It probably depends on what you expect your article to achieve for you - better branding, more sales, or more publicity.
One way to measure article performance is to check how many times your article has been picked up and reproduced on various sites.
To do that, just copy and paste the article title in quotes into a search engine like Google, and you'll see how many sites it's been reprinted on.
My article "How To Get To The Top Of The Marketing Food Chain" shows 1061 links in Google.
http://ebizwhiz-publishing.com/articles/priyashah16.htm
That means Google has indexed 1061 sites on which this article appears.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22How+To+Get+To+The+Top+Of+The+Marketing+Food+Chain%22&btnG=Google+Search
This gives me about 1061 quality links to each of the sites I included in my resource box.
As you can see, this makes article marketing a very powerful way of building quality links.
So how do you ensure that your article gets picked up and reprinted by as many publishers as possible?
1. Pick A Topic That's Hot Or Always Fresh
For instance, my article on Neuromarketing got picked up pretty quickly because it was a hot topic.
http://marketingslave.com/2005/06/01/neuromarketing-smart-marketing-or-jedi-mind-control-trick/
The problem with hot topics is that they also tend to cool off quickly. So while they may get a lot of reprints over a short time, they may get very few reprints once the craze is over.
There are some articles that are slow starters but eternally fresh, like the one I wrote here.
To Be A Champion, Become A Child
http://www.growmymind.com/positive-attitudes/be-a-champion.htm (591 links in Google)
These are the ones that will give you reprints over a longer period of time. I think in the long run, these are more valuable.
2. Target A Large Audience
Another way to get a lot of coverage is write an article for a large target audience or one that is very active online - like bloggers.
This article gave me 164 links back, mostly from other blogs, even some for which I had to use a translation service :-)
http://www.blog-maniac.com/blog-burnout.htm
This shows 248 links back
http://www.blog-maniac.com/questions-business-blog.htm
316 links for this one
http://www.blog-maniac.com/spam-blogging.htm
But again, it's the quality of links back that matters - not the quantity.
Another large target audience is the health market. I get a lot of links back from my health articles.
3. Craft A Catchy, Relevant Title
A catchy title ensures that your article gets the attention of publishers - the first step to getting your article published.
Follow the basic rules of copywriting to make your article interesting and readable.
Publishers are more likely to pick up an article if its title includes the keywords that they (and you) want to target.
Use your main keywords in your title, preferable in the first half (like I did in the title of this article), to ensure better rankings for those who reprint it.
4. Offer Publishers A Monetary Incentive
Give people an incentive to publish your article. I have an affiliate program and I allow publishers to use their affiliate link for my ezine in the resource box.
Allow publishers to earn by publishing your article and they will gladly reprint it.
5. Write An Article Series
Break up a long article or report into a series of articles like I did with my "Marketing With Blogs" series here.
Marketing With Blogs - Part 1, 2, 3 and 4
http://www.blog-maniac.com/marketing-with-blogs1.htm
http://www.blog-maniac.com/marketing-with-blogs2.htm
http://www.blog-maniac.com/marketing-with-blogs3.htm
http://www.blog-maniac.com/marketing-with-blogs4.htm
These gave me 5270 links back in all. As you can see, a series of articles can be a very powerful link-building technique.
6. Distribute Your Article Widely
Ensure that your article is distributed to the best and most appropriate article directories and announcement lists online.
Feel free to browse through my own collection of article directories and announcement lists
http://ebizwhiz-publishing.com/write-articles/submit-articles.htm
About the Author:
Priya Shah is the CEO of eBrand360 . She writes the Marketing Slave blog and publishes an internet marketing newsletter .About this site:
Open Tips website is developed using SEO Web Design by Binh Nguyen to provide free tips and advices from well known experts.What's next?
Do you like "6 Article Marketing Smarts: How To Get More Reprints And Exposure"?
Link to this page:
- Step 1: Copy the following HTML code (Click on the box and press Ctrl+C):
- Step 2: Paste the copied code to your web page's HTML (Ctrl+V) to where you want to place the link.
- Step 3: When viewing on a web browser it should look like this: 6 Article Marketing Smarts: How To Get More Reprints And Exposure.
Featured Tips for Article
Finding Experts, Sources and Contacts
I was asked to write an article on a short deadline. No problem, I thought. Then I got the article specifications which included quoting several experts in the article. Instead of giving up, I got...
A Publisher's Rant – Why I Hate Your Articles
I'm a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here's my rant and what you can do to change my mind. Don't Send Me Your Articles First of all, don't send me articles. I only take...
Fair Use and Copyright: What You Need To Know
While running a writing community for the last three years many questions have come up regarding copyright. What is copyright? "The legal protection given to authors which protects them against...
Write Articles And Captivate Your Readers
To get your name out there, write articles and allow them to be freely reproduced (with a resource box pointing back to you.) A well-written article can: - help build your profile - draw traffic to...
Keyword Article Writing: the Key to Your Success!
Ready to jump on the keyword article bandwagon? Billions of companies are using keyword articles to gain free exposure on the internet. Whether you're a netpreneur marketing a product or a writer...