I know you've heard me talk about article marketing before but I'm going to hit on it one more time for those of you who weren't paying close attention or just started reading the blog.
There are two big reasons to submit articles. The first is to get people directly to your site and the second is to get better search engine rankings. Search engines love links to your site and every single article you publish has at least one link to your site (and if it only has one you need to find a way to add another). If you're submitting your article to more than one site, each one gives you a better rating at Google and all the other search engines.
I'm going to share a little story that has to do with linking and search engines even though it has nothing to do with an article. I have an article-writing story as well but let's save that one for another time because this one is just a whole lot more fun.
Way back when, back when buffalo roamed the plains--
maybe not that far back--it started around 2004 and finished up in 2005. I had a client named Deanna Davis. She was one of the best business coaches around and I talked about her a couple of times in my blog. Of course I put in a link to her site.
Then Deanna became my coach and I mentioned her again--another link to her site.
Then she wrote a book--not only another link to her site but a link to buy her book from Amazon.
I didn't set out to have that many links to her on my blog--it just worked out that way.
Fast forward a couple of months and I get a phone call from a complete stranger. He had read Deanna's book and wanted to know if she'd written any others so he Googled her name and the first listing was my blog! My blog! The link to my blog was above Deanna's site!
There's more. The man who called read a couple of my blog posts and said to himself, "Self, I've never heard of a Virtual Assistant before. It sounds interesting, though, so I'm going to go look at her website." He did. Once he'd looked around there for a little while he called me and said something like, "I read your blog and then looked around on your site. I'd never heard of a Virtual Assistant before but as soon as I saw what you do for people, I knew you were exactly the person I need to help me with my new business."
From links to a client in a few easy steps.
No, this doesn't happen to everyone and it doesn't happen to me every day, either, but that one client went from 10 hours a month to between 65 and 85 hours a month for over 3 years. All that due to a few links on my blog.
Links count.
Articles aren't that tough to write:
- "Talk" to your audience
- Don't self-promote
- Keep it sweet and simple
- Submit to the right location
Sure, there are a few other good guidelines but this has gone on long enough for now. Keep watching; I'll be posting more about article marketing. It really is that important.
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