|
That is a fabulous question, and one thing I've noticed is that people who are using article marketing to promote their product based websites encounter certain unique challenges in writing the types of non-promotional articles that quality publishes are looking for.
First off, let's clarify what a "product based website" is.
A product based website is any website that is used primarily to sell particular pieces of merchandise. For example, let's say your website is a sales site devoted to baby clothes. That is a product based website. So is a website that is all product information and sales pages for particular brands of vitamins, or watches, or gourmet chocolates or umbrellas.
You get the idea–if you're using article marketing to try to drive traffic back to a website that is sales oriented and that is comprised of product information and actual sales pages ("Click here to buy such and such!"), then you have yourself a product based website, and you have to be creative when writing articles to use for article marketing.
Why does having a product based website create unique challenges for a writer?
Well, there is something in us that thinks, "Hey, this is a no-brainer. If my website is trying to sell Brand XYZ of chocolate, then naturally I should write articles trying to tell people why they should buy Brand XYZ of chocolate, right?"
Nope. That is not the way it works. Do you know why?
Because when we're doing article marketing, we need to balance 1) what will bring value to our target readers with 2) what quality publishers want to publish.
You see, you can write as many articles about your own products as you like and submit them to as many publishers as you like, but if a publisher has a policy that they only publish educational articles (and this is the way most quality publishers work) and that they will not publish articles that are promotional (i.e. articles that look to be written specifically to promote the author's own products, website, affiliate products or business), then all of your work will be for naught.
Your articles should be informational/educational only, and your resource box (the author bio area underneath the article) only can be used to link to and provide information about your site.
So what are you supposed to do if you can't write about your products in your article body?
How can a writer who has a product based website write articles that will be welcomed by quality publishers, bring value to his target market, and inspire readers to click through to his website?
Sounds like a tall order, but it can be done my friend, with a little creativity.
Let's go back to our fictional website owner whose site is sales pages for Brand XYZ of gourmet chocolate. She knows she can't write about the gourmet chocolate she's selling at her website–that would be a no-no. What should she write about for her article marketing campaign? Hmmm…
Here are some ideas (and I'm putting these ideas in the form of article titles):
- "5 Ways You Can Tell If The Chocolate You're Eating Is High Quality"
- "What is the difference between Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, and Semi-sweet Chocolate?"
- "The Health Benefits Of Eating Chocolate"
- "3 Restaurant Inspired Chocolate Dessert Recipes Made From Chocolate Bars"
- "The History Of Chocolate"
- "Is White Chocolate Really Chocolate?"
I could go on and on brainstorming topics for articles that will be of interest to our chocolate bar sales person's target market, make readers in the mood to buy chocolate, and that will also be seen as educational and valuable from a publisher's perspective.
Now, it goes without saying that as the owner of this gourmet chocolate website is writing the above articles that she cannot mention her own business, website, products or affiliate products within her article. She cannot allude to or make reference to XYZ brand of chocolates in any way, shape, or fashion in her article.
She knows that her well crafted resource box (rather than her article) is the appropriate place to talk about herself, her business, and her website.
Like every website owner that is using article marketing as part of their marketing campaign, she has had to take off her "I'm a sales person for XYZ Chocolates" hat, and replace it with a more subtle "I'm an expert on chocolate" hat.
Do you see the difference between presenting yourself as a sales person for a particular product and presenting yourself as an expert in your niche?
Writing as an expert in your niche (whether it be chocolate, vitamins, umbrellas, or baby clothes) has many benefits, and I'm sure once you contemplate these perks you'll never want to write a promotional, advertisement-type article about your own products again!
Writing as an expert is your niche (rather than about the particular product that you're selling) is much more subtle, much more reader and publisher friendly.
Readers looking at articles are not interested in an article that looks like an advertisement for your product. Immediately, once a reader senses that you're trying to sell them something, they put their guard up and lose interest in your article–and that is not what you're going for!
The object when you're creating your article is to:
- Come across like you know what you're talking about
- Come across as unbiased, like you have nothing to gain from providing the helpful article
- Put the reader at ease and heighten their curiosity about whatever your topic is
Yes, this is much more subtle than writing an article that screams, "Buy my product!", but it's also much more effective at accomplishing your goals.
Let's look back at the main reasons why you started article marketing in the first place and how writing as an expert rather than a sales person helps you reach these goals:
- To build inbound links to your website. The inbound links will improve your search engine ranking, which will then, in turn bring you even more traffic. How do you build inbound links through article marketing? You receive a backlink from every publisher who decides to pick up your article, publish it on his website, and share it with his readers. As we said before, quality publishers want educational articles that are not in any way an advertisement for your products, business or website. When your write as an expert in your niche (rather than as a sales person), you create articles that publishers want to publish, and you increase your inbound links!
- To get the word out about your website, bringing widespread exposure and an increase in long term targeted traffic. When I say "get the word out about your website" I am referring to your well-crafted resource box that sits below your educational, non-promotional article.
- To establish yourself as experts in your niche. When a reader develops a craving for a high quality chocolate bar after reading your helpful article, who do you think he will turn to for more information? He will likely turn to the person who he has confidence in, the person who has established herself as an expert on the topic. Also, let's say someone is actually interested in your particular product, and he does a Google search of your business name (or your website name, or product name) to do a little background research. Well, if you've been doing article marketing, when they search for your name a list of your articles will come up, and they will get a great idea of your expertise in your field. This builds customer confidence and makes it more likely that they will trust you enough to purchase from you.
So, it's not that owners of product based websites have to write articles differently than owners of service based or information based websites, it's just that product based websites seem to tempt us into writing an article that says "Buy my product!"
It's completely normal if you feel that urge, but RESIST!
To drive traffic to your website with article marketing you need to think creatively, think like an expert in your niche rather than a sales person, and think about providing educational articles that potential customers will value and that quality publishers are seeking.
Questions for you–
Are any of you writing articles to market your product based website? Do you have any special tips for writing non-promotional articles that you've picked up along the way?
Also, if your mind is drawing a blank for article topics that are non-promotional for your product based website, chime in in the comments, let us know the topic of your website, and all of us can try to help you brainstorm!
Posted: Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 12:00 am
none
Comments:
View Trackback RSS
« What’s the deal with that “Bookmark” icon I see below my articles? New Feature Upgrades for SubmitYOURArticle.com! »
Leave a Reply
|
Subscribe via RSS
May 9th, 2008 at 1:12 am
My product is an e-book — Banish the Blahs and Be Happy! 28 ways to beat the blues
Question — how can I possibly write a book on dealing with attitude, down days, etc without appearing to be pushing my book in the resource area?
Also, I have other lenses to build — that are informative about hemi-facial spasm, legal blindness, etc that do not necessarily complement my book, but I would like to add my book to the resource area — is that legit? Or in that case, should the reader see that information only on my bio?
May 9th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Hi Joan
Just to be clear, the post refers to the article body only, rather than the resource box - the resource box is indeed where you have the opportunity for a short promotional blurb about your book. You just ensure you don’t do this in the article body itself.
So, you’d first identify the target market for your niche, and then write an article so that your target market might find it in a search engine.
I’m guessing the target market for the book you mention would be people with depression, so you’d write an article on that topic.
To be honest though, the book itself presents you with a ‘content opportunity’, and likely multiple times over - just rework some of the content from the book and present it in an article (eg. ‘Five Ways To Beat Depression’), and then in the resource box say something like “Article was excerpted from my ebook ‘[your ebook title]’, by Joan [your last name]. For more powerful ways to overcome your depression, go to [your url]”.
You’d set up an email capture page at the URL you’re linking to, and sell your ebook via follow up email messages.
You could produce several articles using this technique.
Where you mention other areas you’d like to write articles about, you could do this, but it’s value would be more limited. For example, people finding your article about hemi-facial spasm on the search engines would be interested in that topic, rather than depression, and so would be less likely to click-through for more info about your e-book.
Hope this helps,
Steve Shaw
May 10th, 2008 at 1:34 am
Article Marketing for Affiliate Sites…
Creative Article Marketing has a post up about the best way to write your articles (for article marketing) to drive traffic back to your product-based site (which, if you’re like me, means an affiliate site that focuses on tangible, physical…
May 10th, 2008 at 2:05 am
Thanks for the info and help with ideas for writing, I just have one question when I finish an article where do I go then to get it seen.
Thanks Diane Brixey
May 10th, 2008 at 2:31 am
very good tips on drving traffic to your website. I find that if an article is well written and the author seems well informed on the topic at hand, I will then visit the website.
May 10th, 2008 at 7:59 am
what about a product review and recomendation in the article. I think you can write a “about product” article and recomend your products, if the article informative thin it will be published
May 10th, 2008 at 9:02 am
I have found that giving a lot of free advice is the answer. The very first article I wrote has been No 1 for quite a while in the top 15 most widely read articles under the “7 Tips” Category of the Businesses section of Ezine-articles.
I simply picked out a few pieces of information from the book I was promoting and gave it in a helpful list. This has brought quite a few visitors to my website!
May 10th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Great advice Steve. It is the classic case of Give (in the article) then Take (in the resource box).
Deliver value to the reader and the publisher and the rest will take care of itself.
May 10th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Loved your article. I used to publish ‘news releases’ for my business in the past with great success. I’m sure the process is the same for email releases but how do I go about getting a list of publications geared to travelers or news paper travel editors?
Thanks,
Jeff
May 10th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
We write quality articles for clients. The problem is that the article should have keywords in the headline and the body text to enhance the backlinks to the website. This technique can bring in quality backlinks and possible sales. If an article directory or a content sharing site like squidoo or hubpage allows you to do the anchor text and linking the main article, you should do that.
Just my 2 cents.
Thanks,
Rahail Salamat
May 10th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I agree, you need to think like an expert first, and then push the reader further along the sales process.
For example, you should end your article with the biggest tip, benefit, critical step… Then your resource box should continue along the same lines, providing more info or the missing link.
For Example: “The Health Benefits Of Eating Chocolate”. After listing the benfits you end on Dark Chocolate Raises Your Metabolism (I’m just making this up, I don’t know anything about chocolate.)
Then in your resource box you promote a free report at your site (on the dark chocolate section) called “The five best chocolate choices to raise your metabolism”. Then inside the report, you can use your own chocolates as examples.
Two things happen, you get people to the part of your site you want (Dark Chocolate), and you give them something free which promots your products and pushes them further along the sales process.
I find free reports work well for this, you just need to be creative and make the report a logical next step after reading the article.
May 10th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
On my blog I write directly about my niche, but on articles I submit to directories, I’ve found writing about topics related to the niche work best. For instance, if you’re trying to sell medical test kits, write an article about parents, kids, and trust issues.
May 11th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Thank You…
May 12th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Your article on article writing is right on. When reading an article that is really a sales pitch to buy - I move on quickly. I know when I see the article topic that I am not interested in “buying chocolate” yet could be interested in just getting more “information” on chocolate. There is a difference.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Hi Diane,
You had asked “I just have one question when I finish an article where do I go then to get it seen.”
Thanks so much for your question. Diane, after you write your article you would submit your article to online publishers. There are 3 distribution channels for articles–Ezine Editors, Announcement Lists, and Article Directories.
You can of course choose to submit your articles manually to the various online publishers (which is quite time consuming) or you can use a service such as SubmitYOURArticle.com (this is our service) which will automatically submit your articles to a large number of quality, targeted online publishers.
It sounds like you’re not a member of our service yet, so you’re welcome to sign up here http://www.submityourarticle.com/
If you choose to submit manually and would like a list of some article directories, announcement lists and ezine editors just let me know and I’ll email links to those lists to you.
Please feel free to ask us any other questions you have.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Hi Carolynsue–
That is so true! I do the same thing. When I’m reading an article I want information, rather than a sales pitch, and I think most people appreciate a well written educational article.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Jossef asked:
Jossef–Thanks so much for your excellent question! You cannot write an article that is a recommendation for your products, as that would be considered promotional. It’s not enough for an article to be “informational”–a sales page for a product is informational, but it’s still not a non-promotional educational article.
If you’re writing about your own product or affiliate product, and then linking to that product in the resource box, then article is basically an advertisement. Rather than writing about the product you should write an article of interest to your target market without mentioning the product itself.
So for a product that’s an ebook on fishing, you’d write about fishing, not the ebook; for a software product, say an accounting software package, you’d write about something of interest to potential users of the product, eg. what to look for when choosing an accounting package.
Does that help? Let me know if you have other questions.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Hi Tracey,
You’ve just given an excellent example of how to use article marketing to promote a book. You do have to think in a different way and make the book content “article friendly”, but when you shift your thinking it’s very doable.
Lists like “Top 7…” or “Top 10…” seem to be very attractive to readers too!
Thanks so much for chiming in
May 12th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Hi James,
Yes, that’s exactly it–as Tracey said too, free advice is the way to go.
Your article is an exchange of information, and the reader will “give” (click through to your website) as much as he feels like he’s received (from the helpful free advice in your article).
Thanks for reminding us about the give and take relationship with our readers
May 12th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
[…] Steve, from Submit Your Article gives a great example about a fictitious site owner who is selling Brand XYZ gourmet chocolate. She knows she can’t just write: “Buy my chocolates, they are so yummy.” So what could she write about that doesn’t sound like a sales pitch? What is the best way to write articles to drive traffic back to my product website? […]
May 12th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Jeff said:
Thanks for your question, Jeff. First off–by “email releases” I’m thinking that you’re referring to submitting your articles to ezine editors who would be publishing via email?
Yes, you’re exactly right–if you’re hoping to get your article published in ezines then most certainly you want to be sure you’re submitting your articles to editors who publish in the same ‘category’ as your article topic. The important part is the readership of the ezine.
If you are submitting your articles *manually* to ezine editors, you will need to (unfortunately!) scour ezine directories for ezines within your genre, check each ezine to see if they accept article submissions, and then double check with each editor to confirm that their details are correct, and that they still accept article submissions.
To get started now, you can find a listing of several dozen ezine directories at:
http://www.submityourarticle.com/course/ezinedirectories.php
Compiling that targeted list of editors yourself will be very tedious, and guess what I’m about to say
…
There is however a much quicker way to achieve this, using our SubmitYOURArticle.com service.
Jeff, our service allows you to submit your articles automatically to our own in-house list of highly-targeted ezine editors and web site publishers who want to receive article submissions, as well as to other publishing channels.
This list has been built up of web sites that request article submissions to be sent to a specific email address, and from publishers who contact us and confirm that they wish to be added to our list.
So, it is targeted and the publishers actually welcome our member’s articles.
If you’re interested in joining our article submission service feel free to sign up here: http://www.submityourarticle.com/
If you have any other questions, please let me know
May 12th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Rahail said:
Thanks so much for chiming in, Rahail. This is true–yes SEO-wise it does help to have your keywords in your title and in your article, but on the flip side of that one thing to keep in mind is that, although we are article marketing to increase our SEO power (among several other things), first and foremost we’re writing our articles to attract and bring value to our target readers. After all, Google is evaluating your content in terms of how well it thinks your article will satisfy the searcher (the person who is typing search terms into a search box).
So, I’d just say to anyone doing article marketing–don’t stuff your keywords.
By that I mean don’t force them into your title and your article body in an unnatural way (I have seen a few folks try to do that and it’s not a pretty sight
).
If you write naturally about the topic of your website, then your keywords or variations of your keywords will naturally appear in your article and oftentimes in your title too, and Google appreciates naturally occurring keywords.
So, I would write the article on a topic that goes along with your website (showing you’re an expert in your niche), and write an intelligent, eye-catching title that will make readers want to read your article and click through (the best title may or may not include your keywords–it just depends on what your article is about).
If you would like to use anchor text in your resource box, you can do so in your HTML advanced resource box. Here’s a HowTo for that:
Create an Advanced HTML Resource Box in 5 Super Easy Steps
And in case anyone is looking for tips on how to craft a great title, check this out:
How To Give Your Article Curb Appeal
May 12th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Hi Edward,
Thanks so much for your input–you’ve illustrated an excellent, intelligent way to craft your article and then segway into your resource box so that you have the best chance of a click through to your site.
I need to remember that for next time–save the best tip for last. I also love the “free report” idea–the more reason someone has to click through, the better!
And I really do wish that it was true that chocolate raised one’s metabolism–if someone had a report on that, I’d be rushing to grab it!
May 12th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Hi Clara,
You bring up an interesting idea–sometimes when your product on your site is so cut and dry (like medical test kits) you need to stretch a little think a little wider, as you’ve said. As much as possible though, I would be sure that your article topic was somehow connected the topic of your website (I’m thinking that the thing that is being tested is somehow related to parents and children and trust).
That’s an excellent point–thanks for chiming in!
May 12th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Hey Walter,
Yes, that’s it exactly–we have our guard up so much these days because it seems like everyone wants to sell us something. For those of us with product based websites, we will see greater results by being more subtle, and gently luring a reader in and nurturing their interest in the topic. So true!
May 20th, 2008 at 12:48 am
I sell Glass Art on my website (http://www.mastersglassart.com). Anyone have any ideas of topics that I could write about?
Thanks,
Christine
May 20th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Hey Christine,
It looks like you have a blog, so actually you’ve got a ready-made source of inspiration for articles (which is a plus!)
You can use some of your blog post ideas as springboards for articles. Ones I notice are:
“Experimenting with Different Glass Techniques”
“How To Choose The Best Kiln For Your Glass Art”
“How To Make Glass Stringers with a Candle Flame”
Christine, the topic of your website is perfectly suited to write HowTo articles, and glass sculpting/ glass blowing (not sure if you do that) tips or whatever special techniques you use.
Most blog post are not appropriate to use as articles, but they can be re-worked and fleshed out to make great articles that would catch people’s interest and lead them back to your website.
I hope this helps!
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Hi Steve,
I guess it was inevitable that someone would say this, and I’m glad it could be me - thanks for the article ideas for my chocolate site.
I’ve found, after writing about all sorts of topics as a freelance writer, that you have to really get inside your readers’ heads. What is is they want to know? What is it they need to know?
It’s important to remember that no matter what your niche, you know a lot more about it than most people.
In a chocolate world, there are a lot of misconceptions and unknown facts, so the possibilities are endless.
I’ve had to write about stairs and stairs parts - most people just know they want stairs, maybe want to build them themselves to save money, or need to learn the “language” of stairs parts.
And so on. It’s easy to put myself into the shoes of a potential customer when I am writing for someone else’s site because usually there is a lot that I don’t know about the subject.
That’s the place I try to go to write about my own niches too. It’s harder, but possible.
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Haha–Glad we could be of help to you Kathryn! Now you’ve got quite a bit of writing to do
That is such great advice you’ve given too–we can never go wrong if we put ourselves in the shoes of our customers!
Thanks so much for your valuable input
June 6th, 2008 at 12:23 am
[…] What is the best way to write articles to drive traffic back to my product website? […]
June 26th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I just started using submityourarticle.com but I’m outsoursing my articles. After reading this squidoo page, I really want to start writing my own. Thanks so much for all this info.
June 27th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Hi Steven,
You’re welcome, and that is a great idea! The more you write the easier it gets–after a while you’ll be thinking of topics in your sleep
June 30th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
how do i write an article about a merchindise based store that carrys 3000 items?? It ha tools, elctronics. chess sets, toys collectables from everywhere and every kind. I can;t even imagine How to write an article of interest without sounding like a salesperson. How do i choose what to write about that would be related at all to this site???
July 1st, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Hi Lee,
I looked at your site and I see what you mean! Lee, you have different areas of merchandise at your site, consider writing articles for each area–you have to get creative with this!
If I were in your shoes, I would pick a category at your site, such as “For Pets” and write an article entitled “The Top 10 Gift Ideas For Pet Lovers”.
In the article, you would not write about specific products, but list 10 types of products that you have on your site, such as plush pet beds in designer colors, artistic dog bowls, pet carriers that make humans look stylish, etc…
You would not mention your own site in the article, but could say “I’ve seen dog carriers that look like designer purses–any stylish pet lover that has a small dog or a cat would scream for joy if she received one of these as a gift.”
Then in your resource box you could say, “Looking for the ideal gift for the pet lover in your life? Visit [link here] and receive 10% off your first order.”
That is a way to write an article for a product based site–you could do other articles like that to address different areas of your site–Electronics, games, collectibles, etc–you just have to come up with an idea (and occasion) as to why someone would be buying it, and then craft an article that addresses the occasion, rather than tries to sell the product.
I hope that helps!
July 8th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Can you please tell me the ideal length an article should be - number of words.
Thanks
Regards
Kevin
July 8th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Hi Kevin,
Yes, that’s a great question–the ideal length for an article is 700-800 words.
Anything overly short or long can have limited appeal to publishers. Generally speaking, ezine editors and other publishers are not looking for articles that are much shorter or longer than this. This length fits into ezines well, and looks about right on web pages too.
I hope this helps!
July 28th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Hi Steve
Got to say this is a brilliant article it really tells you how it should be laid out properly for the article directories.
July 28th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Hey Gavin,
Thank you!
I’m glad this was helpful.
August 1st, 2008 at 9:14 am
Thanks Steve,
That is a great article and thank you for the sound advice
Rich
August 6th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
[…] What is the best way to write articles to drive traffic back to my product website? […]
August 20th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
[…] Remember, you are not trying to sell anything or convince folks to visit your website in your article. The way you lure traffic back to your website is by creating a helpful article and writing a great resource box that inspires folks to click! […]