You’ve either started an Internet business, or you’re interested in doing so. Otherwise, you most likely would not have found this article. The Internet Marketing space is very competitive, so the importance of finding web browsers that are interested in what you have to say cannot be discussed too much. If you run a blog or an online store that doesn’t have a physical presence, you’ll need to be creative about how you find visitors and drive traffic. Most people rely on paid-search ads to drive much of their traffic, which can be very expensive and tough to get a good return on investment.
Fortunately, there are plenty of cost-effective and/or free methods of driving traffic – one of the most effective is by writing and submitting articles. By spending time researching, and putting together quality content, writing articles can be very effective as you are able to reach an audience that you would not have been in front of otherwise.
How can writing articles help improve your web traffic? Here are my top five ways in which it can provide value to your business:
1. Make a Good First Impression
By writing top-quality, relevant, and original content, you give your site exposure while creating a good impression on your prospects at the same time. This will help you achieve your main goal: whether that is to make direct sales or to increase membership in your list. Quality content will help you be viewed as expert in the field, and will get you connected with customers eager to do business with you.
2. Become More than “Just another website.”
An often overlooked side effect of publishing your work in e-zines and free article sites is the chance of receiving positive feedback and testimonials from readers that find value in your content. By writing well-researched articles with unique insights, you will receive positive responses and comments that you can record and use as promotional material on your website. You can also use this as persuasive content in any advertising pieces you put together. Many people do not realize this, but positive comments and testimonials actually make existing customers of your product feel more confident in your business, and cause them to be more likely to recommend you to others.
3. Free Exposure
Let’s face it, you want to get your message out to as many people as possible. The more exposure, the better. Especially free exposure. Writing articles and submitting them to websites that already have traffic puts you in front of people you would never have seen. Avoid marketing language in your articles, make them useful, and people will seek out more information from you by vising your website. Most article directories will let you include your site’s link and contact information in the resource box at the end of the article.
4. Become More Search Engine Friendly.
If you create a blog post or website page to go along with your articles, you’ll be making your site more search engine friendly. This will also allow you to continue on with the theme of your article, and to provide additional value to readers that were impressed with the article that you posted in a directory. Be sure to optimize your article with consistently relevant terms and your blog or website will also reap the rewards. Stay consistent with keywords and use appropriate meta tags for the additional bump in rankings – or as some people say “Google Juice.”
5. Reach a wider audience
When you put together quality content, it’s understandable that you want to share it with others. Distributing your articles to content sites can give your ideas and to your website additional exposure. These content sites allow authors from all walks of life combine their expertise in a slingle location, giving them much more popularity than a single blog. There’s a chance that a blog owner will find your article relevant and link back to it from their site. As with any business, staying diligent about activities such as submitting content will increase your reach and, in turn, your popularity.
People use the Internet to find information, and you can aid them by writing about topics that you have either well-researched or topics that you have more information about than most others. If you enjoy writing, and feel that you can benefit others by producing articles, it can really give your website that bump in traffic that you’ve been looking for. For me, writing about topics that I’m interested in gives me the chance to learn more and the chance to improve my writing skills. It’s also a nice way to get my mind off of the stresses of the daily grind, and a chance to help share a bit of knowledge with others.
