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6 Simple Steps To Market Your Business With Articles (Even If You Hate Writing.)

 

One day – after returning home from a not very fruitful networking event – I had a “eureka moment.”

I realized that I just spent 3-hours (and $35 for launch) only to drown in a “sea of sameness” where everyone is trying to sell to everyone and I end up with a handful of so-so leads I now have to chase.

What if I took the same three hours and used them to create a tool that would help me stand out, build my credibility and authority, and work for me 24/7/365 to get me visibility and leads? Wouldn’t that be a better use of my time.

Of course it would. The next day I skipped a networking meeting and penned out my first article instead. It turns out that it was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done.

In fact, today I’m still getting a trickle of traffic from articles I wrote and published online nearly 15 years ago! Over the years those articles brought me thousands of clients that translated into millions of dollars in revenue.

Before I go any further, maybe you are wondering…

 

Is article marketing still relevant and working in 2016?

 

Short answer: Abso-freakin’-lutely! Here’s why…

It’s true that how search engines work today is very different from how they worked three, two, or even one year ago. However, the reason this strategy has worked for me – and works for EVERYONE who follows what I’m about to tell you is this:

Don’t try to game the system!

If you’ve been around for a while you’ve undoubtedly heard of tools like “article spinners” – which would take one crappy article and “reformat” it into 10 more crappy articles.

The idea was that you could spend 10 minutes and spit out a bunch of “unique” articles which would then bring you traffic.

The entire process was designed to fool the early “dumb” search engine robots. But it was a short term hack and many people who used it eventually got spanked by search engines.

Google banned many of them completely and permanently.

I never played that “shortcut” game. I wrote articles for my readers – not robots. And that’s why these articles are still working for me today!

And today people value thought leadership and high-quality content more then ever. Consider this partial info-graphic from Microsoft posted on MarketingProfs.com

 

 

The small area I highlighted speaks directly about our client’s buying behavior; they don’t want your sales pitch. They would much prefer to make up their mind to buy from you by reading a few of your quality articles!

 

What’s changing is the way to distribute your articles, but content marketing isn’t going anywhere. Writing high-quality articles is time well invested in creating high-value marketing assets!

Adam Urbanski

Bottom line:

• Content marketing (article marketing) isn’t going anywhere!
• If you write articles that address your ideal client’s big issues, your content will always be in big demand!
• What’s changing is the way to distribute your articles – so stay current!

Now, you maybe thinking you’re not a writer. I used to think the same. But consider this…

 

It’s not a secret that many successful professionals position themselves as experts in their field by writing and publishing articles.

 

In the past getting articles published took weeks, even months. Nowadays, you can start by publishing it on your blog and posting it on different social media sites.

Plus, there are thousands of online publishers constantly craving for fresh content; you can write an article in the morning and see it published in the afternoon.

And if you doubt that writing articles is worth your time and effort, consider these obvious benefits:

• Writing informative articles helps crystallize your ideas and express them in more powerful ways – which in turn makes you more attractive to your clients.

• Sharing your expertise through articles helps you gain greater visibility, positions you as an expert and establishes your credibility.

• Sending your articles to clients and prospects is a great way to keep in touch and educate them about your products and services – without being perceived as a pushy salesperson.

• Publishing articles gives you a chance of catching interest of even the most lukewarm prospects that otherwise would have never given your business a minute of their time.

• Placing articles on web sites frequented by your potential clients attracts targeted, “pre-qualified” visitors to your web site.

• Regularly adding new articles to your web site gives you fresh content and entices people to visit your site more often – increasing your chances for turning them into clients.

Still, relatively few professionals take advantage of this powerful marketing strategy. Many don’t think the task is worthy of their time. Many others can’t seem to zero-in on the “right topic”, worry about not having enough expertise on the subject, think that no one will value their opinion and feel stuck trying to search for the “right words”.

Frustrated with the entire process, they frequently give up before they even get started!

 

You don’t have to be Shakespeare to write articles people will love to read; just focus on topics that help others solve their problems.

If you have solutions that help others solve their problems – you are expert enough to share your opinions and how-to tips.

 

Here is a simple to follow, 6-step process to getting started with writing and publishing articles.

 

STEP ONE – SELECT A TOPIC

This seems so easy, yet many people convince themselves they don’t know what to write about. If you are in this group try these ideas to jump-start your creativity:

• ask your clients what they most want to learn about your area of expertise,

• make a list of the top ten solutions to the biggest problem your clients are dealing with,

• make a list of the top ten resources on a specific topic,

• make a list of the most common mistakes your customers make and how to fix them,

• review a book,

• interview an expert,

• have someone interview you,

• compare several popular resources to help your audience make a choice,

• answer a customer’s question (This is one of my favorites; I often find myself taking 20-30 minutes writing an email response to a question from a client. Later, after editing out the specifics pertaining to that client, I end up with a great how-to article)

• share a case study,

• answer a most frequently asked question (if you have several clients asking you the same question – chances are more people would like to find information on that topic)

• share the “top five sure-fire strategies to fail” – this could bring a little humor even to the most serious topic!

• comment on current news events and how it affects your customers (NOTE: be careful with referring too much to current events because your article will become dated very fast),

• comment on emerging trends you spotted,

• evaluate a hot resource you just found,

I also keep a folder with article ideas. Whenever an idea for an article pops into my head – I write it down and scribble a few key points I’d like to refer to later and stick into my folder. This will help you collect great ideas in advance for the times when you’re just not sure what to write about.

There are probably hundreds of ways to come up with inspiration for article topics. The ones listed here should get your creative juices flowing.

But if you’re really feeling stuck, you can always take a peek at what’s hot on your competitor’s website at buzzsumo.com and use that as your inspiration.

 

STEP TWO – TITLE YOUR ARTICLE

Personally, I like to title my article before I even write it. You may want to do it in reverse. Either way, this is an important step.

 

The title is like a mini commercial for your article; it must entice people to read what follows.

Adam Urbanski

Selecting the right title maybe the difference between a trickle of visitors and an avalanche of traffic. Take your time to get it right.

To get you started, here are a few “title templates” you can tweak to fit your needs. (Just replace the words in brackets with your own.)

• (Provide a Number) Fun and Easy Ways to (Generate Pre-qualified Web Visitors) by (Writing Articles)

• How To (Negotiate Like a Pro) And (Create Win-Win Deals)

• Top (Ten) Tips You Can Use to (Keep Your Dog Healthy)

• (3) Deadly (Marketing) Mistakes and How To Fix Them

• The Lazy Way to (Make Your First Million)

• (7) Steps To Achieving (Financial Success)

• (12) Amazing (Life) Lessons I Learned From (My Cat)

OK, you get the point, right? Oh, if you wonder what’s with the numbers in all those titles – well, they simply work!

Numbers indicate a system. They tell the reader that you’ve given some thought to the process or solution you are about to share with them. And they incite curiosity.

As a matter of fact as I was writing this article I got an mail inviting me to read a blog post titled “12 Things That Keep You From Dominating Your Market”. (By the way, that’s another template for you.)

If you want some additional help writing good titles, here are five good resources:

• 10 Article Headline Examples That Got Us 10 Million Readers
• 5 Easy Tricks to Help You Write Catchy Headlines
• 10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work
• 30+ Ultimate Headline Formulas for Tweets, Posts, Articles, and Emails
• 74 Attention-Grabbing Blog Titles That Actually Work

 

STEP THREE – GATHER INFORMATION

OK, don’t panic. I’m not talking about reading dozens of books here. If you write on topics within your area of expertise most likely you already have enough information in your head to last you for dozens of articles.

But depending on the type of article you write you may need to do a bit of research to add depth to it.

It can be as simple as doing a Google search on the topic and linking to additional resources like I did above with the five links to resources on creating better titles.

You may want to take a few screen shots to “show” instead of just tell. Gather different case studies, or even find research on the topic you’re writing about to further make your point.

Better researched and designed articles pointing to external sources will further bolster your credibility and authority.

Bonus Tip: It’s a good idea to create your own editorial calendar. What’s an editorial calendar? In a nutshell it’s a plan of topics you want to write on and a schedule when you will write each article.

It will give you an opportunity to start compiling ideas for your articles in advance as you come across them. And it will help you write and publish articles more regularly (when you treat it like a deadline.)

Your editorial calendar can be a simple folder where you keep title ideas and resources you can refer to when you need them. Or you can go high-tech and use google.

 

STEP FOUR – WRITE THE ARTICLE

This is a place where even those with best intentions and years of experience get stuck staring at a blank page.

When I get stuck it’s usually for two reasons.

First, lack of clarity on exactly what I want to write about.

Second, my self-criticism; many of us have such a strong “internal editor” that turns putting that first word on a piece of paper into “mission impossible.”

While eventually you will find your own way of getting started, there are some strategies that seem to make the process easier for everyone.

Begin with listing the key ideas you want to cover.  Write down key words and phrases you would like to use. Write as much and as quickly as you can – without stopping to analyze or edit your writing.

Don’t worry about any specific order, neatness or spelling – this is just to get the information out of your head. The more you write the better – it’s easier to edit it down then to write more later.

Next, write a paragraph on each idea or key word you listed. Just get as much out of your head and as quickly as possible. You’ll add examples, stories to illustrate your points, and additional resources later.

For now – just keep writing. If you don’t know what to write about one of your key points, move to the next one. Your goal is to get this out of your head as quickly as possible – before you start editing your thoughts and questioning yourself.

Include anything that makes your ideas easier to understand and makes your article more interesting to read and the information more valuable. But at this point don’t worry about making it all sound good right now.  

Once this is done, you will likely have more content than you need for a good article.

Now you can move things around and make sure the whole thing reads well and makes sense. Spend time creating a strong opening and a good summary or call to action to close your article.

There are a couple more things to consider: tone and format.Both will depend on your target market and where you intend to publish the article.

Casual, conversational tone makes articles easy to read. Unless you are writing on highly technical subjects and your readers are engineers or doctors – use simple language that any sixth-grader could easily read and understand.

Informative, how-to articles are always popular. They have an easy to follow format:

• BRIEF OPENING. Start with a story, statement or a startling statistic to get readers interested in reading further.

• PROBLEM STATEMENT. Describe the problem readers are dealing with; explain what causes it and why some of the popular solutions fail to solve it.

• HELPFUL TIPS. Outline your solution/approach/process/opinion and give a few examples.

• RESOURCES. If possible tell readers how they can find additional resources.

• CALL TO ACTION. Conclude with a brief summary and encourage them to take their next step right away!

Of course, depending on the topic you chose in Step 1, the flow of your article might be different.

 

STEP FIVE – EDIT IT

I know you’ve done a lot of hard work to get to this point. But before you post your article on your blog, or start looking for a place to publish it elsewhere, there is just one final step – editing.

Proof read what you wrote. Do it a few times. Print it out and read it out laud; this will help you identify places where your writing is clumsy and ideas unclear.

Have someone else edit it for you. Often we get too attached to the stuff we created and it’s hard to evaluate it objectively. And we become blind to even the most glaring mistakes.

Ask a colleague or a friend. Ideally, it’s someone who’s got a good eye for details. But be careful that they don’t try to change “your tone” into a stiff, corporate memo.

 

STEP SIX – GET IT PUBLISHED

It won’t matter one bit how great your article is if you are the only person reading it. It’s time to complete what you started and get your article in front of other people.

Submitting your articles for print in hard copy publications may take a while and the process is a lot different than publishing online.  To begin with it’s much easier and faster to have your article picked up by online publications.

• Find web sites that attract your potential clients and then see if those sites accept article submissions – you’ll find that many do.

• Look for blogs and online newsletters whose subscriber base matches your target market and ask if they accept guest articles. You will find that quality articles are always in demand.

Here’s a great tutorial article how to find and evaluate the top blogs in your niche.

• If you’re writing on topics that appeal to a broader audience, consider contributing to general interest sites like huffingtonpost.com.

• Finally, do a quick search on “article submissions”.  It will point you to dozens of web sites that are actively looking for new article submissions.

Here is a list of 250 high PR article submission websites. And to make things even easier, here are a few popular article submission sites that still work today to get you started right away:

• http://ezinearticles.com
• http://www.articlecity.com
• http://www.articledashboard.com
• http://www.articlecube.com
• http://www.isnare.com
• http://articlealley.com
• http://articlesfactory.com

 

BONUS: STEP SEVEN – PROMOTE IT

Once you write and publish your article you’re only half way done. Now you need to promote it – otherwise, what’s the point?

If you publish it on other people’s websites, the idea is that those sites already have great traffic and will automatically get you more visibility. But you can still help by sharing links to it on social media.

This actually will boost your credibility – when people see that your work is published on other industry-related websites. So don’t miss this step.

And if you publish on your own blog… Well, let’s just say don’t spend all your energy on creating your article – save a little something in the tank to promote it.

If you just invested a half a day (or more) to write a good article, invest another full day to get it in front of as many people as possible.

I’ll write another post on this topic in a near future. For now, here’s an awesome infographic from Hubspot on 36 Tried and True Ways To Promote Your Blog Posts.

So What Next?

If this entire process still sends the shivers down your spine I get it – I’ve been there, too. Still, here I am – finishing writing this article. But…

 

If you aren’t feeling inspired to pick up the pen (or keyboard) here are a couple of ultimate shortcuts to writing your next article.

 

Sometimes when we sit down to write this “big article” it’s impossible to get our “internal editor” to shut up. Here are two ways to overcome this challenge.

1. Talk it out.  Many people find it easier to talk their ideas out instead of writing them. So let yourself talk out-loud and record your ramblings. Then have the recording transcribed and edited… Voila – out pops your new article.

2. Get other people to write articles for you. Just give them the topic and some basic ideas. They will research the topic and create your masterpiece for you. And you will be amazed how affordable it is!

Article writing services very from $1.50 per article and just a few bucks on the lower end to hundreds and even thousands of dollars for services that offer more than just article writing and provide a complete content marketing system.

Always ask for samples and be clear on what you’re getting. Because the quality of the work can vary as vastly as the prices.

And remember this: Only a short while ago people were trying to game the search engines and thought that somehow putting out lots of crappy content will trump doing the work of creating fewer, but better pieces.

Those days are gone (even though some folks didn’t get the memo!)

So if you want to attract quality traffic, and if you know how to convert it into leads and clients, paying someone to write quality articles is can be a good deal.

NOTE: Although it’s very appealing to just get other people to write for you I actually don’t recommend it unless you’re already super famous and successful.

Because writing article will help you get more clarity on everything you do and your offers. So if you skip this process by having someone do it for you, you’ll be missing out on a very powerful strategy to hone your marketing message.

 

Well, there you have it – Marketing Your Business with Articles 101!

 

Like with any new skill it will take a little practice to get good at it. But with all the recognition, credibility, extra visibility, and getting pre-qualified prospects who will be calling you as a result — believe me, it’s definitely worth the hassle.

If you still doubt if you can do this – just remember this…

If a guy who barely graduated from high-school, and who only a few years ago couldn’t even speak English… If a guy like that can do it – so can you!

But before you get busy creating your first masterpiece…

 

Leave me a comment and let me know…

 

… what kind of article can you quickly write to promote yourself?

… what might still get in your way to trip you up and stop you from writing?

Go ahead – leave me a comment below.