If you want the free, targeted traffic you can get from article marketing, you can either just start writing and hope for the best, or you can put together an article marketing plan that will guide you each step of the way.

While the following has been proven to work, it’s not the only article marketing plan available — other folks have different ideas for what will work the best, but I’ll tell you the honest truth — no marketing plan is going to be perfect for every person and every online business. You’re going to need to start with one and then tweak it as you go along.

But the key is to get started, no matter which plan you decide on.

This article marketing plan will work whether you’re promoting your own product or service or whether you’re acting as an affiliate in order to gain commissions. It all starts with writing articles, of course. And while you can outsource that and have someone else write the articles, there are pitfalls you need to watch out for.

Step 1 – The Articles. While you can start with just a single article you’re going to need many more than that, so writing in batches is a good idea. The articles need to be at least 250 words in length (I find 400-600 word articles the best in terms of giving the reader good information) and each one should target a keyword or phrase. Don’t be too concerned with “using the keyword exactly right” — just use it 2-3 times in the article and try to put it (naturally) in the article title and summary.

About the Resource Box. The bio or resource box area of the article is NOT a good place to talk about the author — it’s the place for your “call-to-action” so the reader will click through to your web site. Make it appear as if it’s an extension of the article and offering something free is a great way to get a higher click-through-rate.

Do each of the steps listed below with each article, several days apart.

Step 2 – Post The Article. The first thing you’re going to do is post the article on your own blog. Some people suggest reversing this step and the next, and since I haven’t tested it myself I tend to do a little of both. This is one of those areas where it’s better to get started and then swap things around later if need be.

Step 3 – Promote The Article. Take the URL leading to the article and post it on Twitter, Facebook, and any other social networks of which you’re a part. If you have more than one blog, post a link on the other blogs. If you have an email list built, let those subscribers know you’ve written a new article. In general, get the word out to the world that new information is available.

Step 4 – Submit The Article. I recommend submitting to EzineArticles.com first and then after each article has been approved, submit to the other 3-4 top article directories. Some people recommend submitting to hundreds of article directories, but getting into the top handful of directories is probably the best use of your time.

If you follow this article marketing plan you’ll soon discover a flow of traffic to the web site listed in your resource box. One mistake made by many people is to be very passive about that flow of traffic, but I suggest you use it twice — first to build your list, and second to view the pitch for your product. See the article, “Don’t Let Them Escape” for more information on using articles to build your list.

Like I mentioned earlier, get started on this plan and then watch what’s working for your online business and do more of that while scaling back on the things that don’t work.

Click here for a free copy of the Article Marketing Tricks special report with more great ways to use simple little articles to drive traffic to your site. Get it at the ArticleMarketingExplained.com site.

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