Prior to the rise of the internet as a major player in marketing, article marketing was considered to be useful for promotion in print media. The need for well-written articles has increased greatly with new online venues such as websites, ezines, and e-mail newsletters. Today, article marketing is even more powerful, due to these new means of communication.
Article marketing involves a writer providing well-crafted content for distribution to various e-publishers and websites and, in return, receiving a brief blurb about his or her business and contact information. A link to the business owner’s website is generally included in these so-called “bios.”
Offering your own content for publishing is essentially the same as obtaining free advertising spots on web sites across the globe. Being able to target the correct market, and keep costs to an absolute minimum creates an excellent and efficient method of business communication.
Article marketing specifically focuses on a willing audience, rather than other methods, such as using e-mail campaigns for lead generation. This results in a much higher response rate. Readers have volunteered to receive the information, so they are naturally more open to its contents, and more likely to seek out the author’s website to read more
Established publishers who accept the articles already have a captive audience of likely customers. People who read the articles are concerned most of all with content, suggesting that they could be in a position to buy items or services relating to the content. Buying a comparable list of those high-quality leads would be very expensive. But writing an article only requires a minimal investment of time.
To gain more on your conversion rate, as a business owner you can provide links to specific information from the author’s biography. Instead of just sending readers to the home page, the writer can provide the website of a specific article that expands upon the given topic. This will cause readers to look up, and trust, additional facts.
A further improvement to conversion rates can be made by providing an email address that readers can contact to subscribe to the author’s newsletter or website. It is best to make this action as simple as possible to increase the chances of readers opting in. Then an auto-responder can send automated messages to those who’ve signed up that point out certain features of the author’s website they might be interested in.
By giving publishers in related fields access to certain content, a business can expect an increase in website traffic at minimal cost, qualified lead production, and a significant improvement in brand awareness and sales.
Justin Harrison is a leading Internet Marketing consultant responsible for the Internet Marketing strategies behind some of the biggest online brands including Amazon, BBC, MasterCard and many others.
