of your ideas doesn't get worked into this
article. Don't forget, there will be MANY MORE articles to
come!
Keep your article marketing expectations
reasonable.
Not every article will be the creative culmination
of your dreams. It's not supposed to be. The purpose of writing
web articles is this: get your name into circulation. Build
your rep for quality by providing valuable information that
your readers can use. Use the articles to attract attention
and draw visitors to your website. Keep your articles short
(say, 400 to 800 words). Offer them as "bait" for
your website audience.
Whoever is writing
the articles should be "honest, quick and good."
I shouldn't have to explain why it's important
to work with honest and trustworthy people. :) "Quick"
and "good" are prerequisites to your article marketing
campaign. You want to blast as many articles as you can out
there in a short period of time. You want the articles to
be sharp and you want to be able to keep the content creation
momentum going, each and every month.
The Article Marketing Plan:
Designate X hours per month at an up-front
fee that you feel comfortable paying.
If you plan to work with a copywriter, find
one who charges an hourly article marketing rate that you
can work with. A couple of my clients buy ten hours from me
per month at a rate we work out privately. I write as many
articles as I can for them in that amount of time - say, 4
or 5 depending on how complicated or lengthy the article gets.
Match the topic to the writer. If they know nothing about
the subject, then you're not going to get the high rate of
productivity that you need - so find someone who does.
Limit it to one draft
revision per article.
As I mentioned, time is of the essence here.
If you get too fussy about the content, you'll hamper productivity.
Think about it this way: you're not writing ONE in-depth article
for a magazine who will exhaust the topic. You're writing
UNLIMITED articles, all on the same topic, all of which will
likely be approved and filtered outward to content seekers
who keep picking them up. It's a constant flow of information.
So don't get stuck in Endless Revisions mode. Get a draft
out, obtain feedback, move on, write another article. Keep
up the pace and you will get more accomplished in less time
than you ever thought possible.
Designate one person to write, and another
to submit.
Writing five articles in one round is exhausting
even for the most seasoned of copywriters. Therefore, if you
want to retain quality during the submission process, have
a second person do the article submitting to multiple websites.
This way they can develop their own copy-and-paste method
for making submissions quick and painless. They can also make
sure that keyword links get made live for sites that allow
this, and that all the article guidelines and rules are upheld.
Stick to your article production goal.
If you find that ten hours results in say,
five articles per month, make that your production goal. If
you don't want to pay for more than ten hours but you'd like
to publish eight articles per month, then have your copywriter
write five articles and then write three more yourself and
ask her to proofread them for you. Remember, there are always
a few different ways of looking at a problem and then solving
it.
Keep a running list of article titles for
future development.
Web article titles serve one purpose: explain
what the article will be about. As you get a rhythm going,
you'll find that more article topics will come to you. Keep
a pad and pen or an open computer file so that you can quickly
add new topics to the list and work on developing them into
articles later.
I have covered just about all you need to
know to develop your own article marketing campaign. This
will be your secret weapon for driving traffic to your website
and building credibility with your future customers. Seize
the moment - get started marketing with articles today.
Contact Dina@Wordfeeder.com
to discuss monthly article marketing for your business.
