One of the ways that you can share information about your products and services is through article marketing.  Articles can entertain and educate your prospective audience.  People are online searching for information at all times during the day.  How can you share your information online?  Use article marketing.

Article Marketing Tip 1 - Create Good Headlines

You can write a really good article and it never gets read.  Why could this possibly happen?  Writing a good article is just the beginning of the process.  Marketing still comes into play when you are adding articles to article directories.

Grab Your Prospects by the Neck with Attractive Headlines

The headline has to grab attention.  You could create a headline that is boring and it gets ignored.  A catchy headline might get people to click to read your article.  Your article could be a poor article, but the headline can at least get it read.  Learn to write headlines that get attention and get your prospects to click the link for more information.

Article Marketing Tip 2 - Choose Top Article Directories

Where are you going to place your articles online?  Does it make a difference where you place your articles?  You can spend a lot of time creating articles and it only makes sense to place them online in areas that give you the best results.  Find the top article directories that have the most traffic.

Top article directories might be more difficult to use that lower tier article directories.  Top article directories might have tougher restrictions on what they allow in.  Take some time to search online for the top article directories.  See what other article writers have to say about their experiences.  This can be easily done with online searches.  Try online forums that are dedicated to article marketing and even check other article marketing blogs.

Article Marketing Tip 3 - Pay Attention to the Rules

When you are writing articles for your own blogs, you don't have many restrictions.  You can just come up with articles and hit the publish button.  Article directories have rules that you must follow in order to get into their directories.  It is important to learn the rules before you decide to submit your article.

Learning the rules can save you a lot of time.  You don't want to submit a lot of articles and then have to go back and make a lot of changes and revisions.  Getting caught in the revision loop can be no fun.  Make sure that you know the article word counts and all of the restrictions that are placed on articles.  Article directories don't like affiliate marketing links and they don't like a lot of links in the body of the article.

Take a look at the successful articles on the directory to see what is getting approved.  This can help give you a guideline for what is acceptable.  See the headlines, the number of paragraphs and the flow of the article.  Learning the rules of the article directory can help you save time and that is just half of the battle.

Article Marketing Tip 4 - Educate and Entertain with Your Articles

What is the purpose of writing your articles?  You might be in search of more traffic or you might want to establish yourself as more of an expert.  You can use many different types of writing styles online.  You can educate, you can even entertain and help accomplish your goals online.

People are turning to the web for the information that they need.  Write articles that provide the information that they are looking for.  You don't have to write dry and boring information about your topics.  Make it entertaining and write with a regular voice.  You are writing for regular people.

Take a boring topic and change it into something interesting with a story.  People don't just go to the web for information, they also go there to have fun and be entertained.  So every article that you write doesn't have to be filled with data and statistics.  You can start tapping into your creative side and weave stories into the topics that you want to cover.

Article Marketing Tip 5 - Remember Your Audience

Stay focused on your audience.  You are trying to get the right response from your articles.  The first hurdle is getting the right people to republish your article.  This means creating articles that fit with your desired target audience.  What are they really looking for.  Article directories are searched by people that have their own websites and ezines.  You want to provide the information that their audiences will find irresistible.

There are lots of web developers and ezine owners that need content for their online properties.  You might even be one of those types of people yourself.  You have multiple sites and you want something good to share with your readers.  Think about the kinds of articles that you would be willing to share with your trusted audience.  You want to protect your relationship so you don't want to offer them just anything.  You want well crafted articles that fit your niche to a t.

Article Marketing Tip 6 - Write Articles that are good enough to republish

Face it, some of the articles that you write are just regular and basic.  They are quickly written and you just want a little bit of traffic from them.  You don't put a lot of work or thought into them.  Sometimes you just want something to add to a site so that something is there.  When it comes to writing for the article directories, you don't want to do this.  You want to write articles that have a fighting chance of getting selected by web developers and ezine owners.  Cutting corners with your articles will result in less article views and nobody hitting the republish button.

Before you submit to the article directories, make sure that you are offering up good quality articles that are worthy.  If you just submit quick articles that don't pack a punch, you are just wasting your time.  Getting your articles into the directories can be a long term traffic opportunity.  Write articles that are evergreen in nature and of top quality that can provide real value to the web developers and ezine owners as well as your target audience.

Article Marketing Tip 7 - Strong Call to Action

After you have written your top of the line article, it is time to bring it all home.  There is a line in sales that is often repeated.  Always be closing.  You will notice it in the movie glen gary glen ross.  There is something that happens to some sales people in the field.  They might go through the whole sales pitch without asking for the order.  You don't want to do this with your articles.  The article can be full of information and fulfill what your target audience is looking for.

Don't drop the ball just before you get into the end zone.  Help your audience get even more powerful and helpful information by adding a strong call to action that gets them to click your links and visit your sites.  You might include a blog address or you might want to capture contact information for a newsletter.  The choice is yours.

Article marketing can be a low cost option for building up traffic.  It might not happen overnight, but when you have limited marketing funds, article marketing could be your long term internet marketing strategy.