The Secret of Successful Article Marketers
Would you be surprised to learn that nearly every successful website owner is heavily engaged in an ongoing article marketing campaign?
You only need two things to have a successful website …content and traffic. And, while traffic can come from any number of sources, the most coveted
Getting good search engine rankings is not easy. There is no “magic bullet”. It takes planning, time, and hard work to build and optimize a high ranking website. However, keep in mind that the organic search engine traffic your site receives is free. Webmasters who elect to advertise their websites may pay $5, $10 or more per visitor. And, that’s not all the bad news for webmasters who advertise: research has clearly demonstrated that people who reach a site because of an advertisement are only 20% as likely to make a purchase as those who find a via a Google or Yahoo query.
It’s common sense. The person who reaches your site after clicking on a link of some kind or opening a promotional email may or may not have much interest about what your site offers. The person who puts forth the effort to conduct a search to get to a site like yours is far more likely to be a good prospect for whatever the site offers.
That explains why successful website marketers spend significant time and energy chasing search engine rankings. And, as anyone engaged in search engine marketing realizes, obtaining links is the most critical element in achieving top rankings. In most cases, article marketing is an integral part of SEO campaigns because no other activity yields as many links as quickly. In fact, a single popular article can result in hundreds of links within a week and thousands of links in a month. It’s not that uncommon.
Normally, article marketers write articles closely related to the content their websites. Overall, that’s a sound strategy…a strategy many marketing gurus teach.
But, authors who limit themselves to writing articles only about topics closely related to the content of their website do so at their peril.
That’s because by writing only on a limited range of topics, you will be limiting the websites and directories which will consider carrying your writings. Choosing a wider range of topics will get you a far better return. I have about a half dozen education sites, thus my articles are frequently about college selection, financial aid , online degree programs, and similar topics. I’ve managed to obtain thousands of links with these articles, but there are lots of article directories, blogs, and websites that have absolutely no interest education-related articles. So, I also write 200 articles a year on other topics, in order to reach out to an entirely new audience, and garner a far greater number of links to my sites.
I recently wrote an article on how to win sports bets with friends. My other article topics include website marketing, home buying tips, pet training tips, gardening tips, and scores of other topics. My most widely published article…much to my surprise, by the way…was on 5 backyard hamburger recipes. After 10 years of website marketing during which my sites have held, and sometimes lost, top 10 rankings in the search engines, the very best advice I can offer others is to relentlessly write and distribute articles on at least 4-5 subject areas…the more the better…in addition to the subject(s) of their websites. It is a strategy that almost guarantees search engine ranking success.
Marion Newman is a community college transfer counselor who counsels students on upper division online degree programs and online college financial aid programs.