One of the inevitable methods of promoting an Internet-based business or website is by writing articles and submitting them to article directories. It sounds easy, and it’s good for business. Writing articles and submitting them is a great way to disseminate information about your products and services and to become an authority in your niche market.
Most article writers know, and extol the benefits that articles can provide. These include getting high ranks in the search engines for specific keywords and keyword phrases that are relevant to their niche. It also serves as a way to attract website visitors. Because links back to your website are provided. When you use articles on your website, it also increases the amount of confidence and trust that your prospective customers will have for your website and company.
While many of these articles are beneficial to both company and traffic, they also serve to help spread your message. When visitors read and like your articles, they will tell their friends, family and others about your website, which will get you more traffic. In turn are products and services will be just that much easier to sell, because you’re essentially selling tool war market.
So those are the benefits of writing articles. We now know that they are crucial to getting traffic to your website and keeping traffic returning to your website over and over again. However, most people don’t really like to write articles. So unless you are a professional writer or you just love writing a steady stream of articles about your niche. You might find this to be boring and time-consuming.
You’re not alone. There are many website owners who would rather have root canal than write articles on a day-to-day basis. Unfortunately, you probably are just starting out so you don’t have the resources to hire article writers and plagiarism or copying of articles is really not an option.
So what do you do instead?
Well, if you simply can’t write articles, you can’t afford to hire somebody else to write them. You’re going to have to get free articles from the public domain. Public domain articles don’t have copyright infringement problems and don’t come with penalties and fines. Articles that are in the public domain are given freely for public use. In other words, you can do whatever you like with them. It’s up to you whether you place them on your site and your byline will put them in your e-zine or newsletter. While the articles are free, you will want to make sure that they’re relevant to your website and niche.
One of the disadvantages to using public domain articles is that since they’re free. You will probably find the same article, on many other sites. This is because, like you, many other website owners don’t like to write articles either. This could pose a problem, unless you’re willing to spend a little time editing and adding your keywords and keyword phrases to make them unique.
Another way to get free articles is to have guest posters. In this way, you allow others to write articles for you and post them to your website. This is a very easy way to get freelance writers a chance to write for your site. In return, they will usually want to put an author’s box, which is also called a resource box, where they can place a link to direct readers to their site. While this is good, they could also submit the same article to many other sites as well.
I guess the bottom line for all of this is that if you really want a good article. You’re going to have to write something yourself, hire a freelance writer to do it for you or rewrite public domain articles and make them your own. Article writing should be looked at as an investment in your business and website. The more articles that you have either promoting or available for your visitors to read is the bigger your website traffic is going to grow.
41 Comments
Craig Mullins
December 8, 2008The only issue with that is the articles aren’t ging to rank for anything. They are going to go into Google supplemental index and probably won’t pass any pagerank to your site…
So you still need to rewrite the public domain articles…
Craig Mullinss last blog post..Lead Based Paint Disclosure – Make Sure You Do It!
Cheree
December 8, 2008There are also PLR articles which can be obtained for free through various services out there on the net. But, as Craig pointed out in his comment, these would also need to be re-written. It really isn’t that difficult to reword things. And, for the exposure you get, it’s well worth the effort. Of course, I would question the “I can’t write” thought in the first place. You don’t have to be a great writer to use article marketing to your advantage. Anyone who practices this method will tell you that some of their worst-written articles have driven some of the most traffic to their websites!
But, if you still don’t feel that you can write (or simply don’t want to), and can’t afford to pay someone to ghost write for you, maybe you can barter services with someone you know?
Cherees last blog post..Action: The Key to Success in Network Marketing
Nickolove Lovemore
December 8, 2008Hi Reed,
It certainly is a valid point that many marketers actually don’t like writing articles even though they acknowledge that it’s a great way to generate traffic, etc. As an alternative to writing articles some individuals find it easier to speak their articles.
Alex Mandossian, for instance often talks about creating articles at the speed of sound. You simply record your articles and then have them transcribed. After some minor editing your article should be ready to submit to article directories.
Matt Bacak is another Internet Marketer who said he uses this method and Stephen Pierce said he used this method to ‘write’ his book Make Real Money on the Internet.
Nickolove
Nickolove Lovemores last blog post..Beyond the Law of Attraction – The 11 Forgotten Laws – FREE Teleseminar with Bob Proctor
normz2
December 8, 2008I am not an expert on article writing, but I have been doing a lot of reading. I am told in order to write a good article is to do a fair bit of reading up and use your own words for an article. Become an expert. Once you have a good article then expand on it for the next article. Once you have the flow going, it becomes much easier. Some people are much more adept at this, and others have to struggle along.
Jay
December 8, 2008I’ve been using getarticlesdone.com for a few months and they have been excellent. Just give them the keywords and they’ll write and submit your article for less than $10. It’s a complete no-brainer and avoids all the hassle of writing and submitting.
Brett McEllhiney
December 8, 2008Reed,
Like many people I had an extremely diffucult time getting started with article marketing. In fact it took me over 1 year before I actually published my first article.
However, I can assure anyone that after you write the first article and get it published it only gets easier from there.
I am NOT a writer by any stretch of the imagination, so if I can do it I am sure anyone can.
Brett McEllhineys last blog post..Affiliate Program for VideosForInternetMarketers.com is Ready!
Daniel Abraham
December 8, 2008I agree with you about writing articles not just because the traffic but also it will help you get a sense of your niche that you’re writing about and will help you get much better by the time you submit many articles to directories.
Pat Gunning
December 8, 2008Article marketing can be this simple. Just write about the subject that you are an expert at. You’re marketing a product or service and you know a lot about it so… just put it into words on paper or on screen and publish it.
For some free specifics about the article structure (this is very important) go to ItsAboutCash and read Jerry’s free e-book “How to Write Marketing Articles”.
You won’t be disappointed!
Christopher Raine
December 8, 2008Hi Reed
PLR is a great resource for article writing but it should be remembered that the PLR articles still need to be re-written,not totally but enough to make them unique to you.
However you do at least have a foundation to work with and this assists with the creative juices.
Failing that you can always have some aticles written for you through elance as an example
Chris
Martin
December 8, 2008Writing articles doesn’t have to be difficult and you don’t have to hate it, you just need to do a bit of research beforehand and have fun with it.
When people are new at anything they fear and that fear turns to hate, you can overcome this by practice and time. Try to avoid procrastination and start getting your articles out there, once you start seeing the rewards there will be no stopping you.
Article marketing can give you credibility and “expert” status in your niche.
Martins last blog post..The Money Aint In The List
John Bonzo
December 8, 2008Hie Reed,
Good article. I agree with what you have said. I am currently sending out an article called “Free Content can Destroy Your Business” where I inumerate some of the same downside that you have whith free articles.
I have decided it would be great if we could all just be rich. But I guess we can’t so the only thing left is just to go on.
Talk to you later,
John
Matthew Lord
December 8, 2008I think many people overcomplicate the process of writing articles. I have personally written over 200 articles on affiliate marketing and list building in just a couple of months. Maybe this will help some of you who are struggling with article marketing: I sometimes am able to write ten or more quality articles a day.
http://www.marketingprimetime.com/instantarticles
As always a very insightful post for the readers Reed!
Christine Imamshah
December 9, 2008Hi Reed,
I was not aware of public domain articles. I had heard about public domain books. That’s a great idea. I realize you have to rewrite them but sometimes just a little jump-start is needed you know?
Please tell us where to find public domain articles. Same place as the books?
Thanks,
Chris
http://www.affiliateincomeroadmap.com
delords
December 9, 2008Every Affiliate Marketer should be able to write up some valuable article, i don’t see a reason why One wants to be successful in this without being able to write articles which are very simple even if you don’t have an idea of anything just read on what others are talking about and try to put them in your own words that’s something.
So its advisable for any marketer to be able to do this. i write Articles almost every time i can cause its very easy to.
delordss last blog post..Get Yanik Silver’s 14-Point Web Copy Analysis Free
Mikey D
December 9, 2008Hi Reed,
Be careful rewriting PLR or public domain articles. You want to make sure you’re not just rewording them. I’ve managed to get banned from Google (#4 on Yahoo though) for doing just that.
Paul Livingston
December 9, 2008I think the best way is to write your own articles. Even if you stink at writing, if you know your subject, you can give value. And the more you do it, the better you’ll get.
Paul Livingstons last blog post..Boost Sales and Build Your List with Free Pre-made Videos.
David Enders, D.C.
December 9, 2008It all boils down to – you need to write your own articles. Use the free articles as an “outline” and re-write in your own words. Take all your junk e-mail and use its content to give you ideas to write on. Write an article about what you thought of everyones comments regarding this post. Your writing doesn’t have to be great – it just has to be yours.
David Enders, D.C.s last blog post..Internet MLM Network Marketing Affiliate Success Library
Jane
December 9, 2008A poorly written article with good content is more valuable than a well written article with poor content.
If you’re not a writer (or don’t think you can write)…then think again.
Give your readers the content they’re looking for and your articles will benefit you no matter what. If you’re a great writer who uses lots of fluff and words but really never provides any content…then your article isn’t worth the space it’s taking up on the web.
We’ve all written some pretty bad stuff and put it out there for all eyes to see, but if you’re giving content (which is the bottom line), then you’ve accomplished more than many.
And yes, PLR and public domain are perfect viable options if you’re stuck for ideas. Just make sure and put the time into them to make them different than the next guy using the same PLR.
Ernie Carroll
December 9, 2008I personaly hate writing articles-but-I’ve found that the more I write the easier it gets. I havn’t had any problem with Google using plr articles and rewriting them. The more you do this the better you actualy get at writing.
Ernie Carrolls last blog post..Blogging to the Bank 3.0 – Honest Review
Ari Lestariono
December 9, 2008Sound a little distortion here on article writing, if you can’t write I suggest to start taking lessons and express yourself in writing so that can be reflected on your blog, more over you will improve your ability in writing skills and achieve organic search engine, thus your traffic will be genuine not just lookers or viewers.
Ari Lestarionos last blog post..Why Does A Weight Loss Program Fail?
Derek Anders
December 9, 2008Article writing is probably one of the easiest things to do even if you do not have any experience with it. To write an article all you need to do come up with a topic and write a 300 word simple summary about something. Easy huh? I’m close to that with this post!
Any way keep up the great work!!!
Timothy Millar
December 9, 2008Hey Reed, Articles are a must-have in this business, So you either write them yourself or go without KFC for one night a month and get someone else to write them. Blogs are an Easy and free way to put out articles on your niche.
Have a Wonderful Day, Timothy Millar
Timothy Millars last blog post..Affiliate Power Videos Review
Jeen Hao
December 9, 2008Hi Reed. Nice and informative article. Thanks for your information =)
Jeen Haos last blog post..Blogs To Wealth Newsletter Launch!
woody
December 9, 2008hi! reed, im very glad to enjoy ur article.& I gained a lot of profit from ur article.
so ….. many tks .I appreciate!
Lynx
December 9, 2008hi Reed,
Writing is not fun, for a lot of people it’s incredibly hard work! Having written half of my PhD thesis-in 5 years-, while watching a friend write hers in 4 months, I know how hard it can be to overcome staring at a blank piece of paper or a blank screen and realize the brain is not that blank. The tabula rasa idea was discarded a long time ago. We have brains that take in data all the time, they are active all the time; and that’s a lot of data being stored. We record what we read, what we see, what we hear, touch, feel, etc. All that becomes part of who we are and what we have as a base to work from. By that I mean we all have a lot of experiences that we can draw from that can become the start of an article.
The rest is research-that’s actually the fun fun part. Searching for info on your subject is relatively easy, finding sources, reliable sources is a little tougher. With science-there is always Pub-Med, and other databases to search for relevant papers.
With the research and active brains-it’s not too hard to put together a real article, once you’re past the writer’s block thing. Just start writing and see what comes out, usually in a first draft a sizable chunk might get tossed, but each draft gets tighter and more solid. And it doesn’t have to take forever-at least not always-writer’s block is real and can be a pain, to say the least. That’s partly why my thesis is half done.
But given that a short article is not too many words, and when we add in our own experiences, it makes the subject more real to the reader. they will possibly identify with the writer and the topic because of the personal touch. I prefer reading something written with heart, or at least mind, of the writer.
I get a little annoyed when I get an several emails in a day that all say the same thing from different people-there is no person left in a writing like that, I know most of those emails are not meant to be articles,, but it’s sort of the same thing. No one took the time to make that email theirs, and so they are nobody’s and I lose interest.
Keep writing, folks, it keeps our brains active!
lynx
Zach Kong
December 9, 2008A good idea. However, if you are use article as a form of marketing, then submission of your articles to the article directories may not be possible anymore since your articles aren’t unique also.
Asking others to post their articles on your website does allows new content, however, it also means that your blog/website has become like a niche article directories.
I believe it can be a good way of getting new content, however, it may be wise to also include ghostwritten articles to help provide your blog/website with unique contents which you can submit to various article directories and at the same time allows others to use your articles on their websites to give you free one-way backlinks, free promotion and free traffic.
If you are someone who is lazy at typing, then you may want to consider a speech recognition software which I am using right now to type out this comment!
Check out the below website if that sounds interesting to you:
http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/preferred.asp
ATUL TANNA
December 9, 2008Hi
Have heard very often of public domain.But why not mention a few of them by name.I think since you are a guru i i think you should disclose names and places where we as newbies can outsource articles to get good results so we encouaged to keep going.
Be practical sir to disclose names and places where we can get good unique contents since what you write is what we hear everywhere on the net
ATUL TANNAs last blog post..Slash your energy costs by 3/4 in 3 weeks or less.
Geoff Dodd
December 9, 2008Reed, great response here.. I think articles are a ‘habit’ and simply need attitude and high productivity. Speaking articles into a recording device is a brilliant idea that creates ‘easy to listen to’ material. It is kinda a Just Do It thing. Write your passions out.
Geoff Dodd
Australia
Geoff Dodd
December 9, 2008Reed, second part: Isn’t there an easier way to promote my website? YES you can! Go to http://www.SocialMarker.com – What is it?
Social bookmarking is a powerful tool in promoting a website. But going through all of those social bookmarking sites is very time-consuming and downloading all toolbars is madness! That’s where SocialMarker.com comes in, – designed to reduce the time and effort needed to socially bookmark a website. Try this out.
Geoff Dodd
Australia
Richard
December 9, 2008I’ve long been a fan and disciple of article writing as a marketing tool.
It really isn’t that difficult to create an article, and most internet marketers will have PDF’s sitting on their hard drive which can be used for inspiration if you happen to suffer from writer’s block.
If you submit to article directories, just make sure you check the submission guidelines to ensure acceptance.
Richards last blog post..Website Traffic Generation At No Cost
Slavica
December 9, 2008Fortunately,i have no problem with writing of Articles, since i love doing it.Writing is easy for me,words come up without efforts,even i start writing ,really don’t know where it would take me-it is wonderful.I take on writing a abstract on a subject i have chosen and ended up on thoroughly second one!
Speaking of using free Articles,i had found USA News to be great and put their contents on my web site,by making truly beautiful appearances from them.
They were: Best selling Author donathing all his money to Alzheimers by Bruce Schwartz,Put old on hold by Barbara Morris,Story by Howard Jones……Unfortunately,these sites have been closed/for Host company ,maybe i enlive all again/
If you have Adsense account,Amazon or other ones, you can copy and paste your advertising codes on them to make money.
Still there is a way to involve your Web Site content with free articles to get traffic for you.
Slavicas last blog post..Christmas-In the Glory of the Love
Sunshine
December 9, 2008I used to hate the thought of having to write anything online. I’ve actually lost untold opportunities for several years because of the fear that occupied my mind about writing and creating affiliate websites.
Thankfully, that all change for me about 3 months ago. I put some things that I learned into action and have slowly begun to see the light of day.
The most important areas of any article, if you’re trying to make money online is your headline and author’s resource box.
I’ve witnessed first hand the difference in my article link click out statistics and affilate sales as a result of mastering just these two items alone.
omar
December 9, 2008hi
omars last blog post..What If I Hate Writing Articles? Isn’t There An Easier Way To Promote My Web Site?
atul
December 9, 2008Hi Slavica
Nice to know you love writing .Could i see some samples of yours or could you mail an article on natural breast enhancers and if i like them i would like you as my long term associate.
If really interested mail me at
atultanna88@gmail.com
MARINA1965
December 9, 2008GOD BLESS YOU!!!
Dave
December 9, 2008Quite nifty my friend.
Free Articles Directory
December 10, 2008hi! yeah its very nice or knowledgeful article & I gained from here lots of profit from ur article.
so ….. many thanks .I appreciate!
Shawn Horwood
December 13, 2008I agree with this. I discuss using PLR articles on my blog for people who aren’t good at coming up with content for themselves. I personally never use PLR or public domain articles for anything other than idea generation. Once I have an idea I just write the articles myself.
I have also written guest posts for other people, as I do not mind writing articles. In fact, if anyone reading this is looking for someone to guest post about some thing related to either making money online, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, or something fitness related, I would be happy to write an article for you (in exchange for an author bio) if you have traffic going to your website. I will not post the same content anywhere else. (sorry for sort of advertising, but I thought it may help people who read this)
You can contact me at: shawnhorwood@gmail.com
http://top5-workathome.com/blog/
Shawn Horwoods last blog post..Membership Site
admin
December 14, 2008@Craig yes you need to rewrite
@Cheree yeah bartering could work for a lot of people
@Nickolove having stuff transcribed is a great way to create content
@normz2 it gets easier as you do it more often
@Jay thanks I’ll have to check them out
@Brett agreed it gets easier
@Daniel having to teach someone something forces you to learn
@Pat yeah just get started and write about something you know
@Chris yep it’s a good foundation
@Martin agreed
@John thanks
@Matthew congrats 🙂
@Chris yes
@delords I agree people should be able to but most won’t get around to it
@Mikey thanks for the heads up
@Paul yeah you can do a lot by yourself but outsourcing or PLR/public domain can help
@David good tips
@Jane agreed
@Ernie that you do
@Ari I agree people should continue their education but sometimes they just need to get the ball rolling and see some rewards first
@Derek that’s a good way to look at it
@Timothy lol good point
@Jeen you’re welcome
@woody you’re welcome
@Lynx interesting points
@Zach great tips
@Atul here’s a place to start http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
@Geoff agreed
@Richard good tips
@Slavica glad to hear it’s working for you
@Sunshine awesome
@omar hi?
@Martina1965 thanks
@Free you’re welcome
@Shawn shoot me an email reedfloren AT gmail.com
Learn To Read DVD
May 24, 2010Wow, this was a truly quality post. In theory I’d like to write like this too – taking time and actual effort to make a great article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and never appear to get something done.
[…] Source: Reed Floren […]
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