Article Marketing will give you the traffic, sales and expert status you're needing! The chain of effects is easy: Article leads to publishing, they give your qualified back links which gives traffic to your main website.

So far article writing is the most efficient way to promote your online business. Every other methods are add on tools. Writing articles is still one of the best ways to get more sales and increase your website traffic.

What is it all about?

Articles directories allow writers to publish their expert articles. Those articles usually have a special area at the bottom called the resource box. Their the author leaves a link or two along with a catchy phrase to describe himself or his special services. Other publishers are allowed to reprint the article on their own websites, newsletters or blogs, as long as they keep the whole text intact, that includes resource box as well, of course.

What is it good for? Two benefits. One direct, one indirect.

1. You receive incoming links from websites which are the most important currency in SEO

2. You give the opportunity for other publishers to pick up your article without changing them, hence including your resource box and link

Now you can increase your exposure by having your content reproduced over the Internet. Your are rewarded with one-way incoming links from your resource box, you dont have to reciprocate as you would with link exchanges.

This will reward you with better search engine rankings.

Excursus: Of course, you can always chose to let your articles write by third parties. This is absolutely legitimate. But you have to make sure that the delivered content is not only of decent quality and that it fits to your needs, but that it's absolutely unique and will stay unique. You can check this with different online and desktop tools.

The Duplicate Content Penalty

All articles have to be absolutely unique to provide a perfect reputation for every author. A back link from a unique content source is worth more than from a duplicated one. Modify your article before submitting it, you achieve this by playing around with synonyms and different phrases for your main topics. This way you will surely rank hire, slowly but steadily.

Only use the most important 20 article directories. You will find a list of them by searching for free article directories list. The other smaller ones are insignificant. Most of them will sooner or later scrape your content from the top article directories. So don't worry about that.

If you have enough time than upload unique content manually to overcome the duplicate content penalty. Otherwise you can use upload tools and services. Of course they will create duplicated content. But I assume this is better than nothing. After all, every link counts.

You will gain success by

80 % Marketing, meaning article writing submission and web statistic analysis

20 % Maintaining your CMS, research of new niches

or

Write 80% of your new content with 20% effort (=time)

or

Make 80% success with 20% of unique articles to the top 20% of article directories

And now a bit about the articles themselves. Make them flesh and bone:

1.write a catchy, to the point and irresistible title

2.Use subtitles when needed to structure your content

3.Write between 500 and 600 words, not more

4.Write Manuals, How-Tos and reports with visible benefits to the readers

5.Don't waste your and the reader's time. If you brood about a sentence, delete it and write it new or drop the point. Don't be boring

6.Use verbs instead of substantives. Use active instead of passive constructions.

The complete author resource box

All of your writings effort are useless without the proper resource box.

If you really want to make your articles sell, then you've got to write the proper resource box. This is the author's focussed biography placed beneath the article's body. It has the function of an informative signature. You can use your real name or a fake pen name.

Here are the essential items that should be in your resource box

• Your Name and title (optional) should be the first thing in your resource box.

• Your website address: in valid URL form. Be careful some article directories allow HTML even in your resource box, some don't.

• Your Elevator Pitch, consisting of 1 to not more than 3 sentences that contain the essence of what makes you and your offering unique. Also known as your USP (Unique Selling Proposition).

Your Call To Action: You pass the ball to the customer and ask them for initial action. Normally it's to visit your main site. You've got them warmed up and now it's time to lead them to BUY from you or visit your website. This is where you "Ask For The Sale." Best to only give (1) specific call to action.

And, for the final: Hang on. Marketing, and especially article marketing is always a marathon, not a sprint. Use little milestones and targets to motivate yourself. You will be rewarded with a perfect passive income stream.