Why Your Article Marketing Sucks (And What to Do About It)

Truly, I have no idea what kind of article marketing campaign you might be running these days, so please don’t be offended by my pushy headline. I’m just trying to save you from the mistakes I find a large number of people making in the article marketing world. I know first-hand because I’ve made these mistakes myself. So, to be fair, my article marketing used to suck too. It’s not easy to learn how to do something right. And I’m still learning new strategies every day.

All right, enough of the preface. Let’s get down to business.

Why Your Article Marketing Probably Doesn’t Work

Most people think about article writing and article distribution like this… “It’s easy. I’ll just write up about 300 words or so and submit it to a directory or two and watch the links and traffic roll in. Right?”

Wrong.

First, the major problem with this strategy is a great lack of consistency. If you really want article marketing to work – and I mean REALLY work – you have to work it. You have to be consistent and proactive. You have to make it a regular part of your marketing system. Otherwise, it will wither and die.

The vast majority of people looking to develop an article marketing strategy for their small business, blog, or other venture simply give up way too early and way too easily to ever see any real difference in their website performance.

I know this is the case because I’ve done it myself on a number of occasions. Fortunately for me, I did this very early in my web marketing career. Let me crack that case open and show you what happened and how I learned the power of content marketing.

My Article Marketing Case Study

Several years ago I created a website that today has turned into a very consistent Google Adsense money maker. Sorry folks, I’m not giving away the juiciest details here!

I developed the website around a highly specific niche, put up about 10 pages of content, and waited for the money to roll in. Of course, nothing happened. Around this time I was beginning to see how article directories might play a role in getting high-quality traffic to a website. Being very new to that scene, I started tinkering around with a few directories including EzineArticles.com, which I still celebrate today as the top directory around. Hands down.

And then what happened? Nothing.

Well, nothing at first. But slowly – and I’m talking about months of time here – the traffic started increasing and the Adsense revenue started building. I wasn’t going to get rich off this website, but that was never my intention. My intention was to learn about the psychology behind marketing content with content designed to push a web surfer into some form of a conversion.

I learned two important lessons:

Lesson #1 – Article Marketing Builds Residual But Long-Term Rewards
Since I didn’t market this particular website with any other strategy, I was able to measure the real effects of the article marketing over time. These effects included direct traffic from high-ranking directory listings on major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing as well as slow building SEO benefits in the way of organic rankings for the actual pages on the website. Today, I have several three-word search phrases that pull up one of my submitted articles in the #1 slot and my website in the #2 slot.

Lesson #2 – Content Marketing Delivers High-Quality Leads Ready to Take Action
Unlike other forms of marketing like PPC or even social media tactics, article marketing does a much better job of delivering leads who really want to be on your website. Whether you’re promoting an affiliate product, pushing for Adsense clicks, or selling your own products and services, these folks trust your website by the time they arrive.

The Anatomy of an Article Marketing Campaign That Doesn’t Suck

So how do you avoid doing a crappy job with article marketing? For that answer, let’s look at the make-up of an article marketing campaign that works. Here are the elements that you should be absolutely certain are included in your process:

• Well-Written, Highly-Targeted Content

We all know content is king. But directory content is very different from blog posts and website pages. Directory articles should be general. You want to tease your readers, but you definitely don’t want to give it all away. Plus, your article needs to be optimized for the keyword phrase you’re targeting without sacrificing readability and spark.

• Powerful Resource Boxes

We all know how important the resource box is, and we all hear about it all of the time. But, frankly, most resource boxes I read out there are plain awful. Don’t forget how jaded web surfers are. Sometimes you have to tell them what to do to get them to take action. Don’t be afraid to use strong command language: “Click here now!” “Visit our website immediately!” “We have something really crazy to show you.” Or whatever works for your niche. GET THEM TO CLICK! That’s your top goal.

• Consistency and Trust

This is where most people really drop the ball. By consistency I mean doing it, doing it, and doing it some more. You simply have to give article marketing campaigns time to really impact your overall traffic and conversions performance. Commit to at least 3 months of regular submissions. Do 5 per week for 3 months and call me in the morning. You’ll see what I mean.

Trust is the final point and a very important one. Once a web surfer finds your content on an article directory and then decides to click through to your website, that individual has already made several moves — from search engine to article directory and finally to your website. The point is this: you better have something ready for them when they get there. If your resource box promises “more insider tips” or “a free download,” you better deliver on that promise or all trust is lost.

The strategies in this post are pretty straightforward. There are no secret potions or crazy gimmicks – it’s just straightforward business-to-consumer communications. Follow this simple formula, and I am confident your article marketing results won’t suck.

Related posts:

1. How Article Marketing Turned a $37,000 Salary College Teacher Into a Six-Figure Plus Internet Entrepreneur
2. Article Marketing is the New SEO – Part One
3. Article Marketing is the New SEO – Part Two
4. My Top 5 Content Marketing Systems
5. Video — Why Article Marketing Brings Massive Results (And a Sneak Peek)