It’s no secret that writing compelling articles can be an excellent method to driving traffic to your website or blog. However, the secret to making your article interesting is to give away enough information to solve one part of the problem, but to leave the other part unsolved so they want more information.

Useful But Incomplete

If I was just beginning to learn how to promote affiliate programs, I would be after information on how to create a website that sells, and of course how to advertise that website.

Now if you were writing an article and you had a product to sell on affiliate programs, you would write an article on how to create a site that sells, but leave out the part about advertising your site.

Of course people will need this information if they want to succeed, so more then likely if your resource box is compelling they will click on your link to your website.

Determine The Outcome Of Your Article

So, how can you write your article quickly, plus make it a viral marketing machine to help drive traffic to your site?

Well firstly you have to know where you want the article to go. For instance, are you planning on making this a series of articles that link together or is it just a one-off article?

You must determine the outcome for your article before you can write it. Now, writing your article isn’t all that hard, and certainly not as difficult as most would have you believe.

Conclusion

As a rule of thumb, you should try and make your article between 500 - 700 words. To do this, outline the topics you are going to cover and writing 100 or 200 words on each topic. This helps to make the article flow and easier to write.

For example:

If your were writing an article on getting more traffic to your website on a budget, you could us an outline similar to this.

1. Introduction to budget advertising
2. How to write articles that get publishing every time
3. Joint venturing for huge profits
4. Getting all the free links you can
5. Search engine ranking tactics that work

Then you would write 100 - 200 words on each topic It’s that simple.

If you take the time to plan your article, overtime your business will grow using this marketing technique.

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A well written headline will give a reader a reason to chose your article over someone else’s. A good headline provokes the readers attention and teases their curiosity. Here’s how you can increase your website traffic, using these two simple secrets. You can write a catchy headline by:

1) The use of trigger words:

• secret
• discover
• important
• never before seen
• amazing
• incredible
• unbelievable
• shocking truth
• how to

2) Asking a question:

• Is it possible to…
• Have you seen…
• Why does…
• When is…
• Who is…
• What you don’t know about…
• Can you really…etc

Avoid writing headlines like these (actual article headlines taken from ezinedirectory.com):

• “Fiberglass Speaker Boxes”
• “Internet Usage”
• “Essentials of Broadband Routers”
• “Legalities of Pollution”
• “Innovative Floor Tile Ideas”

Instead, write headlines like these:

• “Are Fiber Glass Speaker Boxes Really Worth The Money?”
• “The Shocking Truth Behind Internet Usage!”
• “What You Don’t Know About Broadband Routers”
• “What Are The Legalities Of Pollution?”
• “Have You Seen These Innovative Floor Tile Ideas?”

What headlines would get your attention?

Once you have succeeded in getting readers for your articles you then need to get the all important click thru to your website. This is very easy to do. Instead of submitting the entire article to the directories, split the article in two and submit only a portion of the article.

In the resource box you would then write something like, “Part 2 of this article can be found at “www.yourblog.com” or “To view the rest of this article please visit: “www.yourblog.com.”

Using a tagline like this instead of the usual tag line practically forces the readers of your articles to click thru to your site.

A tip on article splitting….

You want to split the article at a point that will entice readers to read the rest of your article.

You can do this by going through the article and finding what you believe to be the most interesting or informative part and retaining that portion on your blog.

For example, suppose you had written the article above on innovative floor tile ideas.

In order to split the article you could divide the ideas into a list and retain the top 5 or 10 ideas on your website. Then you could write a tag line in your resource box like:

“For the top 5 innovative floor tile ideas please visit www.yourblog.com.”

Conclusion

The bottom line is that traffic is the key to your success, and as website owner there are many different ways you can create a flood of free traffic. If you can create quality articles in a flash you can just as easily create a stream of traffic to your website.

Article marketing is one of the most powerful forms of marketing you can get online. Even more appealing, if you’re just starting your online business, it is an extremely cost effective method of generating traffic to your site or blog. I highly recommend that if you haven’t yet started to write and submit articles, you should make this your #1 priority over the next few weeks.

Here are the steps to writing an effective article…

1. Choose an attention-grabbing title:

Whether or not someone even reads your article at all is dependent upon your title. This is especially important when you submit it to directories and publishers where there are hundreds of entries.

Here are some templates you can use for your titles:

• How to _________ In _________ Steps
• How to _________ In _________ (Time Frame)
• The Real Secret to Quickly ______________
• Top 2 Ways to ________________
• 3 Little Known Tips for _____________
• The Hidden Costs of ________________

2. Determine 3-5 points of interest:

You’ll want your article to be 500-750 words, so write 3-5 sections that are about 100 words each along with an opening and a closing.

3. Write an interesting opening sentence:

Your title gets them to take a look, and you want to immediately get them into the main body of your article. There are several things you can do in this opening sentence to lure readers in deeper…

• Ask a question
• Reveal something startling
• Inject emotion
• Present a problem

4. Close with a call to action:

Your mission is to get them to move on to your desired action. When they finish reading your article, they are going to do something other than just sit there and stare. They’ve got a ton of options and only one of them is to do what you want them to do.

What you want to do is LEAD the reader to your resource box. You do this by bridging the gap between your article and your resource box - you create a “transition” between the two.

In your article conclusion, you’ll summarize the 3-5 points you made in the article. Your resource box should reference something related to those 3-5 points. It will draw the reader to click to your site.

Conclusion

Whether you are submitting your articles to directories, posting your articles at your website, blog, or inserting your articles into viral e-books to be passed around the web……your #1 goal is to get subscribers onto a list and your 2nd goal is to get them to your sales letter.

You can do this by giving away a free report or mini-course in your resource box and place that freebie at the top of a sales letter or redirect them to a sales letter after they’ve joined a list.