Writing Tip
Build a Business--with
Articles!
by Diane Eble
What if there were one relatively simple
way to:
·
promote and establish yourself as an
expert,
·
discover what your market really wants so you can give
them more of it,
·
give people a taste of what you have to
offer,
·
get people them interested in your book, other product or
service,
·
drive them to your Web site to learn more about
you,
·
make connections with people you never would have met
otherwise (sometimes leading to lucrative
joint
ventures
and/or wonderful relationships)
·
even get the media to call you?
You can do all that, and more, through one
simple strategy: writing and disseminating
articles!
I
have been experimenting with this, and I can now confidently
tell you this practice has done all of the above—and
more—for me.
In
fact, you can build a whole business starting from
articles.
How?
First, you use your article to establish
your expertise. Get lots of articles out there on your
topic. It's one way of becoming known as an expert in your
area. Publishers have even been known to approach article
and blog authors to ask them to write books about their
topic.
Second, use articles to test your market.
Article directories such as www.ezinearticles.com
show you statistics on how many people have viewed it,
how many people followed the link for your articles, how many
times it's been published in other places, how many times it's
been emailed to others, and even how others have voted on your
articles. All very valuable information!
Third, use the market information above to
create products that you know will sell. Expand the content
of your most popular articles into small reports, eBooks,
Special Reports, or a printed book that you can sell or use
as bonuses with other products you might be
selling.
Fourth, repurpose your articles into press
releases to attract the media to interview you on your
expertise and create even more awareness of what you have to
offer.
Fifth—if you're really good at writing
lots of articles quickly—you can even set up your own
article directory page and get Google Adsense ads on it. All
you have to do is open up a Google Adsense account, give
them the url (i.e.., http Web address) of your article
directory page, and they will put the ads on. When people
click on the ad, Google will send you a portion of the
revenue from the advertiser. Pretty slick, eh?
Of
course, articles are also an extremely effective way to
drive "targeted" traffic to your Web site, which can lead to
sales for you if you sell a product or service through a Web
site. If you write a great article and a great resource/bio
box that makes people want to know more about you and what
you have to offer, you may well get lifelong customers from
one article.
Articles are also a great way to connect
with people. I met one of my most important mentors through
an article. I followed the link to her Web site, bought her
eBook, consequently contacted her, and we began a
relationship that has been amazingly helpful to both of us
both personally and professionally.
If
you like to write, this is one of the best strategies I can
recommend for building your expertise and your business. Get
good at writing lots of articles quickly, submit them to
article and ezine directories, and build from there. You'll
be astonished at the results!
And if you would like help in getting good
at writing lots of articles, I have two resources to
recommend.
One is the article I wrote called "
Two Never-Fail Ways
to Overcome Writer's Block." One of my subscribers
read this article, tried the second technique, and in two
minutes flat she "mind-mapped" the whole restructuring of the
book she's working on! I use this technique for all my
articles—especially when I'm not sure what I want to
say.
The second resource is
a free, Special Report written by one of
my mentors, Jimmy D. Brown, who is one of the best teachers
I've come across. I've learned more from Jimmy's free stuff
than I have from many information products I've paid for. His
ideas work! In this free Special Report, Jimmy reveals five
simple steps to starting a profitable information business—all
beginning with Small Reports which, as I mention in this
article, can be created from articles.
To get your free Special Report on how to build a "small
reports fortune," simply click
here.
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