What Makes A Good Marketing Article?

Anyone who spends a fair amount of time reading online knows there is a wealth of horrible articles out there! Some are nothing more than blatant sales copy, over-hyping a poor product. Other articles seem to tell readers nothing at all really but are mere vehicles for a link to another page. Countless articles use poor grammar, and are riddled with spelling mistakes and inconsistencies of speech. It's enough to make anyone crazy!

Since the article submission phenomenon appeared in the late nineties, just about every small business owner thought, "Write? Submit articles? I can do that." Unfortunately, not everyone is blessed with a writing talent. That leaves a lot of room for the real stars to shine online. If you have what it takes, then read on to see what makes a good marketing article. If you are unsure about your abilities, then you should hire a professional copywriter and look for the following criterion in their work.

To understand what makes a good marketing article, you must first consider the similarities and differences between writing for print publications and writing for online mediums. Magazines and newspapers have hundreds or thousands of subscribers who will flip through the pages each week or each month, regardless of what's there. Headlines can be witty and coy.

On the other hand, internet marketing articles need to seek out an audience by using more direct headlines to attract search engine attention. Magazine and newspaper articles often have to write to certain editorial standards, with advertisers in mind.

Online writing instead appeals directly to the readers, aiming to inform them, which will ultimately make them feel more comfortable with upcoming purchasing decisions. The attention span also varies greatly with print versus online writing. While someone may read 5,000 words in a magazine, 500 words is a more appropriate length for internet copy -- and paragraphs should be shorter, rather than longer.

Every good marketing article uses keywords that target business-related terms typed into the search engines. According to a 2008 ComScore Study, there are six basic ways people will find a business; search engines (31%), the phone book (30%), internet directories (19%), Google or Yahoo Local search sites (11%), newspapers/magazines (3%) and social media sites (1%).

As you can see, article marketing strategies must focus on finding what keywords people are searching for and filling out pages at the online phone book sites like www.whitepages.com, www.yellowbook.com and www.superpages.com. To find the best keywords, you can check out the free article marketing tool at www.adwords.google.com.

Lastly, your marketing article should provide new information in an entertaining way. To do this, you should be scanning Google news headlines or other blogs to see what people are talking about.

For example, if you are selling digital cameras and you hear a report that people are cutting back their spending on consumer electronics due to the recession, then you might want to write an article about "cheap digital cameras" or "inexpensive cameras" to draw in that target market.

If people seem to be interested in "product safety" or the "green revolution," try to relate your products or services to those topics. The best free articles have an engaging tone and use second-person narrative to actively engage the reader. You may also choose a more detached, professional-sounding third person perspective, but rarely should first person "I/my" be used.