Thursday, August 28, 2008

The Opportunities Created By Article Marketing

By Don Bethune


aArticle marketinga. A foreign concept to you? Maybe. But chances are that you have watched it being used. It is nothing new and has, in fact, been employed for many years in established mediums such as newspapers and magazines. It is even possible that the age of this concept rivals that of mass printing.

So what is article marketing? It is usually defined as a form of marketing where a business makes an article available for use free of charge, hoping to increase their market. While the article may not specifically mention the business itself, it may mention favorably a service that the business provides.

Publishers choose to take advantage of the free articles if they are of a good quality, because that means they save money. They can fill their space without having to pay a writer for an article. This creates a win-win situation where both the newspaper or magazine and the business providing the article save money.

The idea is exactly the same on the internet as it is in print media. Article marketing works equally well with e-commerce and web publishing, and the use of it has expanded with this new opportunity. Free website traffic is one of the main incentives for businesses.

With the internet, there is an additional dimension to article marketing in search engine optimization. By writing articles targeted to specific popular keywords, a business can increase website traffic. A well written article on a hot topic will attract readers, and on the internet more readers tend to mean more income.

One of the main advantages of article marketing is the very low cost. Especially on the internet, publishing an article is virtually free. Having many articles available, especially if each contains a link back to the originator's website, can be a powerful way to generate traffic.

Article marketing has also been subcategorized as a part of search engine optimization. A meteoric rise in the rankings of search engines can be caused by the supply of articles that possess links back to a website because the amount of links to a site is a factor heavily considered by numerous search engines when showing results.

So what is article marketing? It is a tried and true marketing strategy. Most importantly, it is a low cost, effective alternative to other kinds of advertising. It is also one that is especially well suited to internet businesses and e-commerce, because of its ability to increase website traffic.

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