Article marketing is advertising by writing short articles on specific areas that you wish to promote in your industry. Some content based articles are even released free to help attract clients and build credibility. Article marketing became popular with the advent of mass printing making article production affordable and easy to produce.

The popularity of the internet has brought article marketing to a whole new level and made advertising a worldwide phenomenon. There are many sites devoted specifically to article marketing as long as the guidelines for that site are followed you can post an article on anything.

There is a whole freelance industry based around content and article marketing keeping many writers employed. Article marketing has many benefits including increased site traffic, improved search engine ranking, lead generation and the ability to establish yourself as an expert.

It is important to remember some basic tips when writing an article for marketing purposes. The title is the most important part of your article. It grabs the reader’s attention. If you do not have an interesting and informative title then there is a good chance your article will be ineffective and overlooked by many readers. The best types of article are focused, easy to understand and most important helpful to the reader.

When writing the body or your article you need to put the most important information towards the beginning. That way if the reader doesn’t read the entire article they will have received the most important information. You should keep your paragraphs and sentences short and use subheadings if appropriate. It has been found that the most popular articles contain between 400 to 600 words.

Your contact information will be found in the resource box. It is important to make sure that this information is correct and clear. You may also add a line or two about your product or service. The resource box is also where you may provide a link to your website or to an area with further information.

Once your article is written you need to produce a short summary that may appear with the title of your article. The summary needs to hook the reader or point out what you article will offer. Think of this as an abstract if you are scientifically minded. The summary should be between two and five sentences long. You should make sure to spell check your article as there is nothing more off putting than a badly written article full of spelling and grammar mistakes.

Once you have written your article you need to submit it to the appropriate directory. There are hundreds of article directories. Some of the more popular article directories are EzineArticles, GoArticles, and IdeaMarketers. There are also article directories for specific niches but finding them may take a bit of searching. You don’t need a lot of marketing or computer knowledge to be a successful article marketer. By spending a little bit of time each day writing and posting articles you can successfully provide information and promote your services.