Article Marketing Master Plan Unveiled

Effective headline strategies:

Your title must always contain your main keyword phrase, otherwise people will not be able to find it via EzineArticles' internal search or through the search engines. Ideally, you'll want to have more than one keyword appear in your title.

Example of a good title:

"Weight Loss Secrets - 3 Easy Steps to Lose That Weight"

I literally just made that up. In my opinion, it's good because it is keyword rich and contains the magic words "easy" and "secret".

People don't like to do things the hard way.

People don't like learning things.

People DO like taking shortcuts.

People DO like discovering things.

Magic words to spice up your titles:

Easy - Secret/Secrets - Discover - How to - Deadly

A note on "how-to's"... you're going to want to convey a benefit with your how-to's. Your reader should find out exactly what they're getting by reading your title. "How to lose weight" isn't a benefit because it is too general. "How to write a killer article in 10 minutes" is a benefit. Other words you should consider using in your titles: Dos and don'ts - Strategies - The truth about - Revealed - Mistakes - Essential. Again, those lists aren't exhaustive, but I just wanted to give you a general idea of what you should strive for in your titles.

The Body:

A common mistake when doing article marketing is to write a very informative article. There's nothing wrong with providing information and value in an article, but remember, the goal of your article should be to make your reader want to learn more, not to get the whole picture from your article. I'm not saying you should write articles full of fluff, I'm just saying that you don't need to pack your articles with information. If your reader satisfies their curiosity or thirst for knowledge after reading your article, there will not be any motivation to click through to your site.

Article Length:

Your article should be between 300 and 600 words long. Between 300 and 400 would be perfect because readers tend to lose interest or focus rather quickly unless an article is superbly written. 300 word articles are extremely easy to write because they are so short. Think about it: your intro for the article should already take up a good 50 to 100 words. Then you have a conclusion which should be another 50 to 100 words. Easy peasy.

Article Layout:

If your article is on the short side (~300 words), then you have a bit of freedom with how you present your article. You can either have a few paragraphs, or you could have bullet points sandwiched by an intro and a conclusion. Conclusions aren't always necessary, but intros are, for obvious reasons.

If your article is around 500 words, then it wouldn't hurt to make your article easier to read by having bullets or sections which are separated by bolded sub-headlines (like I'm doing in this ebook). If you choose not to use bolded sub-heads or bullets, then make sure you have short paragraphs. Let's say your article is 600 words long. You should have an intro which is about 100 words long and a conclusion (which leads into your bio box) which is also about 100 words long. You have 400 words to play with, so you should have 3-4 paragraphs to ensure easy reading.

Keyword Density:

Keyword density is how often a keyword shows up per 100 words. In your articles, you'll want a 2-4% keyword density so that Google gives your articles a lot of love. Any more than that and you will get penalized.

Article Tone:

It can be tough to write with personality about a subject which you have no interest in, but doing so will make your articles more pleasant to read. Present your info, but do so in a way that doesn't remind your reader of lectures in their college days. Would you rather listen to a prof that drones on and on and on for two hours, or a prof that engages the audience and provokes intelligent thought and discussion?

Cardinal Rules of Article Writing:

1. Thou shalt have perfect spelling.

2. Thou shalt have perfect grammar.

I cannot stress these two rules enough. If your article has "spelling" errors or grammatical errors, it will not only look unprofessional, but It'll also make it tough to read.

If you intend to write all your articles, then make sure you proofread your article before submitting it. EzineArticles (I'm singling out EZA because it is the biggest article directory) has a strict policy about the quality of the articles that authors submit to them. If you do not adhere to their editorial guidelines, then your articles will not be accepted.

The Bio Box (aka The Resource Box):

The bio box, also known as the resource box, is where authors stick a little information about themselves and links to external sites. Even though it is short, what you put in your bio box is almost as important as the article that precedes it. If you do not have an appropriate call to action in your bio box, then your conversion rates will not be as good as they can be.

Example of a boring bio box:

"Joe Shmoe is a full-time Internet marketer from the US who has been online since 1996. He has an MBA from XYZ University. For more information on Internet marketing, click here."

Let's be very clear. When I'm looking for info online, I couldn't care less about who the author is or how many pet cats he/she has. I don't want to know where you're from, I don't want to know your level of education, and I don't want to know what your hobbies or passions are.

It's not that I don't care about you (I really do!), it's just that I don't want to

be hearing about you at the end of your articles.

What I do want to hear about at the end of your articles is what I'll get if I click on your link.

Example of a decent bio box:

"Would you like to get instant access to over 9000+ tools and resources right now? Then check out ABC Product located at mysite.com and start downloading them all immediately!"

The above example communicates a clear benefit: you are letting the reader know that if they click on your link, they will get instant access to over 9000+ tools and resources today. Remember, readers don't want to "find out more about" anything; they want to "get" stuff.

So their you have it! - You can stay a hope article marketer and hope that your articles bring you traffic and sales.

OR...

You can follow these few simple rules above in the Article Marketing Master Plan Unvailed and finally eliminate all the guesswork and stop hoping for sales.