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Author: Steve Shaw

Article Marketing: What If I Want To Write An Article Series?

If you have a great deal of knowledge on a topic, it's inevitable that you'll eventually get the urge to write an article series. Writing an article series when you're doing article marketing is fine, but you need to be careful and keep the following guidelines in mind.

For most folks the natural temptation is scream at the reader, "I have an article series!" by putting "Part 1", "Part 2", etc in the title, but with article marketing having a title in parts is a no-no!

Each article must be able to stand on its own, because it's not a given that someone who sees your "Part 6" will necessarily also be exposed to your Parts 1-5. Having an article with a part listed in the title decreases your chances of getting published and minimizes the likelihood of your article being read.

Why does having Part 1, Part 2, etc in the title decrease your chances of being published?

Well, imagine if you're an ezine editor who is looking for a top notch article to show her readers. She finds your article, and it's exactly what she is looking for. There is only one problem--your article title indicates that this is part 5 of a 10 part series.

If an ezine editor included your "Part 5" article in her ezine, likely she would have readers wondering, "This is Part 5--where are parts 1-4? Did I miss something?"

Why is an article written in parts less likely to be read?

Imagine if you go to the movies and one of the options is to see Part 3 of a movie. If you hadn't seen the first two films in that series, you would likely think, "Hmmm, I don't think I'll understand what Part 3 is talking about since I haven't seen Parts 1 and 2."

By the same token, jumping straight into the middle of an article series is a little disorienting for readers. They can be wondering, "Is it okay to just read Part 4? It sounds like I should be reading the other parts first."

And so they skip reading your article.

So, what should you do if you're itching to write an article series?

Be sure that each title can stand alone (do not put Part 1, Part 2, etc in the title).

If you want to unite your titles, you can do so in a more subtle way. For instance, if your article is about holiday baking tips, you can make titles like this:

Holiday Baking Tips: Christmas Cookies

Holiday Baking Tips: Festive Party Cakes

Holiday Baking Tips: Homemade Food Gifts

If any one of these articles were found on its own, the reader wouldn't know that the article was part of a series. However, if they saw all the articles together, they would know that they were related to one another.

The question that most authors ask me is-- "How do I get people to read all the parts of my series?"

For the reasons I went over earlier, article marketing is not a medium where a series of articles draws readers into reading more of your work. It's not a given that they will have access to all the articles in your series (you never now what site will pick up your article or where the reader will find your article), so it's kind of hard to lure folks into reading things that they need to hunt down and search for.

Still, having an article series creates a unique marketing opportunity if you get creative with your content.

Suggestions for Marketing an Article Series:

*You could create a page on your website where you give links to all of the articles in your series. Then, in your resource box you could say, "To see the other 9 articles in this series, go to => [and give the URL of the page that houses the links to your entire series]."

OR...

*You could re-write your articles and publish them on your own website, then your resource box could direct readers to see the rest of the series at your site.

OR...

*You could compile all the articles in your series into an e-book that people could download at your site. That would be a great incentive to click through: "Grab the free e-book at my site!"

Writing an article series requires some subtlety when you're doing article marketing, but there's no reason why you can't give into the urge now and then. If you craft your titles and get creative in the way you use your series, a grouping of articles on the same topic can effectively lure readers to your site!

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