Article Marketing for Direct Sales Professionals
Offering articles for free reprint to online publishers, commonly called “article marketing,” is an amazing method for getting free promotion for your direct sales business. Anyone who took high school English can write a simple article. And all you have to do to get your article published is take the time to submit it to article directories. There are some basic rules you need to follow, though, to make the most of this free promotion.
1. Inform with the article, sell with your “resource box.”
Every article you write should contain a 5-6 line “resource box” or bio that offers publishers and readers a way to get in touch with you and learn more about your business. The accepted rule for publishing free reprint articles is that the publisher include a live link with the resource box. That’s what provides the free promotion from submitting articles – not the article itself!
Never try to sell with an article. Use the article to provide free information. Use your resource box to draw visitors to your site and to give information about you and your business.
2. Spellcheck and proofread before you submit.
Be sure your article is as error-free as possible. We all make mistakes, but you need to proofread each article several times before you submit it. Read slowly and try to catch as many errors as you can. Look at grammar, sentence structure, word use, spelling, and check for overall comprehension. Does your article make sense?
If possible, ask a friend to read your article, or hire a professional proofreader. Do your best and you’ll be rewarded with more publishers using your articles, which is more free one-way links for you!
3. Submit only to publishers who want the type of article you’ve written.
If an online publisher requests articles on Internet marketing, don’t send them articles on digital scrapbooking. And vice versa. Be sure the articles you submit fit the publisher’s needs and follows their writer’s guidelines. Not all article directories have guidelines posted, but the largest ones like EzineArticles.com do. Read them. And be sure your article adheres to their policies completely. Otherwise, you’re simply wasting your time and the publishers.
4. Write about something related to your business.
If your direct sales business offers candles, you can write about making candles last long, caring for candles, choosing candles for a certain type decor and more. If your business offers beauty products, you can write about skin care, fashion, etc.
Whatever it is your direct sales business provides, write about something related. That way your reader will be ready to hop right over to your website when they finish your article… just looking for more information!
5. Keep it short and on topic.
You always want to provide quality information so you’ll come to be known as a professional and an expert in your field of expertise. To do so, you need to use the number of words it takes to make your point and say what you want to say. But you also need to stay on topic. If your article is about organizing a desk, don’t write about organizing a kitchen. Too many novice writers make the mistake of cramming all they know about a subject into one article. Save some information for the next article and stay on topic with the one you’re writing now.
There will be other things you’ll want to know to find the greatest success marketing with articles, but these few tips will give you a headstart in getting your first articles written and submitted to online publishers so you can begin right away enjoying that free promotion you’ll earn.
Article Marketing Can Mean Big Bucks For Direct Sellers
The world of direct sales is highly competitive, so it cannot be stressed 
enough that being able to drive traffic to your website is key to the success of your direct sales business.
You want people to head to your website so they can see all the wonderful products you have waiting for them, right? Well, there’s good news. Article marketing has become a very popular way for direct sales consultants to accomplish this.
How Is Article Marketing Helpful in Driving Traffic to My Direct Sales Website?
Article marketing is free advertising for your business. By writing articles that contain valuable information for your reader you will establish yourself as an expert whom people will come to trust. Don’t make your article one big sales pitch though. That will have your prospective customer leaving your site lickety-split. Instead, write an article that includes information on solving a problem. With titles like – The Best Way To ______ or 10 Tips To Creating _______ you’re well on your way to creating a good article.
So, how do you get people to come to your site by writing that article? Include a short bio about yourself and your business and include a link to your website or have a line that says something like, “For more information email me at iwant@yourproduct.com” That way they can either visit your site or email you for the information they need.
After you’ve written the article you’ll want to submit it to an article directory. By submitting your article to an article directory you are able to reach a large number of potential customers because other people looking for content to place on their site will take your article, including your short bio with your website links. Do you begin to see how that one article has the possibility to be published by several websites providing you the potential of a ton of free advertising? And there are literally thousands of article directories just waiting for you to submit your finished work.
Distributing articles drives traffic to your direct sales website and helps you establish trust with your potential client base. By writing easy-to-read, informational articles related to the type of products that you sell you can establish yourself as being knowledgeable about your products.
Customers are very likely to purchase products from a direct sales consultant that is familiar with their products and can honestly answer any questions that their customers may have so make sure you have a system in place for your customer service – an FAQ page on your website, perhaps.
Just because you write an article doesn’t mean you have to give it away. Publishing your articles on your own direct sales website can help move your website up through the search engine rankings as people search for the information you are providing. Make sure to use well researched keywords to increase the likelihood of appearing in search engines for the search terms that fit best.
When your articles are picked up and published on other websites it increases your link popularity. Link popularity is a huge factor in how websites are ranked among the search engines. Your goal is to get your articles on as many websites as you can, and this is an easy way to start increasing the link popularity of your direct sales website.
Check out the internet for even more suggestions on how article marketing will be able to help you drive more traffic to your direct sales website.
photo credit: truello
