Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2010 Bill Platt
If you are an article marketer, or you have entertained the possibility of writing articles, then keep reading...
In this article, I define the Six Essential Elements of writing articles that generates traffic and produces sales for your website...
It will all begin to make sense to you when you step into the shoes of your readers... Because once you understand how your readers read your articles, it becomes rather obvious what your articles need to include in order for you to generate interest in your article, and successfully deliver visitors to your website...
Once you understand the "how and why" of writing great articles, you will have the knowledge necessary to help you join the ranks of the article marketing superstars... But if you miss the point of this article, you are instead likely to join the ranks of the people who whine about how Article Marketing a scam...
There Are Six Essential Elements of Successful Article Marketing:
1. Title - Many people suggest that you should put your top keywords at the front of your article title, but I don't subscribe to that methodology. I do include my target keywords in the title, when I can, but an article that is well-optimized for the search engines is worthless if it does not get published... The #1 goal of your articles' title is to get the article opened!! You must present a title that is going to get the attention of publishers and readers; you must present a title that is going to compel a person to at least open your article to see if they will want to read it...
2. Opening Paragraph - The title got your article opened, but now you need your reader to read the article... Tell your reader why they should keep reading your article and read it to its conclusion... Any reader who does not reach your website from your article is a "missed opportunity" to sell your stuff... Show people why it will be in their best interest to finish reading your article...
3. The Article Body - The article body must meet the promise of the Article Title and the opening paragraph... The article body must retain the interest of the reader to the last word... The article body should tell a story people want to read, and leave them wanting more... The article body must successfully carry the reader to the articles' closing paragraph and to your Author's Resource Box...
4. Your Closing Paragraph - Ideally, when your reader reaches the last paragraph of an article, the reader should be happy to have read the article to its conclusion. This is the first point about your closing paragraph. The second is that the closing paragraph should successfully bridge the reader from the article to the Authors' Resource Box. After all, the Authors' Resource Box is where the writer will get paid for having invested the effort into writing the article. When the reader reads the resource box and takes the action the author asked him or her to take, then the process of writing has the opportunity to offer the writer great rewards.
5. The Authors' Resource Box - The Authors' Resource Box needs to transition the reader from your article to your website, by offering a compelling call-to-action to get the reader to go to your website... Tell who you are, but don't go overboard... People do not care who you are or what you have done - they only care about what else you can do for them... Jeff Herring wrote a great article that elaborates a bit further on how to construct an effective Resource Box here ( http://ezinearticles.com/?id=3624961 )...
6. Your Landing Page - You should never try to sell your products or services in your Authors' Resource Box. Instead, you should try to get the reader to your website, where you have an unlimited number of words, videos, pictures and testimonials to tell the real story of your products or services. Few vendors have the ability to sell a product or service in 500 characters, so you should use your Authors' Resource Box to get the reader to your website, where you will do the real selling...
Tell A Story People Want To Read
Often, the difference between someone who will try to write an article for $5 and the professional writer who understands the value of his or her work can be defined simply...
The person writing an article for $5 will "beat around the bush" for five hundred words, without ever actually saying anything of any real value to anyone... The person who works for $5 an article is just putting words on a page so that he or she can be paid...
The person who demands $40 to $500 to write an article is a master of story-telling... He or she will tell a story that people will want to read, and therefore a story that publishers will want to publish...
The authors who tell a story that "people are happy to have read" will find their articles on more high-quality websites, and they will find more people visiting their websites, as a result of having read the article...
Words on a page only please search engines, but a story on a page will ALSO attract readers, visitors and paying customers to your website...
Interestingly, most online marketing gurus who advise hiring people to write $5 articles fail to tell the whole truth -- they fail to point out that articles that pass real link popularity to a website must have link popularity to pass on to your website...
People don't link to articles that are nothing more than "words on a page", but people will link to a story that needs telling... Just like with Jeff Herring's article linked above; his story is worth sharing with you, and as a result, it has gained its own links from people who do not know Jeff personally... (I have never met Jeff Herring or talked to him by phone or email. It was an honest recommendation for a great article written by him.)
Jeff's article has gained its own link popularity, by merit of it being a good story... As a result, Jeff's article will pass real link popularity back to his website, because it has real value for readers and real link popularity to share...
Article Marketing Will Not Work For Everyone...
There are a great number of us who have made a lot of money with article marketing... Then there are thousands of others who have never made any money at all with article marketing...
When you want to find success with an online business, you should mirror those people who have been successful...
Article Marketing is no different... If you have ever visited a website or purchased a product, as a result of having read an article that mentioned the website or product, take another look at the article that drove you to action... Try to understand the "how" and "why" that article worked, and then try to figure out how you can duplicate the formula for yourself...
Chances are good that you will see my "Six Essential Elements of Successful Article Marketing" in those articles that you are reviewing...
Fortunately, you don't have to take my word for what I am telling you in this article... Whenever you find an article that moves you to visit the website shown in the Authors' Resource Box, take another look at the article to see how closely it matches with the "Six Essential Elements" I shared with you in this article... You may be surprised by what you learn...
About the Author:
Reviewers are widely praising Bill Platt's "Multiple Traffic Streams: The Magic of Attracting Buyers" traffic guide for its quality and attention to detail. One reviewer called it, "Comprehensive!!" Another said, "You could always spend $1500 or more for one of the 'guru' courses and still get less info." Get your copy here: http://thephantomwriters.com/multiple-traffic-streams/ If you are available on Friday or Saturday night, join Bill and other online marketers at: http://LiveMarketingChat.com/
Read more of Bill Platt's articles.
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