Five Article Marketing Blunders to Avoid

Article marketing can be a great way to get your company's name out there, establish yourself as an expert in your industry, and generate traffic to your website. But even though it sounds easy, plenty of people make rookie mistakes that can cost them business. If you're starting an article marketing campaign, here are a few blunders to avoid.

Writing badly. Even if you're writing a simple how-to article for an article directory, these pieces reflect on you. If your piece has grammar and spelling mistakes, a stilted voice, or bad usage or organization, people will judge you for it. If writing isn't your strong point, hire a professional. Your online reputation is too important to risk.

Failing to offer something of value. Your articles won't generate much traffic online if you're writing about the same things everyone else writes on. Before deciding on a topic, do a search and see what else comes up. If this is a common topic in your industry, see if you can address it from a different angle or go against common wisdom in some way. In addition, avoid writing shallow articles that don't offer in-depth help. You want to impress your readers with your knowledge and generosity, not make them think you have no valuable insight to offer.

Choosing the wrong directory. No matter how well-written your article is, it's useless if nobody sees it. Choose an article directory that generates a lot of traffic. Do a search for articles in your industry, whose articles come up? How long has the directory been online? You need to publish on a directory that will help you generate publicity, not one that's still looking to generate publicity for itself.

In addition, check out the directory's policy on letting you sell yourself. Most article directories won't allow you to publish work that sounds like an advertorial. But they will give you a resource box--a short paragraph at the end of your article that lets you link to your own site. Choose a directory that allows you to use multiple links and lets you choose your own anchor text.

Choosing the wrong anchor text. The anchor text in your resource box is one of the most important parts of your article. If you want to rank for certain keywords, Google will need to see that others are linking to you using those words as anchor text. Choose keywords that you want to rank for when writing the text for your resource box.

Choosing the wrong keywords. You should use keywords in your article as well. But it's best not to target the same keywords you're trying to rank for in your business site. Why? Because then the article directory will be in direct competition with you to rank for your keywords. And because they are probably a stronger online presence than you are, they will probably outrank you. You don't want to get into a situation where twenty of your articles occupy the top spots for your keywords, and your own business website is pushed to the second page of your search results. Instead, choose keywords that are similar to yours--but that don't come in direct competition with you.

You want to make a good impression with your keyword articles - not drive visitors away. Think of each article as your one shot to make an impression on a buyer. If they like you, they'll come check out your site or publish your article and links to their own site. If they don't, they'll move on. Put time and effort into your articles, pick directories that help, and choose the right keywords to emphasize--and you're likely to see success with your next article marketing campaign.

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