Diamond Author
Article marketing is a simple, low cost, low risk, proven strategy for promoting your business in the medium-term. It requires no special equipment and no special skills. Yet success eludes most authors, but with some elementary planning the results can be very different.
When an author comes to me and tells me that promoting their business by writing articles does not work, I ask them two questions:
# 1. What is your goal?
# 2. How many articles have you written?
The number 1 reason why an article marketing campaign does not work is simply because the person did not submit enough articles on a consistent basis. Article marketing is not about submitting a handful of articles and then waiting to see if it works. If you do that you will not get the result you desire.
All too often, I hear the story repeated that a well known on-line marketer has claimed great success from writing as few as half a dozen articles each of a mere 250 words. That is not the experience of most authors. A successful article marketing campaign requires the consistent writing and submission of quality articles over several months. Article marketing is a long term strategy. It is extremely effective and the results are reliable.
Promoting your business by writing articles may still be in its infancy, but the directories continue to raise their standards. A few years ago it was the norm for directories to accept short articles. However, many directories no longer accept articles of fewer than 550 words. At least one directory has a minimum requirement of 700 words. They have done this to raise the standard of articles submitted to them. Some directories will accept articles of as few as 250 words, but those that do so reject many more short articles than longer articles.
I also often hear it said that it is possible to write five 250 word articles in less than an hour. Some authors may be able to do that, but for most of us it takes longer especially now that more and more directories require your article to be at least 550 words. That is why you must set realistic goals. If you can only devote an hour a day to your article marketing campaign, and each 550 word article takes you an hour then it would be unrealistic to try to do more in the time available.
You must cultivate these characteristics if you want to have a successful article marketing campaign:
1. Persistence - you must submit sufficient articles every month. How many is "sufficient" depends on your goals and your niche. As a minimum, you should aim to submit 10 to 15 articles every month.
2. Consistency - you must consistently submit quality articles, not do it in fits and starts. You will achieve better results by submitting articles every few days than if you save them up and submit them all at the same time. Consistently writing and articles will also improve your writing skills.
3. Not be a quitter - repeatedly doing one simple thing consistently over a span of time can produce a great result in several months time.
The power of article marketing is cumulative. If you submit 10 to 15 articles every month for a year, you will be astounded at your results and your persistence and consistency will pay great dividends.
About this Author
Robert S. Reddin is a freelance writer and publisher based in the UK and who spends part of each year in South East Asia. If you write articles, you can learn how to get them published here.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Reddin
