Writing articles

[Connie]

Do you do it? Does it work? I have written a couple but I have really never understood HOW it's supposed to help or work.. fill me in!

[audrey]

I've written over 300 articles. How it works....two things can happen...people can specifically search an article directory and find my article or people can search google, or any other search engine and possibly find my article.

My titles very clearly reflect what the article is about. So, if you're reading there's a good chance you might want to either buy or sell Tupperware. My bio tells you where to click

I've had my article published in quite a few newsletters, from publishers who have found them.

Each time my article is read I might attract a new customer or a new team member.

[audrey]

Here's an article I wrote about article marketing:

Can Article Marketing Help Your Direct Sales Business?

One of the most frequent questions I am asked is “how can I advertise for free?” I have never supported methods such as free classifieds. Nobody reads this. If you look, thousands of folks come and post an ad and never read a thing.

I am a very strong supporter of article writing. Article writing allows you to determine exactly what keywords you are targeting and to get very targeted visitors to your site.

I would rather see someone write 3 articles per week versus placing 100 free classified ads in a week.

If you sell children’s toys or children’s books, write parenting articles. Those who read the articles are the very people who are buying toys. If you sell dietary supplements, write health and wellness articles. Again, those who read your articles are going to be people looking for the very product you offer. If you sell make up and skin care, write articles about fashion and beauty.

Who do you want to visit your site? You want potential customers and potential new sales distributors to visit your site. So, how can you make sure that those coming to your site want what you are offering? Write about the topics that relate to what you are selling. Those who search for your articles or find your articles through a keyword search are interested in what you are offering. Parents need toys. When you write about parenting, your audience is the very people who just might buy from you.

Choose a few keywords or keyword phrases that your potential customers might be searching for. Now write about them. Become an expert writer in your field. Write articles that solve every potential problem or question someone might ask you.

Article writing is the best method of free advertising I’ve ever found. Try it. See if you don’t see increased hits to your website that I hope will lead to sales for you.

****
Audrey Okaneko has been in direct sales since 1983. She can be reached at [e-mail] or www.mydirectsales.com

[Connie]

So being the busybody that I am and trying to figure out what is really worth my time (writing does NOT come naturally to me).... Can you give me an estimate of what kind of traffic you generate from writing articles? If you were to estimate the traffic from say 20 articles compared to the 300 you have out now what would the numbers be? Is that too personal?

[audrey]

No, no, that's fine. I check my web stats often. I get more traffic from my articles over at ezinearticles.com than I do from many of the forums where I post. Google brings me more traffic than ezinearticles, but ezinearitlces is right up there in traffic.

I don't always know where an actual sale has come from, nor do new team members always know how they found me other than "on the web"

Hope that helps Connie.

[glitch00]

I have a couple of articles in Squidoo and APSense. I recently tackled this new sideline (local in the Philippines) where I need to write articles for a client. Content writing My first experience ever. I'll let you guys know how everything goes. Hope my articles will be widely accepted.

Regarding if it works or not, the main technique really is to beef up your profile and add friends and fans so that when your article is written, your contacts are notified and they will check out your article. Gotta do it from time to time and never forget to comment on other people's articles too.

[Connie]

So Glitch, do you view Squidoo the same as article writing? Do you consider blogging the same as article writing?

I guess I was viewing article writing as strictly using places like ezinearticles or associatedcontent to post an article but I can see what you are saying. If squidoo and blogging were viewed the same in the search engines as articles placed at AC.. that would be good to know! Anyone know the answer?

Let us know how that new venture is working for you!

[havingfunnow]

I think I am qualified enough to answer from a researcher's point of view. I run across both articles and blogs in my searches. It depends on what keywords the search engines have picked up on that determines the ranking (very basic explanation) of the item. I have not really noticed whether or not either one seems to come up more often. The following link may help:

aboutawebmaster.com/articles/blog-vs-article-1.php

Louis