If you’re new to article marketing. What is it? And how does it help grow your direct sales business online?

What is Article Marketing?

Article marketing is writing about what you know in the areas you know about. And submitting your articles to directories where they are syndicated and reprinted by webmasters or anyone who wants to use your article.

How does this benefit your business?

Think of it as free traffic generation. Every time a publisher uses your articles, she/he must keep your author’s byline intact. Which means your articles are exposed to additional readers every time your article is reprinted.

The more eyeballs to your articles the more likely they will click on your blog or website link to find out more about your business. This means more opportunities to grow your list of prospects.

This is the holy grail of article marketing: you write the article once and it continues sending traffic to your site over and over. Imagine if you had hundreds of articles submitted!

One of the most important aspects of article marketing is your author’s resource box. If you’re not sure what that is- take a look at one of my Ezine Articles.

Since you can’t blatantly promote your company products or business opportunity in the content of the article with links, your author’s resource box is where you’re allowed to have at least two links to your main site.

But if you want people to click on your site, you must give people a reason to do so. This is where quality content and topic relevance matter a great deal.

If you want to get the most from article marketing- keep these 5 tips in mind:

#1 Write consistently and commit to writing at least 1+ new article a week. The more you write the more backlinks and traffic to your site. And the more opportunities your articles will be reprinted by other publishers.

#2 The more articles you have in directories, the more visible your online reputation is to your potential prospects. These article directories are similar to a library that stores millions of articles.

#3 Marketing your articles. Writing a quality article is a key ingredient in attracting leads. Equally important is marketing. In fact, marketing is vital to every aspect of your business.

When your articles are promoted on social networks and syndicated on Twitter or Facebook, there’s a perception that your business is everywhere online which is a great way to build your brand equity.

#4 Building confidence with every article you write.

Every time you write you’ll need to do research in a particular topic. The more you learn and apply new knowledge from article writing, the more knowledge you’ve added to your expert status.

#5 Your online reputation equals currency. Remember that your online reputation is vital in growing your direct sales business.

The more you know and have to offer to others, the more likely others will be attracted to your business.

Your online reputation affects whether people buy your products or join your business opportunity. Overcoming the trust barrier is critical to building a profitable business online.

Article writing is a powerful way to strut your knowledge and use multiple marketing platforms to broaden your reach. It’s one of the best ways to grow your direct sales business online for free.

**Need help with article writing and marketing to generate leads for your business? Visit my site and sign up for your free 10-Part Mini Course.

Author's Bio: 

Janette Stoll helps direct sales professionals how to use article writing and marketing to generate leads to grow their home based business online. Visit my site for free article writing and marketing tips --> http://www.janettestoll.com