To promote your micro-entrepreneurial business, you can publish articles with links to whatever your business offers (product or service). The marketing power your micro-entrepreneurial business can get from even a single article can be amazing. Article marketing should definitely be a part of any business-building strategy.
How article writing works to market your business
An article can market almost anything. Whether you’re looking to get visitors to a website, a blog, a video, or even an auction listing, as long as it has a link, it can work in the context of an article. In article marketing, the article you write is a way to get readers to begin a journey by linking to what you offer.
By the way, videos are all the rage, although article marketing is still strong. So after testing the marketing waters with a few articles, you might want to add videos to your marketing portfolio.
Even though the article’s main purpose is to get people to link to your online platform, the content must still have value. You want potential customers to see some value in reading the article and linking to your platform.
Be persistent and write a marketing article every week. Many businesses have been able to do this and add thousands to their bottom line.
Your article marketing can take a couple different forms:
Paid article marketing: Even if you’re getting paid for the article, you can still do article marketing. Of course, you have to do it tactfully so that the site paying you for your article doesn’t get annoyed that your purpose was purely marketing (when it should be 100 percent content).
Free article marketing: You can also build up your distribution list for your articles and spread your articles across cyberspace.
Imagine if you had an article that gets published on 10, 20, or 30 sites. It can translate into thousands of people viewing and maybe hundreds clicking on your links to view what you have to offer.
Where to send your marketing article
Any website or blog that reports, writes, or covers your topic is a candidate for your articles, even if the site isn’t obvious about accepting articles. If you have valuable content (your article) and the site needs content, you have an opportunity.
Content is king on the Internet, which means more marketing potential for you. Here are some places to consider both when looking for places to post your article:
Specialized search engines: Search for sites that can use your content with specialized search engines where possible or available. Many specialized search engines only search a particular topic. You can find them at places such as Search Engine Guide and Search Engine Colossus.
Meta-search engines: Meta-search engines cast a wider net across many areas compared to the search engines in the previous bullet. A meta-search engine does a single search simultaneously across many search engines. A good example is Dogpile, which uses Google, Yahoo, and a batch of other search engines in a single search and gives you the results.
Specialized directories: A specialized directory is a website that has gathered an extensive database or collection of organizations, individuals, or other entities or resources in a particular way. Some directories simulate Yellow Pages and others list data according to industries or specific interests. To look for companies in any niche or geographic area, use Super Pages.
Similar sites: This type of site will help you find sites that are similar in content. Say you wrote an article on wellness at a wellness site and you want to find similar sites. This site allows you do so. Another great site is moreofit that does the same thing.
Article databases: You can place your articles at these sites, also called article databanks, and have access to many sites that would run your articles in their blog or website. Some to consider include
Technorati: This site is the most active database of blogs. Blogs constantly need content, so find the active ones and then ask about getting your content there (in the form of guest blogging).
Social media sites: Sites such as Squidoo and Facebook are perfect for posting your articles because they have lots of traffic, and a good article can generate a lot of attention.
Link to your micro-entrepreneurial business’ products or services
With article marketing, you provide the content to generate interest and traffic to your website or blog where prospective customers can then click on a link so they can view your services or products.
If you’re selling a low-cost item, the link can be to a direct sales page where they can buy immediately. If you’re selling a higher-cost item or you provide a more complicated transaction (such as signing a membership or other continuity program), then the link can go to a page that provides more details.
No matter what you’re selling, you can use links to dovetail with article marketing and increase your profits. Here are some ways you can make money with article marketing:
You can provide links to what you directly profit from, such as your products and/or services.
You can sell a Kindle book (or other book or product) at Amazon. Other vendors (such as Barnes & Noble) do similar offerings.
You can build your list of subscribers. They become prospects for what you’re later selling.
You can sell digital products (such as ebooks, reports, or audio programs) at places such as e-junkie and Payloadz).
You can join affiliate products with places such as Clickbank and Commission Junction.
You can create videos and link to them at your YouTube channel.
Be creative and research to see what else you can sell by having people click on a link.