A great strategy to find potential clients is to do article marketing.
But most people fail when it comes to article marketing because they don’t have
the “up front” pieces in place before they get started. An effective article
marketing strategy starts long before the article is written. To get started,
you’ll need:
1.
A
squeeze page, landing page or an opt-in page on your website; basically a place
where you can send people after they’ve read your article and have decided that
they want “more”
2.
An
email-capture mechanism in the shape of an opt-in form of some sort
One of the most important things that you’ll
really need to think about is your landing page. Your landing page on your
website is all about defining the “Why”.The first question you need to be able to answer is
“Why would someone want to come to your landing page on your website?”To be
successful, you’ll need to define the number one reason why someone would come
to your website in the first place.This could be because you have a specific
piece of information you’re offering. It could be because you show them “how”
to do something.It could also be anything that your particular audience finds
valuable.
Next, you’ll want to define the second reason.Then the third, fourth,
and so on.Come up with at least 5 solid reasons why someone would want to come
to your page and sign up for your list. What is it that you can teach them or
show them? These are going to be the topics and ideas for your first articles.
When doing this you’ll want to think of your article as a bite of the
bigger juicy part of your website. For example, let’s say you’re giving away a
report on “How to Sell Your House Yourself.”
Here are a handful of reasons why someone might want that report:
·
To learn
how to price the home
·
To
figure out the value of the home
·
To learn
how to write good classified ads
·
To learn
how to advertise on the Internet
·
To learn
the best techniques for negotiating with buyers
There are a bunch of different reasons, but these 5 ideas would get you
started. In this example, these 5 ideas would become your 5 core articles.
Next, you need to research your articles. And one of the very best tools
to help you do this is the “Google Keyword Tool”. In the Google Keyword Tool, you want to enter those 5 ideas to find
the most popular search terms that someone’s using in connection with those 5
reasons.
For example, you might find that “decide my home’s value” might have 10
times as much traffic or search volume as “what is my house worth” or vice
versa.
In a nutshell, you
want to find out what the most popular keyword searches are that are at least 3
words long, for those 5 ideas. Not so much a two word keyword search, you
really want a three word keyword search if it is at all possible.
Well, the real answer here is there is no magic search number! It’s not
an exact science. I see people all the time that try to come up with some
creative reasoning for one number over another; things like “Well, keyword
phrase number one has 1300 searches, but keyword phrase number 2 has 2700.
Just try to remember that it’s not that complicated.Keep it simple and
look for the most popular three word keyword phrases. The reason you want three
words, or even longer depending on how complicated or how much traffic a
particular keyword is getting, is because you want it to be focused and targeted.
Make a note of what those most popular keyword searches are.
Going back to our real estate example, which happens to be a very
competitive niche, it’s going to be next to impossible for your article to show
up anywhere for just the phrase “real estate.” There’s simply too much
competition. That’s why you want to use the longer tailed keywords (over 3
words). Not only are you targeting what people are searching on, you’re also
cutting out a lot of the competition at the same time.
Next, let’s talk a little more about your
landing page and website and how to create your marketing “slippery slope”. It’s important to keep in mind that what
you’re trying to do with your article marketing strategy, from start to finish,
is to create a slippery slope all the way from the headline or title of your
article, straight through to your website.
As you create this “slippery slope”, you’re driving everything to your
website. This assumes that your website is relevant to those keyword searches
as well. Once you’ve determined why
someone would want to “opt-in” on your website or landing page, and you’ve done
your keyword research, now it’s time to actually get started writing your
article.
And now I invite you
to download a Free Special Report with more sales tips and techniques by
visiting Zero Stress Selling and get
started today with attracting more clients into your business.
This guest post is by Sue Kasson.
Sue has a 20+ year sales and sales management background with several Fortune 500 companies and, in the last 11 years, has trained and coached hundreds of people to help them get more clients and sell more of their products and services. She is also the author of two books.
