One of the best ways to build up back-links to your website and also to gain credibility online is to write articles and get them published on blogs and other websites. This approach is best known as article marketing. But like any other good marketing method, it has been beaten to death by hoards of people trying to cut corners and make a quick buck. Despite this, it is still possible to reap the benefits of article marketing if you do it the right way. So here are some things you should do and some things you should avoid as well.

1. Do write articles that have real value to readers on the Internet.
People go online to find answers to questions and solutions to problems. Even though you are trying to promote your product or service, when you write an article your first job is to address the needs of your audience and not make a direct pitch for your product. For example, if you have a website promoting landscaping services, then you should write articles giving tips to people on how to improve their home gardens and landscaping.

If you write the article well enough, then people will see your company name and web address at the end of the article and may contact you to find out more about what you do.

2. Do write articles that are grammatically well written and easy to read.
Article writing is often outsourced to the cheapest bidder. The result of this is that many articles used in article marketing campaigns are written by people who are not native-English speakers, and the articles are filled with common errors. These articles somehow fit the bill in terms of number of words and roughly addressing the subject, but article publishers and readers will not be impressed by the shoddy workmanship.

3. Do write articles that are well formatted for the Internet.
The most effective articles in article marketing campaigns have short paragraphs and are somewhere between 500 and 1000 words. Articles which are shorter than 400 words may not be accepted by article directories, and articles which are longer than 2000 words may be similarly rejected.

The above mentioned points are some of the things that you should do, and now here are some things that you should definitely avoid.

1. Don’t stuff your article with “keywords”.
Write naturally and tell your story as if you were talking to a friend. There is no need to repeat words and phrases which you think will give your article some kind of advantage with the search engines. If you are in doubt, just read the article out loud to someone and ask them how it sounds. If it sounds unnatural then work on the article until you get it right.

2. Don’t stuff your article with hyperlinks.
Articles with excessive hyperlinks will automatically be banned from the best article directories. It is best to keep put the links that you want to promote only in the resource box at the end of the article, and do not try to put them in the body of the article.

3. Don’t try to sell your product or service in the main body of the article.
One of the main goals of article marketing is to pre-sell. Pre-selling means that you write an article which shows that you are an expert in your field. When someone reads an article like this, they will click on your link at the end of the article, already trusting you and ready to seriously consider what you have to offer. If you write your article as if it were an advertisement for your product then you will fail in pre-selling and probably in selling too.

Consider these tips and roll up your sleeves and get cracking on your article marketing campaign.

Author Bio: Donald Nelson is the publisher of the A1-Article Directory and an Internet marketing specialist. Visit his article directory at http://www.a1-articledirectory.com and his Internet marketing firm at http://www.a1-optimization.com

Category: Internet
Keywords: article marketing, Internet marketing, article writing