We all know what Affiliate Marketing is; it's promoting, for the purpose of selling, a product or service that belongs to someone else. You have the rights to sell these goods, and you earn a commission every time you make a sale. Not bad, if you know how to promote these products properly and get traffic to your site. After you get traffic to your destination site, you then have the job of converting your prospects into customers. That's the short version of Affiliate Marketing. Since it is probable that you are currently running an online business (or are seriously thinking about it), how important is it that you learn about Article Writing? Can this method have a positive effect on your campaign? Can it provide enough useful information to have your visitor become a prospect, and then become a customer? In this article you will find useful information about how to create product awareness and how to promote your products in the online business arena. Learning the ropes and avoiding the mistakes of Article Writing is relatively easy, but necessary. If you follow this guide and continue to refine it as your skills get better, this should become a very useful tool for you. THE DO'S 1. Choose an appropriate topic that is closely related to your product or service. Since your goal is to garner targeted traffic, the topic(s) you pick should be relevant and interesting. You should conduct a certain amount of keyword and long tail keyword research. Once you compile a list of the most searched keywords, you will have a much better understanding of the topics within your niche that your target audience is looking for. Your list of keywords should be inserted in your article only in the appropriate places, and where it makes logical sense. 2. Research your chosen topic. You need to find out if your niche topic is going to generate a viable interest to your targeted prospects. You also need to know what kind of competition you will up against. Look up articles or other related resources within your particular niche to gather as much information as possible. You want to make your article not only relevant but interesting and exciting to read. It is imperative that you discuss why your product is of benefit to your prospects so they will take action and become customers. 3. Create your title. You will have but one chance to capture the interest of your visitor. You already have somewhat of an outline about your content so concentrate on a benefit driven title that will be attractive to your readers. Your title needs to be short, one line, and generate enough of an interest for your visitor to commit to continue reading. 4. Begin your introduction with questions. Your end goal is to capture your prospects attention so they will read your entire article(s). The proper questions about the topic you are covering should peak their interest. You are about to share some vital information and offering compelling questions could very well generate an excitement within your reader. These questions will most likely be the same questions you had when doing your own research. The same or similar questions will have an impact on your prospect's curiosity, so don't take them lightly. Think about them and use questions wisely to spark an interest. THE DON'TS 1. Don't make spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors. Do you want your text to appear that the author actually knows very little about the subject at hand? Do you want to "load" your article with a bunch of keywords that make no literary sense? Readers need to have confidence that the author is an expert and these types of errors display a sense of unprofessionalism. These types of errors mean you have just lost your visitor. Make sure you do a spell check, and then have another person proof read it so your article flows properly and generates interest. 2. Don't present a bunch of hype and hard sell tactics to your readers. You need to present the benefits of what this product specifically does for you and why you use it. The reader only wants to know what is in it for them, so that is what you convey. Hype and self promotion is a turn off, and your visitors will see right through it. Have a friend read your article and see if they can answer one simple question. "What is in this article that benefits me?" 3. Don't make your article so broad in scope that your visitors cannot grasp the concept or just can't figure out any benefit for them. Make sure your approach is in-depth and offer your expertise on the topic. You must have originality, definition, brevity, and relativity. Your readers only have so much time to gather the specific information they are seeking. If it is alluring and brief in scope, you will generate the interest necessary to keep them reading. 4. This relates to Number 3 in the DO'S. Don't dissuade your potential readers right off the bat with a dull or boring title. The title or headline is usually the initial reason why a visitor will even think about perusing your article. A lackluster title means your visitor will pass it over and continue to search for the information they want. Don't make your headline too long (one line), make it brief, and explore some keyword ideas that might help to optimize your title. 5. Avoid plagiarism, and outsourcing or buying articles for your topic. Can you do appropriate research and find a multitude of ideas for your article? Of course you can, and we all get ideas from other people when doing our research. You don't have to be a professional writer to create good, quality copy for your article. Once you start the process, you will only get better at it as you go along. I urge you to be original, though, as plagiarism is certainly not condoned. Most article directories will discover outright plagiarism and won't even publish such an article. So, do the research, and let the article be yours. Outsourcing articles is also not a great idea. You might do it just once so you can develop a template for your own use, but you will never master this art form if all you do is outsource articles. This might also cost more than your budget allows, and you will defeat the purpose of creating a profitable on line business. 6. Don't expect immediate results. Article writing has enormous weight in getting traffic to your destination site. Your expectations, however, should not be extraordinarily high for quick returns. Article writing and submitting articles for publication takes time to have any credible effect. Be prepared to write two articles per week and submit them every week to your chosen article directories or ezines. The nature of this beast is that solid copy in your articles will have a snow ball effect and eventually start generating serious traffic. Just like word of mouth; it's the best advertising, but the slowest. So do your due diligence, create excellent copy for your content, establish a banner headline, and your results will become a reality over the course of a few months. People are looking for information they want at the moment. Provide this information in a concise, entertaining, and professional manner. Provide the reason(s) for them to continue reading and eventually make a purchase at your destination site by answering their nagging question: "What's in it for me". You will get better and more professional the more you explore article writing. I encourage you to use it as a viable format and wish you the best of luck! Copyright (c) 2011 Lawrence Hamilton
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