Article Marketing - How Much of An Expert Do You Need to Be?
Many people would like to write articles for the purpose of increasing their website traffic.
They also hope to simultaneously enhance their image as an "expert" whose advice and opinion is sought after and valued.
However, many of these same people hesitate to actually write and publish articles for a variety of reasons.
Probably, the most common reasons are worries about not being able to write well enough, and exposing themselves as "not" being experts at all.
After all, if you are still learning your way through a subject yourself, Internet marketing, for example, who the heck are you to be telling others what to do? Well, come on! You are not going to sit down and write a doctoral dissertation or definitive work on the whole subject of Internet marketing.
You are simply going to write a short, descriptive article about some small, discrete aspect of the whole broad subject.
So, What makes YOU the "expert" or even that small, discrete aspect? Actually, "been there, done that", works quite well.
Surely at some point in your life, while you were still new at a job, hobby, or other interest, somebody asked, "How do you get started?" or some similar question.
You didn't know much then, either, about the whole subject, but you DID know something that the other person did not, and, to that degree, you were the expert.
Maybe it was simply where the building was located, who to talk to, or if the subject was worth pursuing.
You had the information that they had not yet learned.
At that point, you were the expert.
in the minds of your listeners...
and you would have been considered "the expert" by anyone else who did not know what you knew, but might want to gain your knowledge.
They may only be a couple of steps behind you, but that makes you a couple of steps ahead of them.
So, back to the idea of article marketing.
Hopefully, you know something relevant to the product or service you are seeking to sell.
If you do, you are now an "expert" to many others who do not know what you know.
Even if you do not presently know anything specific about the product or service, a few minutes expect researching relevant topics will give you enough information for a 400-600 word article of value to those just beginning to seek the information.
If you don't know anything and your research skills are totally nil, you can just put down your own thoughts.
For example: If I am trying to sell fishing gear, and have personal knowledge on the subject, I can write an article about fishing.
If I don't really know anything to write about, a few minutes of research will give me the information for one of those short articles I mentioned.
If even that escapes me, I can write about the times I went fishing with my dad, or even how much I would like to go fishing.
Quick aside, by the way, many people are not sure where to get ideas for articles.
Well, while writing the paragraph above, I got the idea to actually write an article titled, "Fishing With My Father", which I did and posted online even before I finished this article.
I don't sell fishing gear, but I do have a series of articles on life and living which are related to subjects such as meditation, fitness, health, happiness, and the law of attraction.
It fit right in.
Ideas are everywhere.
Leave yourself open to them.
However, that brings me to another point: While almost any kind of article can be used to create interest in your website or product, to really elevate yourself in the eyes of your readers, you need to provide useful or entertaining information.
Articles which are to the point, and which address a specific point of interest will have a better chance of being widely disseminated.
To be an "expert" in the eyes of your readers, you do not have to be the most knowledgeable person around.
In fact, providing a series of short, well-written, insightful articles which address the very aspects that you yourself had to become knowledgeable about will help those who are a few steps behind, will create a broad belief that you are an expert who has the information that others need.
By the way, I have been writing and using article marketing for nearly a decade and am continually finding new approaches to the subject, and new things to say about the other subjects I write about.
I regularly see articles written by those less experienced than I am, but who have a different take on the subject which opens up new ideas and aspects that I have not uncovered myself.
They also hope to simultaneously enhance their image as an "expert" whose advice and opinion is sought after and valued.
However, many of these same people hesitate to actually write and publish articles for a variety of reasons.
Probably, the most common reasons are worries about not being able to write well enough, and exposing themselves as "not" being experts at all.
After all, if you are still learning your way through a subject yourself, Internet marketing, for example, who the heck are you to be telling others what to do? Well, come on! You are not going to sit down and write a doctoral dissertation or definitive work on the whole subject of Internet marketing.
You are simply going to write a short, descriptive article about some small, discrete aspect of the whole broad subject.
So, What makes YOU the "expert" or even that small, discrete aspect? Actually, "been there, done that", works quite well.
Surely at some point in your life, while you were still new at a job, hobby, or other interest, somebody asked, "How do you get started?" or some similar question.
You didn't know much then, either, about the whole subject, but you DID know something that the other person did not, and, to that degree, you were the expert.
Maybe it was simply where the building was located, who to talk to, or if the subject was worth pursuing.
You had the information that they had not yet learned.
At that point, you were the expert.
in the minds of your listeners...
and you would have been considered "the expert" by anyone else who did not know what you knew, but might want to gain your knowledge.
They may only be a couple of steps behind you, but that makes you a couple of steps ahead of them.
So, back to the idea of article marketing.
Hopefully, you know something relevant to the product or service you are seeking to sell.
If you do, you are now an "expert" to many others who do not know what you know.
Even if you do not presently know anything specific about the product or service, a few minutes expect researching relevant topics will give you enough information for a 400-600 word article of value to those just beginning to seek the information.
If you don't know anything and your research skills are totally nil, you can just put down your own thoughts.
For example: If I am trying to sell fishing gear, and have personal knowledge on the subject, I can write an article about fishing.
If I don't really know anything to write about, a few minutes of research will give me the information for one of those short articles I mentioned.
If even that escapes me, I can write about the times I went fishing with my dad, or even how much I would like to go fishing.
Quick aside, by the way, many people are not sure where to get ideas for articles.
Well, while writing the paragraph above, I got the idea to actually write an article titled, "Fishing With My Father", which I did and posted online even before I finished this article.
I don't sell fishing gear, but I do have a series of articles on life and living which are related to subjects such as meditation, fitness, health, happiness, and the law of attraction.
It fit right in.
Ideas are everywhere.
Leave yourself open to them.
However, that brings me to another point: While almost any kind of article can be used to create interest in your website or product, to really elevate yourself in the eyes of your readers, you need to provide useful or entertaining information.
Articles which are to the point, and which address a specific point of interest will have a better chance of being widely disseminated.
To be an "expert" in the eyes of your readers, you do not have to be the most knowledgeable person around.
In fact, providing a series of short, well-written, insightful articles which address the very aspects that you yourself had to become knowledgeable about will help those who are a few steps behind, will create a broad belief that you are an expert who has the information that others need.
By the way, I have been writing and using article marketing for nearly a decade and am continually finding new approaches to the subject, and new things to say about the other subjects I write about.
I regularly see articles written by those less experienced than I am, but who have a different take on the subject which opens up new ideas and aspects that I have not uncovered myself.