In this Article:

1. What is Article Writing for 2011?
2. How to write an article with Content Marketing strategies in mind
3. SEO Article Writing Tips to Attract your Customer at the right moment

There are many online marketing business owners and even offline businesses wondering how Article Marketing can work with their company. And, even more important, is it a waste of time with all the Google changes. Is this source of free traffic to your site a tactic still worth considering when marketing your business? Or is it time to put SEO Article Writing on the shelf?

These are all valid questions when you are managing your time and focusing your marketing efforts. There is no reason to waste your time writing something that isn’t effective. So let’s consider for a moment what is article writing.

What is Article Writing for 2011?

In the world of marketing it’s important to remember that article writing is not a new idea.  The first magazine published in the U.S. was back in 1741 and it covered proceedings of the colonial government as well as discussing topics of moral, political and historical interests of the day. The Gentleman’s Magazine hit the crowd in England 10 years earlier in 1731. And the first American daily newspaper went into circulation in 1793 with The Pennsylvania Evening Post. Fast forward about 100 years and the Chicago Times publicizes its motto ”It is a newspaper’s duty to print the news and raise hell.”

All of these publications contained articles meant to entertain, educate, inspire, and move people into action.

So what is article writing in the age of the internet?

It’s meant to entertain, educate, inspire, and move people into action. But it is also used to establish companies as experts in their field, to gain the trust of customers, and often takes the place of the traditional salespeople from the pre-www (world wide web) era.

How to Write an Article with Content Marketing Strategies in Mind

It is this last point for Article Marketing that becomes crucial for companies operating in the 21^st century. You may have a smaller sales force, or no sales force at all. In the past, it was through salespeople that many companies got their message out.

Office visits were made within a territory at which time the sales force could educate prospects about their products and services, answer any questions that they may have, close the deal, and then be available to follow questions and servicing of the account.

But what happens when there is no sales team? How does your potential customer get information about your company, establish a relationship with your company, get their questions answered, and then feel comfortable enough with you and your product to make a purchase, join your community, vote, make a donation…whatever your end goal is?

The answer is through content. And this content often is in the form of article writing.

What many companies need to learn is how to write an article with content marketing goals in mind so that the information is relevant to your prospect at each stage of the sales cycle. This takes some thought and planning.

SEO Article Writing Tips to Attract your Customer at the right moment

While there are specific SEO elements to your Article writing that you must consider, such as placing your keywords and phrases in the title; at the beginning, middle and end of the article; and with certain density, I’m not going to talk about that here.

The SEO Article Writing Tips that I would like to touch upon require you to think a little bigger and focus on the purpose of the article that you are writing.

There are many that will say that you need to focus on those “buying keywords” so that you capture your prospect’s attention at the point that they are ready to purchase a product. And yes, this is true.

However, what is also important depending on your product, service and length of the sales cycle is to be there for your potential customer when they are first inquiring about the product, getting their questions answers, or seeking out information to their problems.

You want to be the company or website that they find when they are in these initial stages as well because that’s the point that you are establishing rapport. That’s when your “salesperson” SEO Article Writing is present and ready to guide them through your sales funnel.

As you consider SEO Article Writing tips that cover which keywords to use and where to place them in your article for maximum effectiveness, also consider which keywords match up to your customer’s need at each point of your sales cycle.

Use information gathering keywords at the beginning of the cycle, use comparison keywords in the middle, and use those buying keywords in your article writing at the end. At each stage of this SEO Article writing you should have a clear call to action that lead them to the next stage of the cycle and to the end of the cycle for those fast learners or impulse buys.

So while many SEO Article writing tips focus on the mechanics for great article marketing, there is also a strategic element to the article marketing process that takes a look at the larger picture and creates content at various levels with various purposes.

I hope that helps as you wonder what is article writing, how to write an article, and gather your SEO article writing tips.

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Until next time….

Dawn Damico

Your Research Diva