Using Article Marketing To Promote Your Business

When businesses write articles that are related to their industry and have them published it is a type of advertising which is called ‘Article Marketing’. All the articles published online carry a “byline” or a “bio box”. A byline or a bio box gives the reader contact information and references to the writer and his business. Therefore, an article which is well written is distributed for free. Once the article is read by the online readers, the credibility of the author will increase, in turn attracting new customers to the author of the article and the business he advertises.

In print form, the business owner can obtain free press space, and get his business recognized at no cost. Many business professionals have been using the technique of article marketing ever since mass printing started.

Business owners started article marketing by writing an article that was useful and gave it to a newspaper without being charged by the newspaper. Traditional media and especially newspapers had limited budgets, yet they had to provide content. So the newspaper for example, which needs interesting and new content, would print the article, free of charge, along with the business contact information for the article. This arrangement was quite advantageous for both parties, who had limited budgets, since both parties would benefit from free advertising and marketing. Prior to tax season an accounting firm could write an article on “How to Avoid Getting Audited” and submit it to a magazine or a printed newsletter that focused on accounting and taxation. A roofing company could send in an article to a local newspaper right before the winter season begins, entitled “10 Ways to Avoid Ice Damage to Your Roof.”

With the rise of internet marketing and e-commerce, online article marketing has become the preferred method and is quite popular among many businesses. Article writing and marketing has acquired a dual role - providing free content for publishers and providing free advertising for advertisers, much like what was being done with newspapers and magazines before.

Websites where authors post their articles are called ‘Article Directories’. A directory owner will place advertising material on each page of the article and will collect the revenue that is generated from the advertisements. In turn that specific article directory website will gradually become popular amongst the search engines, and so not only will more authors post articles on that site, but more readers will also visit that site. That means the chances of an article being read and the link provided being clicked upon get maximized, all in favor of the business that initially posted the article.