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Part 4b - Article Marketing - By the Numbers

What follows are the main steps you will take to launch and sustain your article marketing program. First, I'll outline the steps for you. Then we'll cover each step in detail.

The 7 steps to article marketing:

1. Choose a topic based on your list of key phrases, your business model, etc.
2. Choose a title for your article.
3. Write the article and format it for web readers.
4. Write the author's note with call-to-action and hyperlink.
5. Review and proofread the article.
6. Publish the article through distribution websites.
7. Repeat the process over time, as much as possible.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Wow, those are a lot of steps. How could I possibly do all that once a week?"

Don't worry. It looks like more work than it is. I've broken the process down to help you understand it. But in time, you'll be able to do most of these steps quickly and efficiently. For instance, maybe you're the kind of person who proofreads while you write. This will greatly reduce the time you spend on Step 6.

Also keep in mind that these are short, easy reads we are talking about here. Aim for 300 - 500 words per article. That's about the length of the page you're reading now, so you can see these won't be lengthy documents. Remember, people will be reading your articles online. So they should be helpful and informative, but brief.

You can also develop articles from "recycled" material, making the task even easier. For example, you could take one of your blog posts and expand it, add a few bullet points and presto -- it's an article ready for submission. Or maybe you could compile five or six shorter blog posts into a single article for distribution.

All the steps I've listed above are necessary, but not all steps will require the same amount of time. You'll be better at some steps than others, and that's fine. The important thing is that you understand the process from start to finish, practice it, and become proficient at it.

Let me give you my own example. Here's a breakdown of how much time I spend on each step listed above, on average. Granted, I've been doing this for a while. But it goes to show what you can do with practice, repetition and dilligence.

1. Choose a topic for my article. 5 minutes
2. Choose a working title for the article. 10 minutes
3. Write the article. 1 hour
4. Write the author's note with call-to-action and hyperlink. 5 minutes
5. Review and proofread the article. 10 minutes
6. Publish the article through multiple channels. 30 minutes

Total time spent creating and publishing an article. 2 hours

Based on the above, it takes me an average of two hours to write and publish one article through multiple channels. That's two hours per week spent on the article marketing, which has proven to be one of my most effective marketing techniques online. A small price to pay!

So now that you have a basic understanding of article marketing, let's get into the "guts" of the process. In the pages that follow, we will examine the process of publishing articles online, one step at a time.

Article Marketing Step #1 - Choose a Topic

This part of the process should be quick and easy. You simply have to chose an article topic that is related to your company (and products / services) in some way. But don't limit your options here. You article doesn't have to be solely about your products or services -- it can be loosely related.

For instance, let's say I am the marketing manager for a family-friendly resort of some kind. That doesn't mean I have to write articles about my resort. Those would come off like brochures, anyway. Instead, I could write helpful tips on traveling with the family, or I could writer informational pieces on the city or country where my resort was located. I could then tie either of these topics back to my resort.

Imagine that the resort I work at is located in some part of Mexico -- let's make up a fictional place called Chinchariyo. Imagine all of the articles I could write and distribute by combining the topic of family vacations with the beautiful destination spot of Chinchariyo.

My first article might be: "Ten Reasons to Vacation in Mexico"

Now you can see how easy the article would be to create. You simply write an introduction, list the ten reasons, add a conclusion and you're done! You could probably create this article in less than 30 minutes.

If you've been publishing content to your blog on a regular basis, the process of creating articles will be even easier. To come up with topic ideas, you would simply ask yourself the following questions:

• What have I blogged about this week?
• What do my blog posts have in common?
• Is there a particular blog post I could easily expand on?
• Is there a series of blog posts I could easily compile into one article?
• What would I enjoy teaching to others?
• What would my readers / prospective customers find truly helpful?

Keep your topic reader-oriented. Inform them. Help them. Enlighten them. Here are some fill-in-the-blank exercises to get you into the right mindset:

• I'm going to teach you how to _________ .
• I'm going to show you 10 ways to ____________ .
• I'm going to explain the importance of ____________ .