What is Article Marketing
Online marketing is perhaps the most trusted method of advertising a product or service, mostly because the Internet is the most accessible and most far-reaching platform there is today. But online marketing is a pretty broad concept in itself, as it involves several forms of reaching out to customers and targeting them. One of these methods is article marketing, a specific form of content marketing that focuses on publishing articles. As the name suggests, article marketing is all about writing textual content (article), publishing it, and then driving traffic on different websites through the use of the said content.
Article Types in Article Marketing
Article marketing deals with three basic types of articles. The most common type is the article published in business blogs and websites. This type of article can be specifically designed to directly introduce a particular product or service. Because the article is published on the business’ own site, it can be as self-serving as the article marketing campaign allows. The articles published on websites can contain direct pitches to invite the readers to purchase or subscribe to the product or service that is being offered. It is, however, recommended that self-serving articles are kept in check, as an excess of such articles can diminish the reputation of a business website.
The other two types of articles, unlike the first one, are both sent to different websites for regulation and publication. The press release article is often a newsworthy type of article that is created by a business to inform the industry about certain developments on the business or its products. Press releases are written with a tone that is similar with the typical news article. They are usually sent to press release websites, which will determine whether or not the article is worthy of being published. Almost the same regulation is applied for the last type of article—articles that are sent to submission websites. These articles are regulated by the website to which they are submitted to. Popular submissions sites for article marketing include ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com, and articlesbase.com. Because they are submissions, these articles are subjected to the rules implemented by the respective website. Naturally, these articles cannot be self-serving, as submission sites have strict rules regarding keeping the articles broad and generally helpful.
The Rules of Article Marketing
Depending on the type of article, article marketing poses different rules—some of which are unspoken. In general, though, articles must always be interesting and well-written. The goal of article marketing is to attract online readers and influence them so that they will eventually consider dealing with the marketed business. Because of this, articles must be compelling. The most trusted way to captivate a reader’s interest and trust is to create articles that specifically target them. Specificity is the name of the game in content marketing, including of course article marketing. When a piece of content resonates with its readers, it has a higher chance of getting through to them and thus converting them into customers at the very least.
Being specific with the articles entails several considerations. First of all, the content creator must have an understanding of who the readers are. This does not only mean the age, gender, or location of the audience. This information has to be as specific as possible. The general rule is for article writers to imagine one specific person while creating the content. The writer must think about the reader’s personality, his or her problems, issues, current situation, job title, and perhaps even his or her face and name. All these specific details will help the writer tailor an article that will definitely appeal to the target audience.
Another general rule in article marketing is subtlety. As much as possible, the article must not overtly discuss a product or service, except when the article is a press release, in which case it might need to be as elaborate as possible. In article marketing, the main goal is to make the readers believe that when they make a purchase, it is their decision and theirs alone. This is why articles in article marketing should not directly dictate the readers what to do. Instead, the articles must encourage the audience that purchasing is a good idea and a smart move for them. An article writer can do this by tapping into the needs and wants of the audience and creating subtle suggestions on how to fill those needs and satiate those wants.
The other specific rules in article marketing often have something to do with the regulations imposed by the submission websites. Most of the time, these are rules regarding prohibited language, style, and themes for the submitted articles.
Parts of an Article
Much like any form of writing, articles written for article marketing have their own set of standards. They are not exactly similar with articles that are created for other purposes, such as in journalism or technical writing. In article marketing, the main points to consider are interest generation and problem solving. The first point simply means that an article must always be interesting so that it can retain the readers’ attention and thus increase the chance of getting through to them. The second pertains to the rule that articles must address one problem or desire that is present with the target audience.
Following these basic guidelines, the title of the article must be attention-grabbing. By the first glance to the article, it must immediately arrest the audience and keep them intrigued, compelled, or simply interested to read the whole article. A title can be interesting if it readily expresses the benefit of the article to the reader. The body of the article, on the other hand, should follow the rules governing web content. This means that the content must be arranged depending on the significance of the concepts explained and must be written with the consideration of perfect quality and length. Finally, there is the resource box, which is where the writer places the call to action that will urge the readers to do something positive after reading the article.