Article Marketing: Your Article Writing Campaign Timeline

I hear comments frequently that I appear to be “all over the place.”   Someone will search a topic and see an article I’ve written, and then follow a link to a teleclass I’m leading, read a press release I’ve submitted, or read about me in someone else’s newsletter.  You, too, can create this sense of being everywhere with one simple action that you take each and every week:  writing one new how-to article.

I’ve been using article marketing as my primary marketing strategy since 2005, and I have experienced tremendous results with it, things like being asked to speak at events, appearing in print publications, selling my information products to new audiences, and having people hire me to coach them based solely on the article archive they have perused on my website.

I have a very defined timeline and schedule that I follow rigorously each week to make article marketing work for me as a successful Internet marketing strategy.  Here are the 8 steps I follow weekly to repurpose and maximize the use of every article that I create in my article marketing process:

1. Write the article.  I schedule a block of my time every week on my calendar as my business development time, or time I’m devoting to the growth of my business.  As article marketing is key to that process, I devote a couple of those hours to creating a 600-800 word how-to article that solves a particular problem or issue of my target market.  Many times my topic is inspired by conversation with my clients, by questions I receive through my blog, or by repeated inquiries about strategies that have worked for me.

2.  Run it in ezine.  Once the article is complete, the first place I publish it is in my email newsletter.  Since I publish weekly, I have to write one new article every week for that publication.  There’s nothing like a deadline to keep you accountable (even if it is self-imposed)!

3.  Place it on website, along with ezine archive.  The article is then placed on my website and archived there.  In addition, I archive back issues of my ezine on my website and frequently refer visitors to those issues as well as current subscribers who may have missed receiving their issue one week.

4.  Submit article to directories.  This is when the magic begins.  This process alone is responsible for the bulk of the recognition I receive in my industry.  By submitting to directories, my articles are picked up and placed on blogs, in ezines, on websites, in print publications, on YouTube as video, just to name a few ways I’ve seen my content distributed online.  The duplicate content penalty handed out by Google seems to have lessened, as many of the sites using my content now seem to have been returned to the Google index. The service I use for distribution is GetMoreClientsArticles.com.

5.  Blog it.  Many people refer to receive their information via a blog feed, so the various sections of my email newsletter are distributed to my blog over the course of a few days. In addition, my content is also posted to other blogs I host at MySpace, Facebook, several niched social networking communities to which I belong, and larger content sites like SelfGrowth.com and Squidoo.

6.  Podcast the article. Since my time is pretty limited each week, the thought of coming up with another new topic to place on another medium is simply overwhelming.  Instead, I have created a special introduction and conclusion for my podcast and read that each week, along with the content of my article.  This podcast is then submitted to various podcast directories to appeal to all of those who prefer to listen to learn rather than to read.

7.  Make it a press release.  Press releases have changed dramatically from the time I began to use them in college when I was publicity chair for any number of student events. Now, the audience for an online press release is not just the media, but your target market and consumers as well, who may stumble across your search engine optimized release while searching for information on a specific topic.

My favorite service to use is PRWeb.com.  I take one of my articles each month, typically one of my best tips articles, and turn it into a compelling press release and have it distributed through PRWeb for $120.  For this fee, you have the opportunity to add supporting materials to your release, like audio and images, as well as tracking statistics and social bookmarking options. Marcia Yudkin has a great ebook that teaches you how to do this with your articles.

8.  Create a teleclass from your content.  Teleclasses are a quick, inexpensive way to create a devoted following.  If you write a tips-based article, it’s quite easy to create a teleclass where you discuss your bullet points and add examples and stories to further illustrate those points.  I now hold monthly teleclasses created exclusively from the content of articles I have written.

Strategize how you can replicate this article writing campaign in your business.  You don’t have to do it all alone — many of the tasks can be delegated to your assistant.  Once you have refined your process, you’ll see how article marketing will grow your business grow by leaps and bounds!

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FR*EE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at AskDonnaGunter.com.