Three critical factors for you to consider…
Over the past 24 hours 5 online leads were created – and then sold – for my lead gen customers.
And in each and every instance over the past 24 hours those leads were generated from articles that were written, and posted, on article directories that link back to my websites. What’s more, the three articles responsible for creating those leads were written between 3 years ago to 17 months ago.
Additionally, each of these articles have generated leads for me in the past (and one article is responsible for 10 to 15 leads each and every month).
So what does this mean for you?
Steps for successful article marketing campaigns
Previously I mentioned how article marketing is probably the most valuable tool at your disposal when it comes to effective SEO. And if you read the article one of the points raised was how article marketing can “presell” your product or service.
This is what we’ll focus on today.
For starters, this type of marketing can best be described as “education based marketing.”
But don’t let the name fool you. Your goal is NOT simply to educate your potential customer or client. Your goal is to SHOWCASE EXPERTISE by providing useful and valuable knowledge as the first step in the process.
That’s right.
The first step in the process is to educate, but always with an eye toward your goal, which is located at the conclusion of the article — your call to action when you ask the reader to “do” something.
You’d be amazed how many people miss this first step.
For most, their article simply “ends.”
And that’s a shame… and a colossal waste of your time…
The next step is to format your article correctly. I’ll admit to being a “stickler” on this one, because your article simply MUST be formatted correctly to work. If no one reads your article you have just about wasted your time.
Proper formatting includes:
- start with a “catchy” headline
- use white space effectively
- proper length (350 to 600 words)
- font size
- use of subheadings
- call to action
- link to your landing (or “action”) page
Before we get started I want to dispel the prevalent myth that “nobody reads anymore.” Quite the contrary, everybody reads today, probably more than ever. WHAT they read — and HOW they read — has changed…
For instance, on my last visit to the mall with my family I saw people all face down tapping away on their smart phone. Do you know what they were doing?
Texting.
That’s right — people don’t talk on the phone anymore, they type on the phone and send WRITTEN MESSAGES for their friend (or lover) to READ. So people read, they just read what they want to read.
So make your article INTERESTING and RELEVANT.
Okay, now on to step two…
Formatting your article properly is about getting it read in the first place. And this ties in to search psychology because someone on Google (or the other search engines) who is actively looking for your product and/or service is basically looking for a solutions provider.
And what they need from you is…
a good reason to choose you over your competition.
So give them one!
Or several.
And this is why your “education-based” article with a strong call to action will work better than just about any other tool at your disposal… and here’s why…
Picture for a moment that you are searching for something online…
- you type in a keyword
- you scan the search results for the “best fit”
- you click the link
How long does this take?
A couple of seconds at most, right?
Now, you know what you do for people, the value you provide in solving people’s problems. But the guy or gal online who is a couple of seconds in the process has no idea who you are or why you’re different from the dozens (or hundreds) of other people just like you.
Tie this in to the fact that we all buy from people we like and trust.
Okay, back to our example…
Someone clicks the link and lands on your article. You’ve got half a second to catch their attention. People are busy, time-crunched, and you have to get them to STAY on the page for a bit.
Now your first sentence reals them in… you’re talking about their problem…
Remember…
people really only care about their own “stuff”
As they glide through your article you address their situation, point out key issues to consider, give them some real concrete information that other sites (or articles) haven’t, and at the end you ask them to click the link to your site.
Do you think they will?
Some do.
Some don’t.
And the ones who “do” are already “pre-sold” to do business with you. As long as you have a clear…
CALL TO ACTION which asks your reader to DO SOMETHING.
And the something you want them to do is to click a TEXT LINK to your website, which is your lead gen page. Perhaps it’s a contact form, perhaps it’s a full blown lead gen form that asks several question so you have a good idea what they want prior to your intro call or email.
Maybe it’s a sales page where they buy what you’re selling.
In any event, the landing page is the final piece of the puzzle.
IF they don’t click the link you’ve got nothing (or nearly nothing — done right you have a properly keyworded text link pointing to your action page, always a good thing).
And when they click the link your action page has a CHANCE of working for you.
Seen together these three elements WORK TOGETHER as a system. And to get all the “working parts” of this system to work for you sometimes requires a lot of testing and measuring — at least in the beginning.
And skill to pull off.
But done well, once your finely tuned lead gen system is up and running (all elements tested and optimized) it will pretty much run by itself.
After all, isn’t that how web marketing should be?
For more information about our article marketing service kindly click the link.
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