Article marketing is one of the mainstays of Internet marketing. It is a simple idea that works surprisingly well. It is also a marketing method that practically anyone can do, as it requires no special skill besides writing, which most people can already do.
Articles on the Internet can be of varying length. Around 500 words is probably the most common length, though 400 words is also becoming increasingly common. This length of text is long enough to make a point, but not so long that it becomes boring. It fits in well with the busy lives of those who use the Internet and provides relatively short snippets of information that are long enough to be useful.
There are hundreds of article directories scattered around the Internet. The best known of these for article marketing purposes is EzineArticles . This is a well established directory that draws one of the biggest crowds of people to any directory.
Articles are usually submitted to as many free article directories as possible, and there are many kinds of special software to assist in the respect, such as the free article submitter offered by Brad Callen, which also has a paid for upgrade option:http://articlesubmitter.imwishlist.com/
The idea behind article marketing is simple enough. You write an informative article, in a "how to" style, or a "step-by-step" style, and at the end of the article you are allowed to have a resource box, also known as an authors bio box.
This is a short sentence or two that briefly describes the author and can include a live link to a site where further information can be found. This is the real value of article marketing; it provides a valuable back link to a site owned by the author of the article.
The article can also generate traffic to the website linked to from the resource box. However, this traffic is usually not very large, and it usually peaks after a few weeks or months at best. The article page in the directory can of course rank in Google, Yahoo and Bing in its own right. And because it is part of an authority site, the article directory, it is likely to rank better than it might otherwise.
Back links from the article resource box is not necessarily limited to just that from the article directory. Ezines, or online newsletter, can freely publish the article provided they keep the resource box intact. This gives the ezine or newsletter a fresh source of content, and it provides another valuable back link to the website linked to.
A popular article might get syndicated a hundred times or more over its lifetime, and each time it happens it becomes yet another back link to the promoted site. In this way article marketing is basically two fold: the initial instance is a back link and a source of traffic to the site it points to, and it can be picked up by ezines and newsletters to provide further traffic and more back links.
Article marketing is known for its longevity. One popular article can spread around the Internet and become viral. This is especially so if it is submitted to hundreds of article directories. It can provide an ever-increasing source of back linking for the promoted site as well as traffic that will last for years to come.
