Article Marketing for Small Business Owners

As a small business owner, article marketing may be a good approach to establishing yourself as an expert and spreading the word about your business.

Whether you write the articles yourself or have them ghostwritten by a professional web writer, following are a few thoughts you might want to consider:

- Mechanics- Consider writing pieces between 400 and 700 words. That works for search engines as well as reading weary readers.

Write while roaming in the head of your prospect. What words do they use when they search for your product or service?

If you're writing about exercise equipment does your prospect search for treadmills, weight machines, or exercise equipment? Is your business localized so that prospects search for Chicago treadmills?

Then, plug your words into a keyword tool (like free keywords by keyword tracker) to see number of searches. Compile a list of about 10 words and use them naturally in your copy. That way the article is search engine optimized.

- Web Ready- Most article sites "clean" the copy to some degree. This means it will look like you did it in Notepad- no frills like bullet points, curly quotes or text boxes.

However, you can still block the copy with short paragraphs, subheads throughout and lists where possible. This focuses the reader. And since web readers scan, put your main ideas in the beginning of the blocks.

- Headlines- Use a keyword as a headline. In fact, put as many keywords in your headline as possible. If it reads right, put them in the beginning. For example, if you're writing about the best messenger services in Chicago, make the headline read- Chicago Messenger Services Ranked.

- Author's box- Article distribution services usually allow a hyperlink or brief html code in the author's information box. Place your site and/or email there. That way no matter where the article ends up on the internet, it will point toward one place- you.

- Article Distribution- You can place your article on EzineArticles for free. When you sign in, you can see how many times it was forwarded to someone and how many times readers clicked through your links.

If you're ok with spending some money, a site like Article Marketer may be good for you. For about thirty dollars per month, they'll distribute it to article sites all over the internet. You'll get lots of exposure that way.

Many outlets for your pieces exist on the internet. Do some research to discover the best ones for your business.

In addition, you can post the articles on your site further exposing your expertise to your prospects.