Article marketing and submitting articles to article directories is the best form on online advertising you could ever use. Ignore those that claim that its day is done – its day has hardly even started, and those that descry it are those with websites hiding around on Page 5 of Google wishing they could do what we can do.

Why is article marketing so good for your online future? How is submitting articles the best online advertising ever? Easy! It can be proved – and not only that the reasons are very simple to understand because they are obvious if you dare think about it. First let’s discuss what article marketing is, and how you can use it to your advantage.

By writing an article of 500-800 words (fewer indicates a lack of knowledge about your niche – or laziness) you can demonstrate to those interested in your niche just how knowledgeable you are. You can persuade them that you know your stuff and that they are safe in your hands, just as you are safe in my hands when I write your articles for you.

To do that all you need do is to write a decent article on a topic related to your article and then submit it to article directories. So how do you go about writing and submitting articles? Here’s how:

Writing Articles for the Web

Before you even start writing articles for the web, you have to do some homework. Yep, I know, but stop the groans. If you love your niche then you will love the homework. Basically it involves checking out the best keyword to use, and then checking out what your competition is doing. You can do that the free way or the not so free way. Me – I find the free way just fine for my needs.

If you go to your browser – any one will do – and enter ‘google keyword external’ into the search box, you will find a link to Google’s Adwords keyword tool. You don’t need to be registered with Adwords to use it. Go past the Captcha code and then enter a broad keyword connected with your niche, such as ‘Golf Shoes’ or ‘Rollerblades or ‘Herbal Medicines’. Then click to search.

You will find a list of keywords related to your niche. Not all will relate directly to your take on the niche, for example for ‘golf shoes’ you might find ‘vintage golf shoes’ (2400 searches/month). However, you will find ideas for keywords for your article. Choose one (let’s say ‘vintage golf shoes’) and you can dig deeper and maybe get an even better keyword. The thing is, this is a free keyword tool and you can use it to find good keywords for your article: you might even find an exact title you can use that people are using in their searches.

Once you have selected a few possible keywords, enter these into your browse search window and find out what competition you have. Click on the links and have a look at their sites, and then right click while on a web page, and choose ‘View Source’. You will then the source code for that page. Check their Title tag and the various Meta tags and see what they are doing.

Once you have dissected your competing websites to the bones, you can do what they do, only better. You can even copy their source code and use that as the basis of the HTML for your own website. Change a few elements top make it your own and you have saved a great deal of time.

That’s the beginning of article marketing, and you are not anywhere near submitting articles and getting your online advertising campaign off the ground. However it doesn’t take long from here because all you need do is use the keyword you have found in your title, and write an article around it. It needn’t be perfect but it should contain no spelling errors, and should also be mainly free of grammar errors.

Use your keyword in the article – not too much, but maybe once every 200 words, plus once in the opening and last paragraph. Then write a good resource, such as “for more information on vintage golf shoes, visit xxxx where you will find some great golf shoes that will wow your buddies at the tee.” xxxx of course, being the URL to your website or the sales page for the products you are promoting.

If you can’t write the articles yourself there are plenty good ghostwriters around that can do it for you at a reasonable price (me!). Then all you need do is to submit your article to a selection of article directories and you are all set for some traffic.

It generally takes more than one article, but you get the benefits from each of Google PageRank points (I hate the term ‘link juice’ – indicates a lack of education), reads on the directory and also links and reads from those that copy the article to their own web page. Reach read could be a click. To copy your article legally they must include your resource, so run Copyscape now and again to make sure it’s all legal.

So that is very briefly how to go about article marketing and submitting articles to article directories. You will have to register for each directory, but there are quick ways to carry out your submissions. These are not for here.

Author Bio: More details of how to write articles and submit them to article directories for improves search engine listings can be found from Article Services and Pete also offers you his free article writing course on Article Czar, his popular eBook on article marketing.

Category: Writing
Keywords: Article marketing,submitting articles,best online advertising,online advertising,what is article mar