EzineArticles Tutorial

EzineArticles.com is the most popular article directory online. Thousands of online marketers focus on submitting dozens of highly targeted articles into the ever-growing database available at EzineArticles.com every single day.   As a way of generating free traffic to squeeze and landing pages, there is no better method than article marketing.

To begin, you will need to sign up for a free Ezine Articles account. You can do so by visiting: http://www.EzineArticles.com

Step 1: On the registration page you will need to fill in your complete information, including your name, email address, website URL, and your password. Use a unique password on each article directory website, for security reasons. Once you have filled in the registration form, your account will be instantly created.  Click on the “Members Login” link to log into the article site.

Step 2: Once you are logged in, you will see several tabs and links that will take you to various areas of the publisher’s center. You should fill out the authors’ bio, profile page and your resource box before you submit your first article. That way, you can attach the resource box to each article as you go along.

Most of the article directories allow you to create multiple resource boxes. That way, you can associate a different resource box to specific articles in the event you wish to direct people to different websites or individual pages of your site.

At EzineArticles, you can access this area from under the “Profile Manager” area.

Once you have spent some time adding in your author profile, your resource boxes and perhaps uploading your photo, it’s time to submit your first article!

Under the “Article Manager” tab you will see a drop down menu that includes a link to “Submit New Article”. Click that to begin.

The article submission area contains a few different areas. The first section requires that you select a specific category. You want to be careful to choose a category that best fits your article.

As you can see, there are quite a few different categories and sub-categories to choose from, however, be careful to choose the correct category based on the topic of your article for best results (people will be searching for information within select categories using keywords).

In my example, I am submitting an article into “Movies/TV” by initially choosing the category and sub category.

Then, when I create my article I will add in relevant keywords within the title of the article as well as the content itself.

You want to try to get everything right the first time because even though you can change the category that your article is submitted into, as well as your article itself if you wish to edit or modify it, each time you make any changes, your article will be set to “Pending” and will require re-approval which can take some time, so do your best to choose the right category and proof read your article prior to submitting it.

At EzineArticles you are limited to 200 words in this teaser copy area, so be sure to include content that will entice your reader to continue onto the full-length view of your article.

Note: Formatting Options
After you have entered in your article content, you can use different commands to bold certain text, or add style to your article if you are familiar with HTML.

With most article directories, all submissions must be manually approved. The staff simply verifies that your article is original and that you are not writing an article simply to promote a product or a website which is why it’s very important to focus on writing informative, useful and well-written content.

Writing Effective Articles

If you want to make the most out of your article marketing efforts, then you need to be writing the most effective articles possible.  It’s not enough to simply write an article about a particular topic.  You need to write an article that is useful and interesting, but also leaves the reader writing more (which you will provide for them with a link to your site.)

Let’s say you have a website about acne.  You might write an article called “5 Common Acne Treatments”.  But you don’t want to discuss the most effective option, because then the reader will have no reason to visit your website.  What you would want to do is talk about 5 common treatments that aren’t always particularly effective.  You might talk about washing the face with soap, using pimple creams, different types of medicated pads, etc.  Then in your bio box you might put something like, “Have you tried all of these treatments but nothing has worked?  Get the dish on the most effective acne treatment available at www.YourAcneTreatmentSite.com!”

This method is very powerful, because you’ve established with the article that you know something about the topic, but you haven’t given them that big solution they are looking for.  The solution is only found at your site.  The article should be useful, especially for someone who hasn’t yet tried one of the 5 methods you outlined, but the main solution fo the problem should not be included.

The main purpose of an article is generally to get people to click the link in your bio box.  If the article doesn’t accomplish this, it will be useful only as a backlink.  If you want your articles to be as effective as possible at generating traffic, you need to be sure to write articles that get people to read them, but require them to visit your website to get the ultimate solution.

What is Article Marketing?

Article marketing is a great way to get traffic and backlinks to your website or blog.  Rather than paying for traffic, you simply need to write articles and submit them to article directories.

An article directory is an online database of articles from various writers.  They generally accept article submissions and place their own ads on the articles, but in exchange for using your content you are allowed to put a couple of links of your own in a box at the bottom of the article.

This box, usually called a “bio box” or “resource box”, is your space to tell a little bit about yourself, your website, your blog, or a product you want to promote.  I would suggest talking more about your website, and let them know exactly what they could find there that would be beneficial to them.

For example, if you’ve written an article about how to find comfortable shoes, your bio box might say something like, “Visit JennysShoeHut.com for our free report entitled ‘The Top 10 Most Comfortable Shoe Brands’!”

You could then write up a quick report and offer it in exchange for them signing up to your mailing list.  This is a great way to build a targeted list of people you can sell to over and over.

Article marketing is not only good for direct traffic, but it also provides you with backlinks.  This can help you improve your ranking in the search engines.  Sites like EzineArticles.com and ArticleCity.com have good PageRank, and they can pass some of this to your own site, improving your position in the SERPs.

You can use article marketing to promote affiliate products, as well, but I would send traffic to a blog or website first.  There are several reasons for this:

1. You’ll be building an asset that you can sell later, or make use of for years to come.
2. You have the opportunity to build a list.
3. You won’t have to worry about your traffic drying up if the article directory closes or removes your article.
4. You have more control over the traffic.
5. You won’t have to worry about losing the traffic if the affiliate program you’re promoting closes down.

Article marketing is a very powerful way to get traffic, just remember to focus on building your own assets rather than the article directory’s!