Most website and business owners who want to use article marketing make a monumental mistake when first starting out.  They focus on how they’re going to make money from their website, or how to sell different products on their website or what kind of money they will make from AdSense, all the while ignoring the single most important feature that can turn their website into a money making machine.

Content is king, especially on the internet.

If websites and business owners provide fresh original content that is informative and valuable to their market, then the website will turn a profit, or people will buy their services.  That’s it, that’s the simple secret to successful article marketing.  Provide awesome content.

Of course, simple does not always equal easy. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it and you would have to find another way to generate a ton of free traffic to the website and increase search engine rankings, both of which can be affected by article marketing.

The fact is the vast majority of consumers turn to the internet to research almost any purchase now. Even something as simple as what time a movie is playing at a local theater can be turned into an article marketing opportunity so long as the right content is delivered in the right context.

More and more consumers are even accessing the web through cell phones and PDA’s which opens up even more opportunity for marketing your company with articles.  Imagine your target customer sitting in a waiting room while the oil is being changed in his car.  He pulls out his iPhone, enters in a search term, and clicks on your article.  What can you do to keep him engaged for the twenty minutes or so you may have his attention.

(you don’t really have that long, as a matter of fact, if you don’t get him engaged in the first twenty seconds, he’s moving on.)

Think about that for a moment as you’re writing your headline and first sentence.  You have twenty seconds to capture your markets attention, and trust me, you’re competing with a ton of distractions that range from your competitor’s advertising, to screaming kids, to work and much more.  What you have to say better be good, and it better not waste the customer’s time.  Your content has to pay off big time, and you have less than a radio commercial’s worth of time to hook them.

Who knew writing great content for your articles could be so tough?  No pressure, right.  Relax, there are a few tips and techniques that can make article marketing fairly easy.  First, be fun.  If you can get them laughing, you’re a step up on the competition.  They’ll love you if you can entertain them with a smile. 

Next, be informative.  A lot of people say they hate to read, but what they mean is they hate to be bored and waste their time.  You cannot be boring, it’s an unforgivable sin in article marketing. Engage your reader, and do it quickly. Give them tips and information they can use.  If you can write the kind of article they want to print up and share, you’re doing a great job.

Educate your audience.  Most people who are taking the time to read your article want to learn something.  That’s why they are reading you in the first place, so don’t disappoint.  The best kinds of articles are not only the ones that get printed up or forwarded, but the ones that get printed up and written on.  A handwritten note in the margin means you’ve touched on a subject that someone likes or dislikes, but either way you’re creating a conversation, even if it’s only in their head.

 The single most important thing to creating great content is you.  Your personality is what sets you apart from your competition, and your unique voice is what will help you create powerful content.  If you don’t have a personality, or you can’t act like one for your article marketing, go out right now and hire an actor who has that “it” factor who can be the face and spokesperson for your company.  It doesn’t have to be a celebrity, but your article marketing, if done correctly can turn them into a celebrity.  The key is personality, and the larger than life, the better.  A personality is what people remember, and by personality we mean engaging, approachable and memorable.  If your articles can showcase your (or your designated spokesperson’s) personality then you will be going a long way to succeeding in your marketing.  Create controversy, and it doesn’t have to be bad, just adopt a position and talk about it.

Once you create content for your article marketing, think about the ways you can repurpose the articles to generate even more traffic and interest in your site or business.  Collect a week’s worth of articles and turn it into a free report you can give away on your site to build your house list.  Print up the collection and turn it into an offline printed newspaper to give away at locations for more free traffic.  Bundle fifty articles into a pdf file and create a print on demand book that you can sell on Amazon or your own website as an additional product.  Use the article as a script for your own video posting and make a video blog on Youtube.  Record the video blogs onto a DVD to create an additional information product premium to giveaway or sell on your site. There are dozens of ways to turn your article marketing into not only free traffic generators by sending visitors to your site, but you can repurpose them into content rich information products you can sell on your site.