Parts One and Two of this article series focused on how you can get started and implement an article marketing strategy. It also gave you the concrete benefits that your business would receive and how you can be seen as the expert in your field.

Part Three will now show you how to get maximum impact from your articles, how to increase your chances substantially of getting them read, and how to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

One of key tactics in not only improving the visibility of your article, but also having it read by people, is the headline. In this respect it is no different to a newspaper – headlines are designed to entice readers to want to read the newspaper, and the same applies with your articles.

This Is The Single Most Important Aspect of Your Article

Your headline should of course be relevant to the content of the article, but it should also grab immediate attention. This is because you not only want the article to stand out amongst the crowd of other articles out there, but you also want it to be read.

You could have the most informative and best quality article ever written, but if the headline isn’t compelling and doesn’t convince your audience to read it, then your article is essentially useless. It is a good idea to write your article first, and then think of a suitable headline after.

In fact I would suggest that you write more than one headline, perhaps up to ten headlines to see which one you think is the best. This sounds like a lot of work doesn’t it? But believe me, it is not and it is definitely worth it too.

Do Not Do This

One thing that your article should not do is be promotional. Your article should not ‘sell’ anything within the content of the article, as this would more than likely not be accepted for submission. Instead of selling your products or services, your article should be informative, compelling, educational and helpful for its reader.

This in itself is often enough to convince those reading it that they should visit your website, where they can find out more about you and your products or services. Once they arrive at your website, this is where you can do the selling.

Why It Really Does Pay To Be Different?

There is a saying in marketing circles (in fact its the title of a book too) which is ‘differentiate or die’.

The fact is that if you are considered the same as or very similar to other businesses in your field or sector, you need to act quickly to differentiate yourself. Once again this may sound like hard work, but number one; it is not hard work, and number two; it is more than worth your while doing it.

First of all you need to ask yourself this question: “What do you have or provide or do that will encourage prospects to choose you, rather than one of your competitors?”

Well, if you implement an article marketing strategy you’ll find that by putting the name of your company into a search engine such as Google, Yahoo! or Bing, you’ll have multiple listings appear from a variety of credible sources and websites.

This would be a good start. It builds credibility, and prospects should be impressed and reassured, and feel that your business is one that they’d like to be involved with. Are your competitors listed multiple times across the internet? Why not have a look?

When you hear me mention about credibility and the correct positioning of both you and your business, this is what I mean. Having a presence and an authority is critical in any business, and you may have heard it many times but perception is reality. If you can get these key aspects in place they will form the solid, sound foundation to your empire from which everything else is built on

When you compare the benefits and advantages that credibility can bring to your business, it makes it a no-brainer in my opinion. It’s relatively easy and quick to implement and the ROI (Return On Investment) could be huge. Do you think your competitors are focusing on improving and increasing their credibility? I very much doubt it.

Author Bio: Simon Thurston is an expert business consultant and marketing consultant, and author of “The Death Of Traditional Marketing”. You can find out more about him by visiting his blog today at simonpaulthurston.com.

Category: Marketing
Keywords: article marketing,ezine articles,offline marketing,b2b marketing,offline gold,simon thurston