Article marketing is very useful for link building, gaining plenty of backlinks that can build up your search engine ranking. However, that`s not the only way to use articles. They can also be used to build up your popularity among human readers.

As long as your articles are offering information that readers can use, you`ll find that people will want to read the articles, use them on their sites and in their ezines and promote them. This means that not just search engine spiders will find those handy articles, they will serve two purposes.

People who enjoy your articles will help promote them through social media, most of the time. This means that your company name and the review box at the end of the article will become more important. As long as you add relevant information to the bio section, you`ll find that people flock to your business. It`s just a matter of providing them with information.

Article marketing works very well for SEO purposes, but it`s also important when it comes to catching the public eyes, so keep them useful.

With article marketing, you really don`t need to spend a lot of time. If you outsource, in fact, you can get major publicity with barely any time invested at all! Here`s how.

Hire a Ghostwriter
A good ghostwriter will have excellent samples to show and you`ll be able to get a discount for doing a batch of articles . . . ten-twenty is a good number to start out with. You might also ask for rewrite rates, since the same articles could be rewritten to provide new content for article marketing sites. You can give the writer a list of article titles and keywords, or even just general ideas and they can run with that.

Review the Articles
It`s never a good idea to simply publish articles before you`ve checked them over. Make sure they aren`t copies of existing articles by running them through a testing service like Copyscape and do a quick check for grammar. Most freelancers will do at least one or two edits if necessary.

Hire a VA
You can get a good VA for pretty decent prices these days. And someone who is worth their salt will be able to do all your directory submissions for article marketing in very little time. The main amount of time will be spent simply signing up for sites if needed, so the next time, he or she can simply log in and submit.

That`s it. As long as you get the writer to include a customized bio at the end of each article, pointing to your blog or website, you`ll have some great publicity for a fairly low investment and virtually no time spent. Article marketing makes it easy.

It`s generally not a good idea to use just one or two articles in all your article marketing. Fresh content will help you gain more links since you can be assured that more people will want to use unique content.

So, how do you get all these articles for your article marketing if you aren`t a prolific writer? Rewriting what you have is the best way. You can either do this yourself or have a ghostwriter do it for you.

Rewriting articles is basically just rewording things, switching the order of the paragraphs around, etc. You are using the same idea and the same basic content, but changing it to appear unique in the eyes of the search engines and the majority of readers.

You`ll also need a new title for each article that you rewrite. Then make sure you submit a new article to each article marketing site. It`s a way to get through the content creation process quickly and easily.

The title of your article is one of the most important parts when it comes to article marketing. It`s the first thing people see as they scan the list of reading options and if it doesn`t leap out, it probably won`t get read. That doesn`t mean you have to use something shocking (though that definitely works), but it does mean you have to think carefully about what you use as a title.

• Keep it short. The shorter the better, but 5-7 words is fairly average.
• Put keywords first. This helps search engines find your articles and also encourages SEO aware website owners to pick up your articles.
• Use verbs. Adding verbs to the title will make it jump out more and feel more active.
• Make it relevant. If your title has nothing to do with the story, no one will stick around long to finish reading.

Titles are an important part of article marketing, probably even more important than the article itself. After all, if you can`t get anyone to click on the headline to start reading, the actual text means little. Take time to plan out your title adn make your article marketing worth it.

Most business owners consider article marketing to be for online businesses only, but that`s actually not the case. While you should certainly have a business website even for an offline business, article marketing can be an effective way of boosting recognition of your brand and product online and off.

Online
Article marketing an online business is a great way to get lots of backlinks and to boost your SEO. You can link to specific pages in your bio at the end of the articles and this offers even more benefits.

Offline
While you may not need links to your offline business, you can still offer up location or phone number and email. Let people contact you. You might be surprised at how many actually come in to your offline business because of these articles.

Don`t discount article marketing as being a very valuable promo method, no matter where your business is based.

Article marketing is a pretty effective method of promoting your business these days, but unfortunately, a lot of business owners don`t realize just how valuable it can be and they either don`t bother or they don`t put a lot of effort into this area of their business.

If you`re looking for super cheap marketing, then article marketing is the way to go. In fact, you`ll find that you are able to draw quite a bit of traffic to your website with just a couple of well-placed articles. If they are well written, it`s quite likely they will even go viral and you`ll not only end up with more traffic and potential buyers, you`ll also get some great back links.

Article marketing is definitely something that businesses of all sizes can use, but most of them won`t ever get around to it and have no idea what they are missing. If you want to start growing your business at a steady rate, you`d do well to try article marketing, even if only on a small scale.

There are quite a few things to consider in article marketing, including if the article is of good enough quality to attract readers. People have short attention spans and will only stick around to read the article if they are comfortable and interested. So, by assuring that your article marketing ventures are full of useful and interesting information, you will attract more readers and therefore more traffic.

While meeting with a client a few days I ago he asked me this question, “How will article marketing help me?” Good question. I’ll try to make it simple.

There are three ways primarily that you can benefit from article marketing:

• Links
• Traffic
• Authority

Since the search engines place a high value on incoming links to your website, it makes sense to try to build those links. You want to submit your articles to article directories in hopes that publishers will use them. When you do this you get what is called an author’s resource box, which must be published with the article. In your resource box is a line about you and your qualifications and a link to your website. Every time a Web publisher uses your article you are getting a new link to your website.

An added benefit to having your articles circulated around the Internet is the traffic you get from the sites that publish those articles. Get a few articles published in some high profile websites and you will surely see some new traffic.

Finally, and this one is the most important benefit of all, you’ll be seen as a recognized authority in your field. People like to do business with the experts. They don’t want some rag-tag wannabe. They want the best expert their money can buy. Articles help you establish your authority.

Article marketing will benefit in those three ways, but it isn’t a one-time shot. To be truly effective at article marketing you need to stay on top of it long term and consistently.

I can’t believe an article in SEO News actually recommends these three strategies:

• Hire a blog reviewer
• Write articles
• Use a link triangle

The only one of these strategies is even valid any more is article writing. Hiring a blog reviewer is only half valid, but only if you do it the right way. HINT: Going through a service like Pay Per Post is not the right way.

Google, just last year, killed the three-way linking strategy at the same time they started penalizing website networks. You can still get away with it for a short time, but you’ll eventually be reported by your competition and the link juice will be retracted. Why bother?

Google has also penalized websites that use services like Pay Per Post. And if you advertise on your blog that you are a Pay Per Post reviewer, you can really expect to be penalized. So what’s the right way? Do it discreetly. A few clues:

1. Don’t advertise on your properties that you provide blog reviews
2. Operate in full disclosure; let your readers know it’s a paid review and be honest about your opinions
3. Don’t sell link juice as a part of your review; use the nofollow tag and make the primary benefit of the review a mention by name on your blog and access to your traffic

Selling review space is OK as long as you do it honestly and ethically. Trying to trick the search engines or selling links isn’t going to help you or the websites you review. If you are thinking of buying a review for links, do not advertise that you’ve done it and only use reviewers who don’t advertise the fact that they do it. Otherwise, you’ll never see the link benefit you are buying or, if you do, it won’t last long.

You’re much better writing articles and marketing them for links. It’s legitimate, recognized, and effective.

From time to time I get requests to review a website or product. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. This time I will.

ArticleChanger is a website that promises to rewrite your articles for you. Cool. A real time saver, right? Wrong! It’s a total waste of time.

I went to the website and entered yesterday’s Blue Chip Marketing blog post into the article box. This is what I got back:

If you live in Minnetonka, Minnesota then you have a second chance to attend Caroline Melberg’s Biz Blogging Basics coursework for $50. Most experts would charge $100 per hour, but you’ll get 3 hours of expert knowledge for $50. Here’s what you learn in Biz Blogging Basics:

* What a blog is and why every small business needs one
* Why search engines love blogs
* 5 things to look for in a blog hosting provider
* Why you might require your blog on a separate domain name as your website
* How to set up and organize your blog
* How to promote your blog
* How a blog increases traffic to your website
* What type of blog you should set up for your business
* How a blog can make you money

The coursework is scheduled for August 7 in Minnetonka, Minnesota. If you run a small business you’ll require to take the Biz Blogging Basics coursework and learn what business blogging is all about. For more information about Biz Blogging Basics head over to SocialWebTraining.com and look for it on the calendar for August 7.

You’ll notice that it’s almost verbatim. I only found one word that was changed in the entire article: “course” to “coursework.”

If your goal is to avoid duplicate content then you won’t even get close to achieving it. But generally I would avoid these types of products anyway. They are seldom helpful. I only tried this one out of curiosity and it only cemented in my mind the preference I already had: Write your own articles from scratch!

A recent article at ArticlesBase claims that its host is the best article directory online. Is that true?

It really depends on what you use as your criteria for judging and what your niche in marketing is. There are several ways that you can judge, but I have my favorite places to publish. Here are three article directories that I highly recommend:

EzineArticles - EzineArticles is clearly the industry leader. Lots of traffic and lots of article categories. If you do any article marketing at all, you should consider using EzineArticles.

HubPages - HubPages not only allows you to publish your articles, but readers can vote on them and you get paid when they read the articles. You can build “hubs” around your articles and earn a little extra income in the process.

Evan Carmichael - Evan Carmichael publishes articles for entrepreneurs. If you write for a B2B audience then this might be an article directory worth considering.

Are these three article directories the best ones out there? It depends on what you mean by best. If you are a business-to-consumer business then you won’t benefit much from publishing at Evan Carmichael, but you might get a lot from publishing at EzineArticles. You have to analyze your goals and offerings and see what will benefit you.