Articles are like a team of salespersons which will continue to attract attention over time and once published, their longevity factor is invaluable. Of course, an article needs several things for it to be successful including well written, well researched, a good title and compelling resource box.

But what are the exact benefits? Let’s take a look at some of them:

Targeted Traffic - By optimizing for specific long tail keywords, the traffic you attract will be targeted. They’ll find your article because they are searching for something specific. This type of traffic is also described as being pre-sold. That is, they like what you write and resonate with it therefore they find their way to your website and are extremely likely to buy.

Back Links - By submitting to the high ranking article directories you are leveraging off the power of these directories to get your article noticed. Ezine Articles is the king of directories but others including Self Growth, Search Warp, Buzzle and Idea Marketers are others worth considering. Don’t forget that you can adapt article marketing to web 2 sites as well including Squidoo, Hub Pages and Wetpaint to gain further authority and rankings.

Anchor Links - You’re able to use anchor text in your resource box via the article directories and within the article itself using web 2 sites. By using long tail phrases you’re targeting as anchor text you are giving yourself a strong chance of ranking for them thus attracting attention from the search engines.

Branding Yourself - The more articles you publish on a particular topic or niche the bigger following you will attract provided the information you give is good. This is great for branding yourself as an expert in your field and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you can build a list of loyal subscribers.

The other major benefit is your articles will get picked up by other webmasters. You only need one with a high traffic site to pick up your article and suddenly the traffic flow to your web properties can increase accordingly. Remember that while optimizing for long tail phrases is important, you need to be writing for the readers so by producing quality and informative content, your reputation will continue to grow over time.

People basically go online looking for solutions and answers. You’ve done the hard work in getting them to your article page now you want them to read your content and make it all the way down to the resource box. Why? Because that’s where your links are contained which lead to your website or offer.

One of the keys in keeping them on your article is to avoid using fluff in the first part of the article. In other words, get straight to the point and confirm with the reader that they are in the right place. The first paragraph should tell the reader what they are looking for. If you don’t then they will be looking for the back button and heading for another page elsewhere.

So the first couple of paragraphs should confirm what the title is saying. Once you have kept their interest then offer them the solution. But be careful not to sell the farm. You want to give them enough information to keep them reading because once they reach the resource box, they will be given the option to get more information.

Couple of things to remember - under no circumstances lure them to your article with a false title. Don’t create a compelling title and then talk about something totally unrelated in the article. In many respects, the title is like the first sentence. The article should pick up where the title leaves off and then expand on it.

And avoid making your point early and then simply filling the rest of the article with fluff. If you only have 300 or 350 words to write then so be it. Most article directories will accept shorter articles and that includes the big daddy of them all, Ezine Articles.

If you cannot tell in an instant what your content describes then your visitors are not going to have any idea either. The title is described as the window to your article. It;s what grabs the initial attention and very importantly, signals to the search engines what it’s about.

Visitors to your website are looking for an answer. They are fickle and if they don’t get the feeling your piece is going to answer their question then they will find an article that does. So when planning your article, give extra thought to the title.

So what does a strong title look like. Here’s an example:

“Blue widgets - The Secret To finding The Best Widgets”

Without a doubt this article is about blue widgets. The keyword in most cases should always start your title. The second part of the headline confirms that the article is going to be about widgets because we mention it again. So a visitor coming to this article is more than likely to continue reading.

The other aspect of the title is you have optimized for a couple of key phrases. The main keyword “blue widgets” as well as “best widgets” and “widgets.” To take it a step further, if someone was searching for “best blue widgets” there is every likelihood they will come across your title.

The search engines will highlight the term “blue widgets” and possibly “widgets” and “best widgets.” When a searcher types in any of those phrases or a combination then your article is in with a good chance of being found.

That’s the benefit of a strong headline. But remember, once you’ve done the hard work to get them to find you, you better make sure the content matches your title. If they don’t get that feeling within the first paragraph then all that good work to create a good title will be lost. More on content in the next article.

So when constructing your next article, think like a solutions provider and give the visitor what they want. Instead of filling your article with fluff give them the information straight up. You do this for two reasons:

1. You want to keep them reading your article so they get to where your links are located in the resource box and

2. Because they are usually on a time limit and will quickly move on if they think the information isn’t what they are looking for

So make sure your title is compelling. As far as the content is concerned, there are three specific type of articles which get attention. They are “how to”, “why” and “review articles.” If you spent your time writing these style of articles in your niche then you will do very well.

How to articles are extremely popular. You can give someone some basic information in your content and keep them interested enough to offer them even better tips by going to your landing page.

Why articles likewise are popular as people search for answers to a problem. If your title starts with “why…” and relates to what the visitor is looking for then there is a strong chance they’ll read what you have to offer.

Review articles are a literal goldmine when done right. They are usually the last step in the buying process as people just want further clarification that they are making a good purchase decision so will often look for a review of the product.

The only drawback is review articles sometimes are refused by the major article directories such as Ezine Articles if they get too commercial. You should be able to get around this most of the time with a cleverly constructed review.

So remember, think like a solutions provider in your article marketing and the chances are you’ll enjoy plenty of targeted traffic for a long time to come.

A keyword modifier can transform a broad term into one which gets traffic but no buyers to one which suddenly has someone ready to whip out a credit card and purchase whatever you’re selling.

But how do you apply a keyword modifier and what in fact is it? Again, let’s use the term dog training as an example. On it’s own, dog training gets millions of searches and is probably to hot a term for most article marketers to target.

As with the previous example, we turned dog training into a long tail phrase “book on training dogs” with a better chance of ranking for and attracting a more targeted buyer. It cut the searches down to about 600-700 thousand. That’s good and you could easily rank well for this term.

But let’s take it a step further and make this phrase even more targeted and find visitors who really need a solution to their dog training problem today. Enter the keyword modifier.

Let’s add the word “buy” to the phrase. So now you have “buy book on training dogs.” Suddenly, your search count drops another 200,000 but you can bet your bottom dollar that the person typing this phrase is pretty keen on buying a book on dog training.

What about using the word fast in your phrase? So it now becomes “book on training dogs fast.” Do you think someone typing this in is keen to find a solution quickly to their dog training problem? I think so and if you have constructed your article correctly and the content is good, then there is every chance they will make it to your resource box looking for a link to your landing page or site.

This is powerful stuff and can take your article marketing to new levels. Here is a list of common keyword modifiers:

fast
cheap
ideas
quick
buy
quickly
guide
best

The reason they are so powerful is when someone types them into a search engine like Google they are really looking for something specific and that means they are more than likely in a buying frame of mind. Or more specifically, they are more likely to complete a certain action.

So what does a long tail phrase look like. Let’s take the term dog training as an example. By itself, it will be hard to rank for because it gets almost 10 million searches. But type in a term like “book on training dogs” and suddenly you’ve cut the number of searches to about half a million but you’ve also narrowed down the chances of getting someone actually wanting to buy a book on dog training.

You have cut out a lot of the casual browsers with no specific intention in mind and are left with people serious about wanting to learn how to train a dog. Can you see the difference?

It’s a fact that most people go online today looking for an answer or solution to a specific problem they may have. When you target these people with a long term or buying phrase you are actually putting your message in front of them. It’s like casting a fishing line in the middle of a concentrated school of fish and if it’s baited right, the chances of snaring one are pretty high.

So forget the temptation to try and target a broad term with high searches and instead look for those less searched terms but which indicate the searcher intends to take a specific action. Do this often enough with a variety of long tail terms within your niche and you’ll likely never run short of visitors to your articles who will buy from you.

So if you are thinking about article marketing then let me say this…don’t just dip your toe in the water but approach and perform it with frequency and passion. Too many people will hear how effective article marketing can be and will sit down and write an article and then submit it waiting for the sales to come rolling in.

Most times it doesn’t happen. Why? Because in the majority of cases, one article won’t cut it. But write ten articles targeting ten different long tail key phrases related to your niche then you are suddenly going to start to see some results.

Ten articles submitted over a month on ten different long tail phrases means you will be targeting specific readers. If it’s dog training then you will target phrases like:

dog training collars
dog trainers
dog training advice
dog training schools
dog training books
dog training video
dog training equipment
dog training supplies
dog training courses
dog training dvd

So instead of relying on one article about dog training and hoping to get a response, you now have ten articles attracting several aspects of dog training meaning a flow of traffic from each one adds up to a bigger flow over all. Can you see how powerful this is? It’s like sending ten salespersons out on a mission instead of relying on one.

If you are just starting a new niche try this:

1. Find ten key phrases related to your niche without a lot of competition.

2. Write an article around each of the key phrases.

3. Submit one a day to these article directories:

http://ezinearticles.com
http://searchwarp.com
http://www.selfgrowth.com
http://www.zimbio.com
http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.amazines.com

4. Write a different title for each directory you submit to.

5. After ten days, back off to two articles a week and assess it after a month.

So in a forty day period, you will have 18 articles circulating on the web promoting your niche. Provided the articles are constructed correctly then you will be seeing good results. Fill in the opt in box above to receive expert free tips on how to construct your articles.

But more importantly, a title needs to also reflect what the article is about and unless you include your targeted keyword, then you’ll have little chance of firstly attracting search attention and secondly, getting the reader to go beyond reading your title.

So let’s take a look at an example of a good title. If your article is about dog training dvd then you better make sure this is included in the heading. It’s your main keyword and what the article is about.

Search engines will immediately be able to tell what your piece is about simply by reading your title. So here is an example of how you would construct it:

“How To Find The Best Dog Training DVD On The Market”

Now that’s a fair title but there is still plenty of room for improvement. What about this:

“Dog Training DVD - Best DVD Tips For Dog Training”

Can you see what we’ve done. We’ve double dipped a little. The term “dog training dvd” is in the title and mentioned first which is important. But we have further emphasized it by mentioned dvd and dog training again in the follow up. So there is little doubt about what this article is about.

This is a strong article marketing tip but be careful you don’t go overboard with it. Directories such as Ezine Articles don’t like you mentioning the key phrase in the title twice and you can usually get around it by splitting it up the second time around. Or you can simply mention it one and a half times.

But unless you construct an article correctly then your efforts will be wasted. While information is the reason people will find your article you still have to “bait” them for your article to be found. In other words, correctly optimizing your article is vital if you expect to get people to find it.

You may write a great piece on bamboo but writing it in a broad sense, that is, without targeting a specific phrase related to the topic then you’ll find it hard to rank for your content. For example, just writing an article on bamboo is okay but with almost 50 million searches, it would be impossible to rank for the term in the search engines.

However, if you decided to go for a key phrase within the bamboo topic such as bamboo sheets, bamboo blinds or bamboo clothing then you are getting into an area where not only can you rank for these terms much easier, but the traffic you get will be much more targeted.

Each one of these key phrases has 500,000 searches or less and compared to bamboo which has nearly 50 million, you have a greater chance of your article being found.

Targeted traffic means people are looking for a specific item. If someone is searching for bamboo clothing then that’s what they are looking for. They are also more likely to be in a buying frame of mind. If they type in bamboo, then it’s a fair bet they are not really sure about what they are searching for and could simply be browsing.

Can you see the benefit of targeting less searched but more targeted key phrases? So when sitting down to write an article for directory submission, spend at least a few minutes isolating the keyword you want to target because in the long run, it’s more than likely your article will be ranking for that term and being found more often than if you simply targeted a highly searched broad phrase.

Our goal is to help you get the most of of the content you write nad publish on the Internet.