What is Article Marketing? – Definition, Strategy & Tips

If you have an article and a dream, you can use marketing to push that article out and drive website traffic to your site. In this lesson, we’ll cover the basics of article marketing: what it is, how it has changed, and best tips for getting started.

The New Article Marketing

In business since 1974, electronics company Crutchfield has had to adapt its marketing to the changing landscape of consumer preferences: from direct mail catalogs to a robust website. They’ve even made inroads into a more content-focused marketing strategy with placement of well-written articles around their website. Visitors looking for home audio equipment or headphones are also greeted with articles ranging from, ”10 Things Every Music Lover Should Discover” to ”The key to a legendary backyard bash.”

While Crutchfield is not someplace you’d think to go for informative content on controlling the music apps in your car or figuring out how exactly to buy your first home audio equipment, the company has succeeded in drawing people to its website not only for its gear, but also its helpful and informative articles.

So, why would an electronics company be interested in authoring numerous articles for its website? Three words: Increasing site traffic. One of the cheapest and most efficient ways to do so is through a marketing concept known as

article marketing

.

What is Article Marketing?

You may be asking yourself, ”How exactly is Crutchfield in the article marketing business? I thought they were trying to sell audio equipment?” If you thought that, you’re right – partially.

Article marketing covers a wide variety of topics and industries.

We’re all learning as marketing progresses that websites with great content draw more visitors. And more visitors frequently translates into more sales. Since most of us spend some portion of our day looking for information on search engines, it stands to reason that a website with great content might draw our eye. That’s where article marketing comes into play. It’s one of the oldest forms of online strategies out there, involving writing great articles that fit into a niche and will be of interest to readers, pulling them to a website, boosting traffic and, in turn, climbing the search engine rankings.

For places like Crutchfield and others, the ”marketing” part of article marketing also extends off of a company website. After all, what good is an article if no one sees it?

Evolving Article Marketing

The early years of article marketing were all about writers cranking out content (often poorly-written or not well-researched content) and submitting it to an

article directory

like Ezine Articles or HubPages. These articles directories, websites of original articles on a wide variety of subjects, allowed writers to submit their pieces, which would then hopefully be read and the reader would travel back to a website referenced in the article.

Today, while article directories are still used, the concept of article marketing has grown. Articles are no longer written just by freelance writers cranking out dozens of articles on various topics, they are written by businesses trying to reach a niche audience, magazine writers, and bloggers – all with one common goal: to gain more visitors to their website.

Think about the various types of writers and pieces that could generate web visitors based on your establishing yourself as a content matter expert:

• A wellness coach writing about health topics to grow her business
• A magazine staff trying to boost print or online subscriptions
• Fashion bloggers partnering with brands to review or sell products

Article marketing has also extended beyond the use of article directories, to including content in email newsletters or sharing articles through social media channels. Whatever an author does to encourage viewers to read an article and navigate to their website could be considered article marketing.

Article Marketing Strategy and Tips

Article marketing, as we’ve already established, can be useful for gaining more website traffic, building awareness, establishing yourself as an expert in your industry and boosting where you appear in search engine rankings. How you go about it starts here.

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1. Figure out your niche. Writing articles for the sake of writing won’t do much for you. You want your content to be useful, relevant, well-researched, and well-written. Crutchfield capitalizes on their electronics niche by only authoring articles related to home or car audio topics. It establishes them as an authority that readers would seek out and believe. Choose to submit your content to websites with your ideal audience.

2. Watch your words. Article titles need to be concise, eye-catching, and the right blend of applicable keywords. Choose to add words into your article’s title that you believe searchers will be looking for when they’re on the hunt for a particular topic.

3. Keep the quality of the writing high. Low-quality articles may get you clicks on your website, but they won’t be substantive visitors who’ll hang around, look you up later, or think about making a purchase. Articles don’t have to be lengthy (in fact, most web readers prefer short reads), but they should be engaging and well-written.

4. Include links and ways to share. If you’re taking your article off site, be sure to give people an easy way to get back to your website (that is the point, after all). Articles shared to directories should include links. Articles in email newsletters should include buttons for recipients to share with their social media networks.

5. Write guest posts on other websites. Guest articles provide great opportunities to establish yourself as an authority, while linking one site’s traffic back to your own website.

Lesson Summary

Article marketing

has evolved from the days of submitting writing to

article directories

alone, and now includes other ways to distribute content, including email newsletters, guest writing opportunities, and social media sharing. The goal of article marketing is to drive traffic to your website, increase sales, and boost your ranking in search engine results. The best articles for marketing are authored either in the writer’s niche industry or in a passion, with proper use of keywords to help your article appear in search results. The quality of the writing should be high, which builds trust and establishes yourself as an industry expert. Look for ways to link your content back to your website, including writing guest posts for other sites.

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