Article Marketing Success

5 Tips For Getting Real Article Marketing Results

Tweet

 

Many people decide to write articles while a few decide to learn how to get real article marketing results. 

Generally the difference in the two is not an ability to write but rather willingness to learn what works and what does not. If you want to be a part of that second group here are a few simple tips that will transform you from someone who happens to write articles into someone who gets article marketing results.

1. Speak to a Specific Audience

There are two elements to this first rule. When it comes to article marketing don’t think writing – think talking. Articles that produce results connect with readers. Don’t write a thesis; start a conversation with your written words. If allowed use “you” and “I” as much as possible.

The second element involves envisioning the person you are trying to communicate with. The quickest way to end up with poor article marketing results is by trying to talk to everyone. Once you have your topic imagine sharing that topic with one specific person.  

Good Internet marketers create a profile of their audience condensed into one representative potential customer.  This is known in the content marketing world as the "buyer persona".  Identifying this persona creates a sort of intimacy with the audience.  Intimacy and immediacy always produces more clicks than the shotgun approach many article writers take.

2. Don’t Rush Past That Title or Headline

A famous advertising guru once said that people don’t make the decision to read your article based on its content because they haven’t read it yet. They read that title first and then decide if the content might be worth reading.  A good headline should:

• Speak to that one envisioned reader
• Be compelling enough to move that reader to the content
• Offer the promise of some kind of benefit

Even though the headline is so important, it is almost an afterthought for many writers.  Don’t rush past it. Take your time and work hard to come up with a title that meets those three criteria.

3. Stress Benefits

People buy benefits, not features. If all you do is list features you are seen as a salesman and people don’t read articles to be sold.  So what’s the difference? Features are descriptions of something. If you are writing an article about treadmills, a feature would be the width of the track or the settings that can be made. The benefits would be less strain on your ankles or the ability to monitor your heart rate so you can achieve the cardio workout you desire.

Good articles stress “why” more than the “how”. Very few people buy a treadmill because they love wide tracks or multiple settings to fool with. They buy a treadmill because they need to walk, don’t want to hurt themselves in the process and hope to gain better health along the way. Those are benefits and benefits produce article marketing results.

4. Ask the Reader to Do Something

Every article should have some kind of a call to action. Don’t expect that ideal reader to read your mind. Have a few well-placed internal links that point to other articles you have written on the same subject. Do anything to create action and response.

5. Don’t Forget the P.S.

If the title or headline is most important, the P.S. is next. People scan on the web. The human eye wanders by nature. Sometimes all a reader catches is the intro and what is at the end. A good trick is to repeat something from the body of the article and place it in bold or bold italics. If some additional benefit can be added, place it here.