Article marketing is the strategic use of articles to elevate your brand. Through written content, you can market your products or services, increase your online visibility, and grow your customer audience. As you might expect, article marketing is time-consuming. You need to craft high-quality articles that resonate with readers and demonstrate your expertise in the industry. To help, these article marketing tips will provide expert guidance for any marketing team.
Benefits of article marketing
Before diving into tips, here’s a quick look at the benefits of article marketing so you can see what you’re investing your time and effort into. Article marketing can:
- Drive traffic to your site
- Establish authority in your niche or industry
- Improve search engine rankings
- Generate leads and conversions
Tips for successful article marketing
Boost your brand’s online presence and engagement with these practical and effective strategies for successful article marketing.
Identify your target audience
Before you open a Word document, define your audience. The most effective content is tailored to your target, so review your metrics and craft a customer persona (if you don’t already have one) to ensure your content is directed at the right group.
Choose relevant topics
You need to write about topics customers care about. To start, think about the pain points that your customers face and consider designing topics that provide solutions to them. Ideally, the solution involves your product or service. Once you have content published, use your metrics to help you identify effective content titles.
Write high-quality, engaging content
Article marketing is less about quantity and more about quality. Spend time crafting high-quality articles that readers take value from. Rather than focusing on a word count, focus on covering the topic well, providing enough detail to delight readers.
Incorporate SEO strategies
As part of your SEO plan, you should include keywords in your articles. Many marketers use tools to help them identify and leverage keywords, like SEMRush or free keyword tools to boost search engine rankings.
Make your articles easy to share
Share links to your articles on social so readers can reshare them, or add social share buttons to your articles so readers can post them on their channels with one click.
How to write a great article for marketing
Unlock the secrets to crafting compelling, engaging content with our comprehensive guide on how to write a standout article for marketing.
Choose a compelling title
Readers often judge an article by its title, so it’s important to craft an intriguing, informative title. Usually, your title contains keywords you’re trying to rank for, so that’s where to start. Next, try to add emotional keywords or phrases that readers might be curious about. With a title written, review it and see if you can swap out any words for action words that pack more of a punch.
Write a strong introduction
If a reader clicks on your article, you must hook them in the first few seconds. Your introduction should intrigue readers and tell them what they’re about to learn without repeating the title.
Structure your article for readability
People scan articles before they commit to reading them. As a result, it’s best to format your article with subheads, bulleted lists, block quotes, or call-out boxes so readers can see what the article offers before setting in to consume it.
Include a strong call to action
When a reader finishes your article, what do you want them to do? Include a CTA in the article. Some marketers simply include a hyperlink in their conclusion, while others create an eye-catching yet clickable graphic.
Promoting your articles
Use these strategies to effectively promote your articles, maximizing reach and driving engagement.
Utilize social media
When you publish an article, share it on your social channels. Pull a quote from the article and share it with the link or task your design team with creating social graphics to promote each piece of content.
Leverage email
To maximize your article’s reach, consider emailing it to your audience. Consistent, relevant content is helpful to your audience, but use pre-made templates from an email service provider to give your article a crisp, aesthetically-pleasing look and feel.
Collaborate with influencers or bloggers
One of the best ways to promote your content is to ask influencers or bloggers to help you. Look for influencers in your niche, and ask them to share a link with their thoughts on the piece. You could even set up an exchange where an influencer shares your content, and your brand shares the influencer’s content.
Submit your articles to directories
To give your content an extended reach, send it to an article directory. Some directories have a general focus, while others support specific industries. Here’s a quick look at directories to consider:
- EZine
- Article Street
- Article Depot
- Go Articles
- Article Alley
- ArticleCube
- Health Articles Database
Tracking the success of your article marketing efforts
Importance of monitoring metrics
Every marketing team believes they create must-read articles, but it’s your readers who make the decision. Your metrics tell you whether or not your team is crafting effective content. Use them to guide your content rather than assuming you know what readers want.
Key metrics to track in article marketing
Written content has its own set of KPIs to watch. To keep tabs on articles, watch the following metrics:
- Page views
- Time on page
- Scroll depth
- Bounce rate
- Conversion rate
- Pages per visitor
- Leads generated
Use analytics to make improvements
To see what’s doing well, look for articles with high page views, low bounce rates, and extended time on page. Examine these articles for similarities. Do they all focus on a content pillar? Do they share a common keyword? Are they how-to articles? Do they cover a topic with in-depth detail? Use these insights to improve your future content.
Do the same with underperforming content. See which articles aren’t resonating with customers, analyze their similarities, and use that information to avoid making similar mistakes.
Common mistakes in article marketing and how to avoid them
Writing for search engines, not reader
Yes, you do need to include keywords to ensure your articles are listed in search engine results, but your focus should still be the reader. Write in a conversational tone, provide helpful tips, and make sure each piece of content provides value to your readers.
Neglecting promotion
Many marketers craft and publish an article but fail to promote it. As soon as an article is published, share it on your social channels and schedule additional posts for future dates. Consider promoting fresh content on your website and sharing it in a monthly newsletter. Do everything you can to get fresh eyes on your content, not only to expand your reach but also to improve ROI.
Ignoring feedback from readers
If someone took the time to read your article and offer feedback, listen to it. By doing so, you’ll improve the content’s value. If a reader is confused by statistics, for example, consider rewriting your explanation. If a reader asks a question that’s not covered in your guide, consider adding it. Leverage feedback to your advantage.
Not updating your articles
To maximize your ROI, make updating content part of your regular routine. Start by updating your most effective content. Don’t change the URL; just update stats, add new images, or provide fresh examples. To make sure this task isn’t overlooked, make a plan to update a certain number of articles each month.
By leveraging article marketing, you can drive traffic to your site, establish authority, improve search engine rankings, and generate leads. You can maximize these results with the tips above, but if you’d like additional help, contact the experts at Contentmarketing.com.
If you have article marketing tips you’d like to share, we’d love to hear them. Leave a reply below.
