Article Writing Continued…

By Jamie Holt | May 30, 2008 .

I began to delve into the process of article marketing/submission yesterday, how it can be used, what it can do…it’s potential etc…and I promised to continue with more…. so here I am..lol

Around the I.M. forums and sites you will hear plenty of talk about articles pulling $20 a month per article…blah, blah… now I’m not saying this isn’t possible..because it is, and much more..but what you can’t say is that every article will pull this for you. So I wanna try to help you a little with what I do personally with my articles and it seems to work OK for me.

I usually start my intro like a description of what is to come, like a lead up to what is coming, prepare the reader for what you have and where you intend to take the journey from article down etc, remember to be completely honest here because you don’t want to convince anyone, you just need to provide them with enough information to get your MDA - most desired action, which in the case of an article is a click through to your site/sales page. Being honest right from the start sets you up in good stead and also allows the reader to choose what they want to do…it’s their credit card so they gotta be comfortable following along here. This being the starting point…

The early part of your article can either be your first paragraph or the intro which gets shown as a snippet on the article directory or in the search engines, so be positive about what you are offering and be clear, concise and honest.

I then follow to cover the subject matter in clear detail, descriptions, bullet points, reference points when necessary. But most importantly…write for the reader, and not the search engines… you may find that your keywords naturally are woven into your work, if this happens then it does and you should leave it for now….. but what I find is that I begin writing and find myself getting to 800 words and more, in which case I can split the article into 2 parts, which means double the backlinks and a more progressive chain of action leaving you with authority.

You then should be looking at showing your reader a path to your call to action (bio box), my preferred method is to then discuss the problems that your product deals with, I wouldn’t do this by saying…product XYZ will solve them instantly or making any grandiose claims, but what I like to do is be very clear and obvious with the problems at hand..if you are dealing with say, the anxiety niche, you should then cover some very specific anxiety issue’s, public speaking or meetings, social gatherings…you get the idea?

All problems that have been a trigger in you choosing which product to promote should be in the article(s) and clearly defined for what they are, problems, because without them we wouldn’t be able to give a hungry niche what they want, without their problem they wouldn’t need your product, so be very clear on what they are.

What is in essence your author bio is used right at the bottom of your article and should contain your call to action and your 2 permitted links. No, I discuss in great detail with my associate about this particular section of articles.. there are so many contrasting views that it is hard to decide what to go for, and in my humble opinion, it is always better to use this as an extension of the article and to use it as if it were a final or closing paragraph.

I choose this option because it allows the article to flow smoothly into your call to action, instead of your CTA sticking out like a sore thumb.. some people prefer to cut off the writing and then proceed with a bio like:

Joe Bloggs is an expert in XYZ for blah, blah years with extensive experience and blah, blah. His site is about blah,blah and can be located at http://www.blahblah.com

Which is totally fine and does work on occasion in niche’s where you need to display your authority as an expert of some kind. But I really don’t feel that self praise is any recommendation.

But I much prefer for my articles, and again I stress this is only in my humble opinion, but I prefer my articles to be totally fact based and lead to a positive call to action based on facts about the niche or product and problem like:

Did you know that 95% of your acne is caused by 3 major factors? Getting Rid Of Acne can be a strain, not only visually, but psychologically too. Find out exactly what the 3 major factors are and learn to combat them naturally at: http://www.acnejamieblah.com

Don’t get me wrong here, I have used the bio for author details for authority niches like the make money online niche etc, but I just prefer the fact based option for most…because as I said, it allows the articles to flow smoothly into the call to action without a break in reading…

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