Jun 06 2009
The nuts and bolts of promoting your business with article marketing
I was surprised when a colleague informed me that she was going into real estate. She’s quite shy so I was thrilled to hear she was stepping out of her comfort zone. But could she sell homes in this market? Especially condos? Sara had no doubt. Though she did question what kind of marketing campaign she could launch without large upfront costs. She heard of article marketing and wanted to know if I thought it would be right for her real estate venture. I’ll share with you what I told Sara.
1) Sign up with article distribution websites that allow you to post your articles for free. Ezine articles lets you submit 10 articles without any charge. Two other free popular AD sites are GoArticles and ArticleDashboard.
2) Before your write your article, identify your target audience. The advantages of targeting your readership are a) you’ll discover natural keywords; b) you’ll know what specific topics to write about and c) you will position yourself as an expert and broaden your opportunities for increased Internet visibility.
3) Present uncommon solutions. Doing so distinguishes you from the masses of professionals who deliver the same services.
4) Integrate article marketing with social networking. For instance, if you use LinkedIn you can recommend your articles to various LinkedIn groups. You can use a portion of your article as a discussion topic and you can also include the URL to your article in your signature block. By integrating article marketing with social networking you get people talking and create word of mouth advertising.
5) Make the most out of your author resource box. A resource box includes a brief statement about you. It should at the very least include your name, website address, a descriptive statement about your expertise and contain a specific action step you want your readers to take. This ezine author sums up what to put into your author resource box and what to leave out.
6) Use article marketing to generate traffic to your website. A good practice is to keep your articles within 400 to 500 words and include a link to a more lengthy, detailed article on your website.
My advice to all realtors or any independent consultant (shy or otherwise!) is to take advantage of article marketing. It’s a very cost-effective way to reach your target audience and build your brand in the process.
Get more Internet marketing trends and ideas here.
Sonya Carmichael Jones, freelance marketing copywriter
