By Michelle Strait

Article marketing almost sounds too good to be true. Can you actually promote a product or service for free, just by writing short articles? Yes, you sure can.

More business owners should use articles to their advantage. Paid methods are great, too.  But why turn your back on a legit form of free advertising? You can even hire someone to write your articles. Discover what article marketing can do for you.

The Purpose of Article Marketing

Free publicity is the main purpose of article marketing. The most popular article marketing strategy is to submit articles to various directories, publications, or websites. A brief resource box is included at the end of each article, enticing readers to learn more about your offer. This is a strong method of advertising because it provides numerous outlets.

The great thing about article marketing is it’s available to everyone. Some forms of marketing, such as print and television advertisements, are expensive. Many business owners simply cannot afford it. Article marketing provides a level playing field.

Does Article Marketing Always Work?

It depends on your product or service. No form of marketing will work if no one wants what you’re offering. That’s a fact some article marketers ignore. They write dozens of articles promoting things no one cares about.

In order for article marketing to work, you must have an audience. In addition to an audience, keyword phrases are also important. They aren’t as important as they once were, but they still matter.

Keyword phrases are how search engines determine what your article is about. If you’re selling “blue widgets from China”, you want to include that term in your title. Why is that important? It’s because you want your article to appear in the search engine when people search for that phrase.

Are there Other Forms of Free Marketing?

Article marketing is only one piece of a large puzzle. There are other things you can do to complement your article writing efforts. This includes building Squidoo lenses, submitting press releases and creating videos for YouTube.

It takes awhile to see results, but writing articles usually pays off.

Take a moment now to learn about the free case study that shows how I succeeded with article marketing after a string of failures.  You’ll see how a few small tweaks can make all the difference.

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