Article Marketing Checklist

Article marketing is an easy, powerful and effective way to market your business.

Here's a checklist you can use for every article you write.

1. Know your goal for each article

What's your goal for your article? Your goal may be to provide links and traffic to your Web site, or to promote a product or your services.

Write your goal down. When you're writing, it's very easy to forget what your goal was.

2. What's your reader's takeaway?

Each article needs to have a takeaway - a benefit - for your reader. This enhances your credibility, and makes it more likely that the reader will visit your site via the links in your resource box to see what else you have to offer.

Write down your takeaway.

3. Develop your keywords so your readers will find you

Research the most appropriate keywords for your article. Collect five to 10. You'll emphasize two to three in the article, the others will be added to article's Web page meta tags.

4. Develop an intriguing title that's relevant and includes a promise

Think of your article's title as a headline. It's the most important part of your article, because it attracts attention, and it should include the promise of a benefit to the reader.

Make sure the title is relevant to your article, and includes your most important keyword.

5. Write the article, delivering on your promise

When you're writing your article, ensure that you deliver on the promise you made in the title. Unless you deliver, your reader will have no incentive to click through to your site - he no longer trusts you, because you don't keep your promises.

6. Write the resource box for the article

Your "resource box" has a single goal - to get the reader to click through to your landing page for the article. Make another promise of a benefit if the reader clicks.

7. Post the article on your site

Add the article to your Web site as site content, adding links to products and services relevant to the article.

8. Post the article to an article directory

Should you post your article to several article directories for promotion and traffic, or just one?

Some article marketers believe that you should post your articles to many directories. However, I prefer to post to a single directory. It saves time and I haven't noticed any benefits from posting to many directories. Your mileage may be different.

So there you have it - your article marketing checklist. It will increase the speed at which you can write effective articles by giving you a method to follow.

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