Using Article Marketing to Advertise Your Website - How to Write Articles.

There are few doubts that using article marketing to advertise your website is one of the most productive advertising techniques you can possibly use online: if you know how to write articles. It beats Google Adwords because it is free and gets results, and can be used to turn around a failing online business. We shall discuss here the essential components of a good article that draws traffic like moths to a light bulb.

1. The Title

The title must begin with the main keyword of the article and end with another keyword relating to the topic. In fact, the title of this article contains three keywords, each of which can bring it to the eyes of a search engine or article directory user seeking information. These are: 'article marketing', 'advertising your website' and 'how to write articles'. Your article could be listed on Google or any other search engine for each of these keywords.

2. The Opening Paragraph

The opening paragraph could make or break your campaign: is it compelling enough to keep the reader on the page, or will they shrug and move on? The opening paragraph of this article tells you that writing articles is cheaper than Adwords and that it can turn your business around. The opening paragraph of an article should offer a benefit to the reader if they continue reading, and this is true irrespective of the topic. You must give them a reason not to click away.

3. The Body of the Article

The body of the article must provide what you promise. The promise made here was to discuss the essential components of an article: that will get you a lot of traffic because your readers want to learn more. That means that you have to show yourself to be an authority on your subject or on your niche. It isn't good enough just to regurgitate what everybody else is saying: you have to prove that you know what you are writing about, and you can do that by means of good writing that continues the good work of the opening paragraph: keeps the reader reading!

4. The Concluding Paragraph

The final paragraph should be designed to draw the reader into your resource. The author's resource generally appears at the end of the article, and enables you to provide a link to any page on your website you choose. You have to literally force the reader to read your resource. You must expand on the benefits promised in the body of your article, and give a promise of more to come. If you have done your work well, then you will get that all-important click that provides you with one more visitor. However, that's not the end of it since once they reach your site you have to keep them there, but that's another subject altogether.

5. The Resource

Most article directories provide you with a section in which you can say something about yourself and also provide a link to your website. Sometimes you can use html anchor text, though other directories allow only text so your link will be in the form of a URL.

To design your resource, you should first offer more information and then the link or URL to a page on your website that offers just that - more information on the topic of your article. Don't just provide a link to your Home Page - your readers will leave immediately if the landing page does not directly reflect and expand upon the subject matter of the article.

Naturally, that is not the end of it. You must now submit your article to as many directories as you can. I have read a great deal of nonsense about Google's duplicate content penalty: in fact there is no such thing, and Google confirms that. Google will tend to publish the content that its algorithms calculate to best meet the needs of a Google user searching for information using a specific search term (i.e. keyword).

Initially all versions of an article published on a number of directories will be published, but over time some will be dropped until ultimately there will be only one version left - if all versions have been the same, then that left at the end will be published on the directory that also best meets the needs of the Google user.

It is slightly more complex than that in theory, but the upshot is that although your article will eventually appear on only one directory, that will take a lot of time, and in that time you can write several more articles using the same keywords and so increase your net Google presence by continuing to submit your articles to as many directories and ezines as you can. That's what brings success.

What has not yet been explained are the four ways in which an article gives you the publicity and advertising you seek, but that is not the topic of this article. Nevertheless using article marketing and knowing how to write articles, can advertise your website far better than Adwords can - or any other advertising technique for that matter - and provide a massive boost up the listings to any online business.

To learn the secrets of article marketing that can contribute to your business success, and the ways in which they work to achieve this, visit Zobbed.com where you will also find a few more tips that will help to ensure a good search engine listing.

Mario Lindback runs the Article Directory and Social News Zobbed.com | Articles, News, Videos, and Twitter-like status updates.

Courtesy of Zobbed.com - Article Directory and Social Network