How Article Marketing Can Extend Your Reach

Most authors don't have a clue. They spend days, weeks and sometimes even months preparing an article for their website or blog, only to find it sitting weeks later with nary a read. That's a tragedy. Worse yet, they don't know how to get it in front of the people who can benefit from the information.

Imagine for a moment that you're that author. You've just finished a piece that could help thousands if not millions of people solve an insidious problem overnight, if only they had access to your article. Not only is it frustrating not knowing how to reach these people, but it can be economically devastating if you're business depends on them purchasing your solution. What's a businessperson to do?

Fortunately there are thousands of ezines, newsletters and website owners who are clamoring to share your article with their readers. They won't pay you for the rights to publish it, nor will you have to pay them to expose your article to their readers. The Internet has created the perfect symbiotic relationship for authors and publishers, but unfortunately, many authors don't know this marketing avenue exists.

To start, it's important to understand how the process works for both publishers and authors. Let's start with the authors.

Authors want exposure. They want as many readers, dare I call them potential customers and clients, to read their solution to a problem that their product or service solves. That solution may be relief from alopecia or engine knock. It could be a cure for a disease or a book about child rearing. They are looking for a way to demonstrate their expertise and promote their products and services to as many people as possible. This is where the publishers come in.

On the other hand, you have Internet publishers. The publishers are owners of websites, blogs, newsletters, ezines and news sites that draw thousands of people to their site every day. They want to build a loyal following of subscribers who will come back to their site time and time again. In order to do this they need lots and lots of fresh, new content. This is where the authors come in.

It is still a little know fact that there are thousands of websites on the Internet that earn money strictly through selling advertising. The owners of these websites are constantly looking for new material to share with their readers. They know that good content draws people to their website. They also know that the more people who come to their site, the more money they're going to earn on advertising. Problem is, the publishers are not capable of creating new content at the rate their readers devour it. They need you, just as much as you need them. Here's how the process works.

As an author, the key to getting your article picked-up by publishers on the Internet is to write good content. Once you've done that, you'll have to persuade the publisher that your article is worthy of their time and attention. Each publisher has their own criteria as to what they will publish. If their website is about marketing for example, those are the kinds of articles they're likely to publish.

It's also very important that your article is formatted properly for each publication. Some publishers are looking for articles of 400 words while others are looking for 750 words or more. Your title must be in title text and your article should be error free. Publishers will not invest the time to clean up your work.

Once you know what the publisher is looking for, you can submit your article for their consideration. There are literally thousands of publishers looking for articles to post, so you shouldn't have a problem finding them.

Best of all, when you submit your article to an article submission site, the publisher allows you to promote your business in the author block. This is a block of text that shows up under each article where you can tell the reader about yourself and provide a link back to your website.

Fortunately, there are services that will take your article and upload it to multiple websites at the same time. They can easily help you get your article submitted to thousands of websites with little or no effort. Using one of these services, you can easily have your article published on 3,000 websites in a matter of weeks. Do a Google search for "article submission sites," and look for the publications that are likely to accept your article.

This is the magic of article marketing and the key to getting your content exposed to the masses quickly.