Article marketing is a great way to promote your website.  Why?  Because it’s FREE and it gets your business in front of qualified and interested global audiences.

There’s no doubt that publishing articles can quickly elevate you from someone who waxes lyrical about how great you are on a website, to presenting you as an expert in your chosen field, on a global stage.  Articles will help raise your profile, generate qualified leads and (possibly most importantly) drive quality traffic to your website.

So why are articles so important for your business?  In a nutshell, they:

• Raise your profile.  Articles give you the chance to really show that you know what you’re on about.  No more hiding your light under a bushel.  It’s time to get your knowledge on paper and broadcast it to the world.
• Act as your “carrot”.  Articles are a great way to get people interested in you and your business.  Quality articles will confirm that you’re worth listening to and will encourage people to visit your website to find out more.
• Are easy to produce.  You already know “your stuff” (and if you don’t, you shouldn’t be in business ), so writing articles really just involves a bit of focus, a bit of planning and a whole lot of determination.
• Take you viral.  An article that’s liked and shared can rip through the internet like a hurricane, getting you face-space with people you didn’t even know existed beforehand.
• Stick.  Once you’ve published, your article’s there to stay, giving you long-lasting exposure without any further investment on your part.
• Hike you up the organic search engine results.  Top-notch articles increase your chances of featuring high on organic search results.  NB.  There’s credible evidence to suggest that  70% of searchers choose organic over sponsored results.
• Provide HOT backlinks.  Articles provide high quality back or incoming links to your website.  These links are valued by the search engines, serving once again, to help your website ranking.

Time to give article writing a go?  Here’s my TOP 10 TIPS:

1. Keep an open mind.
2. Do proper research to find out what’s popular in your niche.
3. Invest time to formulate a good title.
4. Don’t be tempted to keyword-stuff your text.
5. Make sure your article’s well written and well structured.
6. Test out misspelling a few of your keywords (because that’s what people do in their searches!).
7. Don’t even think about trying to sell anything.
8. Publish on as many sites as you can (ezine, ehow, hub pages, articles base, bright hub, suite 101, to name but a few).
9. Monitor the effect your articles have on your traffic and conversion.
10. As that admirable four-letter brand says, “Just do it” .

…and of course, if you don’t want to do it yourself, or don’t have time to do it yourself, you know I’m here for you, just gimme me a shout…!